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

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 148342

Betsy Hp:
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.

a_svirn:
But McGonagall wasn't "listing off the Marauders", she was telling a 
thrilling tale of true friendship and betrayal, and from where she 
stood Lupin simply did not feature in it. For the simple reason that 
he didn't take his part in the final showdown. Which, in turn, poses 
another question: just why didn't he take his part in it? 

Betsy Hp:
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.

a_svirn:
But where do you see the contradiction? He could hardly indulge an 
idle hope of being liked by Snape, could he? And by "making subtle 
little digs" he won almost universal admiration at his expense. 

Betsy Hp:
Why was he so willing to leave Harry to the Dursleys?

a_svirn:
Most likely Dumbledore neglected to ask his consent. And anybody 
else's. 

Betsy Hp:
And again (and most disturbingly) why was he willing to let
Harry die rather than share the secrets of dead or traitorous
friends?

a_svirn:
Yes, I agree, this is one thing which is quite impossible to explain 
away. 

Betsy Hp:
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.

a_svirn:
Well, of course he does and he is. This is, at least, something that 
is quite understandable, however unfair it might be. 

Ceridwen:
And, look at him under the tree in Snape's memory.  He's a prefect,
but he's got his nose in a book, pretending not to notice.  Pretty
cool there, too.  Some people don't show feelings very much.  Anyway,
that's how I see him in the SS scene.

a_svirn:
Do you know, I think Fudge is even more cool. Lupin was simply a 
prefect who pretended not to notice the most outrageous case of 
bullying. But Fudge has quite outdone him in the art of detachment. 
Why, he was a minister who pretended not to notice the return of the 
greatest Dark Wizard of All! Guess, it's the British Stiff Upper Lip 
at work.