Lupin's Secrecy Concerning Padfoot

[finwitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 54754


>  Elisabeth:   
>  Of course, Harry does things like this (witholding important 
>  information from his superiors) on a regular basis.  If he had 
told 
>  Lupin on Halloween that he had seen an enormous black dog near the 
>  Dursleys, the story would probably have ended very differently!!

Harry saw no reason to. People *can't* tell others everything, no 
matter how trusting they are. It's always a summary based on what one 
considers important. Harry doesn't tell - partly because being open 
with Dursleys has unpleasant consequences, partly because he doesn't 
realise it's important... "Oh, by the way, I saw a big dog here and 
there..." - why would he tell Lupin? Children don't exactly go round 
telling their teachers they've seen dogs or cats in places where dogs 
and cats might well hang around...

And on Lupin not telling about Sirius/Peter/James being animagi, 
well, *they* never told about him being a werewolf as far as he knew. 

Human thinking isn't always logical - (and wizards aren't usually 
good at logic) but associative. Lupin associates Sirius' secret dog-
animagus to the concept of friendship with extremely strong emotions. 
So strong they can't be reasoned away.

Lupin might have reasoned Sirius to be the traitor (because the rat 
was too weak for Voldemort to want him?) but emotionally he never 
believed it of Sirius. The Wolf can't believe another canine animal 
to betray the pack. Moony can't believe that Padfoot would be 
traitor, as much as his reason told him so...

-- Finwitch