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

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 148320

> >>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.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
I totally understand, I've my hot button issues too. <g>

> >>Ceridwen:
> I can see your point about Lupin's apparent split.
> <snip>
> 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.
> <snip> 
> 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.

Betsy Hp:
I can totally understand Lupin being driven to a murderous rage.  
But it's chilling how... *calm* he is about it.  I don't really lean 
towards ESE!Lupin, but I feel like I cannot get a handle on him.  
He's slippery.  And he's very, very subtle.  

Snape seems to see him as the most dangerous of the Marauders, being 
sure not to turn his back on him in PoA.  That's interesting to me.  
And yet when McGonagall was listing off the Marauders in PoA, Lupin 
never came up.  Was he never caught in their various escapades?  Was 
he not considered one of the gang by the staff?  Or was JKR simply 
trying to hide his connection with James and Sirius?  (I believe 
Lupin tells Harry that he was their friend around this time though, 
so I'm not sure why JKR didn't have McGonagall say anything.)

He's strangely weak, caving into peer pressure with disturbing 
ease.  And yet, he spends most of PoA making subtle little digs at 
Snape.  So he's not totally controlled by a need to be liked.  But 
he's been the only surviving and free Marauder since the Potters 
were killed and he's never, that we know of, attempted to contact 
Harry.  Why was he so willing to leave Harry to the Dursleys?  Why 
was he so reluctant to let Harry know that he was a friend of 
James?  And again (and most disturbingly) why was he willing to let 
Harry die rather than share the secrets of dead or traitorous 
friends?  It makes me wonder about the depths of loyalty he felt for 
James.

And then there's that crack he makes about sinking to his true level 
when he joined with the werewolf pack.  He's horribly down on 
himself.  And he seems rather bitter about Dumbledore. (That whole, 
well he needed a spy and there I was...)  It's like Lupin really 
sees himself as something lesser than, and at the same time he's 
angry that he is that way.

It's funny, because he's got this reputation of being this sweet, 
intelligent, calm and rational man.  But I suspect that this is a 
mask.  It's a comfortable mask, and one he uses easily, but in the 
end, I don't think we've really met the real Lupin.  Hell, I'm not 
sure *Lupin* knows who the real Lupin is.

Betsy Hp