Although Peter was capable of changing from man to rat at will, for twelve long years he remained a rat. After he was returned to man form by Sirius and Remus, he had no more problem changing on his own. I believe that during that twelve years, he was incapable of change on his own. The last time we know he was in man form was at the mass death which was blamed on Sirius, Someone had to change him into rat form after that. Since he was unregistered, it had to be someone whom he was very close to, like a maurauder or a member of the OotP who had to know about him. Whoever did it, must no longer be around or his secret would have been known. James and Lilly died before it happened, so they are out. The Longbottoms lost their sanity on the same night. Albus didn't know and the Weasley's didn't know or they would not have let Percy and Ron have him. So, that only leaves two possibilities. A double agent within the order or someone near and dear like Petunia! Could this be her big secret?

I'm sorry I don't think I follow you. What made you think that he wasn't able to change his form on his own? I'm sure the whole point of being an animagus is to be able to do it without assistence.
I mean anybody can turn you into a rat or a ferret *hint, hint* but being an animagus should be a whole different thing.

Yeah an animagus changes form itself, they dont need help in doing so, he remained a rat because hes a coward

Peter Pettigrew, as everyone should know, is a coward.

Yeah. He didn;t need help changing. He stayed a rat so know one would know he was alive.

Peter, James and Sirius were all Animagi. James turned into a stag, "Prongs", Sirius a dog, "Padfoot" an Peter the rat, Wormtail". An Animagus is a wizard or witch capable of turning into a particular animal and back at will.

Animagi can assume only one form. Furthermore, the animal form is not chosen by the user, but instead reflects one's inner nature. While in animal form, the witch or wizard have the abilities of the animal they have transformed into, while retaining the mentality of a human. Being an Amigus is difficult and there are only 7 registered. Which makes me think it is not a common skill.

I don't believe Peter was unable to change into a man he just didn't want to. I don't think Peter regretted the fact that he betrayed the Potters or framed Sirius for the murder of 12 muggles and sent him to Azkaban for 12 years. Peter sold out two of his best friends without a thought because he thought he would be handsomly rewarded by Voldie. If he regretted his actions, I believe his magical ability could have been effected like Tonks was... but he only cares for his own well being.

A rat seems to fit Peter perfectly... A rat is a person who abandons or betrays his or her party or associates, especially in a time of trouble and/or an informer.

yeah, Pettigrew didn't forget how to change back to human form after 12 years, he just didn't want to change. That's why Sirius and Lupin had to step in with their wands - to force him to change, thus proving that allegedly dead Peter is actually very much alive and a traitor. What an irony in his animal form being a ''rat''!

Since Peter was one of the marauders, he knew about the marauders map and knew he could be tracked while in Hogwarts. In human form, he could have been looking for LV for twelve years. He was trapped in rat form and could not change by himself.

My God, he cannot be trapped in rat form! He's an animagus, he can change at will. That's the whole point of being animagus for crying out loud.

Why would he go looking for Voldie if he though he was dead? Pettigrew needed a place to hide. He probably had no idea where the Marauders' map was after all those years. And who knew the twins would've pinch that map precisely from Filch's office?

If it is true, as we believe, that Peter was at the Potter house that night, he knew about the condition of LV. Once he was released from rat form, where did he go? He went looking for and found LV. If he had been able to do this twelve years ago, he would have.

Peter spent his life hiding at the Weasley house - safe & well feed. Besides, everyone thought Voldemort was dead - including Peter.

However, being at Hogwarts with the Weasley he knew that Voldemort was still alive & trying to regain power and was unsucessful in his first two attempts. But Peter was safe and happy with his life as a rat. He was protected and had no reason to change his situation.

Peter didnt look for Voldemort until after PoA because his cover was now blown. Everyone knew he was still alive and he was going to be sent to Azkabah if he was caught. He could go to the MoM or Dumbledore for protection after he betrayed them all so that left Voldie as his only hop. This is why he went to find Voldemort. He would be safe again if he gained Voldemort's protection.

The prophecy in PoA foretold of this:

The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these 12 years. This is excatly what happened as we all know this is the plot of GoF.

I believe that Peter searched for Voldemort during the summer. In his search for Voldemort he captured MOM official Bertha Jorkins, who provided Ministry news to Voldemort. Bertha Jorkins appeared out of Voldie's wand at the end of GoF so I believe Wormtail was the one that killed her.

Voldemort recieved important information from her and this is why he welcomed Peter back. Peter then helped Voldemort created a small, rudimentary smei body, so Voldie could travel and perform magic. Voldemort and Peter formulated a plan to create a new fully physical body, but which required the capture of Harry.

Also, Peter killed the Muggle, Frank Bryce and later, Cedric with Voldie's wand in GoF.

This shows several important things about Peter:

1) He is a cold blooded murder - he doesn't care who he kills or why and has no problem being a murdered or causing the death of others. He shows no remorse for his actions.

