Detatched?Lupin

[drliss at comcast.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 119091

Pippin:

He stopped Harry from going through the veil, but then let him 
go after the equally lethal Bellatrix. Why?


Of course Lupin isn't wholly evil, nobody is. Evil in the Potterverse 
is a *social* problem. You can't pin it down to one person. The 
Death Eaters as individuals aren't altogether evil, even 
Voldemort is not, but the Death Eaters as a group definitely are.
And Lupin is one of them, or I'm a hobbit.


Lissa:

Life in the Shire treating you well then? ;)  Sorry.  Couldn't resist.  

Actually, the part of the post I wanted to respond to was the question about why Lupin wouldn't let Harry go through the Veil but let him go after Bellatrix.  

For SOME reason (it would really be nice to know why!), Lupin knew the veil was deadly, and if you go through it, you don't come back.  It's kind of like walking around a volcano: you have two options- live or die.  You don't get hurt.  So Lupin held Harry back from the Veil.  

When he released Harry and Harry went after Bella, Lupin DID actually try to restrain him.  But he missed, and Harry broke free.  At that point the adreniline had worn off, Lupin was dealing with his own grief, and Harry running after Bella surprised him.  Add to it that Lupin is not in the best shape (considering he's often tired and worn looking) and Harry is an athletic 15 year old kid who is bent on getting away, and Lupin doesn't have that much of a chance.  Plus, Lupin's mind has started focusing on the other six kids that have entered the Ministry- he knows that they're in trouble as well.  Makes sense: he's the former professor in those in the Order, and he's the one that knows these kids personally.  

There are other Order wizards around when Harry runs off: most notably Dumbledore.  Add to that that Harry has dueled Voldemort before and escaped alive (thus proving his own competence), and it becomes less necessary for Lupin to go chasing after Harry- especially when DD is watching out for him and there are other kids that need his help.  And lastly, although she's just proven herself very deadly, Bella is not the clear live-or-die threat that the Veil is.  If Harry had passed through the Veil, he would have died.  (Or at least that's what Lupin seems to think.)  100% chance.  Chasing after Bella, it's not a 100% chance that Harry's a goner.

Lastly, the scene with Harry, Bella, Voldie, and DD is crowded enough.  Action is incredibly tough to write, and the last thing you need is to break the action to describe what someone else is doing.  Maybe Lupin WAS chasing Harry and trying to get him away, but since he was unsuccessful we don't know, because it simply doesn't fit in.

I do agree that Lupin is detatched in many ways.  But I think given the way the world treats him and having (thought) he lost all three of his closest friends on the same day... it lends itself to detatchment.  And as for the Dark Creatures... I never felt like they were pets to him.  He didn't introduce Harry to Grindy the Grindylow or anything: he treated them like creatures.  I kind of think of Lupin as more of a biologist/scientist type, actually.  He IS detatched, but I see that as normal for someone that's had the kind of grief in his life that he has.  But Death Eater or evil... well, hand me a PARTY LINE badge, even if I have been quiet these days ;)  

Liss

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]