Sirius' Prank & Lupin & What Would Dumbledore Do?

[cindysphynx]

No: HPFGUIDX 34400

My goodness!  So many excellent comments about my favorite characters 
in my favorite scene in my favorite book!  I have a lot to say, but 
I'll try to avoid repeating myself:

*****************

Eloise wrote (about Lupin's mild-mannered behavior):  

> But to me, Lupin's silence in the face of Snapes nastiness is a 
sign of his 
> maturity. <snip>  He's not on the verge of being a 
> doormat, he's just too big to get involved in such pettiness. 


Good points.  I guess I'm not saying Lupin should get right down in 
the mud with Snape and sink to Snape's level to prove he's not a 
doormat.  But there are ways to stand up for yourself without getting 
immature about it.  Granted, we don't know what, if anything Lupin 
does to stand up for himself when Harry is not around.  

Part of what I liked about Lupin-The-Cold-Blooded-Killer in the 
Shrieking Shack is that, without that scene, we would have no way to 
know that Lupin is Tough.  After that scene, I left with the feeling 
that Lupin is going to be a valuable soldier in the war.  He isn't 
going to become violent for no reason, but he will use violence for a 
good reason, and he'll do what he has to do.  

Compare Lupin to Hagrid, for instance.  Both are gentle men.  I feel 
confident, however, that in the fight against Voldemort, Lupin can be 
counted on to do the right thing in the right way, that his response 
to a threat will be measured and precise.  Hagrid?  Who the heck 
knows how he'll respond to a threat, whether real, perceived or 
imagined.  That tough and reliable part of Lupin's character was 
established almost entirely in the Shrieking Shack scene.  So, yeah, 
I liked that Lupin can be a Cold Blooded Killer.

Bonus question:  if Dumbledore had been in the Shrieking Shack, would 
he have been willing to kill Peter like Lupin or would he have shown 
mercy without waiting for Harry to speak up?  How about McGonnagall?

Eloise again:

> Exactly, Lupin can forgive, but does that speak about Sirius' 
special 
> qualities, or Lupin's?

I'd say both.  Lupin can forgive Sirius because Lupin is thoughtful 
and mature, of course.  But I think if Sirius were just a hot-headed, 
irrational jerk and nothing more, then Lupin would have decided 
Sirius' friendship wasn't worth the trouble and just cut him loose 
and moved on.  Lupin's ability to forgive reflects well on Lupin, but 
it also tells us that there is more to Sirius than meets the eye.

Elkins wrote (about Sirius):

> I think that people may have misunderstood me here.  I don't 
> actually think that Sirius is a bad guy at all.  I *like* him.  
> Honest, I do.  

Doh! You mean I squandered my best pro-Sirius rant to preach to the 
converted?  Now I have no ammunition left if some anti-Sirius member 
shows up next week. :-)

Elkins again:

>I'm perfectly willing
> to forgive him for the prank, myself.  (Hell, easy for *me* to say, 
> right?  He didn't play the prank on *me.*)

After I posted my pro-Sirius rant, I realized I had omitted something 
important about Snape.  Most of us operate on the assumption that 
Snape was the victim of the prank, and then we move on to whether 
Snape ought to bear a grudge against Sirius.

In fact, there were at least three victims of the prank:  Snape, 
Lupin and James.  

James was a victim because he risked his own life to save Snape, and 
James might have been expelled had Snape been injured or killed.  
James is a completely innocent victim, but we know that he 
nevertheless remained close friends with Sirius until James died.  
That suggests that James was able to forgive Sirius right away and 
move on.  

Lupin (as I said earlier) is a victim.  Had Snape been bitten or 
killed, Lupin would have been expelled for sure.  He might have also 
been executed (think Buckbeak).  Lupin is a completely innocent 
victim, and the one who had the most to lose.

Then there's Snape.  No way is Snape a completely innocent victim of 
this prank.  He was being nosy, and his motives were not pure.  He 
was snooping specifically to get the Marauders expelled.  No one 
dragged him to the Willow to follow Lupin; Snape went there 
voluntarily, for all the wrong reasons.  That doesn't excuse what 
Sirius did, of course, but Snape surely bears some responsibility for 
what happened.

