Correction on Minerva's meaning; thoughts on Lupin

[marinafrants <rusalka@ix.netcom.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48043

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Ashfae <ashfae at t...> wrote:
>> 	Here's something that often bothers me. Does anyone else 
feel that
> Lupin gets a bit of a raw deal? I'm not referring to the fact that 
he's a
> werewolf, everyone's prejudiced, yadda yadda...what I mean is that 
all
> through Goblet of Fire, whenever Harry was longing for an adult to 
confide
> in and wrote to Sirius, I kept wanting to kick him for never 
considering
> Lupin. Fer crying out loud, Remus was one of James Potter's best 
friends
> as well, and Harry knows him *better* than he knows Sirius! Did 
all those
> Patronus lessons mean nothing? Bah humbug. Entirely possible that 
I'm just
> a Remus fan who was miffed that he didn't appear in book four, I 
suppose,
> but still...if he was such a popular DADA teacher, I wish more of 
the
> students (or at least Harry/Ron/Hermione) remembered him!
> 

I think that the answer for that lies in Harry's thought at he very 
beginning of GoF, when he's first trying to decide who he should 
write to: "What he really wanted (and it felt almost shameful to 
admit it to himself) was someone like -- someone like a *parent*." 
(GoF, UK paperback, pg 25)  He doesn't want DADA, he wants Dad, and 
Lupin has never attempted to present himself as a father figure.  He 
was a brilliant and compassionate teacher, and he probably *is* 
better qualified than Sirius to deal the problem at hand, but he 
never gave the impression of being emotionally accessible, and 
that's what Harry was looking for.  Sirius is the one who had 
offered Harry a home away from the Dursleys, he'd been writing to 
Harry all summer and had specifically encouraged Harry to call on 
him if he needed anything.  So when Harry had a problem he was 
frightened and ashamed about, I think it's natural that he went to 
Sirius, even though Remus makes a lot more practical sense.  (For 
one thing, Remus could've helped without risking arrest or death in 
the process.)

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com