Pettigrew is such a pathetic excuse of a man who, in canon at least, is plagued by regret and disgust of his own weakness. I reckon a few months with the dementors would turn him proper, extremely batshit insane.

 

And yet he manages to keep his sanity through 12 years of isolation as a rat.

 

Hiding in rat form while being cared for by a family for 12 years =/= the mental torture we are led to believe being under the Dementor's effects causes. I can't believe you're actually trying to compare the two, to be honest.

 

Uh yeah, sane, thats exactly what he was! Nothing he did ever suggested insanity at all!

 

@Ellisande: No, nothing in canon indicated that he was insane, just a coward. I'm not sure where you're getting that from, really.

@Dark-Stallion: Being in one's animagus form is said to reduce the effect Dementors have on you. Add that to the fact that rats are much less complex than dogs, which should reduce it further.

 

He spent 12 years as a fucking rat hiding AMONGST those who were trying to look for him.

I mean, seriously wtf. Coward yes, either retarded or insane as well. I mean, sane people would flee the country, or the wizarding world at least, instead he decided to live disguised with the people he betrayed...

Oh, and he resurrected Voldemort which included cutting off his own hand. Thats real sane.

And to what you are saying to DS, he wasn't in Azkaban ever, so I honestly don't understand what point you are trying to make.

 

I think he's talking about Pettigrew in this story. He spent 12 years in Azkaban, most likely most of the time as a rat, since canon said that Sirius' animagus form dampened the effect of the Dementors.

 

I'm trying to make the point that within the confines of the collective HPverse, Pettigrew is relatively sane. Because in all seriousness, Rowling had pretty much every significant character holding the idiot ball for the entire series.

 

The only example we have of that is Sirius, and he wasn't exactly sane; add to that he addmitted himself the only reason he didn't go completely bonkers is that he knew he was innocent I can't see how your argument has a leg to stand on. I admit I am assuming that Pettigrew doesn't have the benefit of being innocent and that he feels the same guilt/regret over his actions that he did in canon, but nothing so far points to a difference in the AU. If it turns out to be the case, I will be amongst the first to refer back to this post and apologise for making assumptions as well.

Also, is the idea you have about the complexion of the animal relating to the effect Dementors have canon, fanon or made-up bullshit?

You were actually arguing that Pettigrew in this fic wouldn't be too insane because of what happened with Sirius, hence why I was pointing out how retarded that was because the situations are different.

As Ellisande pointed out, he was already fucked up in canon; I took that further to say that, from what we know of the story so far, this can be extrapolated to say that in this AU Pettigrew will be totally batshit insane.

Ellisande, I was referring to Pettigrew in this AU, not canon.

 

Right, I forgot that Sirius mentioned that. Point taken, so I agree that it's possible that Pettigrew is completely insane, though I still think it would be more interesting if he had an actual reason to go after Nathan.

 

I think the fact that a certified nutjob gunning for Nathan, for no other reasons other than whatever has been percolating in his Dementor-flavored state of mind, will be plenty interesting. The fact that he's been rotting in Azkaban and 100% guilty makes such a difference, that I honestly cannot wait to see what he does.

Shit, within the parameters of this story, Pettigrew could reasonably be a Barty Crouch, Jr./Bellatrix hybrid...what a trip....

 

What makes the cliche so stupid is that it's not like the spell incantations for these two don't give away their single-purpose nature. You don't even have to know much about Latin. Why is it so hard for people not to notice that cruciatus sounds remarkably like excruciating, as in excruciating pain. I don't remember "life saving medical procedure" being part of the definition of a verb that in reality means:

crucio, cruciare, cruciavi, cruciatus V (1st) [XXXBO]
torment, torture; cause grief/anguish; crucify; suffer torture/agony; grieve;

Oh wait, it's not.

