Let’s You and Him Fight: How Snape and Lupin’s Conflict in PoA Furthers Dumbledore’s War Strategy
Thanks to torchedsong for bringing up the topic of character complexity (or the destruction thereof). JKR's desperate attempts to force characters that had grown beyond her control back into simpler, Really Good vs. Really Bad boxes in DH always gets me thinking.
Some HP characters I used to love disappointed me so much once I'd processed DH that I lost sympathy for them for a while. JKR excusing some characters’ flaws and not others also makes it tempting to blame her pet characters and dislike them forever more. Now, I prefer a complex cast of characters who might have sympathetic motivations and flaws which inevitably bring them into conflict over what I felt JKR wrote in DH, so I’ve been trying to re-examine the HP books with a view toward finding some sympathy for all the characters, even the really terrible ones. (No luck so far with James. I’m not sure I’ll ever manage that.)
This led me to Prisoner of Azkaban, where Snape is responsible for brewing Lupin’s medication and making sure he takes it. Even Dumbledore ought to have noticed that this is a no-good, horrible, very bad idea. Snape will be freshly reminded of the time Lupin nearly killed him at regular intervals. Lupin will be freshly reminded of the time he nearly killed Snape because his good friend Sirius set him up (and possibly react by trying to minimize it all to avoid a debilitating guilt-spiral), plus will face the anxiety that maybe the guy he bullied for years and nearly killed will poison him in revenge. Why on Earth would anyone set them both up for this? Yes, Snape is one of the few people talented enough to brew Wolfsbane… but Dumbledore is supposed to be a genius at everything magical, and he studied alchemy, which surely has skills that translate to potions. Why can’t he brew the Wolfsbane and deliver it with a twinkle? Even if he can’t, why can’t he deliver it instead of Snape? Forcing them to deal with each other directly over such a fraught subject is guaranteed to make them both suffer.
*headdesk* Probably because that’s the point. This is part of Dumbledore’s war strategy. Snape is probably in on it to some degree-not that it makes it any less miserable for him.
Because what’s happening in the wizarding world? Sirius Black, Voldemort’s right-hand man (they believe), has escaped. He’s gunning for Harry and plotting to resurrect his master. Which means Snape has to make absolutely sure that anyone at school could testify to the following points:
So if at some point during the year Snape should capture or kill Black and/or Lupin and protect Harry in the process, it’s definitely not because he’s working for Dumbledore or wants to honor Lily’s memory or opposes Voldemort and the Death Eater agenda. Nope, he just completely lost his head after months of re-living all that bullying and took his revenge. He’s so very sorry that his snapping hurt the Dark Lord’s plans. It won’t happen again!
Snape goes out of his way to make sure Harry’s class sees him sneering in Lupin’s general direction when he inexplicably loiters in the staff room past time for the boggart lesson to start. He knows the schedule; he could have left five minutes ago if he wanted to avoid Lupin. Instead he makes sure everyone knows right away that he doesn’t like this fun new teacher. He takes a swipe at the Aurors’ kid too for good measure. And how fortuitous that Lupin responds by helping Neville humiliate Boggart!Snape, giving the real Snape another excuse to be extra snappish to drive home the message that he really, really doesn’t like Lupin or Aurors. He couldn’t have planned it better if he tried! Given the situation, maybe that’s because he did try. And succeeded.
Which brings me to the end of the school year. After the showdown in the Shrieking Shack, Snape knows that three of the Marauders became illegal Animagi in school, that they let the transformed Lupin out during full moon for over two years (possibly nearly three), that they had “many” close calls where Lupin nearly maimed and infected or killed someone and they all laughed about it afterwards, that they managed to keep all this secret from Dumbledore even after the “prank,” that Lupin didn’t tell Dumbledore about Sirius being an Animagus or about the unknown-to-staff secret passages even after Sirius broke in and (apparently) tried to kill a child, and that he kept secret the existence of a map which staff could have monitored continuously to watch for Sirius Black. Oh, and Lupin didn’t come by to take his Wolfsbane again, as a result of which several people nearly got killed or soul-sucked and a Death Eater escaped, probably scampering off to help facilitate Voldemort’s return. He doesn’t seem to have arrived in time to hear Lupin say that he’d spent over twenty minutes watching the map, expecting something to happen which he’d need to run off and handle at any moment-guaranteeing that he’d have no time to take his potion and knew it, and basically set himself up for failure-but he might have learned that afterward, and could probably extrapolate accurately from what he did know.
