Why didn't Peter kill Sirius?

[pauraque_bk]

In GoF 32, woman_ironing said:

I wonder what stopped Peter from the making the more efficient move of killing Sirius and surviving as a hero rather than a rat? (Silly me, JKR and the plot of course!)

I started to say that it was possible that he meant to kill Sirius along with the 12 Muggles -- and with good reason, as Sirius knew the truth about his betrayal -- but ran off when he realized Sirius was still alive. I don't know if that really makes sense, though... It always seemed, with the whole cutting-off-the-finger and immediately running away thing, that he fully intended to flee.

If he had killed Sirius, what would have happened? Well, he might have been charged with the reckless homicide (or whatever) of the other 12 people, but since they were Muggles, and Peter is very good at wriggling his way out of things ("Oh, I didn't mean to hurt all those poor creatures, I was just so scared and I did the first thing that popped into my head..."), I dunno if that would have been too serious.

So, he'd be the hero who killed Sirius Black. But keep in mind that at that point, Voldemort was dead already, and Peter very likely knew it. Maybe he was trying to run from the other DEs (who might well blame him for what happened), and didn't trust the Ministry/Order to protect him from them, even if he did eliminate firsthand knowledge of his betrayal by killing Sirius.

What do you guys think?

Comments

[woman-ironing.livejournal.com]

It looks that way, doesn't it? My problem is Dumbledore's mention of Nagini as a possible horcrux. If Harry is a horcrux and DD knows then his suggestion of Nagini is so misleading as to be virtually a lie, and DD usually takes care not to lie. There's also the question of the significance of LV taking Harry's blood in GoF and why it cheered DD up so. Of course we all kind of know Harry and LV are connected - and the little clinking instrument with the two snakes that DD consulted in OotP is an alchemical expression of this - but what the nature and meaning of the connection is still eludes us.

It's a long time since I checked out your fab website and looking just now I see you've written on horcruxes - and lots more! - I'm off to catch up now.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Dumbledore shaves the truth every which way, depending on his audience. If he had to be *forced* by circumstances to even tell the boy about the Prophecy, he is certainly not going to pop outthe very next year with "And now that you know what a Horcrux is, I have to tell you that you *are* one!"

With that silly sidestep about Nagini he managed to introduce the concept that a Horcrux *could* be a living creature. It is a clumsy device and she's capable of better, but I think the series has gotten out of hand and behaving like a very big dog taking its owner for a run.