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Please forgive me if this issue has already been brought up in the guild. I am relatively new to the guild (accepted this morning to be precise) and, while I have scanned portions of the posts, I have not been able to make it through them all yet. If the issue was already mentioned, feel free to just post a link to the thread and I can carry on from there.

In Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry saves Wormtail's life by refusing to let Sirius and Remus kill him, but escort him to Hogwarts instead, during which time he successfully escapes. When Harry is talking to Dumbledore regarding this issue, Dumbledore makes quite a big deal about the importance of this event. (See Prisoner of Azkaban, US Adult Paperback edition, page 459. Midway through chapter 22 for those of you that don't have that edition.)

" 'Pettigrew owes his life to you. You have sent Voldemort a deputy who is in your debt. When one wizard saves another wizard's life, it creates a certain bond between them ... and I'm much mistaken if Voldemort wants a servant in the debt of Harry Potter.' "

With this being said at the end of book three, we can assume that Wormtail runs back to Voldemort and tells him the whole harrowing story. But in Goblet of Fire, we see that Wormtail is still in service to Voldemort (mainly, I feel, because Voldemort doesn't really have any choice at that moment. Wormtail is the only able body willing to help him out immediately.) But after Voldemort returns to his body, we see that he rewards Wormtail with a new arm for his services and loyalty.

Does this mean that Voldemort, in fact, does not know about Wormtail's debt to Harry? Or is this another one of those situations where Voldemort chooses to overlook this "deepest, and most impenetrable" form of magic? We know that Voldemort refused to acknowledge the power of love as being something worth note until the time when it backfired on him, and in truth, he continued to over look it's power even after the initial attack on Harry that rendered Voldemort bodyless. (Recall Voldemort setting Quirrel on Harry without considering that it would destroy his current host body in Philosopher's Stone, and Voldemort's possessing Harry's body in hopes that Dumbledore would kill Harry in order to destroy Voldemort in Order of the Phoenix.)

Either way, what will become of Wormtail in book 7? Will Voldemort destroy him because he is a liability in his fight with Harry, or will Wormtail play an important role in Harry's ultimate defeat of Voldemort?

Let me know your thoughts and opinions on the matter!

Hmm I never made that connection with the hands. I just sort of assumed that Dumbledore got the injury in trying to get/destroy the ring horcrux. Could be an interesting theory though. I definately think that Pettigrew will play a big role in the Harry/Voldemort encounter though. JKR made too big of a deal about it in Prisoner of Azkaban for it to just be something minor.

^ I agree. Rowling wouldn't have given us the setup, and then gone out of her way to remind us of Pettigrew's existance in 6, if she weren't going to make something of it.

My first theory was that Pettigrew is going to kill Lupin, what with the whole silver/werewolf, Romulus/Remus theme they have going on, but JKR has supposedly shot that one down.

Keeping with the same theme however, and with the thought in mind that Peter may redeem himself or save Harry in some way by the end, it's always possible it'll be Fenrir Greyback who gets the silver hand instead.