Sirius & Remus post-Hogwarts (was: Snape and McGonagall)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 119582


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Renee" <R.Vink2 at c...> wrote:
> 
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "naamagatus" <naama_gat at h...> 
> wrote:
> > 
> > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Renee" <R.Vink2 at c...> wrote:
> > <snip>
> > > 
> > > Of course, if we hear that James and Lily also suspected Remus, 
> > >this second interpretation becomes invalid. 
> > > 
> > 
> > Isn't it practically canon that they suspected Lupin? By the very 
> > fact that they accepted Peter as SK we can tell that, by default, 
> > Lupin was the only one left for them to suspect. And they had to 
> > suspect, since DD *told* them that someone close to them was a spy 
> > for Voldemort.
> > 
> > Naama
> 
> Renee:
> Yes, but I was wondering if they suspected them independently of 
> Sirius, or just because Sirius argued he was suspect, and why.

Carol responds:
I still think that the absence of both Remus and Peter from Harry's
baptism, evidently a secret and hurried affair, indicates not only
that James was closer to Sirius than to either of the others, but that
he was the only person besides Lily that James *really* trusted. In
the end, to his misfortune, he distrusts even Dumbledore.

And Sirius has never really treated Remus as an equal, disdainfully
informing him in the Pensieve scene that *he* (Sirius) doesn't need to
study for the Transfiguration OWL, and of course disregarding the
consequences to Remus if his "Prank" had been successful. The dialogue
after the DADA OWL suggests that his importance to their group was
always that he was a werewolf, the impetus for their learning to
become animagi and the reason for their monthly midnight adventures.
"Wish it was a full moon," says Sirius in the Pensieve scene (quoted
from memory), disregarding Remus's feelings.

And James, too, jokes about the werewolf question on the DADA exam.
Remus reacts mildly, laughing at his own very unfunny malady (though
he does ask them to lower their voices so they won't be overheard). It
appears that he's always been primarily a werewolf in their eyes. But
once they leave Hogwarts, the significance of being a werewolf
changes. Instead of being a mere transformation into an animal, very
much like their own animagus forms but possible only once a month and
involuntary, a transformation that makes it possible for James,
Sirius, and Peter to have exciting adventures (at the risk of exposure
for themselves and danger to the townspeople), it becomes a condition
that Lupin suffers from that makes it difficult or impossible to find
work. Their relationship inevitably changes. Even Sirius, who has been
living with James, is distanced from him a bit because of his
marriage, but he (jealously?) maintains his tie with James to an
extent that the others don't. He is the best man; he is the baby's
godfather. Remus and Peter aren't even invited to the baptism.

I still see estrangement between Remus and the others as early as
fifteen months before Godric's Hollow and possibly before.
Estrangement leads to suspicion. And once it becomes known that
there's a traitor in the Order and the Order members are being "picked
off one by one" by the Death Eaters, who better to suspect than an
unhappy and disenfranchised werewolf? And once it becomes clear that
the traitor is someone close to James, someone who isn't his beloved
Sirius, the identity becomes certain--at least in Sirius's eyes. And
either he has enough influence, and apparently enough evidence, to
convince both James and Lily, or they already suspect Remus
themselves. Otherwise they would never have made Peter the Secret
Keeper, no matter how loyal and innocent he seemed, and particularly
since his perceived incompetence was hardly a desirable trait in a
Secret Keeper, Sirius's reasoning to the contrary.

Carol, who really ought to be editing but doesn't want to get behind
on posting again