Harry Potter and The Stolen Plot...

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Originally Posted by Nerwen

Okay, that's a point. "Wormtail" is an obvious... er... reference, let us say. And as you say, it doesn't quite work.

So at least it's not just me.

Not sure about the missing finger. It may be simply that Rowling wanted to include the old tradition that a shapeshifter's injuries persist from one form to another, and just happened to pick "missing digit" as the telltale mutilation, when it could as easily have been a torn ear, or something.

Two fingers could have worked even better to fool the MoM of Pettigrew's death, but no, we need to leave nine...

Bet it was his Ring finger.