Remus, Severus, mind-games? (stupidly long)

[annoyedpackrat]

No: HPFGUIDX 71606

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Kirstini" <kirst_inn at y...> 
wrote:

> a)	"This parchment is plainly full of Dark Magic. This is 
> supposed to be your area of expertise, Lupin." – doesn't that count 
> as, if not undermining, then at least sowing seeds of doubt about 
> another teacher's skills in a pupil's head? Compare to Lupin's 
> behaviour in quote 1.

We all know Snape behaves appalling around Lupin. He's howling 
unprofessional, but that isn't the point I'm interested in. What I'm 
interested in is Lupin's behavior as passive-agressive manipulation.

> b)	'Full of Dark magic?' he repeated, mildly. 'Do you really 
> think so, Severus? It looks to me as though it is merely a piece of 
> parchment that insults anybody who tries to read it. Childish, but 
> surely not dangerous? I imagine Harry got it from a joke shop-`  – 
> yes, here Lupin may appear to be getting his own back (within his 
> own field of knowledge) at Snape, but he also renders the map's 
> direct insult to Snape, which a pupil has witnessed, redundant 
> ("insults anybody"), whilst passing judgement on some (not all ie. 
> full moon rambles) of his own past actions (`Childish, but surely 
> not dangerous?') 
> c)	`Indeed?' said Snape. His jaw had gone rigid with 
> anger... 'You don't think it more likely he got it *directly from 
> the manufacturers*?'
> Harry didn't understand what Snape was talking about. Nor, 
> apparently, did Lupin.

Lupin *denies* knowing the manufacturers. Snape doesn't appear to 
believe him, possibly with reason if he ever overheard the Marauders' 
nicknames for each other as a student.

> 'You mean, from Mr Wormtail or one of these people?' he 
> said. 'Harry, do you know any of these men?' – safe tactic. Saving 
> his own skin. Doesn't have to tell Dumbledore that there  were 
three 
> unregistered Animagus wandering around Hogwarts in the mid-70s. But 
> at the same time, neutralising a discussion which Snape (with his 
> grudge against Sirius and James) refuses to understand is 
> unacceptable to have infront of this particular pupil. We read 
Lupin 
> through Harry at this point, and Harry, the pupil in question, 
> doesn't comprehend any sort of dig at Snape, any sort of 
undermining 
> of Snape's  authority,  any realistic hint of the history between 
> the two. Which he isn't supposed to. It isn't an appropriate 
> discussion to be having in front of a pupil. 

No, it's not an appropriate discussion in front of a student, but 
Lupin does this a lot. He manipulates a situation so that it appears 
he's not doing anything but he's actually teasing Snape -- not a wise 
thing to do since Snape has the temper of a rattlesnake at the best 
of times.

> d)	"`Harry, Ron, come with me. I need a word about my vampire 
> essay. Excuse us, Severus.'" – yeah, that one was a cheap shot. But 
> he only said it after Snape had set the werewolf essay which, given 
> that Snape has occasionally been seen in daylight, was a lot more 
> personally damaging.
> 
> Lupin might pass by a particular opportunity to make amends as we 
> see it in page time, but he doesn't respond to Snape's needling 
> either. He treats him, consistently, as a well-respected colleague 
> in front of his pupils (reacting, perhaps, against the situation 
his 
> inexcusable non-intervention put him in twenty years before?). And 
> yes, he is consistently mature and pleasant in his actions. 

He's consistently passive. Lupin reacts to situations more -- he's 
not proactive, nor does he act when its solely his responsibility and 
duty.  He manages to talk Harry into not going into Hogsmease, but 
that's a reaction to Harry's rule breaking.  Otherwise he's quite 
passive: neglecting to tell Dumbledore about Sirius as an animagus 
when he fully believed that Sirius was a Death Eater intent on 
murdering Harry; arranging to humiliate Snape via Neville's Bogart; 
denying the Marauder's Map. It's a deep flaw in his character.

Usually, he is the one to calm fights (Molly & Sirius in OotP), react 
to other people's behavior (Snape in PoA) and back up his 
friends/allies (Sirius in PoA, the Advanced Guard in OotP). Rarely do 
we see him acting proactively by himself.

> Pettigrew? I'd probably feel similarly in Lupin's situation. I have 
> two explanations possible for that one:
>  - MAGIC DISHWASHER with SUNLIGHT ULTRA.
>  - He's just discovered that the friend who he thought had killed 
> another friend and turned to the dark side hadn't done. In fact it 
> was another friend, who Lupin had thought was dead, but who, it 
> turned out, had tried to sell *both* friends up the Swanney in 
> return for a stroke of Lord Voldemort's hemline. Yeah, I'd be 
> feeling vaguely murderous too.
> 

And he reacts inappropriate at the Shrieking Shack. He falls 
completely in with Sirius, to the point of attempting to *murder* 
Pettigrew, *not* hand him over for a trial. Remus has many admirable 
qualities, but he's not exactly a nice guy, either.

AnneL