Lupin in the Shrieking Shack was Re: On the perfection of moral virtues.

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 169079

> Pippin:
> I'll turn your question around. By what authority did Lupin decide
> that Sirius was *not* an outlaw? 

Mike:
Ahh, but I'm not gonna let ya <veg>. This is between Lupin and Snape. 
They each have their differing position on Sirius. They are both 
teachers at the same school, have the same authority in their present 
positions. But only one of them has a Dark Mark, however faded, on 
his forearm. 

Only one of them still feels hard done by from a prank that happened 
20 years ago. And apparently, that prank is what gives Snape the 
moral authority, since he has no other evidence of Lupin's duplicity 
and his assertion that Lupin was helping Sirius were not only a 
figment of Snape's imagination, they were WRONG. 


> Pippin: <snip>
> Ron lay seriously injured. Given that Sirius and Lupin are old 
> friends, how could it not look fishy? 

Mike:
And Snape did what for Ron? 

If Snape opens his eyes, he should see that while Lupin is 
storytelling, Harry and Hermione are questioning Lupin's story and 
Sirius is sitting on the bed, **wandless** and staring at the rat. 
What is fishy about this scene is *why* this Conspirator!Lupin is 
telling a story and *why* this criminal Black is sitting mostly 
placidly on the bed and staring at the rat and not his supposed 
victim, Harry. If Lupin and Black have finally cornered their 
intended victim, what's all this other falderall?

> Pippin:
> If Lupin meant well, wouldn't he have sent a patronus to 
> Dumbledore for help, and wouldn't Dumbledore have arrived already?

Mike:
You presume that Dumbledore had invented his messenger Patronus 
already. You take it for granted that Lupin should have sent the 
patronus(if it existed)? Why do you not expect the same from Snape 
after he had the situation under his control? Either the messenger 
patronus did not yet exist, or they are both as culpable. In fact, if 
Snape's so sure of what he's going to find in the Shack, why doesn't 
he messenger DD before he enters the tunnel? The least he could do 
was warn DD that Lupin hasn't taken his Wolfsbane.


> <snipping the Lupin is an a**hole portion, which you may like to
> know, or not, that I don't disagree with ;) >

> Pippin:
> The fact that the kids still had their wands would mean nothing, 
> since Lupin only had to say "Expelliarmus!" to take them away -- 
> his own wand isn't even stowed in his robes, it's stuck in his 
> belt. And Lupin is also capable of wandless magic, as Snape may 
> know.

Mike:
The kids know "Expelliarmus!" too, thanks to Snape the previous year. 
They have their wands at the ready, they could just as easily all 
fire off Expelliarmus simultaneously at Lupin and not only relieve 
him of his wand, but also knock him out for good measure. Oh, wait, 
they did that, but against a raving, unreasoning Snape.

I'm at a loss on your point of Lupin's wandless magic. :-? I honestly 
don't remember what you are referring to.


> Pippin:
> The potion has to be drunk "directly" according to Snape in chapter
> 8. Presumably it keeps as long as it's in the cauldron, but would 
> have spoiled by the time Snape got out to the Shack with the goblet.

Mike:
I find this conjecture unconvincing. I believe most theorists have 
presumed Lupin not drinking his potion in front of Snape in Ch 8 was 
him acting passive-agressively towards Snape. At least that's the 
analysis (not by me) I found most convincing for Snape's comment and 
Lupin's behavior. Any speculation as to how long the potion remains 
viable is just that.


> Pippin:
> <snipping JKR's infuriating treatment of "moonrise" and 
transformation timeliness, urgh>
> 
> A better question is why Lupin felt he had to sit around and
> rehash his old school days, with Ron seriously injured and
> in pain, a dangerous outlaw in custody, and the marauders
> map open and activated on his desk, on a night when he
> would soon be transforming into a werewolf and supposedly
> hadn't taken his potion. I've never heard a convincing reason
> for it all. Either Pettigrew's reappearance made him completely 
> irrational, in which case he was hardly trustworthy, or he was 
> Up To Something.

Mike:
I don't disagree with you here. I found Lupin's whole story telling 
scene only slightly less infuriating than Dumbledore's explanation 
scene at the end of OotP. But JKR chose this vehicle to give us much 
appreciated backstory, for which I am eternally grateful and still 
hungry for more. So, it's a mixed bag for me.

It seems Pettigrew's reappearance spontaneously triggered ridiculous 
responses from three other former classmates. ;))

**********
The bottom line for me: Harry entered the Shack convinced Sirius 
Black is the reason his parents are dead and therefore with murderous 
intent in his heart. He has yet to be convinced of the contrary when 
Snape makes his entry under the cloak. Yet Harry has enough common 
sense to listen to Lupin's story, to at least hear him out.

Snape is blinded by his own revengeful thoughts (and possibly by his 
chance at receiving accolades for his part in capturing Black. There 
is plenty of evidence from his words in the Shack ["you should be 
thanking me on bended knee"] and in his smirk when Fudge mentions the 
Order of Merlin.) And what was one of the reasons why Black is so 
reviled? Why selling out to Voldemort; revealing the Potter's secret 
so LV can act on the prophesy information that **who** brought to LV 
in the first place? 

Explain to me again where Snape gets his moral authority! Two adults 
in the Shack have Dark Marks on their forearms and they aren't Sirius 
Black nor Remus Lupin.

Mike