TBAY: Death, and Hagrid vs. Lupin

[abigailnus]

No: HPFGUIDX 54589


Abigail sighs.  Really, she should have anticipated this.  How could 
she have expected anyone to respond to anything she said about 
failure, or Dumbledore, when she's just dropped the Dead!Lupin 
bombshell?  It must have been the Brandy that made her so 
incautious.  Well, there's nothing to it.

Carefully, she uncovers her ears, but it's no use.  The Royal George 
is as loud as it was a few minutes ago, when Marina and Pippin 
started exclaiming at her from both sides.

"Lupin is not going to die!"  Marina cries.  "Your reasoning is 
flawed!"

"Of course he's not going to die!"  Pippin announces.  "He's Ever So 
Evil!"

"One at a time!"  Abigail shouts.  Marina and Pippin stop talking, 
and glare at each other.  Abigail takes stock of the table.  She 
hasn't won many admirers tonight, what with calling Dumbledore the B-
word and everything.  Better to deal with Marina first, as ESE!Lupin 
doesn't have as many supporters.  

"All right," she says to Marin.  "So what's wrong with my line of 
reasoning?"

"Well..." Marina sips her Scotch thoughfully. "First of all, you 
seem to be forgetting just how damn long OotP is supposed to be.  A 
third longer than GoF, we're told.  Over 900 pages, we're told. 
Plenty of room to wrap up Hagrid's storyline.  After all, aren't you 
claiming that Lupin's storyline has been sufficiently resolved -- 
and that was done in a much shorter book."

"Lupin's storyline *has* been resolved."  Abigail insists.  "Can you 
point out a Lupin-related arc, apart from the ongoing intolerance- 
against-werewolves, that remains open?  Besides, you can't possibly 
expect me to accept an argument based on OotP's *length*?  To assume 
that we can conclude from the book's page count how important and 
resolved Hagrid's storyline will be is pure speculation.  I know," 
she waves a hand before Marina can interrupt, "my assumption that 
OotP will contain a storyline about Hagrid, Madame Maxime and his 
mother in the first place is also speculation, but it is borne out 
by canon.  Actually, if I'm wrong about this story being introduced 
in OotP, then the argument becomes even stronger for Hagrid 
surviving to book 6, because we know that the giant storyline has to 
be introduced sometime."

Abigail downs a drink and catches her breath.  "And anyway, why 
should the fact that OotP is so long tell us anything about whether 
there's 'enough room' to resolve a storyline?  GoF is nearly as long 
as OotP (in chapters, the UK versions of the books having a smaller 
disparity of page numbers) and the Hagrid-is-a-giant storyline 
wasn't resolved there.  Why should it be resolved in OotP?  The fact 
is, I don't know that Lupin won't have a new storyline in OotP any 
more then you know that the Giant!Hagrid storyline will be resolved 
in that book, so it seems silly to use either claim to bolster or 
weaken Dead!Lupin."

"Oh, come off it, Abigail."  Marina says derisively.  "We all know 
what your real argument is.  'Look at all the changes happening in 
Hagrid's life!  He's got a new girlfriend, a new mission, he has 
finally gotten the hang of his teaching job; he may even be reunited 
with his mother! Do you really think JKR would give him all these 
things just to kill him off?'. Pah."

"I didn't say that."  Abigail responds calmly.  "I was very careful 
not to say that.  I don't think we can count on JKR not to be cruel 
to the characters she loves, or that she would consider killing 
Hagrid at this juncture 'too sad'.  You're right to mention that the 
soldier about to go home to his sweetheart has 'Dead Meat' stamped 
on his forehead. (Although, if my rather poor knowledge of war 
movies serves me, aren't those characters usually the red-shirts?  
They're the guys who die so we know the situation is sirious, not 
important secondary characters.)  But that wasn't my argument.  I 
was saying that Hagrid has a lot left to do, and it seems unlikely 
that he'll be killed off before all of his storylines wrap up.  
There was nothing sentimental about it.  Now, maybe all of Hagrid's 
storylines *will* be wrapped up in OotP, in which case he and Lupin 
will be on equal footing (and if Lupin gets a new storyline is OotP 
he'll be less likely to die then Hagrid) but we can only work with 
the canon we have and with reasonable conclusions drawn from it, and 
so far, Hagrid has a story, and Lupin doesn't even have a role."

"But if Hagrid dies, then he's no longer usurping Lupin's role."  
Marina insists.

"Only his role as a minority representative.  Lupin's role as 
Harry's father will still have passed on to Sirius.  And Hagrid's 
role as Harry's father - the father as a nurturing figure - will 
remain unfilled."

"Maybe Harry no longer needs a nurturing figure."  Marina 
suggests.  "We've said before that Harry's outgrown Hagrid 
emotionally."

"Has he?  I'm not sure."  Abigail takes another drink. "At this 
point, we're back to speculating."

"Now me!"  Says Pippin, sipping at her glass of mysterious red 
liquid. "What's Lupin got to do? I'll tell you what he's got to do. 
He's got to betray Harry, that's what he's got to do. *That's* why 
there's a curious duality about Lupin. He's ever so evil!"

Abigail frowns, and then nods.  "OK, I can accept that."

"What?!"  Marina cries.  "You're accepting Evil!Lupin?  *Nobody* 
believes in Evil!Lupin!  How can you just accept it?"

"I'm not accepting it."  Abigail says.  "I *don't* believe in Evil!
Lupin, but if he does exist then Pippin is right.  There's another 
function for Lupin in the books and all bets are off on whether he 
dies and when."

"I'll tell you when he dies."  Pippin says, flush with 
victory. "Lupin's going to be around through Book 7. Which only 
makes sense. Your villain has to die in the last ditch."

"Your villain?"  Abigail repeats.  "Lupin is the villain?  I don't 
think so.  At least, he'd have to get in line, after Peter, and 
Lucius, and let's not forget Voldemort.  Some of these people have 
to die in book 7, but all of them?  And Lupin too, if he's evil?  
Didn't you hear Cindy's definition of Humpty-Dumptying the Bangs?"

"That's just for the good characters."  Pippin replies.

"No it isn't.  The bad guys have to die in an epic struggle to the 
death with the hero.  If we accept Evil!Lupin then we have four 
major bad guys.  Don't you think that by number 3, the death scenes 
will start to get a bit anti-climatic?  No, Lupin could be evil and 
still die before book 7, even in book 5, although in that case I 
doubt that his death would be the 'horrible' one.  Besides, there's 
one thing that you've neglected to consider."

"What?"

"That Evil!Lupin's function is just as usurped as Good!Lupin.  In 
fact, usurped might be the wrong word, as we've already had a 
revelation that a person on the good side has turned evil and 
personally betrayed Harry.  Do you really think that with Peter 
Pettigrew around, we need *another* traitor?"

"Maybe Lupin could usurp *Peter's* function."  Pippin insists.

"Peter is the servant of Voldemort with a life debt to Harry."  
Abigail says.  "Do you really think he'll be killed off in favour of 
Lupin?  Haven't we all agreed that Peter will be instrumental in 
allowing Harry to destroy Voldemort in book 7?  Anyway, what Peter 
did was so horrible, Lupin would have to do something really, really 
awful to be able to supplant him."

This does not have the reaction that Abigail was expecting.  
Pippin's eyes glow, she rubs her the palms of her hands together 
expectantly and is, all around, being more then a little 
disturbing.  Suppressing a shudder, Abigail turns to address the 
entire table. 

"You have a choice."  She says.  "You can have Dead!Lupin, or Really-
Horrible-Evil!Lupin.  Which will it be?"

Abigail