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

[gkjpo <kristen@sanderson-web.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 49702

Ok, I tried to stay out of this, but I just can't. I must admit that 
Lupin is one of my favorite characters and I think it would be really 
be too bad to see that a person who overcame so much adversity to be 
on the good side (for people who don't even trust him), to actually 
turn out to be bad.  I would like to make one or two points relative 
to this discussion.

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999 <foxmoth at q...>"  
> I must point out that Harry did *not* lie to Dumbledore in CoS. 
> Dumbledore very gently and delicately said, "I must ask you, 
> Harry, whether there is anything you'd like to tell me. Anything at 
> all."
> 

Yes, this is true...  How do we know that Dumbledore didn't give the 
same type of choices to Lupin at an early age.  Yes, Lupin betrayed 
Dumbledore's trust and canon show that both he, Sirius and James all 
did things that could qualify as perfidious.  However, the quote 
above and numerous other canon references show that Dumbledore is a 
different type of mentor.  He likes to stand back and allow the 
people around him to develop their own character while taking them 
for what they are.  Only occasionally does he interfere and even then 
it's only a hint of what the right direction might be.  He could be 
accused of some perfidity himself in PS/SS when he sits back and 
allows Harry to face LV with little or no preparation.  If you think 
about how Dumbledore mentors Harry and think back to how he would 
have mentored young Lupin, Lupin's actions are better understood (in 
my mind).  Lupin may have felt, because of Dumbledore's earlier 
confidence in him, that he could handle the situation on his own 
without having to admit his faults/mistakes.  No one wants to admit 
faults and mistakes to their mentors/heros.

Another thing we do not know is how much effort Lupin put into taking 
care of the Sirius problem himself.  Yes, he did not tell Dumbledore, 
but in not informing the headmaster, did he take it upon himself to 
protect Harry from Sirius?  He, after all, also knew all the secret 
entrances even without the Marauder's Map.  On the first Hogsmeade 
visit, he made a point of asking what Harry was doing without Ron and 
Hermione around him.  He is the one who also made Harry take his own 
safety seriously (after the map incident).  Once he had the map, 
there's no canon telling how much he used it to watch the castle for 
any sign of Sirius.  Also remember that he knows the magic that went 
into creating the map, so who knows how much castle watching he could 
do even before he had it.


>  And then Lupin volunteers to be chained to Pettigrew. After 
> talking for at least an hour about being a werewolf, he  forgets 
> about  the full moon? His greatest fear? Even if Lupin thought he 
> had taken his potion, he still should have known that he was 
> going to change. He really shouldn't have offered to be chained 
> to Peter. If that was a mistake, it was an awfully convenient one. 
> 
He left for the shack only after seeing Peter and then Sirius on the 
map.  Seeing someone you thought dead for the last 12 years and then 
someone you knew was after the person you were attempting to protect 
all by yourself is enough to make anyone forget current 
circumstances.  He didn't clear the map, lock his office, or do 
anything after he saw that.  That means to me that he was so 
surprised by what he saw and so concerned about the safety of Harry, 
that all else was put aside.  It could be that he chained himself to 
Pettigrew for the same reason Ron did (because of his association 
with Pettigrew, he felt responsible).

Just my two muggle cents
Kristen