PoA 18 :: PSA
May. 21st, 2004 10:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pauraque_bkIn Chapter 17, check out discussions of whether Sirius views himself as innocent, and wizarding law as applied to non-wizards.
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PoA 18: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
However, Remus is taking more blame than he deserves. It isn't true that he led WPP to do wrong -- he tried to keep his lycanthropy secret, and they were very capable of breaking the rules on their own. From what we saw in OotP, Remus didn't urge them to bad behavior. What they did is on them.
As for Dumbledore... okay. Remus is right that he should have told Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. To keep silent was dangerous and wrong. However, I disagree with Remus's view of Dumbledore as a saintly benefactor whose trust should be kept by any means necessary.
-Dumbledore allowed Remus to come to school, but he did not do enough to make it safe. He shouldn't have been left unattended in the Shrieking Shack; he should have been under guard, and the entrance to the Willow should have been watched. Remus may blame himself for the monthly rampages, but Dumbledore was the authority in the situation, and if he couldn't make Remus secure, he shouldn't have invited him to school in the first place.
-Dumbledore went on to make Remus a Prefect, which may have been well-intentioned, but was frankly the last thing he needed. He was trying to keep his secret, to stay out of the spotlight. At least two of his friends were more or less out of control, and Remus apparently went along with whatever they wanted to do, due to his own need for friendship. Putting him in a position of authority makes no sense -- it only heaped more guilt and pressure on his shoulders.
-Dumbledore gave Remus a job... but only when it was convenient for Dumbledore. He gave Gilderoy Lockhart the position before he thought of Remus.
In short (too late!), Remus gives Dumbledore too much credit, which skews his self-perception in a couple of different directions. He shouldn't blame himself completely for things Dumbledore could and should have prevented -- nor is it reasonable for him to view "Dumbledore's trust" as some all-important currency to be hoarded at any cost.
Again, it makes sense right now for Remus to downplay things that might get Sirius upset, but I think this is part of a pattern of denial for Remus where James is concerned, as demonstrated in OotP.
Phew. Previous re-read posts are here.
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Hey, y'all know that classic, much-recommended fic by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ellen_fremedon, "Slowly, But Exceedingly Fine"?
It's not called that.
"Slowly, But Exceeding Fine" [NC-17] has somehow had the wrong name very firmly attached to it by fandom. Every time anyone has ever mentioned it to me, they've added the errant -ly, so it was quite a surprise for me to learn that it shouldn't be there.
I mention it only because, like Colonel Blake, I am a stickler for akkeracy.
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PoA 18: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
'[The witnesses] didn't see what they thought they saw!' said Black savagely[...] (257)Shouldn't come as a surprise. The witnesses were Muggles -- can they be expected to reliably report on something as bizarre as a magical duel? Also suggests the malleability of the mind: these particular Muggles were Obliviated after giving their statements.
'If you're going to tell them the story, get a move on, Remus,' snarled Black[...] (258)Remus does take his time with the exposition. I wonder if he realizes before Snape points it out that he's forgotten his medication.
Lupin broke off. There had been a loud creak behind him. The bedroom door had opened of its own accord. (258)Snape's entrance. He doesn't hear anything before this -- ie, the assertion that Peter is alive and Sirius is innocent. All he hears is information he already had (Remus's school days), and some of Sirius badmouthing him.
'[...]This house --' Lupin looked miserably around the room, '-- the tunnel that leads to it -- they were built for my use.' (259)Why a whole house? Why an above-ground structure? Why all the furniture? If Remus transforms more than one night a month, this could make some kind of sense... but still -- did they really leave him by himself as a human in this house during the days of the full moon? If so... that's horrible.
'[...]I was separated from humans to bite, so I bit and scratched myself instead.' (259)I think this was where I got the notion that he would have been restrained -- otherwise, he'd have done himself serious damage.
'And there were near misses, many of them. We laughed about them afterwards. We were young, thoughtless -- carried away with our own cleverness.' (260)In OotP, young!Remus doesn't seem the type to laugh about something like that. I think it more likely WPP laughed about it, and Remus, as usual, failed to object.
