Fear of Werewolves is Justified (was Defense of Hagrid, Hagrid's Teaching, Flobberworms, etc.)

[Amanda Geist]

No: HPFGUIDX 40368

Darrin said, in the long list highlighting the clay feet of the Hogwarts
teaching staff:

> * Undercutting another faculty member by assigning homework with the
> intended result of outing that faculty member as a member of a group
> targeted for bigotry? Snape

Okay. I don't dislike Lupin; I like his character very much. That said...

He is a *werewolf.* In my eyes, that is considerably more than simply being
"a member of a group targeted for bigotry." That is being a member of a
group that is damned dangerous. Lycanthropy is incurable; it will cut you
off from society, the only parallel I can think of as adequate is leprosy
and how leprosy has been perceived. Devastating. Permanent. Painful. Final.

As a parent, I would immediately have requested Lupin's dismissal. I would
not have wanted my children exposed to any such danger. Even if I made the
decision, for myself, to associate with a werewolf, being sure that he was
in control of himself, I still would not make that decision for my children.
I would protect them. I certainly would not want someone else making that
decision, without even letting me know.

Snape considers that Lupin is a danger. I think this is true whether or not
Lupin was assisting Black. I think the werewolf thing is enough. Snape may
well have enjoyed letting it slip, after having held his tongue all year,
but he is nothing if not multi-motivational. I don't think he was nice about
it, but I don't think he was wrong.

Hagrid, on the other hand, *is* simply "a member of a group targeted for
bigotry." We are not shown how Snape reacts to Hagrid's lineage, but I'm
willing to bet he has taken his cue from Dumbledore and treats with the
individual, rather than the category. Hagrid is not a devastating threat to
the students; Lupin is.

--Amanda