Remus Lupin's Greatest Sin Has a Perfectly Reasonable Explanation

Without a doubt, Remus Lupin is one of the most beloved Harry Potter characters. Good-natured, inherently kind and just, and overall positive, Lupin was the Golden Trio’s best DADA teacher, a fierce defender of the weak, and the most sensible of the Marauders. But despite his generally wholesome nature, some sins of Remus Lupin the Potterheads have never been able to forgive, and wrongly so.

Remus Lupin and the Orphaned Child

Many fans claim that Lupin could have adopted little Harry: after all, he was James Potter’s only friend who was alive, free, and loyal. Instead, they say, Lupin was quite content with letting Harry marinate with the Dursleys for a dozen years, without ever inquiring about his well-being or letting him know he wasn’t alone.

Quite an accusation, we’d say. Too bad it doesn’t hold any water.

You see, even beyond his infamous “furry little problem,” Remus Lupin was in no position to adopt a child. Apart from being a literal werewolf, terrified of doing to kids what Fenrir Greyback did to him, he was a social outcast, a broke fellow with no home, and, last but not least, clinically depressed after losing all his friends.

Remus Lupin was not the kind of guy who could be trusted with a child when the Potters died, and after that, Albus Dumbledore explicitly banned wizards from speaking to Harry. It wasn’t his fault: Lupin had more serious problems, and for all he knew, young Harry was with his relatives whom Dumbledore personally trusted.

Remus Lupin Still Wasn’t Perfect, Though

But on the topic of Lupin’s sins, there was another moment where the werewolf was blatantly wrong — a moment of desperate weakness that’s not easily forgiven. We’re of course referring to his ditching his pregnant wife mid-war to try and join the Golden Trio in their Horcrux Hunt. That was definitely not Lupin’s best moment.

His emotions were quite easy to understand at the time, but it didn’t mean he’d made the right call — and Harry was absolutely correct to go hard on his former teacher. Lupin’s “woe is me” attitude has been his personal issue for years, but that was no excuse to run away from the two people who needed his care and protection the most: his wife and his child.

So yeah, if you want to accuse Remus Lupin of something so much, forget his “insufficient influence” on James and Sirius or his “avoiding adoption” with Harry. At his lowest point, our favorite DADA teacher literally abandoned pregnant Tonks.