Could Lupin have been asked to resign?

[wynnleaf]

No: HPFGUIDX 158829

Was Lupin asked to resign?

I've been reading POA very closely lately and noticing lots of 
things for the first time.  The chapter, "Owl Post Again," has some 
interesting points.

Harry first learned that Lupin was leaving when he went to visit 
Hagrid.

"Professor Lupin's a werewolf, see. An' he was loose on the grounds 
las' night.... He's packin' now, o' course." "He's packing?" said 
Harry, alarmed. "Why?" "Leavin', isn' he?" said Hagrid, looking 
surprised that Harry had to ask. "Resigned firs' thing this mornin'. 
Says he can't risk it happenin' again."

What struck me was Hagrid's "o' course," and his "isn' he?"  and 
his "looking surprised that Harry had to ask." In other words, it's 
not just that Lupin told Hagrid that "he can't risk it happenin' 
again." Hagrid seems to think it simply a matter of course that 
since Lupin endangered the students and ran loose as a werewolf, he 
had to leave. Hagrid is surprised that Harry wouldn't see that for 
himself right away.

Harry then goes to Lupin to question him about it.

Lupin told him a rather interesting thing.  He did repeat what he 
had told Hagrid, that he resigned because he had been a danger to 
the students.  But he added something that, as I consider it, 
doesn't sound correct – something that he doesn't appear to have 
said to Hagrid.

He said that Snape had "accidentally" revealed his being a werewolf 
at breakfast in retaliation for loosing the Order of Merlin, which 
Lupin indicated Snape lost because Dumbledore was able to convince 
Fudge of his (Lupin's) innocence.  But this is almost certainly 
untrue.  Fudge offered the Order of Merlin for the capture of Sirius 
Black.  During all of the scenes with Fudge after he offers the 
Order to Snape, Lupin is barely mentioned and not at all in 
conjunction with an offer of the Order of Merlin.  Later, as Fudge 
left, he was commenting on how embarrassing his position was, the 
escape of Sirius, etc.  It's rather obvious that Snape would have 
lost the Order over the same reason he would have been awarded the 
Order – the capture of Black.  Once Sirius had escaped, why would 
Fudge have given Snape the Order, simply for information regarding 
the culpability of Lupin, who at the time was in no one's custody, 
but was running around in the forest?

Yet Lupin used this as the justification for his assertion that he 
could no longer work at Hogwarts because Snape had outed him as a 
werewolf, in revenge for loosing the Order of Merlin when Fudge came 
to believe in Lupin's innocence.   Lupin makes it sound, in his 
comments to Harry, that the letters of complaint from parents would 
be what forced him to resign, even more than the danger he had been 
to students.

But we know that Dumbledore would not have let complaints affect 
him.  They certainly did not in relation to Hagrid, for whom 
Dumbledore weathered complaints about dangerous animals, injured 
students, his possible involvement with the Chamber of Secrets, and 
later his being half-giant.

Hagrid thought it was obvious that Lupin *had* to leave because of 
the danger he presented to students.  Hagrid mentioned Snape's 
telling the Slytherins about it at breakfast that morning, but 
didn't describe Snape's comments as "accidental."  If one only had 
Hagrid's comments to go on, I would have pictured Snape directly 
telling the Slytherins -- with no pretensions being an "accident."  
After all, the staff eat at a staff table, right?  So how would one 
stage an "accidental" leak of that information at breakfast?  

And I wonder if Dumbledore could have felt the same way as Hagrid – 
that Lupin had to resign. Not because of Lupin's being a werewolf, 
but because of the clear evidence that in a crisis he could and 
would forget the wolfsbane?  Or perhaps Dumbledore did not like the 
fact that Lupin had covered up so much important information for 9 
months.  I looked at what turned out to be the only example I could 
find of Dumbledore and Lupin interacting in all the books, which is 
where Lupin is leaving Hogwarts.

Lupin had just told Harry that he was primarily leaving because of 
Snape's revelation that he was a werewolf and had commented on the 
Patronus and given Harry the map back. Dumbledore came to the door 
and said, "Your carriage is at the gates, Remus." Lupin thanks 
Dumbledore, says goodbye to Harry, and then said to 
Dumbledore, "Headmaster, there is no need to see me to the gates, I 
can manage..." and then "Harry had the impression that 
Lupin wanted to leave as quickly as possible." Then "Good-bye, then, 
Remus," said Dumbledore soberly. And they shake hands and Lupin 
leaves.

We know that Lupin and Dumbledore had a conversation earlier in the 
morning.  But at this point the only thing we can see of 
Dumbledore's demeanor is that his comments are quite brief and his 
goodbye is said "soberly." And Lupin seems to want to leave quickly 
and doesn't want Dumbledore to follow him to the gates. I guess what 
I found interesting is that Lupin really doesn't want to spend any 
more time talking to Dumbledore than he has to, and that Dumbledore 
doesn't look particularly regretful about Lupin leaving. Dumbledore 
is left with Harry and says nothing that reflects any of his 
thoughts on Lupin leaving.

We have only Lupin's word that he decided on his own to resign.  
What if he was asked to resign by Dumbledore, not because of the 
public knowledge of his being a werewolf, but because of his own 
failings?  Of course, Dumbledore later included him in the Order of 
the Phoenix, but that is not a surprise.  Dumbledore does give 
second chances, after all.

wynnleaf, who supposes that if Lupin was asked to resign we will 
only find out about this if JKR wants to convince us of his 
duplicity in book 7.