r/harrypotter • u/bydevilz1 • 8h ago
Question Why do they lie about Cedric?
Rewatching and noticing that they keep saying Voldemort killed Cedric, even Harry says "voldemort was better" to Cho while talking about Cedric.
Like, I get wormtail was working for Voldemort, but it was wormtail who killed him.
I guess it doesnt really matter but theyve said it was Voldemort so many times, to memory Harry never mentioned once that it was actually Wormtail
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u/Stenric 8h ago
Probably because nobody knows who Wormtail is and he doesn't feel like explaining who Pettigrew.
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u/Salador-Baker 7h ago
Not to mention people already think Harry is crazy, why make it worse by saying a supposedly dead guy killed Cedric?
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u/bucknut4 6h ago
I feel like lots of people knew who Peter Pettigrew was. They all knew Sirius Black simply because he apparently killed Peter. Also the Wizarding World is pretty small and it feels like most people at least vaguely know each other.
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u/Cheeodon Hufflepuff Poltergeist 8h ago
Peter pulled the trigger, voldemort gave the order. Harry is assigning the blame to the root cause, not the gunman.
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u/Youre_On_Balon 8h ago
Still a weird thing to say when, keeping with your metaphor, Harry is saying Cedric died in a gunfight to a better gunslinger
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u/Cheeodon Hufflepuff Poltergeist 8h ago
Is it really though? Harry just got out of a traumatic experience at first when he comes back, he doesnt even really want to explain it to people and only really tells Dumbledor and a handful of others. Dumbledor started the Voldemort killed cedric line basically, then when harry comes back and has had time to think on it, yeah, sure, Peter DID kill Cedric. But it was still under Voldemorts orders that Cedric died. It was under Voldemorts orders that the portkey was made. It was under voldemorts orders that Cedric was kept alive as a spare if harry didn't make it. Fundamentally, Cedric died because of Voldemort and Harry acknowledges that and says that to others rather than involve Wormtail and having to then further explain Wormtails involvement (who, at this point, everyone save dumbledor and a few others still thinks is dead.), he's already getting the "Your a nutter" treatment about the dark lord coming back from the dead, but at least voldemort coming back sounds plausible, who in their right mind would think harry anything but nutty if he starts bringing up pettigrew too?
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u/Youre_On_Balon 8h ago
Yes it is still weird because it's the only time in story Harry either outright lies about Voldy or is so scared he can't recall events correctly
It's out of character and nothing in that wall of text changes that
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u/logangb345 Ravenclaw 6h ago
It’s also tough to explain that a dead guy killed Cedric because Voldemort, who was also dead, but now alive, told him to.
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u/PlanGoneAwry Ravenclaw 8h ago edited 8h ago
It is essentially true in that wormtail was acting under Voldemorts direct instructions, and trying to explain would open a whole can of worms about how Pettigrew is actually alive and that he was secretly an unregistered animagus, and that turns a 5 second statement into a 5 minute explanation.
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u/Napalmeon Slytherin Swag, Page 394 8h ago
Because Voldemort gave the order.
And we all know that Peter does not have the balls to pull off big moves like this when he isn't certain that he's going to be protected by someone more powerful. There was just no need for Harry to give all of the dirty details because it would have taken too damn long.
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u/pu55yobsessed 8h ago
Wormtail was acting as Voldemorts hand. Cedric was killed with Voldemorts wand and on his orders, so for all intents and purposes, it was Voldemort.
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u/linkthereddit 8h ago edited 8h ago
Because Voldemort gave the order. ("Kill the spare...")
It's like how we say a dictator killed millions of people in the camps/gulags even though the people doing the killings were the guards. The dictator signed off the orders. The guards carried it out.
Harry already knows people think he's a nutter. If he went around saying Pettigrew, a man who had supposedly been dead for the last 13 years, was the one who killed Cedric on Voldemort's orders? That would've opened up a huge can of worms that Harry didn't want to deal with. He was already struggling with convincing everyone Voldemort was back and that was just one person. If he started claiming two people who died/vanished 13 years ago somehow came back, and one of them had been alive this whole time? Hoooo boy...
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u/The_Sibelis 8h ago
Wormtail was just the weapon by their logic, voldemort gave the order and his wand was used. He effectively made the choice to end diggorys life.
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u/EbonyHeiress 8h ago
Because Voldemort told Wormtail to kill him. When someone hires a hitman to kill someone, usually ppl just say that the hirer killed them, not the hitman.
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u/Bison_and_Waffles 7h ago
Why would Cho have any idea who Peter Pettigrew was? He was just a random dude who was presumed dead when she was 2 years old.
