Well, he can't help that he's bored most of the time. So's Mr Snape, if you ask me. But he's good at respecting boundaries when people tell him they're there.

And he knows it's important to be able to complain now and then, I mean, have you ever listened to those things his mother's portrait says? I think he really understands what it's like to be in a place where the people who're supposed to be your parents don't love you--don't even like you--and things like that.

Have you ever just talked to him? Or have you mostly tried to impress him by proving you know what you're talking about?

Anyway, I know he can be brash and if you listen to Mr Snape he's sometimes more like a six-year-old than a thirty-six-year-old (but then Mr Snape can be awfully immature sometimes, too, have you noticed? Mostly when he's talking about Sirius, I think that goes way back to when they were at school) but I also know he cares about all of us. And Mr Lupin loves him so he can't be all bad. If I had to choose parents He could be loads worse.