[HPforGrownups] Lupin's Boggart- really the full moon?

[Wendy St John]

No: HPFGUIDX 72729

Pippin  wrote:

"It's been noted many times on this list that while Harry's boggart 
has the same effects as a real Dementor,   Lupin's full moon 
boggart doesn't cause him to transform into a werewolf. <snip>  What if
Lupin's"silvery white 
orb"  isn't the full moon at all? After all, he never  exactly says
that's what it is. He only asks, " Or did you realize that the
Boggart changed into the full moon when it saw me?"  What if 
Lupin's boggart is actually  one of those "glass orbs" "softly 
glowing" from the Department of Mysteries? What it it's the 
Prophecy?" 

Now me (Wendy):
 <sending big Nimbus wave to Pippin <g>>

Evil!Lupin again, hmnh? Well, prior to OoP, I had my money on
Evil!McGonagall, but unfortunately (for my theory), she so totally *rocked*
in OoP that I just don't have the heart to suspect her right now. Lupin, on
the other hand, while he did nothing that seemed overtly suspicious, also
did not do anything special in this book to firmly convince me of his
inherent "not-evilness." <G> So, I think I'm going to be looking very
carefully at everyone's favourite werewolf. (And I love Remus dearly. I
really do. He ranks only a few steps behind Severus on my Dead Sexy guys in
HP list). Still, it doesn't pay to ignore my suspicions just because I'm
crushing on the guy. <G> 

This idea about prophecies intrigued me, so I went back to Chapter 35
(Beyond the Veil, UK edition of OoP). On page 706, five members of the
Order (Tonks, Sirius, Lupin, Kingsley and Moody) arrive at the battle. On
the next few pages, the battle is raging and of course we are only able to
"see" part of what is happening - the part that Harry sees. There are two
things that strike me as suspicious: 

1. Page 707: "Through watering eyes [Harry] saw Sirius duelling with a
Death Eater some ten feet away; Kingsley was fighting two at once; Tonks,
still halfway up the tiered seats, was firing spells down at Bellatrix -
nobody seemed to realise that Harry was dying." A few paragraphs later, we
learn that, "[Moody] was lying on his side, bleeding from the head, and his
attacker was now bearing down upon Harry and Neville." 

So, in the heat of battle, Harry is aware of the activities of four out of
five members of the Order as they battle with the Death Eaters. But no
mention of Lupin. Just what *is* he doing, anyway? After all, poor Kingsley
is fighting off *two* Death Eaters (perhaps an indication of Remus' absence
from the battle). Is Remus looking for a prophecy? And although Pippin
mentions "the" prophecy, I think Remus is really interested in a
*different* prophecy. One about himself. One that he really, really doesn't
want anyone else to hear, and has lived in fear of for heaven only knows
how long (causing the Boggart to use a glowing glass orb as the
representation of his greatest fear). So he's lurking around looking for an
orb which glows in his presence while the others are too busy fighting to
notice. After all, I believe that the members of the Order *do* know the
contents of "the" Prophecy, so Remus shouldn't be overly concerned about
it. But if there's a prophecy regarding him, that might be of concern.

2. After his appearance in the battle, the next time we see Lupin is on
page 709: "Malfoy aimed his wand at Harry and Neville again, but before he
could draw a breath to strike, Lupin had jumped between them." Lupin then
tells Harry to round up the others and go. Sounds pretty good, right? So
why is there no mention of either Remus OR Lucius suffering from a curse.
The two men are faced off, both poised to strike, and yet apparently no
curses are thrown between the two of them, and both are (apparently)
healthy at the end of the battle. Very suspicious, I say, while people are
dropping left and right all around them! <G>

Admittedly, I can see a few obvious holes in this theory (explanations why
these things could be perfectly harmless). And my arguments (in this post)
aren't all that strong to begin with. <G> But, as I'm not here defending
Lupin, I think I'll leave those comments for someone else to post and keep
the discussion going. <G> 

Off the subject of the battle, there is one thing which occurred to me
regarding legilimency/occlumency which could be used as evidence for both
Evil!Lupin and Vampire!Snape. It seems possible that a half- or non-human
might have mental activity which cannot be read by normal legilimency, or
is at least more difficult to read. This could be inferred by the fact that
in general mythology, some non-humans are said to have supernatural mental
powers (Vampires, for example. Don't know if werewolves do, or not). And in
canon, there is that one line from Snape where he hisses, "Don't ask me to
fathom the way a werewolf's mind works." (Page 265, PoA, UK hardcover). Is
this a clue that legilimency doesn't work on werewolves?  If so, this could
explain why Dumbledore doesn't appear to suspect Remus - DD simply can't
get into his mind to ascertain whether or not Remus is telling the truth.
Of course, this same argument could be used for Evil!Snape, but we won't go
*there*. At least I won't. <G>

Oh, and one final point: Pippin comments that Lupin never actually says his
boggart is in the form of the full moon. Which is true. But even if he
*had* said it, I suppose Evil!Lupin might not be above telling the odd lie
now and again. <G>

JKR keeps telling us to keep our eyes on Snape, but I wonder if that's all
subterfuge. I'm starting to agree with Pippin that the one we should really
be watching is Lupin. <veg>

Wendy
(Who would give up on Evil!Lupin forever if she were to be totally
convinced that Remus and Sirius were, in fact, a couple - as the joint
Christmas present *could* be seen to suggest. Then again, maybe the death
of his lover would be enough to send PreviouslyMorallyAmbiguous!Lupin over
to the dark side <vvveg>) ;-)