Say it isn't so Lupin!!!

[Dana]

No: HPFGUIDX 170041


Pippin:
> But he's not allowed to live as any other wizard. Legislation has 
> been passed that keeps him from getting a job even if someone like
> Dumbledore wants to hire him. Lupin at least *does* want change,
> Sirius says Harry should hear him talk about Umbridge and her anti-
> werewolf legislation. 

Dana:
Of course as I said it is getting harder day by day but it still 
doesn't mean that LV can offer what Lupin is missing. 
I totally agree with you that Lupin does want change and he has to 
fight for it but Lupin is not stupid, he knows perfectly well that 
blood revenge on the WW population will not change anything about 
what he wants to achieve or would like to achieve. Werewolves live in 
seclusion not because they were pushed out of society but because 
most of them were pushed into seclusion be Greyback rain as he can 
have control over them this way instead of having them develop their 
own conscience and a sense of self as humans.

Also Lupin is not the only one that does not want to be judged on 
what he is as Madame Maxim got furious with Hagrid for him calling 
her part giant but she still joined Hagrid on a mission to persuade 
the giants to join DD side. Hagrid to was sympathetic to the giants 
suffering and the way they had to spend there existence and Hagrid 
himself does not have a life outside of Hogwarts. His expulsion from 
Hogwarts wasn't even overturned when Harry proved it was not Hagrid 
who was responsible for the killing of Myrtle. He is still not 
allowed to use magic. He even brings one with him and exposed Harry 
and Hermione to a pretty much uncontrollable unsociable Giant which 
is pretty dangerous as Hagrid himself would not be able to control 
him if he had gone on a rampage.   

Pippin:
> Voldemort was gone for twelve years, and in that time things only
> got worse. 

Dana:
So? I haven't seen anything in canon to suggest that it was better 
before his downfall but it does seem to suggest that someone 
revealing Lupin's secret that a werewolf is teaching at Hogwarts 
seemed to have made it worse and yet we do not see a growing 
animosity towards that specific person unlike we see of that person 
himself. 

Pippin:
> We'll soon know which theories are remarkably prescient and which
> are remarkably silly :) If I've invented all this, I'll be 
> gobsmacked though. I never knew I had it in me ;)
> 
> But you're right, Lupin's downfall, should it 
> become public knowledge, will make things harder for werewolves.
> Yes, indeed. But nobody said it was going to be easy, did they? 

Dana:
I apologies it was not specifically directed towards you and you are 
entitled to your own believe and theories but I just do not see 
anything suggested in canon that Lupin is craving to be recognized as 
a werewolf that would make a call to join LV's side appealing. LV is 
not promising the werewolves more rights as wizards or that he will 
change WW legislation so werewolves will be able to get paid work and 
thus improve Lupin's current situation. He only promises that they 
will be able to get their revenge on the WW by inflicting all the 
fear they can possibly inflict and fulfill their blood thirst on 
whoever they like. Lupin wants to be liked not be feared more and he 
specifically indicates he is not liked by the werewolves either 
because he bares the signs of living among the WW. He is not freely 
accepted in their mids either just like Hagrid is not accepted among 
the Giants, Dobby is not accepted among his kind and Firenze is 
shunted from his for associating himself with humans.  

In HBP Lupin is losing his grip for a moment and in that moment 
starts to believe that no one will see him as anything other then a 
werewolf and that his life as he tried to life it is meaningless but 
that hasn't anything to do with him being part of the werewolf 
society but with his failure to keep one of his close friend from 
dying on him again and him pushing Tonks away and attempting to deny 
his feelings for her because he believes she deserves better then 
him. His reaction to DD's death is not just about DD but about having 
lost every single person close to him that truly accepted Lupin for 
Lupin and who all went out of their way to help him have a better 
life and then Tonks and the people around remind him that he is not 
alone that there are still people that care for him and one in 
particular that loves him so that her life is totally meaningless 
without him. 

The public display of affection by holding Tonks hand in public is a 
giant leap from the Lupin that we have seen so far. Our place in 
society is not only directed on how legislation affects us but 
especially on how our friends and family supports us and it is the 
most important support we as humans can have and what makes us strong 
enough to fight for bigger things then just wallow in our own 
predicaments.

Everyone has his problems, the Weasleys are not better off in this 
war then muggle-borns when LV makes his grab for power. They are 
blood traitors and are as easily killed as any other wizard or witch 
with a different background. Hagrid and his brother are related to 
the Giants and if they truly have sided with LV then they have to 
fight their own kind just like Lupin has his. Still, just like Lupin, 
Hagrid understood the predicament of the Giants enough for him to 
want to make an attempt to help his brother to a better life. 

Is that going to make him switch sides just because he is not 
accepted by a large part of society too and the WW is denying the 
Giants their rights to existence while LV probably promised them a 
better life? No because we see that regardless of the mistakes he 
makes his is totally loyal to DD and Lupin is too even though he made 
a crucial and very personal mistake in PoA. Lupin brought Harry in 
danger by keeping information from DD but so did Hagrid because 
Hagrid did not tell DD he messed up by revealing how to get passed 
Fluffy to a stranger, he then even slips up again and tells it to 
Harry himself. Snape slips up by withholding information from DD on 
several occasions and he actually is working (pretending whatever) 
for LV and his DEs but it is still not enough to conclude he is ESE.  


