MD Alternative: Lupin is the agent. (WAS Objections to Magic Dishwasher - Sh

[Tom Wall <thomasmwall@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51864

NOTE: replies to both Marina and Pippin
are here...

Annemehr wrote:
You know, I like this, mostly. The only 
part that bugs me is wanting to read Lupin 
as genuinely surprised that Pettigrew is alive 
and Sirius was innocent. Can we get around 
this somehow?

I replied:
Well, if we can agree that Lupin might have 
realized almost immediately when he saw 
Pettigrew that something was awry, without 
totally exonerating Sirius in his head, and 
if we can agree that he went, under some kind 
of instructions to "find out the truth," or 
something like that, then I think we could 
get around it.

Marina wrote:
I have to admit, this is a cool scenario, 
and hangs together pretty neatly. I do 
want to bring up one more issue:

According to this theory, Lupin deliberately 
didn't take his potion and arranged for himself 
to be handcuffed to Peter so that his 
transformation would facilitate Peter's escape. 
But such a plan relied absolutely on Sirius 
being innocent, and as you say yourself, Lupin 
couldn't have been sure of this until he arrived 
at the shack and saw what's what (though I agree 
with you that he probably began to suspect the 
possibility as soon as he saw Peter on the map). 
If Sirius turned out to be guilty, there 
would've been no one aroundd to protect HRH from 
Lupin when he transformed. I just can't see the 
cautious, rational Lupin, deliberately take such 
a risk.
END QUOTE.

I reply:
Well, I definitely agree with you that Lupin would have had to delay 
judgement until he was in the Shrieking Shack... for prudence's sake, 
anyways. Surely he couldn't know for sure what was coming.

So, if Pettigrew had turned out to be the traitor, and Sirius wasn't, 
then events might have unfolded as I outlined. Possibly. ;-) There 
are, of course, alternatives.

OR, if Sirius was the traitor, and Pettigrew wasn't, then he could 
have somehow gotten Harry to save Sirius, and things might have run 
similarly to above, except with a twist, although I bet that it might 
have been more difficult to orchestrate the escape.

OR, for instance, if it had (quite possibly) turned out that both 
Sirius AND Peter were traitors, then we might be able to theorize 
that Lupin believed he could either:
 
a) take them both down, since:
"[Peter] was always hopeless at dueling." (PoA, US paperback, "The 
Marauder's Map," 280) AND ALSO gamble that Sirius was weakened and 
wandless from too much time in Azkaban, OR

b) distract the two traitors long enough to give the kids a chance to 
escape.

In either case, I think that it would be paramount in Lupin's mind to 
keep the kids safe from the transformation. I don't think that he 
would take the risk, and that one way or another, he would have 
accounted for it, perhaps like one of the ways I mention above.

And to be honest, I have to confess that my original interpretation 
of the "you forgot to take your potion" bit was that it was perfectly 
candid, in other words, I inferred that Lupin really just forgot to 
take the potion. 

But, for the sake of argument, it *could* be read a different way. 
<grin>


I wrote:
ENTER SNAPE, desperate, angry, and bent on revenge. Snape 
screws the whole thing up. 
But look - Lupin is still the source of calm, of reason.

Pippin replied:
I could almost buy this. But Lupin's line to Snape:
"You fool," said Lupin softly. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting 
an innocent man back in Azkaban?"

Does that sound like the language of someone who is bent on 
calm, rational discourse? If that were an HPfGU post, and Lupin 
were a moderated member, it would be rejected for tone. 

I reply:
Hey, you're right, I agree... the line *is* slightly out of character 
considering the rest of my portrayal. But, if you'll humor me, I'd 
propose three things in Lupin's defense here:

1) Snape is being very unreasonable, and the "fool" comment aside, 
Lupin doesn't lose his temper in the delivery like Snape does... so, 
I'll concede that it *is* a little out of character. Yeah, I can 
completely agree with that. But I might counter that 
it's 'reasonably' out of line. As in, the tone is 'soft,' and could 
be read as 'calm.' So he gets the dig without losing the credibility 
he's built with the kids.

2) Even if Lupin lets the "fool" dig get through, he *does* back it 
up with a reason, i.e. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting 
an innocent man back in Azkaban?" So, assuming that he's ultimately 
trying to convince Harry to trust him, then, given Harry's constant 
mistrust of Snape, this would sort of be in character, right?

3) And since Lupin keeps calm and reasonable the rest of the time, 
I'd say that, at the very least, this slip up could be considered to 
be just a plain-old acceptable mistake, at least from the kids' 
perspective. 

And the kids' perspective is all that Agent!Lupin would really care 
about, *if* he was this hypothetical agent in the first place, right? 
<grin>


I wrote:
"You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful 
along." 
(PoA, US paperback, "The Servant of Lord Voldemort," 358) 

"And two of us should be chained to this," said Black, nudging 
Pettigrew with his toe. "Just to make sure."
"I'll do it," said Lupin.
(PoA, US paperback, "The Servant of Lord Voldemort," 377) 

Right. Lupin's first in line to be cuffed to Pettigrew. Why? Well, 
exactly BECAUSE he didn't take the potion. 

Careful, meticulous, thoughtful Lupin, who beyond anything 
doesn't want to risk attacking a student, who just told the kids 
that he felt guilty about putting other people at risk when he was 
a kid. Why would he do that? 

Well, just speculating here, but he knows that he needs 
Pettigrew to escape - so if two "other" people are chained to 
Peter, then that might not happen. But if *he* is chained to Peter, 
then what better way to help that along than turning into a 
werewolf en route?
END QUOTE.

And Pippin replied:
Ingenious, but Lupin transforms physically even if he takes his 
potion:

"As long as I take it in the week preceding the full moon, I keep 
my mind when I transform....I am able to curl up in my office, a 
harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again. " --PoA ch 
18. 


And I reply:
*chuckle* 

Pippin, that is *such* a good point. Make me wonder why I bothered 
looking for that at all. Okay. How about this: I'm not sure if you 
intended it this way, but it *might* be inferred (again, totally off 
canon, one-hundred percent interpretation here) that, one way or the 
other, potion or no potion, the transformation would be a distraction 
that might be enough to let Pettigrew escape, right?

To be perfectly candid, I wondered about that line - I mean, what is 
it supposed to mean, anyways? Does it mean that he's got to take 
it "every day" in the week preceding the full moon? Or "just once" in 
the week preceding the full moon?

But, I'd submit that since we don't have all the facts in on the 
Wolfsbane Potion, maybe there's enough benefit of the doubt to go 
around... and at least, we do know that he *didn't* take the potion, 
whether he intended to "not take it" nor not. 

So since he didn't, the transformation is still a dangerous enough 
distraction to let Pettigrew escape. 

In the dangerous enough world of theory and inference, that is. ;-)

-Tom