Remus and Harry WAS Re: PoA Ch 10 Post DH look

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 181548

Alla wrote:
> Forget about WW for a second, all right? I can see what you are 
saying here absolutely. And even though it would take a lot of 
convincing for me, I can see being convinced of **not informing Harry
of WW** yes. <snip>
> 
> But what harm can be in Remus doing what you mentioned upthread?
Just contacting him as muggle friend who knew his parents?

> But again, if I can see how the contact can be tied into the issue
of Harry's safety, I can see that. But I just do not see it, if those
 will be letters from a friend mailed a muggle way.
> 
> And remember those people approaching Harry in his early years,
which Petunia tried to get him away from? No DE seemed to follow on
their trail or something and I am NOT even talking about personal contact.
> 
> I mean, there is nothing that can convince me that Albus Dumbledore 
> would not able to check on Harry and that is one sin I will not ever 
> be able to forgive his character, but whatever – for others including 
> Remus, let's assume that personal contact may have been dangerous for 
> Harry, let's assume that even letters mailed the WW may have been 
> dangerous, although those many owls with the letters from Hogwarts 
> did not seem to bring any DE on their trail either, so I am not sure
I am buying into their dangerousness.
> 
> BUT how can letters mailed the muggle way be dangerous? <snip>

Carol responds:

I think, first, that Dumbledore was keeping an eye on Harry, making
sure that he was safe, if not through those silver instruments then
certainly through Mrs. Figg, Dedalus diggle, and the other members of
the Order that Harry encountered. So even though he knew that Harry
wasn't particularly happy or well treated, he saw no reason to
interfere or allow Order members, including Lupin, to interfere. He
wanted Harry to have a Muggle upbringing, not knowing who he was until
it was time to go to Hogwarts, and the best way to insure that was to
forbid direct contact with Order members, including letters, in case
something slipped.

As for sending the letters by ordinary Muggle post, assuming that
Remus knew how to do that, I'm quite sure that the Dursleys would have
burned any letters to Harry, especially if they suspected a connection
to the WW. Even if Child!Lily hadn't mentioned Remus Lupin, which
seems unlikely considering that she'd known him since they were Sorted
into Gryffindor and later, they were fellow Prefects, how many Muggles
have names like Remus Lupin? 

It's possible, however unlikely, that Lupin did try to communicate
with Harry, either by owl, which would be a dead giveaway, or by
Muggle mail. Either way would, I think, have been futile even if Lupin
dared to cross dumbledore by attempting it.

On another level, we can blame JKR. she didn't want Harry to know
about Lupin's close connection with his father until it was revealed
in the Shrieking Shack scene. And Lupin himself is busy keeping the
secret. He lets slip that he knew James and confesses that he knew
Sirius, but doesn't indicate how close the friendship was because he's
hiding his being a werewolf and the Mauauders being Animagi. When
Snape confiscates the Marauder's Map and Lupin claims it ("I'll take
this *back*, shall I?"), both of them make it look as if Lupin is
claiming it as the DADAD teacher rather than as one of the makers of
the map. And he claims to know the makers, not to *be* one. So both
Lupin's secretiveness and JKR's plot needs factor in here. I can't see
Lupin revealing himself as a friend of Harry's father prematurely for
any reason. He didn't go to see Sirius in prison, either. 

Alla:
> Well, yeah as I said I do know about Remus'  many insecurities, 
issues, and problems, whatever. I know and to the extent can even 
find identify with some of those insecurities myself. The thing is –
it still just does not do it for me. Does that make sense? <snip>

> Get over it Remus, Harry is not the one who was hurting you and
discriminating you as werewolf, etc. Yes, it is hard to reach out,
knowing that you had  been hurt and discriminated against so many
times, yes you are  insecure and not sure if people will accept you.
> 
> But try to think rationally here for a second, Remus, try to think 
that the world may not revolve around your insecurities only and there
is a boy who may need you with all your insecurities and fears, you
know? <snip>

Carol:

Maybe, and I'm just guessing here, Lupin resented James for thinking
that he was the spy and for trusting Sirius over him--leading, he
would have thought, to James's and Lily's deaths.

At any rate, it's not in character for him to "get over it." His whole
life, from his nickname to wandering the countryside in the company of
three Animagi to being suspected as the spy to being chronically
unemployed revolves around being a werewolf. It's also the reason,
later in the series, why he depends on Snape to make the Wolfsbane
Potion, loses the DADA position, hesitates to marry Tonks, and nearly
runs away from her and their unborn baby. Remus Lupin *is* his "furry
little problem," clear down to his name. And his condition determnes
his personality--fear of dislike and disapproval, or, more
specifically, fear of losing the friends who became Animagi for him
(and so that they could have reckless midnight adventures with a
werewolf!) by expressing disapproval of their behavior (so much for
appointing him Prefect so that he would control his friends!) and fear
of losing Dumbledore's approval by revealing that his friends were
illegal Animagi. IOW, Lupin is a moral coward. He knows that he should
reveal that Sirius Black is an Animagus. He surely knows, too, that he
should turn in the Marauder's Map to Dumbledore. Instead, he continues
to conceal that information even after Black has twice broken into the
school, first slashing the Fat Lady's painting and then actually
getting into Harry's room and slashing Ron's bedcurtains.

He's willing to endanger the students, particularly the Gryffindor
boys in Harry's year, rather than confess that he encouraged his
friends to become illegal Animagi. (He thinks that black murdered
twelve Muggles and Peter Pettigrew and that he's out to kill Harry,
yet he doesn't provide the information that would enable Dumbledore to
catch Black and make the presence of the Dementors unnecessary.

We can blame JKR for creating a character who fits so neatly into the
demands of her plot. Or we can blame ESW!Lupin for being spineless.

I'm not sure which to blame with regard to Lupin's not writing to
Harry before Harry entered Hogwarts. I think it's a combination of
factors. Even if Lupin "got over it" and dared to defy Dumbledore's
wishes by writing Harry, either by owl or by Muggle post, the Dursleys
would have burned the letters. And regardless of whether DD or Lupin
or the Dursleys is responsible for the absence of letters, Harry has
no contact with the WW and no knowledge of his father's friends, which
is exactly how JKR needs things to be for the plot of POA to work.

Carol, not sure whether she's clarified matters or complicated them
further