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

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 180681

> Magpie:
> The reason he's saying he shouldn't be with his family isn't that 
his 
> illness makes him unable to handle responsibility but that his very 
> presence is a danger to them--which is true--under the current 
regime. 

zgirnius:
It is not his presence that is the danger, it is his *existence*. 
Bella might or might not leave Tonks alone once she is no longer 
pregnant, but little Teddy, once he is born, is someone who needs to 
be 'pruned' from her family tree regardless. His family is already 
associated with him.

> Magpie:
> Far from being something that disgusts Harry, it's something Harry 
> himself would do. He thought himself perfectly self-righteous when 
he 
> considered leaving Grimmauld Place when he thought he was possessed 
in 
> OotP and he made similar speeches in this book about not wanting to 
> put other people in danger because they're with him. 

zgirnius:
He was not married to anyone at 12 GP, nor had he fathered a child 
with anyone there. 

Harry's most notable noble leaving of someone because of the danger 
it would put her in, is his breakup with Ginny at the end of HBP. 
Which, while it had not occured to me before, was quite possibly a 
contributing factor to Harry's anger, though secondary to the issue 
of abandoning a child, which is a sore point with Harry. He also 
tries this speech on Ron and Hermione, who turn him down. Of course, 
in all three of those cases, he tells the people in question what is 
going on. My own impression of Lupin from that scene is that he makes 
his decision without consulting Tonks, which is the source of my 
problems.

I can concoct in my mind a fanfic, which seems to me completely AU, 
in which, before coming to Harry, Lupin confesses to Tonks that 
despite his love for her and the baby, he worries about them and the 
danger their association with him puts them in so very much. And 
Tonks is happy to know Lupin's recent moodiness does not mean he 
loves her any less or does not want the baby, and also annoyed that 
he might think this matters to her, and assures him that she married 
him fully aware of the possible consequences, that the blame would be 
hers as much as anyone's if anything went wrong, and the happiness he 
has brought her means more to her than the risk. And then Lupin tells 
her he worries that no one is helping Harry, now that Albus is dead, 
and explains why he feels he is the ideal Order member to help. And 
Tonks sees the sense in it, says she wishes she could help too, but 
there is the baby she carries to think of. And so she assures Remus 
she and her mother will care for the baby when it comes, and stay 
safe, and she and Teddy will wait for his return after the war. Then 
Lupin shows up at 12 GP and makes his offer. 

This (noncanonical) Lupin seems to me the guy you are defending. 
Heck, I admire that guy too. He just was not in evidence in "The 
Bribe".