Mourning Blunder: The Real Imposter

The only one of my earlier essays that I felt was shredded in all respects after finishing with the Kings Invisible to See series was the only essay that most people will ever see: Mourning For Her Own True Love.


During Kings Invisible to See, I realized that the dementors were being used as enforcement against the werewolves - certainly after Flamel was dead, after CoS. Thus Lupin was motivated to take the cursed DADA job, and later to lay low with Sirius at 12GP: a place where searching dementors clearly could not follow. But in HBP, Lupin's mission to the unaligned werewolves required that he spend transformation nights with them - and therefore with the dementors. It was this dementor-generated fear, doubt and despair that caused the change in him: his increased shabbiness, his abandonment of (his fiance?) Tonks, and his poor attitude toward maintaining Dumbledore's party line with Harry.

Professor Mum iced the cake with an absolutely brilliant inspiration, which she unfortunately said she would not have time to write up. Here it is, by permission:

That was not Tonks on the train or in the halls: that was Lupin, polyjuiced.

He had ample opportunity to stash some of her hairs, and he wanted to guard Harry on the train and also to report to Dumbledore at Hogwarts. He could not do either of these things freely during HBP. With Fenrir Greyback on the rampage, Lupin's presence among schoolchildren would have sparked a riot.

Professor Mum has a most shrewd ear for dialog and sure enough, as soon as you're looking for it, "Tonk's" short remarks to Harry on the train sound exactly like Lupin. Moreover, Snape's inexplicably harsh and personal verbal attack on "Tonks" is precisely how he deals with Lupin - even up to criticizing the "altered" Patronus as being weaker - than either Lupin's best or the real Tonks'. I'd already surmised that Lupin's Patronus would be a were/wolf, and I'll be darned if that wasn't what we saw.

Lupin also had no secure method of reporting to Dumbledore, if his Patronus continued to deteriorate from contact with the dementors. Hence he sneaked into the castle as "Tonks" in the hallway scene. Once again, Professor Mum's ear heard Lupin: asking despondently whether Harry had heard of anyone being harmed, as he was distraught from witnessing the killing of the little boy by the werewolves and there to report it.

Thus rather than being impersonated, that was Lupin himself that we saw sinking into a destructive funk, showcasing the effect of dementor bourne doubt, despair and fear. This culminated in the infirmary where he bitterly launched the Dumbledore Was A Fool Chorus and repudiated Love in the name of Fear.

I suspect that Remus Lupin is going to furnish an object lesson - he may have to rise to loving sacrifice - to illustrate the love vs. fear theme that JKR has been working. The fact that he and Tonks turn up holding hands (and her hair pink) at the funeral bodes well that he will be up for this. :D

And what with Peter paying off his life debt, it's looking like a clean sweep of the Marauders. ;D

Mourning For Her Own True Love, part of the Intermission Music series, was posted here last year. Kings Invisible to See is here, while links to everything have been archived into Banana Peels of the Imagination.