Lupin, a bad guy?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 96976

Pippin wrote:
I'm not saying he [Lupin] should be judged by his teenaged actions, if 
> he's changed since then. Unfortunately, he says himself that he 
> hasn't. He tells us, in PoA, that he made up all kinds of stories 
> so that his friends wouldn't guess what he was. As an adult he 
> made up a story that Sirius was getting into the castle using 
> Dark Magic he'd learned from Voldemort, and used it to 
> persuade himself that he didn't need to tell Dumbledore about 
> the unguarded secret passage into Hogsmeade or that Sirius 
> was an Animagus.  
><snip>
> 
> More seriously, Lupin was and is a coward, though not in the 
> conventional sense. He's not afraid to endure pain or risk his life. 
> But he is afraid  that Dumbledore wlll abandon him. From what  
> he says, he knew he was risking Harry's life and everybody 
> else's so that Dumbledore wouldn't find out what a naughty boy 
> he'd been. I have a hard time seeing that as kind or 
> compassionate. <snip>

Carol:
While I still don't want to get into ESE!Lupin and the possibility
that his curse pushed Sirius through the veil, I do think you have a
point about his essential weakness of character, a kind of moral
cowardice that showed up first in his not exercising his authority as
a prefect to control his friends and again in PoA in keeping his
secrets to himself. However much he may have fooled himself at first,
thinking that it really didn't matter that Sirius was an animagus and
knew about seven different ways to get into Hogwarts, once Sirius had
slashed the Fat Lady's painting, showing just how fierce and angry he
was, Lupin really had no excuse not to tell Dumbledore exactly how
Sirius had found his way into Gryffindor Tower. If he'd had any hopes
that Sirius was innocent, that incident ought to have slashed them to
ribbons. Now *I* know, of course, that Sirius was innocent of the
murder he was imprisoned for and that he didn't want to kill Harry (he
*only* wanted to murder his former friend, PP, aka Scabbers the rat),
but he had nevertheless shown himself to be extremely dangerous, and
it was Lupin's responsibility at that point to stop worrying about
what Dumbledore thought of him and tell him what he knew. Why protect
two (supposedly) dead men and a potential murderer, who, as Dumbledore
says later, was not acting like an innocent man? The only reason I can
think of is the one Pippin has suggested--he didn't want Dumbledore to
know he'd been concealing information from him.

Lupin had the opportunity to tell Harry, at least, when he let slip
his happy astonishment that Harry had heard James's voice in his
boggart!Dementor memory. (IMO, it didn't matter to Lupin personally
that Harry had heard previously Lily, but *James,* his old friend
since childhood, his fellow marauder, was another matter altogether.
"You heard James?") But when Harry asks if Lupin knew his father,
Lupin assumes a casualness that he almost certainly doesn't feel,
stating that they were friends at school without indicating anything
about the foursome, and when Harry follows that response by asking if
Lupin also knew Sirius Black, Lupin reacts snappishly, clearly on the
defensive, and finally says only, "Yes, I knew him. Or thought I did"
(quoting from memory).

Granted, we can't expect him to admit that he's  a werewolf or to say
that the other three were animagi (he'd have to explain why he alone
wasn't), but he could at least have told Harry that they were all
close friends and that *Sirius* was an animagus. That would explain
the "Grim" and replace Harry's anxiety with a more realistic fear, one
that would make him very cautious about going outside. But it would
also have blown Sirius's cover, and clearly Lupin didn't want that to
happen. And if Harry had asked if Dumbledore knew that Sirius could
turn himself into a dog, Lupin would have had to provide an excuse,
true or otherwise, for not having told him. No. Easier to stay silent
and risk Harry's life (and those of the other students while Dementors
surrounded the school) than reveal his secrets. From a moral
standpoint, it doesn't matter that part of Lupin suspected that Sirius
might be innocent. He ought to have told first Dumbledore and then,
with his permission, Harry, what he knew. Admittedly, sirius might
have been taken back to Azkaban, or worse, without a chance to prove
his innocence. Or he could have been captured by DD and told him the
same story he later told HRH and Lupin, and Dumbledore could have
brought in Peter to testify before the MoM (using Veritaserum if
necessary), proven Sirius innocent, and then sent the Dementors away.
(Yes, it would have ruined the story, but I'm only talking about what
Lupin should have done, regardless of the consequences to himself and
his fellow Marauder--or the plot.)

So, Pippin, we may differ on Vampire!Snape and ESE!Lupin, but I'm
reluctantly finding myself in complete agreement with you about moral
coward Lupin--at least as we see him in PoA. No wonder Snape was so
suspicious of him. He (Lupin) wasn't actively aiding Sirius, he was
just letting Sirius do what he wanted to do--exactly as he had done in
the Pensieve scene with both Sirius and James.

Carol