Who's going to betray the Order?

[acoteucla]

No: HPFGUIDX 75921

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, music4masses 
<music4masses at e...> wrote:
> Actually, there's a number of completely reasonable explanations 
for all of 
> this. Rowling herself said the moon wasn't out when Lupin entered 
the 
> tunnel. Then there's the fact that Lupin's dead best friend's son 
is 
> chasing a convicted killer. I think I'd hustle too, quite frankly. 
It 
> doesn't sink in because it's not dark out and because there was an 
> emergency. Mistake? Certainly. Evil? No indication of that. He 
volunteers 
> because he is an adult. Simple.

Right, there are definitely explanations for Lupin's behavior which 
don't require him to be evil.  This may surprise you, but I 
personally would not bet money that Lupin is evil.  However, the 
circumstances are undoubtedly suspicious, and Lupin seems the most 
likely of all the choices to be the betrayer, IMHO.  Suppose that 
Lupin does kind of lose his wits when he sees his dead friend and his 
best friend's son chasing a convicted killer.  Why then is he so calm 
and collected when he shows up in the Shrieking Shack?  If, by then, 
he has re-collected his wits, then why doesn't he recall his mistake 
when talking about the potion, and when Snape reminds him?

I'm not really sure what your point is about the moon not being out 
when he originally heads for the shack... why would this make 
his "mistake" any less bone-headed?

> I'm confused, where and when in PoA does Lupin tell the dementors 
to attack 
> Harry?! Weren't they already there chasing down Black? They went 
after 
> Sirius too. No need for Lupin to beckon them. It was also explained 
earlier 
> in the text that the dementors were getting hungry. 

Again, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for what happened 
which doesn't involve making Lupin evil.  But also again, the 
circumstances are suspicious.  Why do the dementors show up RIGHT 
after Lupin leaves?  Why do they attack Harry (Fudge is mystified as 
to why they do this)?  We don't know how people communicate with 
Dementors, but for the sake of simplicity, let's say it's like 
telepathy.  Lupin runs off, and once he's safely away, he tells the 
dementors where Sirius is, and to kill everyone with him as well.

Another suspicious detail about the dementors: the other time they 
got "hungry" and converged on Harry's location was during the 
Hufflepuff quidditch match.  Lupin was a werewolf at this time too.  
Perhaps he was testing to see if the dementors would obey his 
instructions if he was in werewolf form?

> Neither Harry nor Hermione see Lupin 
> talking to dementors before going down in the tunnel, or after.

Right, because Harry realizes at the last second that they are in the 
exact location that Lupin is heading towards.  They run away, and 
never see what Lupin is doing at this point.

> Rowling is not 
> going to make the victim of discrimination and prejudice evil. Like 
another 
> poster said, it would almost be justifying the bigotry.

Snape was the victim of much bullying while a kid at Hogwarts.  Now 
as a teacher, he bullies the kids around.

The centaurs are the victims of discrimination and prejudice.  To 
counter this, they seperate themselves from humans and see themselves 
as superior to humans.

In both cases the victim of discrimination becomes a practitioner of 
discrimination.  Rowling does not seem afraid to do this.

However, I do agree with your point - Lupin is the most likable 
victim of prejudice in the HP books.  It would be a real shame if it 
turned out he was evil.  And James has already shown a poor choice in 
friends with Peter Pettigrew.  It would be a real shame to make two 
of his three friends ESE.  But, to be honest, do you trust James' 
judgement?  There's Peter Pettigrew (oops!)  There's Sirius Black, 
who almost killed Snape with a "prank" and remains unrepentant.  
Perhaps Lupin was a less than stellar choice of friend as well?

Don't forget that the reason James switched his secret-keeper from 
Sirius to Peter was because he and Sirius suspected Lupin!  If Lupin 
is exactly as he seems, then I would think he would be the LEAST 
likely choice to be the spy.  So they must have had some real good 
reasons for suspecting him!