Is Lupin a Legilimens? Is that Suspicious?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 157437

> > Betsy Hp wrote:
<snip>
> > And perhaps the reason Dumbledore chose Snape for the job of 
> > Legilimency teacher is that Lupin (the man of many excuses) does not 
> > have Dumbldore's complete trust.
> > 
> > Betsy Hp (who's finding that the more and more she looks at Lupin 
> > the shakier and shakier his good guy status becomes -- hanging by 
> > the interviews here, folks. <g>)

Pippin:
Ah, those interviews. No, Lupin is definitely not going to be the sort of
villain that makes you hiss and throw popcorn at the screen. But there's
villainy of another kind,  evil that moves in the most exalted circles,
and has only the very finest friends. There's evil that makes you look
uneasily down the table and ask, "Is it I?"


> >
> Carol responds:
> I don't think that Lupin's ability as a Legilimens (if it exists) has
> anything to do with his giving or not giving Harry lessons in OoP.
> 
> But it's *Occlumency* that Snape, a "superb Occlumens" according to
> Lupin (who doesn't praise Snape lightly) is supposed to teach Harry,
> so it wouldn't matter whether Lupin is a Legilimens or not. I imagine
> that Snape and lupin are approximately equal in that department while
> Snape is better at Occlumency (as he has to be to survive lying to
> Voldemort). also, of course, snape is already at Hogwarts, is not a
> werewolf, and has Dumbledore's absolute trust. Altogether the best man
> for the job, just as he is (IMO) the best man to teach DADA in HBP
> (unfortunately for him given the curse on the post).

Pippin:
I think werewolves are supposed to be naturally resistant to legilimency.
Snape hints at something like that. Of course that would be a  great
help to agent Lupin, whichever side he is on. He wouldn't have to
be so good at occlumency that a legilimens can't even tell he's being
blocked, as must be the case with Snape. It would also be a reason that
the werewolves might think they could hold their own against a 
victorious Voldemort if he ever reneged on his promises. 

Of course if Lupin is thought to be a natural occlumens, he wouldn't be
expected to teach the technique any more than a bird could teach 
how to fly a broom.


Carol: <snipped>
> No, I don't think Lupin is ESE! but he's dangerously weak (as Snape
> insinuates to Tonks in HBP)> 

Pippin:
But this is semantic. "I am flawed, you are weak, he is ever so evil." Why
don't we say that Snape's sadism or Draco's xenophobia is just a weakness?

There's a Heinlein story that might explain Lupin psychologically. Take a 
pup, chain him up and kick him every day, and he'll grow to be a savage 
cur and snap at anyone who comes near him. Take the same pup, rear him 
tenderly instead, and he'll be a gentle family pet. But if you pet that pup on 
Tuesdays and kick him on Thursdays, he'll grow up to be a shivering, 
neurotic mess, and he'll bite you without warning.  That's Lupin, IMO. 

He's been scorned by society, but he's also been indulged, perhaps too
much, by his friends. It's a recipe for disaster.

And no one dares admit, not even Dumbledore, not Lupin himself, 
(though to give him credit, he keeps trying), and least of all the trusting
readers, that Lupin cannot be trusted, because that would abet prejudice  
against werewolves. Dumbledore emotionally, recklessly, asked Lupin 
to do a job that would have tried the loyalties of a far more stable 
person, and Lupin took it on. Of course  it wouldn't be long  before 
Voldemort discovered Lupin's weakness and exploited it. The only question,
IMO, is how much time has Voldemort had.
 
Honestly, people act like there's some rule that Voldemort can only take 
advantage  of weaknesses that are socially unacceptable. And I guess 
there is a rule like that in a lot of popular fiction, but I wouldn't bet that 
JKR intends to honor it.

Wanting to be liked is considered nicer  than sadism or xenophobia.
but if wanting to be liked leads you to renege on your commitments and 
put innocent people at risk, then maybe it shouldn't be. JKR won't make 
herself popular by saying so -- who is she to tell us that we ought to 
change our ideas about what's acceptable? But I doubt that she's worried 
about that.

That Lupin's weakness is one that his friends would have pardoned is the
real tear-jerker, IMO. It should have been so easy for him to turn back
to the light when his errors were still relatively small. Prejudice
magnified his sins and made them seem mountains when they were still
molehills. A lot of people are hoping that they are molehills after all.  But I 
think it's too late now. I notice he's not on JKR's A-list for dinner
companions any more. And it can't be because he's going to be dead. <g>

Pippin