Now, Dumbledore couldn’t have planned around information he didn’t have, but how well this all fits his strategy! Snape has even more reasons to fear and loathe Lupin. He also has more reasons to resent Dumbledore, like Dumbledore’s mocking his devastation at Lupin’s carelessness destroying Snape’s chance of bringing a criminal (one who’d specifically targeted him in the past, even) to justice. Now Snape’s pose that he will embrace the chance to re-join the Dark Lord and take vengeance on his enemies will look even more convincing. Because even if Dumbledore engineered situations to encourage these feelings, they’re still at least mostly real.
So the next day when Snape drops enough hints for everyone to figure out Lupin’s a werewolf, that too fits Dumbledore’s strategy. Yes, Snape is super-vindictive! Just ask anyone. They’ll tell you how he ruined the life of his school enemy-turned-Order member. What a good Death Eater! Why, losing all chance at employment forever might even drive Lupin over to the Dark Lord’s side in the end, so it was good for the cause too!
…and then a few years later, Lupin is Dumbledore’s spy among the werewolves. No doubt using his ostracism-which began under Dumbledore’s very nose, with a member of his own staff-as the reason he’s supposedly decided to turn against Dumbledore and join the pack. How very convenient that he has such a perfect cover story. Convenient for Dumbledore, that is. I now wonder whether Snape leaked that information entirely on his own initiative. Oh, I’m sure Dumbledore didn’t outright say he should do it, but he’s very good at implying things. We saw that just the night before when he technically didn’t tell Hermione to use her Time-Turner to save Buckbeak and Sirius.
And you know, maybe Lupin had good instincts when he was so afraid of Dumbledore finding out how he’d betrayed his trust in school. Maybe it’s a coincidence that Lupin’s secret comes out the very day after Dumbledore finds out Lupin lied to him for years, including this year, and put Dumbledore’s neck on the line along with his own. And that it’s Dumbledore’s most obedient follower (one with secrets of his own Dumbledore could use to ruin him at any time, among other control mechanisms) who looses the secret. Snape does have enough reasons of his own to do it. But then, he kept quiet last time Lupin nearly killed someone in/near the Shrieking Shack (and he’s clever enough to have gotten around a Tongue-Tying Curse if that were an issue). And he tells in the morning rather than in the heat of the moment. And he’s surely susceptible to the argument that if he tells Lupin’s secret, it will damage Dumbledore’s reputation and the war effort… if Dumbledore made that argument. If Dumbledore thought the damage to his reputation outweighed the strategic benefits. I really wonder.
It gets worse. Dumbledore knows the DADA job is cursed. The two teachers just prior to Lupin have ended up dead or with permanent mental damage. Depending on what Dumbledore knows about the curse’s functioning, he might reasonably wonder whether Voldemort’s attempts at returning have made the curse’s effects worse. And he offers this job to Lupin? Maybe he hates the Marauders almost as much as Snape. Either way, it could fit his strategy too. After all, if you have a curse which will cause something probably non-fatal but bad to happen to your employee, and your employee is a secret werewolf, what’s the most likely bad thing that would force him to leave his position? Um. Right.
When Dumbledore knowingly offered Lupin the cursed job, he probably realized there was a high risk of the year ending with everyone knowing Lupin was a werewolf one way or another. Which would pretty much wreck Lupin’s life. Which would incidentally leave his schedule free for Order of the Phoenix work and provide a cover story for becoming a spy among the werewolves. Do you think he mentioned that when he offered Lupin the job? Do you think Lupin knowingly accepted that risk? Did Dumbledore just realize the risk, or did he count on it? Even take steps to make sure it played out that way?
I have to say, I do have more sympathy for Lupin now. Though, um, a bit less for Dumbledore.