2) He is a pretty acomplsihed & powerful wizard - he can use another's wand to perform complex magic. He also used magic to help Voldie get a semi-body back before the re-birthing process at the end of GoF. And he is an Animagus is extremely difficult magical ability.

3) Peter is ALL about Peter. He would suck up to anyone who would give him power. Peter's entire life is one series of betrayals after another to further protect himself and his own interests.

I believe that Peter could have come out of hiding at anytime during the first 3 books but he chose to remain as a rat because he was safe & his life was easy. Only after he was forced to come out because his cover was now blown. Because he had no where else to turn and he was sure that he could help Voldemort would return to power did he actively seek him out to regain his favor and protection.

Well put, and I beleive Peter didn't leave the Weasley's home because he was 1) Fed, 2) Taken care of, and 3) His fake-death wouldn't be uncovered adn therefore the fact of Sirius Black's innocence!

Why does the prophecy say his servant was chained and that tonight he would break free? Are you saying he was voluntarily chained? Being chained and having to break free indicate to me that he wasn't very happy with his current condition. If I were constantly being chased by Crookshanks and had the ability to do something about it, I would.

Well he wasn't physiclly chained as we saw he moved freely around and Ron even lost him once or twice. So if Peter really wanted to leave he could have before his cover was blown.

I think the word chained in the prophecy could possibily refer to;

Captivity or oppression - Peter felt like he was stuck in his situation because he had to hide his true self

A series of closely linked or connected things - he was chained by his past betrayals (he betrayed his best friends, the Order and the MoM) and was forced to hide away to stay alive.

I'm sure life as a rat was not all full of roses. I believe that Petered also stayed with the Weasleys so long so he could find out news regarding Sirius or Voldemort.

If Sirius hadn't of recognised Peter (as wormtail) in the photo of the Weasley trip to Eqypt that appeared in the daily Prophet, Sirius would have never escaped and Peter would still be in hiding.

JKR is ery tricky. That small thing at the start of the book - a photo in the newspaper - later turns out to be a very important factor to the plot later on in the story.

Quote:

Originally Posted by blonder_than_u

Well put, and I beleive Peter didn't leave the Weasley's home because he was 1) Fed, 2) Taken care of, and 3) His fake-death wouldn't be uncovered adn therefore the fact of Sirius Black's innocence!

And there's your answer. Obviously the main reason he stayed as rat was because he didn't want his fake death to become known. He was living a pretty easy life in hiding as he didn't have to work for anything. He could bide his time until he could return to Voldemort, but then seeing as hes a coward he probably never would have changed back if he wasn't discovered.
So as he was an Animangus, he could change between human and animal form at will. He clearly just didn't want to be found.

I'm sorry, but I'm still confused. I understand that you can change at will when your an animagus. I believe this is just a movie mistake though, what I'm thinking. In the movie, Peter needed a wand to change back. Obviously, if he's a rat, he can't carry a wand, therefore he'd be stuck like that, until someone changed him back. Anyone else follow me?

But in the books, they don't need wands to transform into animals. They only need the wand when they become animagi for the first time, when they do this sort of spell, wich took James and Sirius 3 years to figure out. It's very difficult to do it, I've heard
But they don't need wands to transform. But I wonder where Pettigrew's wand where when he was transformed... Maybe I bought/stole a new one, after he had returned to Voldemort?

He is perfectly capable of transorming, but he does not want to blow his cover because everyone thinks he is dead.

I don't think that's it at all (although it is a nice theory). Peter Pettigrew did change himself to a rat, just after he cut off his finger and made that big explosion that got Sirius locked up. That's how he escaped. Of course, he had to leave his wand behind, because rats can't carry wands. So he had to stay a rat because nobody could change him back. And nobody knew he was an animagus, because he was unregistered, so nobody knew to change him back anyway. And he lived a great old life in the Burrow, so why would he want to leave that life? So he didn't change back into human form until Sirius (or Remus, I can't remember which one) changed him back in the Shrieking Shack.

i agree with occlumens on this
i think that he could change at any giving time but he was scared to be discovered

Dumbledore explains it: He lived a good life and he was in a wizard family so he knew everything that was going on.
Also, when he blamed Sirius, if he didnt explode and hide, Sirius'd say "he is the one" and it wouldnt be hard to give Veritaserum to both of them and get the truth. He hid for his free life. The forcing him to become human again is to prove the trio he is Peter. He could of course turn into human on his own will, but he didnt.

He is just not a coward, he has also a rat-like personality, he is very snicky and dangerous.

It's an interesting thought that Petunia was somewhat of a traitor, but it's kind of out of the blue. I don't think it's possible.

((Double post oops)) Also, Pettigrew was too afraid that if he returned to human form he would be found out, even though everyone thought it was Sirius Black who got the Potters killed.

Peter was remained a rat because if anybody saw him walking around they would either arrest him or Voldemort's supporters would kill him, not because he couldn't.

It's not that he couldn't change on his own, he just didn't want to.