Stupidity : there are parts in the book where I just want to reach out and smack the characters and say, you wizards are stupid. These are those moments.
From Chapter One: Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone page 9
"He'd forgotten about the people in cloaks until he passed a gropp of them next to the bakers. he eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This lot were whispering excitedly too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.
'The potter's that's right, that's what I heard-'
'-yes their son, Harry-'
If a couple of wizards that aren't aurors know exactly what has happened to Harry, then what prevents the Death Eaters from knowing? How could any house be safe?
Peter was wandering around Little whinging in Surrey, far from the Potters home as he wondered, what was he going to do now that his master had fallen, and the potters were dead? He supposed that with his little disappearing trick he could go wherever he wanted now without having to worry about Death Eaters breathing down his neck, but something kept him in England. He was very glad he had done so when he unexpectedly ran into a bunch of wizards in a muggle doughnut shop talking about Harry.
If the wizarding world already knew the news of what had happened, that meant the Death Eaters did too. It would not take long before they would find out exactly whom had lead their leader to his death. It would not matter to them that he hadn't known Lilly was such a powerful witch or that he had been too afraid of James to help their master.
All that would matter to them is that he had betrayed their master. He was left with only two options. One, he could go to Dumbledore and beg for asylum. But then he would always have to worry about Death Eater children. Two, he could try to find where they were taking Harry and abduct him. Bringing the cause for the dark lord's fall into Death Eater hands to be raised as one of them, it would be sort of a poetic justice.
The second option was really the only way to go. More good luck as he recognized the man standing at the counter, staring at them. There was no doubt it was the same man James had introduced to his friends as being his sister in law's husband. If he was to follow this man home, perhaps his wife would give some indication as to where they were taking harry.
End