'I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore's trust, of course ... he had admitted me to Hogwarts when no other Headmaster would have done so, and he had no idea I was breaking the rules he had set down for my own and others' safety. He never knew I had led three fellow students into becoming Animagi illegally. But I always managed to forget my guilty feelings every time we sat down to plan our next month's adventure. And I haven't changed...'Some of Remus's self-assessment is fair. Both as a child and as an adult, he's done things he knew to be wrong, and has consistently stifled his emotions ("forget my guilty feelings") or his reason ("convinced myself") to provide false justification. It's good that he realizes it, though I'm not sure it causes him to change his behavior.
Lupin's face had hardened, and there was self-disgust in his voice. 'All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. But I didn't do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I'd betrayed his trust while I was at school, admitting that I'd led others along with me ... and Dumbledore's trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job, when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using Dark Arts he learnt from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it [...]' (260-261)
However, Remus is taking more blame than he deserves. It isn't true that he led WPP to do wrong -- he tried to keep his lycanthropy secret, and they were very capable of breaking the rules on their own. From what we saw in OotP, Remus didn't urge them to bad behavior. What they did is on them.
As for Dumbledore... okay. Remus is right that he should have told Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. To keep silent was dangerous and wrong. However, I disagree with Remus's view of Dumbledore as a saintly benefactor whose trust should be kept by any means necessary.
-Dumbledore allowed Remus to come to school, but he did not do enough to make it safe. He shouldn't have been left unattended in the Shrieking Shack; he should have been under guard, and the entrance to the Willow should have been watched. Remus may blame himself for the monthly rampages, but Dumbledore was the authority in the situation, and if he couldn't make Remus secure, he shouldn't have invited him to school in the first place.
-Dumbledore went on to make Remus a Prefect, which may have been well-intentioned, but was frankly the last thing he needed. He was trying to keep his secret, to stay out of the spotlight. At least two of his friends were more or less out of control, and Remus apparently went along with whatever they wanted to do, due to his own need for friendship. Putting him in a position of authority makes no sense -- it only heaped more guilt and pressure on his shoulders.
-Dumbledore gave Remus a job... but only when it was convenient for Dumbledore. He gave Gilderoy Lockhart the position before he thought of Remus.
In short (too late!), Remus gives Dumbledore too much credit, which skews his self-perception in a couple of different directions. He shouldn't blame himself completely for things Dumbledore could and should have prevented -- nor is it reasonable for him to view "Dumbledore's trust" as some all-important currency to be hoarded at any cost.
'We were in the same year, you know, and we -- er -- didn't like each other very much[...]' (261)Remus's understatements here, though doubtless maddening to Snape as he listens in, are understandable. No matter what he feels about the Prank, it would not behoove him to say anything that might upset Sirius, who, as anyone can see, is extremely dangerous in his current mental state.
'Sirius thought it would be -- er -- amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree-trunk[...]' (261)
'[...]He especially disliked James. Jealous, I think, of James's talent on the Quidditch pitch[...]' (261)Does Remus really believe this? Does anyone? Though Snape takes an interest in how his house does in Quidditch now, it seems out of character for young!Snape to give two shits about sport. And even if the animosity did start in a sport-related way, it certainly became about much more than that -- James's hatred of the Dark Arts and Snape's love of them, for one thing.
Again, it makes sense right now for Remus to downplay things that might get Sirius upset, but I think this is part of a pattern of denial for Remus where James is concerned, as demonstrated in OotP.
Phew. Previous re-read posts are here.
*
Hey, y'all know that classic, much-recommended fic by
ellen_fremedon, "Slowly, But Exceedingly Fine"?It's not called that.
"Slowly, But Exceeding Fine" [NC-17] has somehow had the wrong name very firmly attached to it by fandom. Every time anyone has ever mentioned it to me, they've added the errant -ly, so it was quite a surprise for me to learn that it shouldn't be there.
I mention it only because, like Colonel Blake, I am a stickler for akkeracy.
