Lupin is Ever So Evil, Part One -- The Prank (LONG)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 130257

> Marla:
> 
> I completely agree with SSS.  When Lupin told Snape how confident 
he was with Neville's ablility he was standing up for him and at the 
same time making a point of letting Snape know, as well as the 
other students, how he disapproved of Snape's method's of t
eaching.  Subtle yet effective.  

Pippin:
First of all, it's not Lupin's business to approve or disapprove of 
Snape's methods. Last I looked, Dumbledore, not Lupin, was 
headmaster. 

Second, the distinction that's being lost is that Neville
has a problem with the real Snape *and* the boggart-Snape.
Lupin helped him  deal with boggart-Snape, at the cost of worsening 
the situation with the real Snape. With Harry, he did the reverse.


Harry was ashamed  over not getting to face a boggart  in
class, but he could  have imagined the dementor, or even Voldemort,
 tripping over  its/his robes (he does this when he faces a 
boggart dementor  in GoF.) That would have  spared Harry feeling  
that  Lupin thought he couldn't hack it,  but it  wouldn't have
helped him one bit against a real dementor -- or the real Voldemort. 

Neville might have been ashamed if Lupin had stepped in front of him
and said, "I'll deal with it," forcing the boggart to take another
form, but it would have spared Neville having to deal with an 
aggravated  Snape all year. I think we can all agree that 
aggravated!Snape was a bigger problem for Neville than being
ashamed of not dealing with a boggart would have been.

Then, if  Lupin really had wanted to  help Neville get  over his fear
of  the real Snape, he would have let  Neville practice potions with 
a  boggart-Snape glaring and sneering until it didn't bother him 
anymore.

In response to Potioncat, I sure hope Lupin had some contingency
plans in case somebody conjured an inappropriate boggart and their
imagination failed them, ala Molly...but there's more than one way to 
skin a boggart.  Lupin forces one back with his wand, and makes
another explode without using riddikulus. He could have shown 
Neville how to do one of those techniques instead.

Pippin