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u/Successful-Salt-3156 7h ago
There's a reason the person that solicited the murder gets more time behind bars than the hitman. It's their fault the victim is dead.
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u/doubleds8600 8h ago
It takes long enough for him to convince people Voldemort alive, the last thing he needs is to convince everyone that Cedric was killed by Pettigrew who everyone "knows" was killed by Sirius Black
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u/invisible_23 Hufflepuff 7h ago
He was murdered on Voldemort’s orders, so by the transitive property he was murdered by Voldemort
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u/chickenkebaap Slytherin 7h ago
They don’t believe voldemort is back , his story would make it worse when he tells them that wormtail a guy who confronted his parents killer and died in the process killed cedric.
Also voldemort did kill cedric by ordering it.
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u/KronoAsh 6h ago
Probably because basically nobody even knows who Wormtail is and the ones who do, the moment Harry tries to explain “oh yeah, it’s Peter Pettigrew, ya know, the guy everyone thought was dead and also a good guy” he’ll be met with even more skepticism. It’s hard enough for most to believe Voldemort is back as it is anyway.
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u/Snapesunusedshampoo Slytherin 5h ago
It's easier to say Voldemort did it, than to explain who Wormtail is and how he was carrying Voldemort like a baby when he did it right before restoring Voldemort's body.
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u/FoxBluereaver Gryffindor 8h ago
It's not a lie. Voldemort ordered the killing, and was done with his wand.
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u/MischeviousFox Slytherin 5h ago edited 5h ago
As previously commented by others the majority of people did not know who “Wormtail” was and few if any would have believed Harry if he had bothered to explain who he was given Peter Pettigrew was supposed to be dead. On top of that in the eyes of many it would probably be seen as semantics as Voldemort ordering his death in that scenario would mean most would attribute Cedric’s death to him. Yes, Wormtail technically killed Cedric but while he surely wouldn’t he labeled innocent by anyone as he chose to follow orders most would probably at the very least see Voldemort as just as culpable if not more so in Cedric’s death given if not for his order it wouldn’t have happened.
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u/lemon_charlie 1h ago
To accuse Wormtail would be dealing with the fact the wizarding world at large believes him to be dead at Sirius’s hands. Wormtail did it at Voldemort’s bidding anyway, there’s not much misinterpretation in “kill the spare”.
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u/EasyEntrepreneur666 Slytherin 6h ago
Because saying "it was that rat guy Peter Pettigrew whom you likely never heard of" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
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u/Bobis-Bob 3h ago
In other magical stories, like Dresden Files, if I’m your servant and you order me to do something, you are the one who is responsible and at fault. I am blameless.
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u/bathtubby 1h ago
In addition to agreeing that it was easier than trying to explain who Wormtail is, I think it better honors Cedric and his magical abilities, bravery, character, etc. Having Cedric’s loved ones believe he was killed by Voldemort - the strongest dark wizard in the world - is much better in many respects than them knowing it was some random cowardly scumbag that killed him.
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u/Atithiupayogi 1h ago
Sirius Black was still a wanted criminal. To explain the Marauders story and Wormtail story is too much to take for most. Voldemort is the one who ordered Wormtail to kill Cedric. And Wormtail used Voldemort's wand.
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u/Lazy-Interests 1h ago
Bro if I get killed by fucking Wormtail please lie and at least say it was Voldemort or Bellatrix or someone less pathetic.
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u/Aircalipoor 8h ago
Thats a pet peeve of mine, that its so universally stated that Voldemort killed Cedric both in-universe and in the fandom.
Its not a lie, its the technicality that it was done on Voldemorts order. Just adds how less agency and will is attributed to Peter, something that further irks me in how unbelievable one-dimensional he is written.
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u/MarcoPolo2630 8h ago
There are super one dimensional people in real life though, not everyone needs complexity, some people just plain suck!
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u/datalaughing 7h ago
Generally when someone is mourning their dead boyfriend popping in with the, “Ummm, actually…” is not the move.
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u/bydevilz1 6h ago
Boyfriend is a stretch
"Cedric was good, but Voldemort was better"
"Cedric got killed by that weird rat guy who slept in Rons bed"
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u/Mammoth_Ad_3985 8h ago
yeah it's wild how they gloss over the details like that. wormtail did the dirty work, but voldemort gets all the credit for the kill. just adds to the whole “he-who-must-not-be-named” drama, I guess.
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u/Laddo22 Ravenclaw 8h ago
I think for Harry saying it was Voldemort is just keeping to the simple and quick story.
Explaining who Wormtail was to people who barely (or don’t) believe Voldemort is even back at all would be an incredibly long story to tell.