Pippin:
> His reasoning was that Sirius was entering the castle through other
> means, by some dark arts he'd learned from Voldemort. That doesn't
> sound as if he had any doubts about Sirius's loyalty to the Dark 
> Lord.If you really mean you believe he'd be loyal to a friend even 
> when he thinks they've gone over  to the Dark Side, then you're an 
> ESE!Lupin supporter. Welcome!

Dana:
You are forgetting that Sirius was not the only one that became an 
illegal animagus on Lupin's behalf and that Sirius was not the only 
one that roamed the castle, the grounds and Hogmead with a fully 
fletched werewolf. Lupin did not keep this information from DD to 
protect Sirius but to protect James and Peter, two friends who he 
believed to be dead. Loyalty to a friend does not dissolve into thin 
air the moment that person dies. It is even worse because that person 
is no longer there to defend his own actions. What is Lupin to do, 
smear his dead friends' names and just forget what James and Peter 
had done for him when they were young? That is why he is denying to 
himself that Sirius might be using his animagus form to get into the 
castle, not to protect Sirius from being caught but to protect the 
secret that Lupin once shared with his best friends. A secret that at 
the time made Lupin's life worth living and gave him the best time of 
his life he ever had. A secret that betrayed DD's safety precautions 
he set out so that Lupin could have a chance to be part of WW 
society. That made it possible for Lupin to have such great friends 
in the first place. 

Lupin did not want to jeopardize this memory to be anything other 
then the best time of his life when he felt fully accepted by the 
friends he was with. He did not want to betray the friends that made 
that possible and he also did not want DD to lose his trust in James, 
Peter and him for what they did when they were young.

He made the wrong choice but not because he wanted to help Sirius to 
get to Harry. That is why Lupin was watching the map that night 
because he knew that Harry would want to be with Hagrid before 
Buckbeak was sentenced to death as he stated himself, he was not 
worried because he figured Harry was using his father's old 
invisibility cloak and so Sirius would not be able to see him. He 
probably watched the map very closely on other nights for any sign of 
Sirius making another attempt to enter the castle and by taking the 
map away from Harry he prevented Harry from wandering outside the 
castle grounds. 

But then he got the biggest shock of his life when not 3 people left 
Hagrid's cabine but 4 and one of them was an old time friend he 
believed to have been dead for 12 years. Would you have kept your 
cool and think about your regular chores. I wouldn't I even forget my 
keys if something happens out of the ordinary and lock myself out of 
the house. Peter showing up on the map is not just a revelation of 
him not being dead but it actually turns everything Lupin believed in 
for 12 years up side down. Could Sirius be innocent? Why has Peter 
been hiding? What is he doing with the trio and why was he in 
Hagrid's cabin? What really happened during the confrontation with 
Sirius 12 years ago? If Peter is alive could it be that Sirius did 
not kill those 12 muggles? Might he even be wrong about Sirius 
betraying the Potters? And if Peter was able to get away from Sirius 
could he do that again and kill the trio? I think by the time Lupin 
rushes off his head was already near imploding on itself by the mere 
rush of possibilities that soared through Lupin's head. All Logic was 
out of the window and the only thing he probably knew for sure is 
that he had to get there as fast as he could. 

To answer Betsy, Lupin did not betray James by keeping the 
information from DD because it could possibly have put Harry in 
danger because Lupin was keeping an eye on Harry personally in an 
attempt to make up for his reluctance to give their childhood secrets 
away. He could not have foreseen and neither could DD that Ron would 
break away and reveal their location in an attempt to recapture 
scabbers. Remember that security on the Gryffindor entrance was 
increased so it was unlikely that Sirius could get to Harry while he 
was sleeping again even if he was successful to enter the castle once 
more. 

Pippin:
> He could have stopped it at any time. All he had to do was tell
> them that it had to end or he'd go to McGonagall. I've never taken
> an actual count of the times we've seen Lupin tell Sirius what to 
> do, but I guarantee it outweighs the times we've seen Sirius tell
> Lupin what to do. There are a lot of times when Sirius does what
> he wants and Lupin, though displeased, doesn't say anything. But
> when Lupin does talk, Sirius listens.

Dana:
Why would he want to stop it at any time? It was the best time he 
ever had. Where they all felt so special for their own cleverness 
that is not proof Lupin is ESE now because James never told DD he was 
an animagus either not even when they left school. James could have 
registered with the MoM at any time and make him being an animagus 
legal but he never did and so could Sirius and Peter but they never 
did. You can't put all the blame for that in Lupin's shoes. 

