DD and the rat: Conspiracy theories compared [LONG]

[drliss at comcast.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 115963

Pippin:

But he also admits that he has twice betrayed Dumbledore's 
trust. Once by leading his friends to become illegal Animagi and 
breaking the rules Dumbledore had made for his safety, and 
again as an adult, by not telling Dumbledore that Sirius was an 
Animagus. He also failed to turn in the Marauder's Map, which 
wouldn't have revealed his earlier betrayal, and would have 
revealed Sirius if he was on the grounds. 

That Lupin did this because he had doubts about Sirius's guilt is 
a pervasive bit of fanon, but the books don't support it much 
more than Leatherpants!Draco. Lupin says at least  three times 
that he thought Sirius was guilty.

Lissa:

The first times Lupin broke Dumbledore's trust, it wasn't "evil."  Dumb, yes.  Stupid, yes.  Dangerous, yes.  Malicious... no.  Make no mistake- I'm not saying Remus is perfect!  I just don't think he would put himself in the way to harm Dumbledore.

Lupin spent a lot of PoA rationalizing, I think.  I DO think there was a small part of him that didn't want to believe in Sirius's guilt.  Logic and reason told him yes, Sirius was guilty, but boy- is he quick to listen when Sirius shows up in the Shrieking Shack!  And although I think he has some very good reasons to be quick to believe, he does believe Sirius... as soon as he sees Peter's name on the map.  He says he tried to convince himself Sirius was getting into Hogwarts using Dark Magic, not because he was turning into a dog.  King of denial there, but I think it was incredibly hard for him.  

I see Remus's refusal to confess everything to Dumbledore as exactly what he says it is: an act of cowardice because he doesn't want DD to be disappointed in him, not an act of evil.  Being an overachiever oldest child, I can understand that pretty well ;)

Pippin

I remember from history class that revolutions happen when 
rising expectations are stalled. That's what happened to Lupin. 
Whatever he thought was going to happen after Hogwarts, the 
fact remains that he says his transformations while he was there 
were the happiest times of his life. Clearly things got worse for 
him after he left school--besides a statement like that being 
classic novelese for "The author wants you to know that this 
character has never really adjusted to adulthood." 

And Voldemort's cunning can't be left out of the picture either. We 
have Sirius's word that most wizards didn't realize what he was 
capable of until late in his rise to power. We saw in OOP what 
Dumbledore was like as master of the Order--aloof, remote, 
wary of revealing himself to anyone, like Lupin, who seems to 
have legilimency talents. And we never see that Lupin has an 
emotional closeness to Dumbledore the way that Harry or 
Hagrid or even Snape has. 

Lissa:

I agree that Lupin's never fully adjusted to adulthood (that seems more mature comment did make me giggle).  However, the big thing is that Dumbledore made a promise "You can go to school here"... and he came through.  If DD had not yet come through, AND protected Remus during the prank, then I might say okay.  I can see the frustration.  But Dumbledore has fulfilled that particular promise, and Remus is smart enough to know DD can't control the rest of the world.  

As far as an emotional closeness, the only time we do see DD and Lupin together is at the end of PoA, when Lupin is leaving, which is kind of hard to count because it is an emotional moment with a lot of disappointment and sadness from both characters.  Other than that, it's really hard to say, except one big quote: "Dumbledore's trust has meant everything to me."  I'd say there's something there.

Pippin:

The fact that JKR has left us so much room here to speculate is 
in itself suspicious, IMO.

Lissa:

I do agree that Lupin is hiding something and there is a lot of room to speculate.  I just can't see the ESE!theory playing out, simply because of the attachment Lupin has to DD.  (Although I really would like to know how Lupin feels about DD after OotP!!!!)

Lissa

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