Some Thoughts On Some Stuff, etc.

[jodel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 45880

evenflow makes a number of statements and poses a number of questions 
regarding the secret keeper debacle. I submit my own interpretation of the 
matter, which goes as follows;

Yes, Dumbledore knew there was a spy in his ranks. They all were aware that 
there was a spy in their ranks. For that matter, I suspect that Voldemort 
knew that somewhere in his organizaton he had a spy. The whole situation at 
the time of V's fall was overloaded with spies. That's why Dumbledore offered 
to be secret keeper for the Potters. Because he knew there was a spy, and he 
didn't know who it was.

Dumbledore was also wary about Sirius for another reason. Sirius is clever 
enough, but he is impulsive and he takes risks that are likely to get himself 
killed. You don't want someone for a secret keeper that is likely to go off 
and get himself killed, taking the secret with him. There was a particularly 
nasty terrorist-style war going on, remember? IMHO, Sirius is not 
particularly stable, even if he WAS James Potter's best friend. Not even back 
then. The Dememtors only made him worse. (I suspect bi-polar disorder, 
myself.)

I think that James and his friends went back far enough and were such a 
closely-knit group that, at the time, it didn't occur to either James or 
Lupin that the spy was one of themselves. I think that they were more 
inclined to suspect other members of Dumbledore's organization, with whom 
they worked closely. Sirius, however, later admits that he had suspected 
Lupin. This could be standard wizarding predjudice in action, coming to the 
surface once push comes to shove. Or it could have been a bit of fallout 
related to the Whomping Willow incident. I can very well believe that there 
was a coolness on Lupin's part despite the fact that he may have claimed to 
have forgiven Sirius for the prank, and Sirius claimed that he was sorry. 

Personally, I think it was the latter. Sirius is a throughly self-absorbed 
individual, (and was so well before the Dementors got their hands on him. 
They improve nothing, they steal parts of their victim's psyches but they put 
nothing in its place. Whatever is left would have been there to begin with) 
he is not of a forgiving disposition and he does not often choose to be put 
in the wrong. (Unless he absolutely has no choice in the matter -- then he 
wallows in it.) And if he harbored some niggling sense of blame toward Lupin 
for having been the cause for his having been put into the wrong over the 
Shrieking Shack incident, it wouldn't be the only case we've seen where he 
has unrepentantly, and very disingeneously, determined to blame his own 
victim for what could have happened to him. Snape isn't the only wizard we've 
met who has a spiteful streak, and if Sirius can be so self-serving as to 
assign blame to Snape for the incident, he is certainly capable of assigning 
it to Lupin as well. (The "all is forgiven" scene in PoA is fueled to a large 
extent by mutual relief over the discovery of each having one "true friend" 
left after both believing that they were the last of the group. They both 
still have issues to work through once the dust settles a bit.)

Plus, the four of them DID have a spy among themselves. And Peter was not 
sitting idle through this. He was encouraging Sirius to suspect Lupin. He was 
also probably working on Lupin to not fully trust Sirius. And he was 
certainly working on James and Sirius to trust HIM. We still don't have much 
of a handle on how James Potter's mind worked. But it is pretty clear that 
Sirius is very easily manipulated by anyone who knows him well, and knows 
what buttons to push. I quite confidently believe that the idea of sending 
out a "decoy" secret keeper originated with Peter Pettigrew. Once the idea 
would have had the time to sprout, I suspect that Sirius would have been very 
taken with the notion of being the Noble, Heroic Decoy leading the suspicious 
off on a wild goose chase while faithful, inconspicuous little Peter actually 
keeps the Potters' secret location from their enemies.

And it's an idea that Dumbledore would not have endorsed, being both too 
risky and quite unnecessary. So, of course Sirius disuaded James from 
acepting Dumbledore's offer to keep the secret of where he and Lily were 
hiding. Peter expertly led Sirius, James and Lily into a trap. And, y'know? 
Given what seems to have been underpinning Mr. Black's personality from way 
back, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find that in doing it Peter may have 
had some scores to settle on his own account. 

-JOdel