Perfidious!Lupin(WAS: Against Evil!Lupin responses (long))

[marinafrants <rusalka@ix.netcom.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 49629

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "susannahlm <susannahlm at y...>" 
<susannahlm at y...> wrote:
> Marina wrote:
> 
> >Lupin's actions are really not so different from Harry's in CoS. 
> >Harry doesn't tell Dumbledore about hearing the basilisk's voice 
in 
> >the walls. He knew perfectly well it was important information, 
but 
> >he didn't tell because he was afraid Dumbledore would think he 
was 
> >crazy. If he had told, Dumbledore and Snape might've figured out 
> >early on that there was a basilisk involved. It's sheer luck that 
> >no one died as a result of Harry's silence.
> 
> Um. . . No, look, I'm sorry, but I *really* have to disagree here. 
> First of all, Harry did not "know perfectly well it was important 
> information." He didn't have a clue *what* it was. Sure, it might 
> have been "important information," and from an objective point of 
> view, it pretty obviously was. But there was still that slight 
> uncertainty there for Harry; so his rationalization for not 
telling 
> Dumbledore could be something like: "I don't want him to know--
*and* 
> it might not be pertinent, *and* I might simply be losing my 
mind." 

There's a deadly monster loose in the school and you keep heering a 
voice saying "Kill, kill, kill."  Every time you hear the voice, 
someone is found petrified shortly afterwards.  It doesn't take a 
genius to figure out that there's almost certainly a connection, and 
that identifying the source of the voice might prevent further 
attacks.  And Harry did figure it out; even if he had doubts, he 
knew he should've told.  After Colin was petrified and Harry was 
taken to Dumbledore's office, Dumbledore asked him straight out, is 
there something you want to tell me?  And Harry thought about the 
voice and then lied through his teeth.  Yeah, I can sympathize with 
his reasons for doing it.  I can sympathize with Lupin's reasons, 
too, but it doesn't make either of them right.

> The second point is this: Harry was a twelve-year-old boy. Lupin 
was 
> a grown man, in a position of responsibility.

That's a much stronger point, and I agree with it.  Lupin's 
culpability is more severe than Harry's, for precisely that reason.  
But I never said the two situations were identical in all respects.  
I'm only saying that Lupin's actions and motives were similar to 
Harry's (they both had important information that they knew they 
should reveal, but kept quiet due to personal issues) than to 
genuinely treacherous people like Pettigrew or Karkaroff or Lucius 
Malfoy (who act from calculated malice).

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com