And we have a winner!

[longstrider.livejournal.com]

We have our "one tiny change back when it all started."

Sirius has all but confirmed that everyone thought Lupin was the secret keeper.

Since Peter seems to not be around, we have two scenarios. One Lupin did actually betray the Potters to V. I find this unlikely given Lupin's personality both in the books and as portrayed here. Two Lupin did the same switch that Sirius did in the books. He's the one that cornered Peter afterwards, but unlike Sirius did actually manage to kill him. I see no reason for Peter to have gone into hiding in this world if Lupin had only managed to harm him and every reason for Lupin to have done so after this version of events.

Comments

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

I'll be disappointed if Peter Pettigrew is really dead; that would diminish the Marauder generation possibilities for the game and would thin the plot when that secret is finally revealed. I want Peter alive to be held responsible and to play some role in Harry's future.

I see no reason for Peter to have gone into hiding in this world if Lupin had only managed to harm him and every reason for Lupin to have done so after this version of events.

I don't see why Peter might not have gone into hiding when he realized what Voldemort did with the information he gave him. Shame at having his remaining friends know he betrayed them and fear of Voldemort (who turned out to be not just the powerful and persuasive boss Peter imagined but a truly terrifying monster on top of that) might be motive enough for him to have transformed and scurried down the closest drain. Perhaps there wasn't even a confrontation between Pettigrew and Lupin. (Have we had any discussion of a duel in the streets and Muggles killed? -- That was the Sirius-Peter showdown in the books that led to Sirius's arrest.)

I don't have a problem with imagining that Peter could be alive and in hiding in the game even though he appears NOT to have been living with the Weasleys as a "familiar" as he does in the books. I did note that there was a reference to a rat at some point recently, though I didn't save a link for it. I think we heard that one of the students has a rat. (Perhaps this came up after the first music party when Susan and Harry's owls were present and conversation turned to the question of which familiars could safely attend a function where the owls were included. Or perhaps it was during some other conversation. No time to look it up now...)

I'm still not persuaded that this difference (that it was Lupin rather than Sirius whom the Potters asked to be secret keeper) is the definitive "one tiny change" of the game. I can't make that work as a cause for Voldemort's decision to keep Harry alive: that strikes me as the most important change in the game's backstory vs. the books because that is the change that results in Voldemort's emerging unharmed from his encounter with the Potters, which means his rise to power proceeded without interruption.

[brimtoast.livejournal.com]

Whatever the one change is, it has to account for:
-the Order mistrusting Lupin instead of Sirius
-Voldemort choosing to adopt rather than kill Harry

Your theory could be part of the puzzle, but how can we make it account for both events?