TBAY: Remus isn't THAT nice - well.....(and Marauders)

[dicentra63]

No: HPFGUIDX 39177

Dicentra is kneeling on the deck of the Big Bang, furiously scrubbing 
the surface with an old toothbrush.  Cindy swaggers by from time to 
time to examine her work. "You missed a spot," she inevitably sneers 
as she points at a *perfectly clean spot* with the jagged end of the 
broken paddle.

Dicentra is not the only unlucky Big Bang denizen forced to scrub the 
deck thusly: Pip is not 20 feet from her, and not much farther on is 
Felicia.  They're engaged in conversation about some insignificant 
thing -- Lupin or whatever -- when Pip says something that catches 
Dicentra's ear:

"Oh, I don't think Remus is BAD. I have a little theory that all the 
Marauders had some basic character flaw, and that one of the effects 
Harry is having is to make them face that and overcome it."

Dicentra sits up.  This could be interesting...

"James is described as arrogant," Pip continues. "Currently 
unfinished and truth factor still uncertain (it's mainly Snape's 
evidence) -- we don't know if he overcame that before he died. Remus 
doesn't accept he's dangerous (but does at the end of PoA). Peter 
betrays his friends to save his life (currently unfinished). Sirius 
-- well, pre-Harry Sirius isn't exactly *brave*, is he? But he's 
learning."

"He what?" Dicentra interrupts.  She stands and puts her hands on her 
hips.  "What do you mean he isn't *brave*?"

Pip, not knowing what she's getting herself into, responds, "If 
Sirius was genuinely brave instead of only sportsjock brave he'd have 
faced Teenage!Snape himself and not shoved being Secret Keeper onto 
snivelling little Peter."

"Oh, that will *not* go unanswered," Dicentra begins to mutter, teeth 
clenched.  She walks over to Pip, grabs her by the collar and pulls 
her up.  "Cindy we have a matter to resolve onshore can we go thanks 
so much," she calls out, knowing that Cindy is on the other side of 
the ship and can't hear her. Then she turns to a kid who is sitting 
on deck, playing with his toes.

"Harry! Can we have a ride onshore?" Dicentra jerks her head toward 
the beach.  Stoned!Harry obligingly pulls out his wand.  A jet of 
silver sparks hits their feet and they're launched headlong onto the 
beach, where they land, sprawled out, faces covered with sand.  "Last 
time, he made a pontoon bridge," Dicentra spat, as the sand flew from 
her mouth.  She grabs Pip by the arm in a startlingly strong grip 
before she can get away and drags her toward the museum. Pip, too 
startled to protest, allows herself to be led.

Dicentra stalks through the museum to the stairs, and takes Pip to 
the third floor.  She guides her over to the dioramas and stops in 
front of the one labelled "Shrieking Shack."  It's one of the larger 
dioramas, consisting of a dusty room with a four-poster bed and 
mannequins of Ron and Sirius.  

"Let's fast-forward this a couple chapters," murmurs Dicentra.  She 
turns a wheel near the diorama and the action procedes fast-forward: 
Harry and Hermione arrive, then Lupin, then there's a bunch of 
talking, then Snape shows up (and is soon on the floor) and there's 
more talking, then Peter appears.  Dicentra quits turning the wheel.  
The action freezes.  

"Listen to this," she says, as she punches a white button with her 
thumb.  The sound comes on.  Sirius is talking to Sniveling!Peter.

"Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it," 
Black hissed, so venemously that Pettigrew took a step backward. "I 
thought it was the perfect plan...a bluff.... Voldemort would be sure 
to come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless 
thing like you...."

Dicentra pushes the button again and the action freezes.  "Did you 
hear that?  Sirius suggested they make Peter the Secret-Keeper, 
knowing that Voldemort would go after Sirius himself.  Sirius was 
planning to take whatever torture Voldemort wanted to dish out, but 
since he's not the Secret-Keeper, Voldemort can't get any information 
out of him.  Turning yourself into a decoy to lure Voldemort from 
your friends isn't my idea of cowardice!"  Dicentra has worked 
herself up into a lather, as usual.

"Furthermore, we don't know that Sirius played sports at all, so I 
don't know where 'sports-jock' brave comes from."  Pip has to take a 
couple of steps backward to avoid the spit flying from Dicentra's 
mouth.

"If Sirius has a flaw, it's that he's overconfident about his own 
cleverness.  He's sure his plan will work -- so sure he has no 
problem convincing James and Lily. But he was wrong.  And he's 
equally sure he can capture Peter single-handedly and kill the Rat, 
but Peter outsmarted him and framed him instead.  And THEN he tries 
to catch Peter again, alone, and Peter gets away again."  Dicentra is 
breathing hard, as if she's been running.

"Well, OK," says Pip. "Calm down, it's not such a big deal. On to the 
next point. What about facing teen-aged Snape himself?  Why didn't he 
just settle things like a man instead of sending him down..."  But 
Dicentra lays an index finger on Pip's mouth.

"Don't. Mention. That. Incident. Ever. Again." she snarls.  "This 
list has discussed you-know-what far too many times. Don't get us 
started again."

Dicentra stalks off, still fuming.  Pip, truly bewildered, shrugs her 
shoulders and makes her way out of the museum. "Geez, that was an 
awful lot of setup for such a little idea," she observes.

Dicentra, who didn't hear Pip, wades into Theory Bay up to her 
armpits and swims over to the Big Bang.  As she hoists herself up 
onto the deck, she sees Cindy standing over her, arms crossed and toe 
tapping.  

"She said Sirius was a coward!" Dicentra protests.  "I had to 
straighten her out!"  Cindy kicks the toothbrush toward her and gives 
Dicentra a look that she can't possibly misread.  "OK! I'll get back 
to it."  As she recommences scrubbing, Dicentra remembers there's a 
thread about House-Elves going on somewhere, and she vows to go 
there.  "I've got me some real-life experience with that," she 
glowers.  "Anything to get away from this..."

--Dicentra, who will walk a mile to defend Sirius's honor