Some HP characters I used to love disappointed me so much once I'd processed DH that I lost sympathy for them for a while. JKR excusing some characters’ flaws and not others also makes it tempting to blame her pet characters and dislike them forever more. Now, I prefer a complex cast of characters who might have sympathetic motivations and flaws which inevitably bring them into conflict over what I felt JKR wrote in DH, so I’ve been trying to re-examine the HP books with a view toward finding some sympathy for all the characters, even the really terrible ones. (No luck so far with James. I’m not sure I’ll ever manage that.)
This led me to Prisoner of Azkaban, where Snape is responsible for brewing Lupin’s medication and making sure he takes it. Even Dumbledore ought to have noticed that this is a no-good, horrible, very bad idea. Snape will be freshly reminded of the time Lupin nearly killed him at regular intervals. Lupin will be freshly reminded of the time he nearly killed Snape because his good friend Sirius set him up (and possibly react by trying to minimize it all to avoid a debilitating guilt-spiral), plus will face the anxiety that maybe the guy he bullied for years and nearly killed will poison him in revenge. Why on Earth would anyone set them both up for this? Yes, Snape is one of the few people talented enough to brew Wolfsbane… but Dumbledore is supposed to be a genius at everything magical, and he studied alchemy, which surely has skills that translate to potions. Why can’t he brew the Wolfsbane and deliver it with a twinkle? Even if he can’t, why can’t he deliver it instead of Snape? Forcing them to deal with each other directly over such a fraught subject is guaranteed to make them both suffer.
*headdesk* Probably because that’s the point. This is part of Dumbledore’s war strategy. Snape is probably in on it to some degree-not that it makes it any less miserable for him.
Because what’s happening in the wizarding world? Sirius Black, Voldemort’s right-hand man (they believe), has escaped. He’s gunning for Harry and plotting to resurrect his master. Which means Snape has to make absolutely sure that anyone at school could testify to the following points:
- While he didn’t go looking for Voldemort, he is otherwise a good Death Eater who hates the enemies of the cause. Like Order of the Phoenix members and Aurors. And their children.
- He still hates the Marauders. He can’t stand Lupin, and he sees James every time he looks at Harry.
- And only James. Lily who? There is absolutely no reason he would hold a grudge about that-he’s overjoyed that James is dead, and looks forward to killing the rest of the surviving gang!
- He also hates Dumbledore. Just look how the man mocks his completely justified trauma and forces him to work with the werewolf who nearly killed him-and moreover, to be responsible for making sure he doesn’t go on a werewolf rampage. And even when Lupin resists taking his medicine and seems to be helping Harry sneak out at night, Dumbledore still won’t believe Snape’s warnings. Yes, if the Dark Lord were to return, Snape would take pleasure in finally getting a chance to help bring the old man down.
So if at some point during the year Snape should capture or kill Black and/or Lupin and protect Harry in the process, it’s definitely not because he’s working for Dumbledore or wants to honor Lily’s memory or opposes Voldemort and the Death Eater agenda. Nope, he just completely lost his head after months of re-living all that bullying and took his revenge. He’s so very sorry that his snapping hurt the Dark Lord’s plans. It won’t happen again!
Snape goes out of his way to make sure Harry’s class sees him sneering in Lupin’s general direction when he inexplicably loiters in the staff room past time for the boggart lesson to start. He knows the schedule; he could have left five minutes ago if he wanted to avoid Lupin. Instead he makes sure everyone knows right away that he doesn’t like this fun new teacher. He takes a swipe at the Aurors’ kid too for good measure. And how fortuitous that Lupin responds by helping Neville humiliate Boggart!Snape, giving the real Snape another excuse to be extra snappish to drive home the message that he really, really doesn’t like Lupin or Aurors. He couldn’t have planned it better if he tried! Given the situation, maybe that’s because he did try. And succeeded.
Which brings me to the end of the school year. After the showdown in the Shrieking Shack, Snape knows that three of the Marauders became illegal Animagi in school, that they let the transformed Lupin out during full moon for over two years (possibly nearly three), that they had “many” close calls where Lupin nearly maimed and infected or killed someone and they all laughed about it afterwards, that they managed to keep all this secret from Dumbledore even after the “prank,” that Lupin didn’t tell Dumbledore about Sirius being an Animagus or about the unknown-to-staff secret passages even after Sirius broke in and (apparently) tried to kill a child, and that he kept secret the existence of a map which staff could have monitored continuously to watch for Sirius Black. Oh, and Lupin didn’t come by to take his Wolfsbane again, as a result of which several people nearly got killed or soul-sucked and a Death Eater escaped, probably scampering off to help facilitate Voldemort’s return. He doesn’t seem to have arrived in time to hear Lupin say that he’d spent over twenty minutes watching the map, expecting something to happen which he’d need to run off and handle at any moment-guaranteeing that he’d have no time to take his potion and knew it, and basically set himself up for failure-but he might have learned that afterward, and could probably extrapolate accurately from what he did know.
