Remus WAS Re: PoA Ch 10 Post DH look

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 181492

SSSusan:
Not Jayne here, but posting anyhow. :)

Alla:

YAY. Every time you post I am just hoping you would post again 

SSSusan:
Methinks, Alla, that you should simply have another reason to be
annoyed with Albus Dumbledore here. Don't you imagine that DD
*instructed* Order members/Potter family friends NOT to contact Harry?
I thought the whole point of putting him in a Muggle home was to keep
Harry from knowing about his wizarding heritage.

Alla:

LOL, of course it is very possible and plausible that DD instructed 
everybody not to contact Harry.
In fact, I am very willing to believe it. As if I did not have enough 
reasons to be annoyed with Albus Dumbledore, sigh. But my thing is 
that number one Remus could have mentioned it somewhere in the  
books, at least in HBP or DH for me to get off his case, and he did 
not. So I am left with speculating that maybe it was true or maybe it 
was not. Number two is that even if Albus Dumbledore said so, I see 
no reason for Remus to follow that order. I mean, I know I know he 
never defied Albus Dumbledore before, but he had no problem lying to 
him to protect Sirius' secret ( not that I mind that much), so I see 
no reason for him to not keep quiet if he started corresponding with 
Harry. 



SSSusan:

Or are you saying that Remus could have simply begun corresponding,
saying he knew Harry's parents, but saying nothing about the
particulars of their friendship (wizardhood, Hogwarts, the nature of
their deaths, etc.)?


Alla:

Anything, really, this scenario I would totally love. Who says that 
Remus had to be Harry's guide in magical world indeed. Let him just 
be that friend from the muggle world, who can provide some solace 
from Dursleys, even if temporarily.

SSSusan:
Either way, I have a feeling DD said "Don't!" once he'd placed Harry
with the Dursleys. And Remus, as we all know, isn't exactly one to
stand up and defy someone.

Alla:

See above. I would find it totally in character for Dumbledore to say 
so and for Remus not to defy him, I just dislike it immensely. And 
here is another thing, that lovely conversation at the end of OOP 
between Order members and Dursleys, do you think took place with 
Dumbledore's consent or without it? Because while at some point I was 
going back and forth, now I am thinking it took place without 
Dumbledore's consent IMO since otherwise I see no reason for DD 
himself not to be there. If I am right, then we have precedent for 
order members defying Dumbledore where Harry is concerned.

SSSusan:

Interesting to me is that you used the phrase "unwillingness to
interfere." That intrigues me. Do you think Remus would've seen
contacting Harry as interference, as opposed to defiance? Or do you
think DD issued no instructions to stay away from Harry?

Alla:

I have no clue if he did or did not issue such instructions. If there 
were instructions of course Remus would have viewed contacting Harry 
as defiance IMO.

SSSusan:
<SNIP>
That
is, "defeatist" is an attitude I can readily see in canon!Remus. I
think his natural quietness, his tendency to take a back seat, his
tendency not to speak out -- all of that mixed with his "affliction"
and the danger he knows he poses to others with it, made him
susceptible to a defeatist attitude.

IOW, once James & Lily were dead, Sirius thought to be a traitor & in
Azkaban, Peter presumably dead, and DD having stowed Harry away with
Muggles, I could see all of that adding up to a Remus feeling very
defeated and "I give up'ish."


Alla:

This is all very in character for Remus and I completely agree with 
you – very plausible explanation. But again I just do not like it. I 
mean now when  Evil Remus is dead, this quote that I provided earlier 
about him wanting to touch Harry and did not can mean only one thing, 
right? He wants to comfort Harry to show his support and stops 
himself. Why? I mean I know why, but it is just extremely terribly 
annoying if you ask me, heheh.


SSSusan:
Which doesn't mean you wouldn't still want to shake him, heh. But it
might explain why he didn't feel any inclination to write to Harry or
try to see him. <SNIP>

Alla:

Of course I have no problem with characterization here whatsoever. I 
think she wrote Remus very consistently. It is just the ""CHARACTER" 
problem I am seeing or the absence of such.

In fact now I am thinking that maybe his desire to join in with Trio 
and leaving Tonks maybe also partially caused by guilt that he did 
not do enough for Harry when he was younger and now, let's forget 
about his family ( his issues notwithstanding) and just try to 
rectify it. 


JMO,
Alla