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

[mad_maudlin]

Here from the Daily Snitch with my two cents....

I think, when Peter realized that Voldemort was "dead" (I don't think he'd have any reason to think otherwise, unless he was in on the Horcruxes) he panicked--he feared the other DEs would come after him, or at least out him to the authorities (like Karkaroff was doing) if they no longer had a reason to protect him as a spy. So the only thing on his mind was running away, and faking his death--rather than killing Sirius and claiming the glory--was his idea of a brilliant plan.

I also think that, deep down, Peter is/was still scared of Sirius to a point--he was scared of Sirius and James in school so he buddied up to them for protection from the even bigger bullies, like he buddied up to Voldy later on. In PoA when he's cornered he panics, and only manages to act and escape when outside forces (Remus) provide ample distraction, and even then he didn't attack the distracted Sirius, but Ron. I assume he was reacting similarly when Sirius tracked him down and his only thought was to end the situation as quickly as possible and keep escaping, not to dare attack his former protector. Living as a rat for twelve years probably wasn't his original exit plan, but the finger was a moment of sudden inspiration, and once he'd commited himself, he was too scared to risk making his way abroad to hide as a human (he might be recognized or he might miss news about the other Death Eaters).

Besides, I think that Peter had a well-established reputation--one he probably worked to keep and reinforce--of being non-confrontational, indecisive and a little bit craven. The role of the conquering hero wouldn't sit well on him: it's out of character, and people (especially Remus) would've been asking questions. In PoA McGonagall and the others speak with some disbelief about Peter going after Sirius, but since he's "dead" they have to accept that version of events.