Peter Pettigrew

"Lupin: You sold James and Lilly to Voldemort! Didn't you!? Pettigrew: I didn't mean to! The Dark Lord. You have no idea the weapons he possesses!"

- Peter Pettigrew's confession "Bone of the father unwillingly given. Flesh of the servant willingly sacrificed. And blood of the enemy forcibly taken. the dark lord shall rise again."

- Peter Pettigrew's resurrection spell performed for Lord Voldemort.

Peter Pettigrew, better known as Wormtail, is a major antagonist in the Harry Potter franchise, making his debut as the true main antagonist of Prisoner of Azkaban and later as the tertiary antagonist of Goblet of Fire. He was originally one of James Potter's friends, but later joined the Death Eaters and betrayed James and Lily in the process, thus framing their best friend Sirius Black for the crime.

He is portrayed by Timothy Spall.

Early Life
Peter Pettigrew was born on May 14th, 1960 somewhere in the British Isles, to a family of witches and wizards of low class, and raised in poverty under the watchful eye of his mother. His father kept him in his shadow by harshally criticizing his son for his fear and lack of capability to live up to his family's honor. Despite his parents' open hostility toward him, this lack of love largely shaped Pettigrew's paranoid self-confidence and desire of looking up to those more caring and powerful, yet misguided as him later in life.

By the start of his first year at the major wizarding school up in Scotland, called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Pettigrew was at first decided to be sorted into Slytherin due to his resourfulness, but was sorted into Gryffindor instead due to the Sorting Hat sensing some potential in him rather than any actual inborn courage, a trait that the nervous young wizard may have never lived up to. Aside from his timid outlook, though, he gained great friendship with many fellow Gryffindors whom he idolized for their popularity and talent, including the gang of them that he joined known as the Marauders (consisting of James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin), eventually latching himself onto them as if they were like cousins. After their discovery of Lupin's status as a werewolf inhabiting the mysterious Shrieking Shack in the nearby village of Hogsmeade that they nicknamed "Moony", Pettigrew studied in his third year with Potter and Black about secretly (and illegally) becoming Animagi (witches and wizards capable of morphing into animals at will), allowing them to support Lupin himself by safely accompanying him during his monthly transformations and keeping him under control. Pettigrew took the Animagus form of a fat gray rat with a wormy tail, from which his nickname "Wormtail" was derived, while Potter and Black took the Animagi forms of a tall red stag with pronged horns (Prongs) and a shaggy black dog with padded feet (Padfoot). In addition, the four friends allowed themselves to see where everyone in the Hogwarts castle was at a given time by creating their own map of the school that they labeled the "Maurauders' Map", which made sneaking around and avoiding teachers much easier.

Although he was considered a stupid and foolish boy during this time, Pettigrew continued hero-worshipping Potter and Black as the latter two immensely popular, and lived vicariously through joining then in their trouble-making accomplishments, such as bullying other students out of boredom. Many of the teachers, including Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore and his deputy headmistress, Transfiguration professor Minerva McGonagall, showed little respect for his intelligence and behavior while finding him around troublemakers, and the harsh pressure McGonagall put him under during their student-teacher relationship made Pettigrew a less than average student incapable of standing up for himself. At some point in his fifth year, a mutual hatred sprang up between Potter and an unpopular Slytherin student, Severus Snape, who bestowed an equal and life-long grudge upon Black and Lupin for supporting Potter but viewed Pettigrew with even more scorn than the other three because of his pitiful ineptitude. whom he would not have been likely to cross without either of his two classmates backing him up, Pettigrew himself eventually tagged along into helping Black and Potter humiliate the annoyed Slytherin in front of the entire school, only for the campaign of ill treatment to end when a Muggle-born Gryffindor whom Snape loved since childhood, Lily Evens, tried to defend her boyfriend, only to part ways with him and begin to date (and later marry) Potter after Snape inadvertently let the foul name for Muggle-born (Mudblood) slip out in his anger.

being hunted down by some Muggles for some unspecified crime, he blew them up with a spell and blamed the murders on his friend and Black. He then faked his own death by cutting off one of his fingers and leaving it at the crime scene, then turning in to his Animagus form. After which, he encountered Percy Weasley, who kept him as a pet and named him 'Scabbers' due to his mangy appearance. He remained this way for 12 years and was eventually passed down to Ron Weasley. His main reason for doing so was that he was afraid that many of Voldemort's followers believed that he had betrayed Voldemort and would kill him and by staying with a wizard family he would keep up on current news until he felt it was safe to return to his master. Since Ron was also best friends with Harry Potter, Peter knew he would capture Harry at the right opportunity and present him to his master as a means of proving his loyalty to the Death Eaters.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Wormtail was eventually forced to reveal himself by Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, who were angry for framing the former for the murders. Wormtail told him them that he was forced to do it out of fear for his life, but Remus, knowing it to be a lie, then tried to attack him, but Harry defended him, which Peter replied that he owed Harry a life debt. But, before he can be charged for his crimes, Lupin begins to turn into a werewolf and, amongst the confusion, Wormtail escapes in his rat form.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
After finding a dying Voldemort, Wormtail organized the events of the Triwizard Tournament disasters, murdered Cedric Diggory - on Voldemort's orders - and helped Voldemort rise again in a ritual which required Harry's blood and his own hand. As reward of this, Voldemort gave him a new Silver Hand. In the last book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, he kidnapped Harry and Ron and held them hostage in a dungeon along with several other prisoners. After Harry mouthed off at him, he attempts to kill him but Harry reminds him of the debt he owed him and he hesitates, which makes the silver hand strangle him to death.

Trivia

 * He shares a similarity to Renfield. They are both extremely close to their masters and will serve them no matter the cost.
 * He is also similar to Dr. No and Captain Hook. They all lose a body part which are replaced by false parts but their limbs are of different dexterity and strength. Wormtail's silver hand has brilliant strength and possibly dexterity whilst No's hands are extremely strong but lack dexterity.
 * His actor Timothy Spall also plays Nathaniel, Queen Narissa's henchman in Enchanted.
 * He is also similar to Grima Wormtongue. Both have similar names, both are the pathetic henchman of the villain, and also both are presumably killed by a different character in the film than in the book.