Ungrateful Werewolf ( Was Re: Character Given A Reprieve)

[srpripas]

No: HPFGUIDX 175690


Mim:
> That's where you and JKR lose me. The Fidelius Charm is the ultimate 
> protection because James trusts his friends. But he knows that 
> someone may go after the Secret Keeper and that's why Sirius decides 
> to change. So as they would go after Sirius and possibly murder him 
> torture him and the rest they could go to Peter too and murder him 
> torture him and the rest. Peter doe>sn't have to betray him for the 
> Secret Keeper business not to be full proof. And since it hinges on 
> James' blind trust to his friends, then how can he blindly trust 
> them and at the same time suspect Remus? So he blindly trusts the 
> others and not Remus?

Nowhere in canon does it actually indicate that James didn't trust
Remus.  You might infer that he didn't based on the fact that Remus
didn't know about the switch in Secret-Keepers, but canon doesn't
actually state it and there are certainly alternative explanations. 
All we know for sure is that *Sirius* thought Remus was the spy. 
Personally, I doubt Remus would have said that James "would have
regarded it as the height of dishonor to suspect his friends" if James
had suspected him the way Sirius did.

> 
> Mim:
> Going after Peter by himself was reckless because he didn't tell 
> anyone else what Peter had done. He might have stood more of a 
> chance if he hadn't gone off half-cocked like that. He was under 
> extreme emotional duress at the time and obviously not really 
> thinking. But the boy they had laughed at and obviously considered 
> inferior in their little gang outsmarted him. That's just all sorts 
> of ironic.

I agree with you about Sirius' flaws, absolutely.  I will say in his
defense that people generally don't make rational, well-thought out
decisions immediately after suffering an extreme trauma.  (Though
Sirius is rather reckless under any circumstances.)

>Mim:
> Remus isn't a coward in everything he does. He goes undercover in 
> Fenrir's gang an that can't have been fun. And yet he does it even 
> though unlike Snape he had never joined them but because it's right. 
> Yet in his private life the cowardice is there and his immaturity. 
> Marrying Tonks and getting her pregnant (this is the guy who forgot 
> his potion in PoA...) even though there was a serious chance the kid 
> would be like him and then being such an incredible jerk about it. 
> And he hit Harry when Harry goaded him. He's the adult and at that 
> moment he acted like a child himself. I think that he didn't really 
> grow that much either. He was somewhat more mature than the others 
> to begin with but as an adult he doesn't seem to be over repeating 
> some patterns.

I do think DH indicates that he was able to eventually--after Harry's
harsh but appropriate words--get over his misgivings and do the right
thing by staying with Tonks.  There are strong indications that he
settles in as a proud, happy father after the baby is born.  He gets
over his fears and insecurities to some extent, IMO.  And while much
of Remus' behavior in the early part of the book is indeed
indefensible, I find it somewhat odd that you blame him for "getting
Tonks pregnant."  First, we don't know what the actual odds of him
passing lycanthropy (not a genetic trait) to potential offspring and
JKR has said that Teddy's not a werewolf.  Second, it takes two to
make a baby.  Tonks also bears some responsibility for the pregnancy
(which was probably accidental, IMO).  I agree with criticisms of
Remus' behavior after the pregnancy was discovered, but criticizing
him for getting Tonks pregnant at all strikes me as rather odd.

> Mim:
> 
> I think that fandom gives them a hell of a lot of slack, myself. But 
> I guess it depends also on where you place yourself in regards to 
> them, a bully or a victim? 

This is a gross oversimplification of the Marauder/Snape dynamic. 
While MWPP are extremely far from sainthood, so was young Snape (who
was involved with Dark magic, even to the point of inventing spells
like Sectumsempra, was entirely too interested in his rivals'
business, and broke rules and made bad decisions himself as a result
of his hatred.)  I've always been confused by fandom's desire to "take
sides", as it were, instead of recognizing the deliciously ambiguous
characters on both sides of the conflict.

> Dumbledore who knew them and let Sirius rot in 
> jail and Remus be miserable until he could find some use for them 
> again. It's complicated.
>

Dumbledore had every reason to believe that Sirius was guilty, and
therefore very different from the boy/young man he thought he knew. 
Yet when meeting Sirius again in PoA, Dumbledore was willing to listen
to his story and believed him.  He orchestrated Sirius' escape.  As
for Remus, it's not clear what Dumbledore *could* have done for him
during the "missing years" gap.  He can't magically make the wizarding
world less prejudiced against werewolves.  Besides, we know so little
of Remus' life during this time that I don't think we can make very
many definitive statements about it.  Suffice to say that I think
Dumbledore valued Sirius and Remus a good deal more than you're
willing to acknowledge.  Yes, Dumbledore was concerned with making
"use" of them.  But he clearly was making "use" of Snape, too, not
merely giving him a cushy job out of the kindness of his heart.  He
clearly despised Snape at first, in fact, calling him "despicable." 
Using people is what Dumbledore *did*--and I'm not sure what
conclusions we can draw about MWPP from his various actions.

Sarah