Lupin - neatly

[Zarleycat at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 16066

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Indigo" <indigo at i...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., Magda Grantwich <mgrantwich at y...> wrote:
> > >  I just reread Prizoner from Azkaban and noticed those little 
> hints

> > Thanks for reminding me.  I have a question:
> > 
> > How come Lupin can't magic himself up some decent clothes and a 
good piece of luggage? 
> > 
> 
> The same reason Ron Weasley puts up with owning "rubbish" to use 
his own words, rather than magicing up cooler, neater stuff for 
himself.  
> 
> Either that, or certain things cost knuts, sickles and kneazles, 
and that's all there is to it.
> 
> Or -- since my brain seems to be working oddly this morning:
> Lupin goes about looking bedraggled because people play less 
attention  to him when he's looking bedraggled and shabby than when 
he's looking  hale, hearty and prosperous?
> 
> Indigo

That's an interesting interpretation.  Certainly Remus has been 
battered emotionally in his life by people's mistrust of him, so 
maybe this is a way to be inconspicuous.  As I read this reponse I 
had another thought.  Maybe this is an outcome of Lupin's reactions 
to the aftermath of the deaths of James, Lily, and Peter, due to 
Sirius' betrayal. These were the people closest to Remus, the only 
ones that we know of who accepted Remus completely, who he trusted 
with his werewolf secret, and he lost all of them.  Plus, Remus 
doesn't learn the real story behind James and Lily's deaths for over 
12 years.  
I could certainly understand that Remus' state of mind during all 
this time might be such that he doesn't care about the general 
appearance of his material things, because, in the long run, that 
stuff just doesn't matter.  Having Louis Vuitton luggage won't 
replace the love of your dead friends.  Combine this attitude with 
the problem of not having a lot of money to begin with, and you get 
the "shabby professor" look.