Yes, he was plenty brave when he laughed in the face of a murderous Sirius before blowing a street up and getting away scot free. And let's not forget chopping his finger off too, all in a split second. It was a pretty smart plan, actually, for all the time he probably had to set it up.

He has a remarkable bravery for self mutilation, definitely.

 

Is there a kind of bravery that isn't sacrificial?
To me, bravery is an act where you knowingly sacrifice (edit or risk) yourself or something worth to you, for the sake of yourself or a group.

Edit: or risk

 

That seems like an overly complex definition of bravery, and suspiciously like one constructed for this particular circumstance.

I prefer something a bit simpler: bravery is doing scary things.

 

That definition is supported by whatever dictionary Google automatically uses, for all the weight that has in this discussion.

 

Yeah, the definition I always see for bravery is being afraid, but not letting that fear dictate your actions.

Though on the topic of Pettigrew being brave, one could argue that it wasn't so much bravery as being more frightened of going to Azkaban/Voldemort than he was of cutting off his own body parts.

 

I have yet to see any evidence that Pettigrew was frightened at all of self bodily mutilation. He seems to be perfectly fine with doing it over and over again.

 

He was shaking when he cut his hand off IIRC. You can argue it was because of excitement but still.

 

Not really.

 

I don't see Pettigrew as a coward at all. Rather, he's someone driven by such low self-esteem that he'll sell out his best friends to be part of a tight-knit group.

Though some may argue he already was, what with the four friends and the Order, it doesn't mean he saw himself as truly being a part of them. That'd make it easier for him to sell them out.

As for him not having much magical ability: he blew a hole in a street so big that Muggles were convinced a gas line had ruptured causing an explosion, killing numerous people.

There's some real power there.

 

Could Peter have actually hit a gas line, and made his explosion look that much more powerful completely by accident?

 

Why does it need to be an accident? If he really hit a gas line, he probably knew it was there and lured Sirius there on purpose.

 

I mean, technically sure. Could Voldemort have been using a wand that was actually a high-powered bb-gun in one of the scenes? Technically, there's no proof he didn't, right?

In other words, the simplest explanation and whatnot.