TBAY: Death, and Hagrid vs. Lupin

[maria_kirilenko]

No: HPFGUIDX 54665

Abigail sits on the floor of a dark, damp cell and mutters incoherent 
insults, which echo lightly off the walls. The muttering gets lounder 
and louder, until the words `democracy,' `humpty-dumptying,' 
and `fair trial' become very articulate, even though the rest of 
Abigail's speech is still barely understandable. 

Soon, the resident of a neighbouring cell, Maria, begins to find it 
difficult to concentrate on her own muttering, and she bangs her fist 
on the wall dividing the two cells, trying to communicate her 
irritation. When that doesn't work, she yells, `Would you PLEASE keep 
it down?'

The ranting suddenly ceases. `Oh,' a pleasant voice reaches her 
ears, `I'm so very sorry. It's just that I was dragged off from the 
Royal George just now. They're accusing me of treason, you see.' The 
voice now sounded very huffy.

Maria suddenly smiles. `You must be Abigail, then. How very 
fortunate – I was sitting here hoping to talk to you about something 
you said over at George's. I am, by the way, Maria. Cindy and Eileen 
were here a while ago, and I couldn't help overhearing them saying, 
among other things, that you claimed that Lu--'

Abigail, who has no wish to discuss George's right away, changes the 
subject. `What are you doing here, anyway?' 

`Well, I was contemplating a visit to Theory Bay for a while now, and 
I've finally gotten around to booking a tour. Nice place, I was 
beginning to develop a taste for it, until I got to the Safe House. 
There I made the mistake of mentioning to Sneaky – she was showing me 
around – that I can't decide which I like more – cunning and 
competent secret agents, or screw-ups. She had me dragged down here 
very quickly,' says Maria, deep in thought, as though still trying to 
resolve the question.

`Yeah, and she seems so nice at first,' Abigail laughs. `So what did 
you want to talk to me about?'

Maria shakes her head, as though to clear her thoughts. `Well, I 
believe you said that Lupin is toast, now that all his plot lines are 
resolved and that he is no longer the only character that suffers 
from prejudice.'

`Yes,' interrupts Abigail, `I did say that Lupin no longer has a 
function in the books. Unless he's evil, and more evil than 
Pettigrew. Which brings us to a choice between Dead!Lupin and Really-
Horrible-Evil!Lupin. Which will it be?' 

Maria shudders at the lack of variety in her choices, and picks 
one. `Dead!Lupin.'

Abigail grins.

Maria knows that Abigail grinned, even though she can't see her, and 
says sternly, `I don't choose that option just because it's better 
than the other one. I, too, am fairly sure that Lupin will die by the 
end of the books. But I have a different take on it than you do. To 
start with, I think that Lupin will not die earlier than in the 6th 
book, the 7th book being much more probable, in my opinion. Shall I 
carry on?'

Abigail gives her permission and Maria continues.

`First of all, Evil!Lupin is totally out of the question for me. I 
have stated that particular belief of mine on multiple occasions, and 
it's firm. So I'm just going to ignore that possibility and assume 
that Lupin is good, OK?'

Giving Abigail time to nod, Maria takes a breath and continues. `You 
see, I don't agree with your claim that Lupin no longer has a 
narrative or plot function. Marina's arguments that OoP is a long 
book and can change a lot of things aside, there is something that 
Lupin has yet to do, along with Sirius, preferrably.

`As Marina said, Lupin's life sucks. She's absolutely right, and it 
sucks because a certain rat Animagus got one of his best friends 
killed, landed another in Azkaban, and played dead himself. This is a 
situation that just screams `Revenge' to me, and honestly, I can't 
see a revenge scenario not played out.'

`Can't Sirius kill Pettigrew or something? He's already usurped 
Lupin's function as a father figure, so he can do his revenge thing 
without Lupin's assistance either," says Abigail.

`No, he can't. First of all, forgive me for saying so, but Sirius's 
life at the moment does not suck as much as Lupin's does. I'll even 
go so far as to say that Lupin had it almost as bad as Sirius did all 
those 15-odd years. Which gives them at least an equal right to 
revenge. Then, I think that it would be fair and logical if they did 
whatever they want to do to Pettigrew *together*, as the remaining 
part of the great MWPP,' says Maria with certainty in her voice.

`Hmm, but Harry said he didn't want them to become murderers and 
whatnot, so why would they?' asks Abigail as soon as Maria pauses.

`Who said anything about murder? There are other methods of revenge. 
Edmond Dantes was particularly imaginative in that respect. Besides, 
what we had in the Shrieking Shack was the possibility of cold-
blooded murder. I assume that a duel between two wizard doesn't 
qualify as such. They can hand Pettigrew over to the Ministry – all 
sorts of things, really. Hey, they can convert him to the light side!

`What I don't want to see, though, is Harry killing all the bad guys 
off himself. Assuming that he will be the one to kill/destroy 
Voldemort, that leaves Lucius and especially Pettigrew to other 
people, and that's where Moony and Padfoot come in,' Maria finishes.

Abigail looks pensive. `I shall have to think about that,' she 
says. `So, if he has a narrative function like you say, then why do 
you suppose that Lupin will die at all, and not in OoP either?'

Maria thinks for a bit, and then answers the second question 
first. `Well, as most people seem to agree that OoP will have no 
direct confrontation with Voldemort, and Pettigrew seems to be 
Voldemort's tag-along
' Maria's voice trails off, and then 
continues, `And it would be a shame to watch all that through Harry's 
scar or, <gasp>, be told about it, right?

`And as for the first question
 At least some good guys – and 
important ones, too – have to die, and not just Dumbledore. And, as 
much as it pains me to say it, Lupin, along with Hagrid, is 
expendable.'

Maria,
who never thought that her first visit to TBay would be spent in a 
prison.