Lupin's Spying, WAS: Snape, Hagrid, and Sirius Black

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 148317

Betsy Hp:
> Hmm, I'm afraid I kind of set the cat amongst the pigeons here, and I 
> apologize for that.  I was, rather flippantly I'll admit, trying to 
> enumerate the many ways Lupin confuses me.  Just when I think I've 
got 
> a bead on him, he does something I'd have labeled as completely out 
of 
> character.  A less provoking example would be his general mildness 
> with Harry compared with his ability to coldly face executing Peter.
> 
> However, it's insulting to suppose that those of us who saw signs of 
> Lupin being a gay man (and it *was* a subtle, coded, thing) are 
> incapable of either recognizing or having platonic friendships.  It 
> kills any sort of conversation dead.  Which should not be the point 
on 
> this sort of list.

Ceridwen:
Sorry I went so totally OTT on that!  It's one of my pet peeves.  There 
really are people in the world who can't envision a close friendship 
that doesn't include physical release.  Between opposite sexes, and 
between the same sex, too.  Having been the recipient of such 
accusations, I tend to get a bit... loud.  Again, sorry!  I never meant 
anything personal against you.

I can see your point about Lupin's apparent split.  His kindness and 
his mildness, and then his calculating ability to size PP up as soon-to-
be Dogmeat, do seem at odds with each other.  In all of his 
interactions, he does seem mild, except in that one.

But, I would offer a different take.  Even still waters have their 
rapids.  Lupin has learned to overlook a lot in his life, and he can 
probably roll with most punches.  This has probably helped him to keep 
a low profile.  But the one thing he cannot accept is what PP did to 
the Potters.  A close friend?  As I said, it was completely unexpected 
and unlooked-for.  How *could* he do such a thing to someone he lived 
with, sat with, and seemed to almost worship, all those years?  I can 
see Lupin, or just about anyone, going off the deep end on that.  All 
of us fight off such responses every day, at much less provocation.  
I'd say that his reaction to PP was a sudden, surprised, gut reaction 
to something that I hope I'll never have to deal with.

Truce?

Ceridwen.