Is Lupin a Legilimens? Is that Suspicious?

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 157473

> >>wynnleaf
> Well, Lupin is still a good teacher, regardless what kind of      
> person he is. Many readers want to say "Bad teacher equates to     
> evil character," but that's certainly not true.  Snape is probably 
> DDM, yet he's mean to his students. Because the books revolve     
> around a school there's a tendency to assume that the good        
> teachers *are* good.  FakeMoody was a pretty good teacher, too.  
> JKR saying that she'd like a teacher like Lupin for her daughter   
> means, imo, very little about his goodness as a character.

Betsy Hp:
Hmm, that's *very* true.  I think Dean even praises Fake!Moody as a 
teacher in OotP. (Not very sensitive to poor Neville, but then I 
doubt Dean knows the history there.)  And of course, the prime 
example of bad teacher but good guy is Hagrid.  I don't think 
there's any doubt that Hagrid is on the side of the angels.  And 
it's pretty obvious that he's a horrible teacher (at the moment). 

> >>wynnleaf:
> <snip>
> So if Lupin's a traitor, Snape is probably not, yet Lupin         
> didn't "out" Snape. 
> This would make Lupin a character acting on both sides.  An       
> OFHLupin, or more likely, just a very, very conflicted character --
> weeping over Dumbledore's death, partly from the guilt of his own 
> involvement in it.

> I find it amazing how Lupin could be guilty of (for all he knew)   
> putting every child in Hogwarts at risk from a crazed murderer for 
> 9 months and all of us readers (me too for years) are willing to   
> forgive him because he's "nice," a "good teacher," and            
> he's "sorry."

Betsy Hp:
Which makes me wonder...  Perhaps Lupin hasn't been an *active* 
traitor.  Maybe his passiveness is the issue.  For example: He had 
solid proof that one of the Marauders was a traitor but failed to 
come forward, and James and Lily died.  He had knowledge that some 
sort of Death Eater attack was going to go down on the night 
Dumbledore died, but he failed to come forward, and Dumbledore died.

So, it's not that Lupin has sought out Voldemort or has even been 
working for him but, much like his inaction putting the entire 
student body of Hogwarts in danger in PoA, his inaction has 
seriously hurt the fight against Voldemort and possibly caused good 
people (James and Lily?) to die.

Or, maybe he's only just been "recruited" by Voldemort at the 
beginning of HBP?  Voldemort (through Peter, I suppose?) finds out 
Lupin's dirty little secret (a crucial moment of inaction) and is 
pressuring Lupin to either look the other way (easy and natural for 
Lupin) or possibly even take a type of action Lupin is ill prepared 
for (shades of Draco, I suppose).  
 
> >>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?"

Betsy Hp:
And we know (per canon and interview) that Lupin is a people-
pleaser.  I don't get the sense that JKR is big on people-pleasers.  
For the most part her favorite characters are those that openly buck 
the system, are strange or different and fine with it.  That's why 
Lily (I don't care *how* popular you are) comes off so much better 
than Lupin (please, please remain my friends) in the pensieve memory.

So yeah, I have a feeling that *if* Lupin's done wrong (or doing 
wrong, or going to do wrong) it's going to be in a tragic, tear-
jerking sort of way.  One that will cause Harry to cry "Why?" rather 
than "Crucio you!"  And I suspect Lupin will be neither pleased with 
himself nor hopeful of Voldemort winning.

> >>wynnleaf:
> <snip>
> There's a flaw in this support of Harry, btw.  Why is it that     
> Sirius could write to Harry even while on the run, but Lupin --    
> for all his vaunted concern -- can never write him?
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
That's been the second dangling shoe since PoA, hasn't it?  Lupin is 
bizzarely detached from Harry.  Always has been.  I think with every 
single book release there's been a collective holding of breath that 
*this* time Lupin will get actively involved.  After all, he seems a 
much more stable and steady father-figure than Sirius.  But Lupin 
*never* steps forward.  He promises things, but he never delivers.  
And I think Harry sees this.  At least, Harry doesn't seem to lean 
on Lupin all that much.  Which might turn out to have been wise. 

> >>wynnleaf:
> <snip>
> The real importance, if Lupin is a legilimens, is that it means    
> that JKR is holding back important info from us about Lupin.  You 
> have to ask yourself why.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
And JKR *has* kept Lupin at the forefront hasn't she?  I mean, 
compare him to Hagrid, who's around but not all that involved 
plotwise.  That whole side bit with the Tonks/Lupin sub-plot seems 
to have something left to tell doesn't it?  JKR has said that she 
was pleased with how tight HBP was, so I think Lupin must have 
something still left to do.

Betsy Hp (glad that her Occlumency/Legilimency foul up didn't 
completely throw off Pippin's and wynnleaf's main points <g>)