Sirius and Remus Post Hogwarts

[drliss at comcast.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 119530

Oh, come on.  It's a Sirius/Remus thread.  You KNOW I have to weigh in ;)

I agree with a lot of what Carol said initially, particularly in reference to Sirius.  My comments:

Carol:  

It's interesting, however, that Sirius was best man at the Potter's
wedding (no indication that the other two were present although they
must have been) and that Sirius alone attended Harry's baptism, where
he served as godfather. The group was clearly disintegrating at that
point.


Lissa:

Were they?  

It sounds like the Potter's wedding happened pretty openly, and someone besides Sirius and the Potters was certainly there.  (I love the theory that Lupin took the picture, personally.)  But Harry's baptism came at a time when it was getting dark and people were going into hiding.  To me, that means that Remus and Peter were doing whatever they were doing, and James and Lily had the christening when Sirius was actually around.  It was too bad Remus and Peter couldn't be there, but they were away, and they did it when they could.  We also don't know what sort of emphasis the WW places on christenings.  Sure, it would have been nice to have a party, but they couldn't.  I'm also coming up against this problem in a fic I'm writing: if you have a big party with a lot of anti-Voldie people there, it's a target.  Easy to get a lot of them at once.  Although I DO want to hear more about why Remus and Peter were not there.

As to why Sirius didn't trust Remus and how close they were....

I have a few theories on this, most of which kind of come together.

1.) I do think Sirius didn't want to believe that Peter or Remus was the spy.  My guess is he pinned it on anyone else he could until it was narrowed down to it had to be Sirius, Peter, or Remus.  Then he's left with Remus- who they all know is capable of lying his furry butt off, and Peter- whom Sirius considers a lesser wizard and not up to the task of spying.  He suspected Remus because from Sirius's perspective, he HAD to suspect Remus.  Remus was the logical choice.
2.) As Carol said, the werewolf factor.  Now, I don't think Sirius thought it was because Remus was a werewolf that he would turn to Voldie.  But it's been brought up several times in canon that Voldie gained supporters by offering creatures their rights.  If Sirius knew that, it means he thought Remus had something very real to gain.
3.) How long did Sirius actually suspect Remus?  We know Sirius is impulsive, and we know that he makes big decisions very quickly, being very convinced he's right.  Is it possible he said "Okay, it's Remus.  Let's switch it to Peter and I'll bait Remus"?  I think so.  The line that convinces me that Sirius and Remus were close- and close near that Halloween- was Peter saying "Wouldn't Sirius have told you if they switched?" (or something to that effect)  Remus's answer isn't "Um, Peter, we weren't even speaking then," it's "Not if he believed I was the spy."  He then turns to Sirius and says "I assume that's why you didn't tell me?"
Now, I know Mr. Lupin is also Mr. Emotionally-Constipated and God-Forbid-I-Actually-Reveal-What-I'm-Thinking and Great-at-Lying-His-Furry-Behind-Off, but that exchange- including Sirius's casual plea for forgiveness (especially given that Sirius ALWAYS reveals what he's thinking and is NOT emotionally constipated)- makes me think that a.) there was not a huge wedge driven between them emotionally, b.) there was never any sort of confrontation, and c.) they were close enough that Peter honestly thought that that would work.  Peter might not be the brightest bulb in the bucket, but he is good at manipulation.  I think it would have had some chance of working, but now that Remus is on to him and has figured out what was going through Sirius's head, it didn't have a chance of working.  But I think Peter had a valid point if you didn't figure out the whole story first.

Anyway, hubby's gonna kill me if I don't get home soon, so....

Lissa

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