Or how about the Imperius curse? It doesn't sound anything like our own English word imperious (which too many fic writers mistakenly use in place of the Curse's name). And then there's imperial, and if you're only moderately good at making connections, empire. All of these words have to do with having authority over someone in a way they can pretty much do nothing about. Why do fic writers insist on trying to make complete and utter loss of volition anything remotely positive? And their suicide attempters? Well, since you didn't convince them not to commit suicide, the moment you lift the curse, they'll try to kill themselves some other way.

imperium, imperi(i) N (2nd) N [XXXAX]
command; authority; rule, supreme power; the state, the empire;


Ironically, to me, anyway, is that the Killing Curse potentially can be thought of as a perversion of healing magic to the worst degree:

From the Lexicon:

But no one ever talks about that in their fics. No. The TORTURE curse whose incantation means to torture, and the Imperius curse, whose incantation means supreme power and authority - THOSE were good. Not that killing curse whose incantation is a perversion of a Real Life healing charm . . . :awesome

 

Actually, looking at the PoA again, it says

"I think the only reason I never lost my mind is that I knew I was innocent. It helped to keep me sane and knowing who I am ... help me keep my powers ... so when it all became ... too much ... I could transform in my cell to become a dog."

As we know that Pettigrew wasn't innocent, he couldn't transform into a rat therefore he's more insane than in canon.

 

Or... Sirius just might be wrong.

 

What? That was Sirius' way of coping. For all we know the knowledge that he lead the Dark Lord to his death is the only thing keeping Pettigrew sane. One less powerful person to fear, you know? Or maybe the promise of freedom if he ever escaped.

Sirius was able to hold onto the fact that he was innocent to keep sane enough to transform, but Pettigrew might have clung to fact that he had inadvertently killed the Dark Lord. Who knows?

 

The Santi.

 

Rhetorical question. But okay.

 

Canon Pettigrew showed badass levels of mental strength on more than one occasion. To leave behind unimpeachable evidence that would damn Sirius, he cut off his own finger. Could you do that? I sure as hell couldn't. Then, he cut off his fucking hand to bring back the Dark Lord: Slice, saw, splatter. Cut off his fucking hand. We lionize and make feature films about a hiker who did so to save his own skin. Give Pettigrew his due.

The man is mentally tougher than anyone in canon, with the possible exception of Harry. He obviously not only has the mental strength to survive imprisonment and the Dementors, but also to turn it into a crucible for his vengeance (or whatever his motivations work out to be in this story). I have no difficulty imagining that in the echo chamber of his own mind, after a decade Pettigrew has convinced himself that his so-called BFFs are the ones truly at fault, abandoning him and setting him up for the fall. Just like old times, the bastards.

These same people never visited or extended even the most basic courtesy of asking, "Why did you do it, Peter?" Of course he had a good reason--and it sure as hell wasn't because he was timid. Fuck, he was sorted into Gryffindor, after all, just like them. He was no coward. No, it was something else entirely, a courageous attempt to help out the ungrateful twats and Dumbledore's useless Order, the same people who could turn on one of their closest friends and brothers as soon as it proved convenient.

They must be made to pay, the Potters most of all. Nathan is their life, their symbol as the epitome of Light-aligned families. Take the Boy-Who-Lived out of the picture and the world will see the lie that is the Potters' life and the cowardice behind the facade, that they're a family who hid under a rock while others sacrificed and bled, entirely happy to let others pay the ultimate price so that they can spend their evenings cooing at their kids--and who makes babies in time of war anyway, if not as a convenient way to remove themselves from the front lines--and making sappy puppy-dog eyes at one another. And giggling. Merlin, he hates the sound of Lily's insipidness, the bane of his Dementor-infused nightmares. Fuck them all. He'll give them something to laugh about...

 

I don't have thumbs up, but if I had, I sure as hell would use them in ^that^ post. That 's the kind of insane!Pettigrew I'd like to see written, not just someone who is like socrazylol.

 

Is there any mention in story that Peter, in fact, did not use his animagus form in Azkaban ? He was under heavy security, so probably with minimal human contact, only with Dementors for company and they do not care for animals. He did not need great mental strength to wait in dementor-resistant form for chance to escape.

About his finger - in my opinion it was Peter´s desperate gamble to make Sirius look guilty and buy himself time, by any means. Peter would do anything to run away. He probably only wanted to make sure that Sirius would be incarcerated and he would use this time to escape before Sirius´ trial. Peter couldn´t have known that Dumbledore would come with evidence of Sirius´ betrayal and nobody would bother with trial for scion of House Black.