lupin, werewolves & "wagga wagga"

[lagattalucianese]

No: HPFGUIDX 147397

>
...
> 
> So whatever he's doing with the werewolves in OoP and HBP, it's not
> offering them Wolfsbane Potion (or "curing" them with the Homorphus
> Charm). He *may* be setting an example of civilized behavior, but as
> the other werewolves are uneducated and would resent his ability to
> use a wand legally if they know about it, I can't see him making 
much
> of an impression.
> 
> What I don't understand is how parents whose children were bitten
> during Dumbledore's tenure as headmaster could allow the children to
> be uneducated, simply discarding them and letting them fend for
> themselves eating scraps from rubbish bins and endangering others by
> transforming once a month. What parent, short of the fortunately
> childless Bellatrix Lestrange, would do that? Maybe the parents 
didn't
> know that Dumbledore would tolerate and protect the werewolf 
children
> if the parents asked his help, but surely they would educate them at
> home and provide a safe place for them to transform even if they
> didn't send them to school? And wouldn't the children get Hogwarts
> letters like all other magical children in Britain, as Remus 
obviously
> did? Why would DD go to the trouble of helping one child, even
> planting the Whomping Willow so he could hide in the Shrieking Shack
> each month and not help other children in the same position? It 
seems
> like a giant plot hole or plot flaw to me.
> 
> Carol, wondering if Lupin spent those twelve lost years tutoring
> werewolf children
>
La Gatta Lucianese:

The more I read about the situation of werewolves in the WW, the more 
I am reminded, not of AIDS, but of leprosy. In the centuries before a 
cure was found for the disease, the only alternative was to send 
infected individuals to a leper colony, many of which were anarchic 
hell-holes not unlike the werewolf community in the WW. The disease 
was contagious through casual contact (though not nearly as 
contagious as people thought it was) and incurable, and the only 
safety was in isolating those who suffered from it, horrible as that 
must have been for their families.

I see Lupin as a sort of lycantropic Father Damien, trying to bring a 
measure of order, education, and humanity to those infected with this 
terrible and incurable disease.