Snapedom

Sorry to go off on a tangent only slightly related to Severus, but a line of discussion raised over on deathtocapslock about Severus not revealing Lupin's secret before PoA keeps nagging at me. It made me realize that there is a bigger gap here than the one we usually find as inferring that Severus never told about Lupin even as a DE. Bear with me if I seem to ramble or rant.

Note: here I'm mostly focused on the time up to the end of PoA. Much of the bit about Voldemort failing to use this information still applies after PoA, naturally, but what really gets to me is the fact that nobody even apparently *knew.* And Voldemort post-Albania seems to be missing a few screws to me, so perhaps I'm willing to overlook that lapse a bit more.

But theories are welcome! Please, help me explain this giant hole in JKR's narrative, please. It just floors me.

Upon examining canon I think it fairly reasonable to suppose that the DEs/Voldemort must not have known about Remus' condition before PoA, nor therefore about Dumbles' dangerous little charity project and its narrowly-averted consequences. Yet this poses a major question once we read canon carefully. One I haven't answered. WHY, HOW, did they not know?

WHY doesn't anyone on Voldemort's side apparently (before PoA) have any idea about Lupin's lycanthropy or the fact that Dumbles had him secretly at Hogwarts as a student? Beyond the fact that Severus never told, I mean. Because there are at least three other sources for this information: Peter, Fenrir, and the Werewolf Registry.

The knowledge that one of Dumbledore's supporters was a werewolf would be useful, a potential weapon not just against Remus himself (ways he can be killed, weakness to silver, etc.) but against Dumbledore and his cause as well. And had Voldemort ever learned of Remus' condition, and thought to question any of his followers whom he knows were at Hogwarts with him - and I'm sure he knows that Severus is personally acquainted with Remus' friends - he might have stumbled upon information even more damning.

Peter's not telling could perhaps be explained by some supposition that he disliked/blamed Remus least out of the other three Marauders (going with the resentful!Peter theory) and/or actively cared about him enough not to tell about this right away if he could help it. Fenrir's failure to tell could be excused by one or more of the following: 1) forgetting or not knowing the name of this particular child he bit (assuming it was not done to punish Lupin's father for some reason), 2) lack of sustained contact/alliance with the DEs before Voldemort's return, 3) desire to do all wizards in, even his supposed allies, leading him to keep it back purposefully out of spite/desire to weaken Voldemort.

But Voldie's ignorance of the Registry's contents? Not so easy to explain away. (This is really my question, the below is just my thought process leading here.)

Think about it.

We know the Registry exists, and it's not a creation of Umbridge's after PoA or of Voldemort's during his takeover because we know it was shunted back and forth between the Being and Beast divisions for years. We're not told when it was instituted (I don't think, happy to be corrected), but it's not referenced as being something relatively new (and thus worth grumbling about on the part of werewolf-friendly folk), and the prejudice against werewolves is certainly not depicted as new. That it has existed at a minimum for a significant portion of Remus Lupin's life is reasonable to suppose, if not a given.

Since it apparently has some relation to law enforcement activities (and unless I'm wrong it's hinted that it's at least legally questionable to fail to register, is that right?), it's reasonable to suppose that some sort of date listing accompanies the names entered into it - otherwise, anyone fearing repercussions for failing to register could do so the moment they got wind of trouble, and point to the new entry to prove that they had 'always' been registered.

We don't ever hear that the registry is closed to public perusal (which would rather defeat part of the supposed purpose of the registry), nor even that access to it is in some way restricted to certain people or to people with a specific need to see it. We also know that Voldemort had at least one plant in the Ministry who specialized in getting him sensitive information there (Rookwood); probably even if it were registered Rookwood would be able to finagle a look at it, with the help of spells/coercion if necessary, were he ever directed to check it out. (And why would Voldemort, looking for any advantage possible, NOT have someone giving it a look now and then, on the off-chance? It's practically costless as a strategy, and the potential payoff is not inconsiderable).

We never hear that Remus feared being caught as unregistered, nor that he had to register during or after PoA; and we know that his condition makes it hard for him to keep a job, suggesting that at least a few people at minimum suspect his condition. A reasonable supposition is that he has, in fact, been registered at least since the beginning of PoA. Since Dumbles for example knew of his condition but is never shown as having any other contact with the Lupin family, it seems to me probable that Remus has always been on the registry since he was a child. Meaning that a date somewhere in the mid-1960s probably accompanies his name there.

