[the_old_crowd] Lupin and Sirius WAS Re: Some questions

[Kathy King]

Me previously:
> (8)   Friends have deserted him (?) via no picture (next to) with his
> bestest buds in the Order pic and he isn't called upon for Harry's
> baptismal, and one of his bestest buds (that broke all school rules
for
> him)
> thinks he is the Spy on the Order; therefore making Pettigrew the
secret
> keeper instead of himself.

Eileen:


I don't see his friends as having deserted him. More the other way
around. There are subtle indications in the flashback pensieve scene
that Lupin was already drifting away from Sirius and James in his fifth
year. I pegged him there as the kid with the troubled conscience who
tries not to *see* his friends' behaviour. If Sirius set up the prank,
as Lupin tells it, Lupin had further reason to distance himself. I don't
think they outright broke with each other, just drifted apart. I really
don't see Lupin and Sirius as ever being close by themselves without
James, sorry puppyshippers, until PoA, when they embrace each other like
brothers and forgive *everything*, starting with what happened in school
between them. And then they become very close, the two survivors.

Me again:



Different view from what I saw…Lupin sheepishly peeking out from round his
book to see if his friends are taking care of business for him. Lupin's'
friends job is to stop Snape from ruining their good-time outings once a
month. Snape the little pest just wont let them be and if he finds out that
Lupin is a werewolf, Lupin runs the risk of being ousted from the school (in
much the same way that he was (by Snape, how ironic) in POA). Parents
wouldn't want their children exposed to a werewolf at any age.

Now who planned the prank…well we know it was Sirius but why would he?
Sirius spent a lot of time and energy in becoming an Animagus for his friend
Lupin and really enjoyed the outings as much as he did. When you have spent
that much time and energy for the sake of someone, you would tend to become
protective of him. Lupin is his friend and Lupin undoubtedly made Sirius
aware of his concerns that Snape was getting too close to the truth but what
in the world could be done about it. Well who better to whine to than dear
rash Sirius who reacts without thought to any given situation? No time to
even ponder what to do (his friend desperately needs him) via the prank set
up. Later Sirius laughingly (Sirius thought it would be—er—amusing…") tells
James that the whole situation has been handled, which alerts James to make
the quick and sound headed decision to save Snape. Lupin, however, may have
felt a bit betrayed that his friend stopped the prank because no one would
have been the wiser that it was set up by Sirius and the dead body of Snape
would have been seen as Snape's own curiosity getting the better of him.
Situation resolved. Except that James actions ruined everything for Lupin.

After the prank, it's more than reasonable to assume that the good-time
outings were now out of the question. So now Lupin had to transform every
month into a "fully fledged monster" without his friends influence to make
him "less dangerous". What might an almost full-grown fully-fledged monster
do?



I could go on and on but it is merely speculation because we are not told
any specifics about what happened surrounding the entire Prank story (let
alone Lupin's life in the blank period). What we do know though is that
Lupin has already showed at the very least what you'd call bad judgment in
POA when he didn't go to Dumbledore when he saw Pettigrew and Sirius on the
map or of his own admittance, not informing Dumbledore that Sirius had
Animagus ability.



Eileen:



It might be. My instinctive reaction to "Lupin is Ever So Evil" is that
I can't think of *any* author who's set up a character to be loved for
most of a *series*, then revealed at the last moment they were actually
evil all along. A book seems to be the longest those stunts are even
taken. JKR may be doing something completely new, but I instinctively
doubt it, particularly as - let's face it - it'd traumatize child
readers.

Snow:



Ok… how about we tweak the ESE scenario?
Maybe Lupin didn't set out to cause anyone's death (that's not to say he
didn't) or to become an intentional spy; it's just how the cards played out.
Lupin wasn't hanging out with the boys for their once a month escapades ever
since the Prank woke at least one of them up to the dangers. So, Lupin who
admits that those outings were his refuge, now has to do it alone or find
consolation with others with the same affliction except, jeez most of those
guys were under Fenrir's thumb. One bad choice can snowball when you try to
hide what you have done. Lupin kept trying to cover up and dug himself into
a deeper hole. We have already seen him do that with Dumbledore. He's
standing in the shack confessing that he should have told Dumbledore about
Sirius Animagus ability all year and all the while he should have gone
straight to Dumbledore when he saw Pettigrew on the map let alone Sirius. It
took a while for his remorsefulness to set in don't ya think? At first
glance at the map, if he really had felt this way (all year), wouldn't he
have said to himself, there's no turning away from this one I have to tell
Dumbledore right away? But no he was trying to get away with it, fix it
himself like he has always tried to do regardless of who got hurt in the
process. Lupin's reactions cost Sirius a long stint of hiding and Pettigrew
to seek refuge with Voldemort.
All of Lupin's grievances in the shack came down to 'he didn't want to lose
face with Dumbledore after all Dumbledore had done for him. What's a bit of
humility in the face of danger to Harry? Let me see, lose face with
Dumbledore or possibly save Harry's life…hmmmm doesn't exactly equate, there
must be more than Lupin's humility to lose at this point although I'm sure
that's how it started for him, he just couldn't admit that he was at fault
for neither his friends turning into Animagus in the old days for his
accompaniment in escapades that broke school rules at the very least nor to
admit fault now that Sirius (who he supposedly believed to be guilty was on
a map that doesn't lie) had always been able to transform.

Someone like that just keeps trying to mend the first problem, so they don't
have to admit their wrong doing, all the while creating new and bigger ones
until they are in over their head. I don't think Lupin chose to be evil but
his actions or lack-there-of cause him to play better for the opposition
without actually signing up for the team.



I'm pretty sure this type of character could play out for the kiddies that
read Potter because even nice guys make mistakes. The moral of the Lupin
ordeal is not to continue to make them by hiding the first one lest you
become guilty by default.



Snow with apologies to Pippin for (semi) insubordination


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