Lupin (and James) is a completely innocent victim in this prank and 
Snape is not.  That's why I think that if Lupin (and James) can 
forgive Sirius, then Snape ought to be able to get over his grudge, 
too, and the grudge does not justify Snape's behavior in PoA toward 
Sirius or Lupin.

Elkins again (about Snape):

>But I just can't find it in my heart to blame him for this
> particular grudge.  Did he ever even receive an *apology?*
> I somehow doubt it.  Or if he did, then I'll bet it came from 
> James, on Sirius' behalf.  

Interesting point.  I feel certain that Sirius never apologized for 
the prank and that he never, ever will.  No way.  Not gonna happen.  
Sirius didn't inherit the apology gene.  He doesn't apologize for 
choking Harry, tackling Harry, breaking Ron's leg, slashing the Fat 
Lady, slashing the curtains, and helping get Harry's parents killed.  
He does manage to eek out a "Forgive me, Remus" for thinking Lupin 
was the spy and he apologizes for startling Harry, but those are the 
least of Sirius' transgressions.

That said, it is possible that Sirius will "apologize" in some other 
way.  You have to understand that I think Sirius has a big bull's eye 
on his back and will never survive the series.  I wonder if it is 
more likely that Sirius will die saving Snape's neck than he will die 
saving Harry.  Wouldn't that be something to see?

In some respects, Sirius' character seems internally inconsistent, 
even without considering how he is different in GoF.  Sirius seems to 
have no "guilt receptors" with respect to the prank.  He just doesn't 
get it, and can't feel any remorse about it.  On the other hand, he 
feels tremendously guilty about his role in changing the 
secretkeeper.  Regardless of what Sirius proposed, it was James who 
made the decision to use Peter.  Nevertheless, Sirius sees James' 
death as Sirius' fault.  The prank was a much worse error in judgment 
than the secretkeeper fiasco, yet Sirius doesn't see it that way.  
Why?

Elkins again (on Sirius' arrested development):

>But he didn't go to prison until he was in his twenties, no?  
> Plenty of time for it to have occurred to him that maybe trying 
> to use one of his best friends as a weapon to murder another 
> teenager might have been a tad, well, *impetuous,* to say the 
> least.  

According to the time-line, Sirius went to Azkaban 2 years after 
Hogwarts.  That would have meant Sirius was around 20.  I think 
there's precious little difference in maturity between an 18-year old 
and a 20-year old man.  I would expect no growth at all out of Sirius 
in those two years, and that's exactly what happened.

As for Snape's lack of growth, I'm can't accept the idea that he's 
developmentally arrested because he is still teaching at Hogwarts.  
Once Snape becomes a teacher, his role changes and his outlook should 
change.  He has 12 years of real-world life experience that Sirius 
just doesn't have.  No, the only excuse I can think of for Snape's 
arrested development is his status as half-dementor.  :-)

Elkins again (about Lupin's dialogue in the Shrieking Shack):

>Lupin starts to edge into a rather sophisticated brand of verbal 
> cruelty.  That's just how someone of his particular temperament 
> expresses extreme anger and hostility.

Yes, I think we are reading that scene differently, although I think 
your point is quite valid.  I took another look, and Lupin seems to 
have two types of dialogue once Peter reappears.  Much of what Lupin 
says to Peter is just effective cross-examination:

"I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you, Peter, if 
you'd be so --"

"You knew Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban . . . When nobody 
has ever done it before?"

"I must admit, Peter, I have difficulty in understanding why an 
innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat."

The remainder of Lupin's dialogue with Peter is really rather matter-
of-fact, which is a cover for the surprise that Peter is alive:

"Well, hello, Peter . . . Long time, no see."

"We've been having a little chat, Peter, . . You might have missed 
the finer points while you were squeaking around down there on the 
bed."

"No one is going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things 
out."

That leaves us with Lupin's parting line:

"You should have realized . . . if Voldemort didn't kill you, we 
would.  Good-bye, Peter."  I didn't see a whole lot of sarcasm, anger 
and hostility there.  

Cindy (confident that Lupin could find paid work as a lawyer)