We know that many people, including DEs, know or assume that Remus went to Hogwarts, some of them know the years he was there, and his age is not hard to guess to within a decade for the rest. And even guessing his age within a decade would most likely mean that the guesser would come up with a number that would put Remus at Hogwarts for at least one year after the likely date in the registry (his probable date of infection, or close to it).

Which means that the knowledge that Remus was a werewolf for at least part of his time at Hogwarts is available to anyone with access to the registry and a functioning mind. The logic is so basic that even wizards (non-logical creatures as they seem to be) ought to be capable of it.

The cleverer wizards would draw from this the likely inference that Dumbledore must have known about it, because Remus would have been transforming every month and would have likely bitten one of the hundreds of people living in the castle at some point (causing a MAJOR scandal) unless he were restrained. The only ones with the power/resources to do this on Hogwarts grounds likely would be the staff, and why would any staff member knowing of it not inform the Headmaster, at least to save their own arses with an explanation for why they need to lock up a student every month?

It would also be blindingly obvious that Dumbledore kept it secret, since the whole WW didn't know, and the potential scandal would have been huge.

So, just from looking at the registry, a clever wizard allied with Voldemort could have stumbled on information that would lead hir (correctly) to suppose that Dumbledore secretly harbored a known werewolf at Hogwarts, among defenseless children. Even had Remus in truth been very, very securely held during the times of the full moon, the public firestorm against Dumbledore would have been gigantic, it seems to me. It could be supposed that even some of his actual supporters might start to question him a bit, assuming they didn't know (and if they did, then the DEs could manipulate *that* fact to similar advantage against the Order). Certainly he would have lost a lot of support in the public at large and in the Ministry.

But nothing of the kind ever happened. Meaning that not only did Severus, Peter, and Fenrir all fail to let it slip, but that no-body with the slightest DE-sympathies ever looked at the registry long enough to notice Remus Lupin's name, or went on a fishing expedition to see what they could come up with that was possibly useful.

WHY? HOW? Before DH, Voldemort seemed at least somewhat *competent* as a villain, even if he occasionally made stupid decisions. But his utter failure to take advantage of an easy source of potentially incriminating information about his enemies (whom he knows vocally champion rights for werewolves and other beings the DEs, and sometimes the public, despise) is just…staggering. The sheer unthinking idiocy of the man! He's not even TRYING, apparently! (Not that I think he should attack Dumbledore on this basis morally - of course not! But in terms of *strategy,* of having a truly *threatening* or at least *thinking* villain….arg!)

Voldemort is (we are meant to believe) a ruthless psychopath who will do anything to prevent his own death/make himself immortal, is running a band of terrorists with at least a veneer of intention to take over the WW by any means necessary, and whose only major opponent (until Harry comes along) is Albus Dumbledore - the only one Voldemort ever feared, we are told.

We know that Voldemort will exploit any fear, uncertainty, and/or prejudice held by any segment of the WW for his own benefit.

We know the majority of the WW dislike, distrust, and/or fear werewolves enough to make no major show of opposition to severely restrictive anti-werewolf legislation, and that Remus, for example, is generally not received well by any but the most enlightened of wizards once his condition becomes known to them.

Yet neither Voldemort, nor any of his followers acting alone (e.g. Lucius, a political animal always looking out for number one and, as we see in CoS, if possible to stage a bit of a take-over himself from the inside), ever once makes an attempt to discredit Dumbledore in the eyes of the public by announcing/referencing any of the following:

- at least one of Dumbledore's followers is a werewolf (thereby perhaps casting suspicion on Dumbledore's real motives or project by making it seem terrible if it's something that such creatures could support, or at the very least wondering what sort of people the Order is made up of…are they really trustworthy? They consort with werewolves! *pause for appropriately horrified gasps* You get the idea.)

- Dumbledore himself knowingly consorts with werewolves (a supposition easy to make once the registry entry's date is noted, as explained above, and something the DEs would likely use to upset the public even if they weren't 100% sure of the truth of the accusation)

- Dumbledore knowingly *hid* a werewolf at Hogwarts for some period of time in the early/mid-1970s (see above)

- (this last only if Severus or Peter should talk or be successfully legilimized:) Dumbledore covered up the near-death of a student from this werewolf, and thus his inadequate security precautions around the werewolf before that incident; depending on how much is revealed this could go as far as covering up an attempted murder-via-werewolf, allowing the werewolf and his cohorts to continue schooling without serious repercussions, and without updating the security arrangements around the werewolf

But WHY!?