[Re: Evil!lupin: a rebuttal

[FlamingStar Chows]

No: HPFGUIDX 53435


----- Original Message -----
From: pippin_999 wrote
>Not vindictive?  It's far easier to make a case for vindictive!Lupin
>than, say, vindictive!McGongall. There's the Snape-boggart, the
>vampire essay, the chilling exchange

>"Forgive me, Remus," said Black.
>"Not at all, Padfoot, old friend," said Lupin...

My reply:  I"m confused - Lupin followed this by saying "And will you in
turn, forgive me of thinking *you* were the spy?"  There was nothing
vindictive about this at all.  Lupin forgave Black and Black forgave Lupin.
Each of them had thought the other was the spy for Voldemort.  Lupin was the
one that kept Black from blasting Scabbers!Peter right there on the spot and
told him that Harry needed to know the whole story, and that Ron had kept
Scabbers as a pet for years and deserved to know as well.

>and most telling,  Lupin's casual re-introduction  of cold-blooded
>murder ("No one's going to kill you until we've sorted a few things
>out") as the way to deal with Pettigrew.

My reply:  You left out the whole exchange ahead of this where Sirius arm
wand rose and Lupin grabbed him around the waist.  This particular reply was
to Pettigrew saying "He's come to try and kill me again!".  <snip> "He
killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me to....You've got to help
me, Remus...." Lupin's response was simply matter of fact, not vindictive in
the least.

>Lupin could have had evil reasons for teaching Harry to resist the
>Dementors, just as Fake!Moody taught Harry to resist the
>Imperius curse. And of course, Lupin could have learned about
>Pettigrew the same way Sirius did.

I can't think of any evil reason for teaching Harry to resist the Dementors.
Wouldn't it have been far more evil to not even attempt to do so and let him
suffer?  Of course I don't think Crouch!Moody's reasons were evil, either.
I think he just got carried away in his teaching role and forgot himself.  I
will always believe that Voldemort was rather surprised that Harry resisted
him in that graveyard - after all, he had controlled Crouch, Sr, who was
supposed to be *very* powerful wizard for months with it.  Why would he
expect a kid to resist him?  And why would he want to show that he could
right there in front of all of his DEs?

>Some of Lupin's choices don't speak  well of him at all. His
>humiliation of Snape in the boggart incident is hilarious from the
>reader's POV (and I smile everytime I anticipate Alan Rickman in
>drag) but it didn't do Neville any good. He was more afraid of
>Snape than ever, and Snape treated him worse than before.

My reply:  Lupin had no control over Neville's boggart.  Snape is what
Neville is most afraid of (and I suspect that everyone rather knows it).  I
think he chose Neville because he knew what his boggart would probably be,
and was therefore be able to help him overcome it by having him imagine his
grandmother's clothes (also a very strong image).  Think about it, you have
a classroom full of children, about to be confronted with their worst fear.
Would you really want to start with Ron and his giant spider?  No one else
in the room was as terrified of Snape as Neville, so they could learn and
get the point of the whole thing without being scared out of their wits.
After all, that turned out to be the reason he did not allow Harry attack
the boggart.  He thought it would turn into Voldemort and everyone would
panic.  And while Snape did pick on Neville even more, I don't think he
could possibly be any worse off.  That is already his worst fear, how much
worse can it get?  Who knows, perhaps Lupin thought the Neville might be
able to imagine the real Snape in his grandmother's getup and help gain
control of his fear.  After all, how many times have you heard when you have
stage fright to imagine the crowd in its' underwear?

>Worse, Lupin doesn't tell all he knows about the escaped
>terrorist murderer Sirius Black. That's very odd, if he's sworn to
>protect Harry at all costs.

My reply:  I think that was explained.  He didn't want to have to explain to
Dumbledore that he had betrayed his trust when he was in school by running
around the school with three illegal animagi (also breaking the rules).  He
wanted to believe that Sirius really was using black magic to get onto the
grounds.  I don't think he knew that the Dementors couldn't pick up on
animals as well as humans.  After all, he had not even considered that was
how Sirius had escaped from Azkaban.

>It's also very strange that Lupin pays
>no heed to Ron's injuries or Snape's until they become a
>logistical problem, even though Ron is in obvious pain the whole
>time and an unconscious person should be checked at once to
>make sure they are breathing.

My reply:  I really don't think Ron would have let him near his leg until
the very end when he finally understood and accepted what was going on.  I
think Lupin was smart enough to know that.  As far as Snape, he wanted to
take Lupin and Sirius straight to the Dementors.  I'm sure Lupin knows
enough about *Expelliarmus* to know that even though the three hit him at
once, it would do no lasting damage.  It was probably a lot safer leaving
him unconscious.

>Speaking of choices, it's pretty likely that Pettigrew will be
>redeemed. Shouldn't there be at least one dyed-in-the-wolf, er,
>wool, member of MWPP who goes bad and chooses to remain
>so? Though I'm sure he'll be offered the chance to repent.

My reply:  I don't know if Pettigrew will be redeemed or not.  I see him as
a sniveling little coward that hangs out with the biggest bully around.  He
handed over one of his best friends to Voldemort.  It just doesn't say a lot
for his character.

I like Lupin.  I think he is a good and kind teacher who just happens to be
a werewolf.

~Cathy~