Peter Pettigrew: The Marauders' Traitor
The Fourth Marauder
- Born
- 1960
- Died
- March 1998 — killed by his own hand
- Animagus
- Rat — Scabbers for 12 years
- Blood
- Pure-Blood
- Crime
- Betrayed the Potters to Voldemort
- Marauder Name
- Wormtail
Peter Pettigrew, Wormtail, was the fourth Marauder and the one nobody watched. He handed his best friends over to Voldemort, faked his own death and spent twelve years as a family's pet rat. He is proof that Gryffindor can produce cowards too.
Who he is
He studied at Hogwarts with James, Sirius and Lupin, and like them became an Animagus: his form is a rat. He joined Voldemort and became the Secret-Keeper who betrayed the Potters. He faked his death by leaving behind a finger, and Sirius took the blame and twelve years in Azkaban. He lived as Scabbers, Ron's pet, until he was exposed. He is there from Philosopher's Stone (ch. 6), asleep on Ron's shoulder on the train, while Ron tries and fails to turn him yellow with a spell.
Key moments
- Prisoner of Azkaban, chs. 17 and 18: Sirius and Lupin tell what happened. Scabbers is Pettigrew.
- Prisoner of Azkaban, ch. 22: he escapes as a rat before he can be handed over to the dementors. Dumbledore tells Harry this debt will matter someday.
- Goblet of Fire, ch. 1: he appears beside Voldemort in the Riddle House. In ch. 32 he cuts off his own hand so Voldemort can be reborn.
- Goblet of Fire, chs. 32 and 33: Voldemort gives him a silver hand as a reward.
- Deathly Hallows, ch. 23: the silver hand strangles him when he hesitates to kill Harry.
Relationships
With James, Sirius and Lupin, a friendship he used as cover. With Voldemort, fear and submission. With Harry, a life debt he never wanted. With Ron, twelve years as a rat that nobody noticed.
What almost nobody notices
In Prisoner of Azkaban (ch. 22), Dumbledore says Pettigrew is now in Harry's debt for having saved his life. In Deathly Hallows (ch. 23), that helps explain the moment Pettigrew hesitates, and the silver hand, enchanted to squeeze whoever fails, kills him. A single act of mercy by Harry, years earlier, ends up deciding Pettigrew's fate.
And in ch. 17 of Prisoner of Azkaban, Sirius says the switch of Secret-Keeper was his idea: choose Peter, precisely because nobody would suspect him. A good plan that turned terrible: the weakest link was where nobody looked.
Is Gryffindor simply the house of the brave? Read Gryffindor House Explained: What Nobody Tells You or take the house quiz.
Content created with AI assistance, reviewed and edited by our editorial team.
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