Lupin vs Snape (was Lupin and "Severus")

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 157152

> Alla:

> Oh, and again Lupin forgetting to drink his potion has nothing to do 
> with what I am arguing. Snape should IMO be the very last person to 
> decide whether Lupin should or should not resign. It is up to 
> Dumbledore and to Lupin IMO and I am sure Lupin would have resigned 
> anyways. It is just Snape should not have touched it at all.
> 
> At least then poor Remus could have find paying job elsewhere, IMO. 
> Alas.
> 
> And I mentioned JKR's quote recently, but I may as well quote it 
> again, although I am sure you know it.
> 
> "Lupin will come back as DADA teacher
> Alas, no. Lupin's exposure as a werewolf did irreparable damage to 
> his prospects for a career in teaching, and with the likes of Fenrir 
> Greyback out there, werewolves are unlikely to receive a good press 
> any time soon."
> 
> If there was anything **noble** in what Snape did, I think JKR's 
> words would be something of Lupin's recklessness would not let him 
> come back as a teacher.

> Instead the way I read this quote - **all** blame is put on another 
> party, the one who did that irreparable damage.

Pippin:
I'm afraid I can't follow your reasoning. JKR says nothing whatever
about what Snape did or why, or even whether Snape is the one 
responsible for Lupin's ruin. Merely stating that the  damage 
occurred does not say who is responsible for it, except in the minds 
of those who have already reached a conclusion. Look at Mel
Gibson's arrest -- people are predicting damage to his career but
who is to blame is a matter of controversy  though it's 
no secret how the story reached the press.

JKR doesn't place *any* blame, except on Fenrir Greyback and his like, 
who are cited as the reason werewolves have a bad press in the
first place. 

In the absence of the DADA teacher, it seems to me the
heads of house have as much right as anyone to decide how
their charges should be protected from a monster who might
have bitten any one of them and who was, AFAWK, still loose
on the grounds when Snape made his announcement. Of course
he didn't have to tell them that the werewolf was Lupin, but they
would have seen for themselves that he was absent. The rumor 
would have spread all the faster if Snape had tried to cover that 
up, IMO.

In GoF, Snape says he has as much right to prowl the corridors
at night as Moody, so I don't see that he was relieved of that
duty. 

For all we know, Dumbledore told Snape to announce
that Lupin was a werewolf, both to protect the students and to
draw the fangs from the story before it reached the Daily Prophet,
where it could have done far more damage. Doesn't Fudge say
he let Dumbledore hire werewolves? Note the plural. If
Dumbledore didn't show he could act decisively to protect his
students from a non-compliant werewolf, maybe another teacher 
who was totally innocent would have lost his or her job as well.


Pippin