Lupin quotes

[pippin_999]

Rynne :
> Getting into the debate because Lupin's my favorite character 
and if JKR makes him ESE I'll be heartily depressed...
> 
> Pippin:
> > Is there really a moral difference between dangling  Snape 
 upside down because he's a weird little oddball, and dangling 
the Robertses upside down because they're Muggles? Lupin   
knew it was wrong, but he didn't want to go against the boys who  
were his friends and the height of cool. Couldn't there have been 
some DE's in the crowd at the World Cup who felt the same 
 way?<<

Rynne:
> 
> There *is* a difference--Snape could fight back.  And he did,
> remember?  That spell that cut James's cheek?  James 
actually didn't dangle Snape upside down *until* Snape had cut 
his cheek (though he did nearly choke him with the Scourgify 
first).  The difference is that the Robertses couldn't fight back, 
and Snape could--and did.<

Pippin:
Snape couldn't fight back effectively, because the odds were 
uneven: two against one. I'm not sure I see the difference. It 
wasn't a fair fight. The odds were more glaringly lopsided in the 
Robertses case, but the principle is the same.

Rynne:
> Never mind that Lupin himself is fifteen/sixteen here.  When 
you were that age, did you know many people who had the moral 
conviction to defy their friends when they think their friends are 
wrong, *publicly*, especially when their biggest flaw is that they 
want their friends to like them? <

Pippin:
That is what I am saying. The courage to do the right thing under 
such circumstances is rarer than we would like to think. Neville 
had it in PS/SS, Lily had it in the Pensieve. Two out of hundreds 
of named characters.

Rynee
>I don't blame him (much) for having made the wrong choice at 
that point, but I can't see how standing by when his friends hung 
Snape upside down equates to being a DE.<

Pippin:
 He says he never told them they were out of line. Think about 
that and remember that Sirius eventually tried to kill Snape. 

Rynne:
> A question, Pippin.  What do you think Lupin's motives would 
be, for turning ESE?  I can see some reasons, but I can't see 
them as being strong enough for Lupin to turn his back against 
his friends and mentors.<
> 

Pippin:
Well, that's the _who wants to be a galleonaire_ question. But I 
think JKR wrote an 869 page answer to that  in OOP. She says 
the book is that long so we'll understand what's coming, and 
most of it is taken up with the endless, grinding struggle against 
Umbridge's reign of bureaucratic terror. At the end of it, 
Hermione was quite ready to think siccing the centaurs on 
Umbridge was a clever plan. And that was against Umbridge 
who was blessedly inept. Crouch Sr was similarly ruthless, and 
not inept at all.

Post-Hogwarts, Lupin  probably had more experience with the 
Umbridge/Crouch Sr. face of the wizarding government than with 
the Arthur Weasley/Amelia Bones side. Outside of Hogwarts, 
Voldemort seems to be the only adult wizard we've met so far 
who even pretends to  take the battle for non-human rights 
seriously. It's not much of a choice, is it? 


Pippin