Apologies

[Margaret Dean]

No: HPFGUIDX 36625

cindysphynx wrote:

> That said, I have to kick myself, because I overlooked perhaps the
> biggest, most important apology in the books.  In my favorite scene
> in my favorite book, no less:
> 
> "Forgive me, Remus," said Black.
> "Not at all, Padfoot, old friend," said Lupin, who was now rolling up
> his sleeves.  "And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you
> were the spy?"
> 
> Now, what on earth are Black and Lupin apologizing for here?  Back
> when Voldemort fell, no one knew whom to trust.  Neither did anything
> wrong by failing to trust the other.  It was nothing personal, and it
> was unavoidable.  Yet there they are, going out of their way to
> apologize before, uh, murdering someone in cold blood.  A lot of
> people have expressed dissatisfaction with this scene, and perhaps
> one reason is that neither character has any good reason to be
> apologizing.  I don't know.

The answer, I think, is that they are not precisely apologizing
but rather asking mutual forgiveness.  They are getting out what
previously lay between them so that their friendship can be
re-established on its old basis of mutual trust.  And if they're
about to commit cold-blooded murder, they're going to NEED that
friendship, boy howdy!  (They still do, as it turns out, even
after the murder is averted.)

On that basis I'd say your instinct that this is the "most
important apology in the books" is perfectly sound!


--Margaret Dean
  <margdean at erols.com>