Now, Dumbledore couldn’t have planned around information he didn’t have, but how well this all fits his strategy! Snape has even more reasons to fear and loathe Lupin. He also has more reasons to resent Dumbledore, like Dumbledore’s mocking his devastation at Lupin’s carelessness destroying Snape’s chance of bringing a criminal (one who’d specifically targeted him in the past, even) to justice. Now Snape’s pose that he will embrace the chance to re-join the Dark Lord and take vengeance on his enemies will look even more convincing. Because even if Dumbledore engineered situations to encourage these feelings, they’re still at least mostly real.
So the next day when Snape drops enough hints for everyone to figure out Lupin’s a werewolf, that too fits Dumbledore’s strategy. Yes, Snape is super-vindictive! Just ask anyone. They’ll tell you how he ruined the life of his school enemy-turned-Order member. What a good Death Eater! Why, losing all chance at employment forever might even drive Lupin over to the Dark Lord’s side in the end, so it was good for the cause too!
…and then a few years later, Lupin is Dumbledore’s spy among the werewolves. No doubt using his ostracism-which began under Dumbledore’s very nose, with a member of his own staff-as the reason he’s supposedly decided to turn against Dumbledore and join the pack. How very convenient that he has such a perfect cover story. Convenient for Dumbledore, that is. I now wonder whether Snape leaked that information entirely on his own initiative. Oh, I’m sure Dumbledore didn’t outright say he should do it, but he’s very good at implying things. We saw that just the night before when he technically didn’t tell Hermione to use her Time-Turner to save Buckbeak and Sirius.
And you know, maybe Lupin had good instincts when he was so afraid of Dumbledore finding out how he’d betrayed his trust in school. Maybe it’s a coincidence that Lupin’s secret comes out the very day after Dumbledore finds out Lupin lied to him for years, including this year, and put Dumbledore’s neck on the line along with his own. And that it’s Dumbledore’s most obedient follower (one with secrets of his own Dumbledore could use to ruin him at any time, among other control mechanisms) who looses the secret. Snape does have enough reasons of his own to do it. But then, he kept quiet last time Lupin nearly killed someone in/near the Shrieking Shack (and he’s clever enough to have gotten around a Tongue-Tying Curse if that were an issue). And he tells in the morning rather than in the heat of the moment. And he’s surely susceptible to the argument that if he tells Lupin’s secret, it will damage Dumbledore’s reputation and the war effort… if Dumbledore made that argument. If Dumbledore thought the damage to his reputation outweighed the strategic benefits. I really wonder.
It gets worse. Dumbledore knows the DADA job is cursed. The two teachers just prior to Lupin have ended up dead or with permanent mental damage. Depending on what Dumbledore knows about the curse’s functioning, he might reasonably wonder whether Voldemort’s attempts at returning have made the curse’s effects worse. And he offers this job to Lupin? Maybe he hates the Marauders almost as much as Snape. Either way, it could fit his strategy too. After all, if you have a curse which will cause something probably non-fatal but bad to happen to your employee, and your employee is a secret werewolf, what’s the most likely bad thing that would force him to leave his position? Um. Right.
When Dumbledore knowingly offered Lupin the cursed job, he probably realized there was a high risk of the year ending with everyone knowing Lupin was a werewolf one way or another. Which would pretty much wreck Lupin’s life. Which would incidentally leave his schedule free for Order of the Phoenix work and provide a cover story for becoming a spy among the werewolves. Do you think he mentioned that when he offered Lupin the job? Do you think Lupin knowingly accepted that risk? Did Dumbledore just realize the risk, or did he count on it? Even take steps to make sure it played out that way?
I have to say, I do have more sympathy for Lupin now. Though, um, a bit less for Dumbledore.