The Peter Pettigrew Character Detail That Makes No Sense To Harry Potter Fans

At the onset, let's acknowledge the giant, flaming, purple elephant in the room: in the Harry Potter literary and cinematic universes, you could say a whole lot of things "don't make sense"; we're talking about the wizarding world, after all. It's a world in which people can teleport by stepping into a fireplace in which there's a roaring blaze burning. It's a world in which dragons are real, giant spiders talk to giant people, and centaurs not only exist but are also somehow merciful enough not to kill Senior Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton). It's a reality in which some absolute nutter thought that Dudley Dursley's (Harry Melling) redemption with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) from the books — yes, that actually happened (via Bustle) — didn't belong in the movies! Sorry, that needed to be said.

Anyway, rant notwithstanding, lots of things in Harry Potter make no sense, based on the world's magical concept alone. But there are also things not based on magic, things about certain characters, that also don't quite add up, regardless of whether or not magic is in play. For example, there's something about Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew (Timothy Spall), a seeming friend of Harry's father James who's really a servant to the Dark Lord, Voldemort, that's a real head-scratcher and could call the credibility of the entire Harry Potter timeline into question.

Fans of the Harry Potter books or movies know that Peter Pettigrew betrayed Lily and James Potter, giving up their location to Voldemort, who in turn comes to kill baby Harry based on the prophecy that either he or Neville Longbottom will have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. Wormtail, as he's also known, is long believed to be dead because only his finger was found, as part of a plot to fake his own death so the blame for his betrayal would fall on Sirius Black. It made sense — Sirius came from a long line of dark wizards — and it worked; as a result, Harry's godfather spent years in Azkaban, believed to be a servant of Voldemort. In the third book-movie, we learn that Wormtail, an animagus who turned into a rat, was alive the whole time and living with the Weasleys as a pet.

But how in the name of Merlin's beard did Peter Pettigrew ever end up as a Gryffindor to begin with? The Sorting Hat — described as "one of the cleverest enchanted objects most witches and wizards will ever meet" on the official Wizarding World website — somehow placed this treacherous, disloyal, cowardly rat (figuratively and literally) of a wizard in the house that values "bravery, daring, nerve, and chivalry" despite the fact that he displays the exact opposites of these qualities. With his primary interest being self-preservation, Wormtail was a natural fit for Slytherin. But if he had landed where he belonged, he likely never would have become so close with his fellow Marauders — James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin — and doubtless would not have been in the position to be entrusted with Lily and James' location in order to betray them, without which there's no franchise. The math is just a bit fuzzy on this one.