Lupin's behavior (Was: CHAPDISC: DH11, The Bribe)

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 180594

Carol earlier:
> > It's his being a werewolf (as well as his status as an
"undesirable") that makes him a danger to HRH,
> 
> a_svirn:
> Eh ... sorry? Harry was the Undesirable No 1 himself. 

> > Carol: 
> > The Trio have no such protection. Exactly how are they supposed to
protect themselves *from Lupin* when their "protector" turns into a
> > werewolf once a month? He can't stay in the tent with them on those
> > nights. Where is he supposed to go? 
> 
> a_svirn:
> Actually, "protector" is your word. As to how, I don't know, 
> supposedly he had some scheme in mind, only we didn't get to hear it. 
Carol again:
And how is having yet another, easily reocgnizable and extremely
dangerous, undesirable supposed to help them? Did you notice any
specific offer of help that Lupin made that they might have accepted
or rejected on its own merit? I didn't. He wants to know what they're
up to, which they won't tell him, and to accompany them on their
adventure. If not to protect them, or stand guard under the
Invisibility cloak, exactly what is his purpose? Why offer help they
don't need?

Besides, you're evading my question. How are the Trio supposed to
protect themselves when Lupin transforms? They can't always be brewing
a tricky potion like Wolfsbane, which not even Hermione has learned to
do and which must be drunk hot. Tonks, OTOH. is not going anywhere,
and could easily brew it at home. With no wolfsbane Potion. Lupin is a
danger to them and to himself. He would not be able to stay in the
tent with them on those nights, meaning that he would endanger anyone
else who was around and call attention to them and to himself.

Carol earlier:
> > Obviously, Tonks and Lupin found some way to live together in
peace, some way to protect and their unborn child from Lupin's "furry 
> little problem." 
> 
> a_svirn:
> Obviously. So could the Trio find a way. 

Carol:
I disagree. The only way is either to lock him up (rather difficult in
a tent, and remember Young!Lupin's howls in the Shrieking Shack? So
much for secrecy) or to make Wolfsbane Potion (which none of them
knows how to make, not to mention the difficulties cited above).
Neither solution is possible for the Trio and neither should be asked
of them. It's Lupin's responsibility, not theirs, to deal with his
affliction.
> 
> > Carol:
> My best guess is that Auror Tonks prepared Wolfsbane Potion
> > for her husband every month. 
> 
> a_svirn:
> She might have. Or not. We have no idea as to her proficiency in 
> Potions. 

Carol:
As I reminded you in a previous post, NEWT Potions is a requirement to
be an Auror. And to get into NEWT Potions with Snape as a teacher
(tonks would have been his student) you need an O on your OWL. So she
must have been at least as good at Potions as Hermione, not to mention
that she had sixth- and seventh-year Potions with Snape, and she must
have scored well on her Potions NEWT to become an Auror. It's a
prerequisite for the job (unless you're Harry Potter, who can
evidently become chief Auror without even graduating from Hogwarts).
> 
> > Carol:
> Neither Lupin himself nor HRH had the knowledge or the means of
doing so, nor should that additional burden have been forced upon them
by Lupin's unneeded and unwanted companionship. 
> 
> a_svirn:
> "Unwonted and unneeded"?! As far as I remember they were all three 
> quite fond of Lupin. 

Carol:
"Fond of Lupin" does not mean that they want and need him with them in
their Horcrux search. The companionship is a burden because a) they
can't tell him what they're up to, and b) he turns into a vicious
monster every full moon. And, as Harry points out, Lupin is not acting
like anyone they want with them on their quest. He's too wrapped up in
his own self-hatred and guilt: "You don't know how most of the
Wizarding world sees creatures like me! When they know of my
affliction, the can barely talk to me! Don't you see what I've done?
Even her own family is disgusted by our marriage {Where's the evidence
of that, BTW?], what parents want their only daughter to marry a
werewolf? And the child--the child--[He pulls out handfuls of his own
hair.] My kind don't usually breed! it will be like me. I am convinced
of it. How can I forgive myself, when I knowingly risked passing on my
own condition to an innocent child! And if by some miracle, it is not
like me, then it will be better off, a hundred times so, without a
father of whom it must be ashamed!" (DH Am. ed. 213). 

Hermione asks how any child can be ashamed of him, but Harry replies,
rightly, IMO, Oh, I don't know, Hermione. I'd be pretty ashamed of
him" (214).

Lupin is not nobly offering to fight the war against Voldemort. He's
looking for an excuse to run away from his responsibilities and take
the consequences of "*knowingly* risk[ing] passing on his condition to
an innocent child." Who better than a werewolf father to help that
innocent child cope with that condition should he actually be born
with it? Who better than a werewolf to stand by the wife he
*knowingly* impregnated as she waits to give birth to a child who
might be a werewolf? nor is his conduct as he pulls his wand on Harry
and knocks him against a wall for calling him a coward noble. (It's a
parallel to Snape, who loses patience and casts some sort of Stinging
Hex im after Harry calls him a coward in HBP, except that, IMO, Lupin
unlike Snape, really is being a coward at this point.)

And, yes, it's possible to be a daredevil and a coward at the same
time, taking physical risks that can get you killed (eliminating the
innocent child's shame at his father's condition) and evading moral
responsibilities. (Lupin showed in PoA and in SWM, where he watched
Sirius and James tormenting Severus and remained silent) that he's
quite capable of moral cowardice.

Harry's words cause Lupin to return to Tonks, who needs his love and
emotional support, however well she can handle herself fighting Death
Eaters. That Lupin ultimately names Harry as the godfather of his
child is surely a tacit admission that Harry was right.

Carol, who thinks that Lupin redeemed himself by following Harry's
advice, standing by his wife and child until the time came to join the
battle and risk his life, not senselessly, but with good cause