Also there is no comparison to the schoolyard Sirius and the one we 
witness in PoA and onwards as Sirius is not in a position to explain 
himself to Harry or to pick a fight with Molly even if he had wanted 
nothing else. Lupin has to physically restrain Sirius from getting to 
Peter in PoA more then once, also Sirius on more then one occasion 
tells Lupin to hurry up. Sirius only listens to Lupin because of his 
own desire for Harry to understand and the same goes for him 
listening to Lupin to sit down (we actually see that Sirius probably 
restrained himself just like he did when Fred insulted him and Harry 
observes Sirius looking like he wants to smack Fred) and in the fire 
conversation Lupin again had to physically drag Sirius down again. 

Sirius is not listening to Lupin because Lupin is the more dominant 
one but because Sirius actually has no real choice but to listen. 
Lupin was there on the night of the DoM and he could not make Sirius 
stay behind because once Sirius makes up his mind he doesn't listen 
to anyone. Well Harry and James he still would have listened to but 
certainly not Lupin. He only actually listens to DD because he wants 
to be there for Harry but as we see he has no problem going against 
DD's orders to leave GP and even wants to come up to Hogsmead and he 
would have if Harry had agree to it. 

Pippin:
> *Not* the disease, but *human* weaknesses.  ESE!Lupin's downfall is
> not the wolf inside but his human failing of cutting his friends too
> much slack, which he rightly calls cowardice.  
> 
>  I believe that Lupin genuinely honored Dumbledore 
> and believed that Dumbledore's way (which I take to be gradual 
> peaceful change) was a better path.   But IMO, once he'd gained
> the trust of his fellow werewolves,  he didn't have the 
> guts to break with them over it. 

Dana:
Where is it stated that the werewolves are his friends or that they 
fully trusted him and I got the impression that it was rather very 
difficult for him to gain their trust. He does not call them his 
equals because of who he is but for what he is. His human weakness 
and his disease are not two separate things. He cuts his friends too 
much slack BECAUSE he fears they will no longer like him for himself 
but turn around and judge him for being a werewolf. He does not want 
DD to know about the secret of what he and his friends did when they 
were young BECAUSE it involved his werewolf part and he is afraid 
that DD will start to see him as a werewolf because he no longer 
trusts Lupin's human part (and might even have been the reason for 
his temperary leaps as DD indeed sends Lupin to spy on the 
werewolves). 

Lupin does not want to be a werewolf and therefore he was so grim in 
HBP for being a ready-made spy and thus there being no one else to do 
the job unlike Snape who is so proud to be the only one to able to be 
within LV's inner circle that he raises himself to be the only one 
who risks his life for the Order. The werewolves could have 
considered Lupin a traitor for living a wizard's life and they are 
not shy in killing if they want to and they surely would if it became 
known information on their movements was passed to the opposite side. 
That is why Lupin keeps a low profile and contacts as little people 
as possible for he knows it could put their lives in danger. Lupin is 
already betraying his fellow werewolves by giving information on them 
to DD something he could not make himself do when it concerned his 
friends.

Also I want to suggest the tiny trust the werewolves had for Lupin 
might actually give a hint to something else. That not all werewolf's 
hold the same believe that LV is the right way to go. Here is Lupin 
who lived among the wizards and who actually betrayed his own kind by 
doing so and yet he was not killed by them. The werewolves live under 
the suppression of Greyback who himself seems to live the way he 
wants too but he is not looking out for the werewolves well being as 
they still have to take care of themselves. So personally I do not 
see a Lupin turning to LV's side but him being a major factor for the 
werewolves to turn against LV. Lupin will be the door leading to the 
werewolves' choosing to be human first while LV only offers them a 
life as a werewolf something they already had and Lupin never wanted. 

Lupin did not just honor DD's way, he is fiercely loyal to him 
because he gave Lupin a chance to be human and not be considered for 
what he is. These things can't be separated because Lupin wants to be 
human. He only strays for a moment because he lost faith after the 
loss of another important friend and DD sending him to spy on the 
werewolves and because he denies himself love as he considers himself 
not good enough for her. Instead of DD's death being the final straw 
to push him over permanently towards the werewolves he actually makes 
a different choice after he sees that Fleur doesn't care about Bill's 
permanent disfiguration and after people tell him Tonks wants Lupin 
because of Lupin and does not care he is too old, too poor and too 
dangerous. Instead of losing faith completely he grabs that part of 
his human side and opens up to be with Tonks. 

Lupin does not have to break up with the werewolves because not all 
werewolves are like Greyback just like not all Giants are like we 
have seen of them as Gwarp seems to be adjusting reasonably well and 
Hagrid has not given up on him just because the rest of them sided 
with LV. 

I truly want to respect your theory and of course I cannot claim it 
is not so because we have to wait and see for DH but to me it just 
seems very unlikely just because he made a mistake. Snape brought the 
prophecy to LV and it let to the death of two people and ruined the 
lives of other people involved including Harry's for what he had to 
endure with the Dursley's, not to mention that the prophecy still 
puts him in danger as LV still is out there to kill him and yet DD 
forgives Snape for his mistake. The mistake Lupin made was not merely 
him being a weak human but it had everything to do with the part of 
him he himself still does not accept fully. 

JMHO

Dana