DD and the rat: Conspiracy theories compared [LONG]

[drliss at comcast.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 115917

Pippin said:

We don't need an in depth exposition of Lupin's frustration about 
the way he was treated either...we got that in OOP, where the 
attitude of the wizarding world toward  Harry was very much what 
Lupin must have experienced once he left Hogwarts. Harry was 
regarded as unbalanced and possibly dangerous, persecuted 
by Umbridge, jerked around by the ministry, had no one to turn to 
except his friends who were sympathetic but couldn't help much, 
and was banned from doing the one thing that he seemed born 
to do. Sound familiar?


Lissa:

I can see a lot of points in your argument, but there's just one thing I can not ever reconcile with ESE!Lupin, and I think it throws a huge javilin through the theory.

There have only been 6 people in the world that we know of to help Lupin: his parents, James, Sirius, and Peter, and Dumbledore.  

We don't know much about his parents: in fact, we have one sentence- that they tried everything to cure him.  So let's take them out of the equation.  They could be dead and gone (or reappearing as the dude in the snippet), or Voldie henchmen, or somewhere off in Iceland for all we know.

James, Sirius, and Peter: They became Animagi to help Remus.  Sure, there were other really cool aspects to it.  But "really cool" rarely gets you through three years of risk-taking and frustration.  "Really cool" doesn't make you give Peter all the help you can to accomplish this.  "Really cool" doesn't make you exclude Remus from the task that you're spending three years on, especially when he IS so bright.  I think we can take MWPP at their word when they say the three became Animagi specifically to help Remus.  And despite the infamous prank, the friendship DID continue, and was close until the end.  After all, Peter was quite sure that Sirius would have told Remus about the Secret Keeper switch- or at least that it was plausible that Sirius would have done so.  (You can argue that Peter was trying to cast the blame to Sirius and make him look guilty, but that would not have been effective if Remus and Sirius hadn't spoken in years.)

But the big person is Dumbledore.  Dumbledore let Remus into school when no one else would, and gave him work when he hadn't been able to find any.  Beyond that, Remus KNOWS this, and certainly seems grateful in PoA.  

To align with Voldemort is to align DIRECTLY against James, Sirius, Peter (in theory), and Dumbledore.  It's to bring about their destruction.  I can understand that Remus may be frustrated.  I can understand where there was an appeal- and I do think that's why Sirius thought that he was the spy.  But I can not see Remus going directly against those four, when they have meant everything to him.  And even above MWPP, I can not see him going against Dumbledore, who is the only person to ever take a public risk on his behalf.  And if Voldemort is going to win, Dumbledore must be destroyed.  Remus is plenty smart enough to know this.

We've already had one surprise revelation among MWPP, and I really think to have a second is too much- especially since (as mentioned in another thread) the story IS about Harry.  But beyond that, I just can't see Remus going against the one person that's ever given him a chance.

Lissa

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