Biography
THE BEGINNING AND THE MARAUDERS
Remus John Lupin was born circa 1960. He has been a werewolf for most of his life:
��None of this could have happened if I hadn�t been bitten�and if I hadn�t been so foolhardy��
He looked sober and tired. Ron started to interrupt, but Hermione said, �Shh!� She was watching Lupin very intently.
�I was a very small boy when I received the bite. My parents tried everything, but in those days there was no cure��
-PoA
However, despite the wizarding population�s wide-spread prejudice against werewolves and the restrictive laws and regulations imposed upon them by the Ministry of Magic, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore invited Remus to study at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry just like any other British child displaying magical abilities. Accommodations were made for his monthly �illness,� and after early apprehensions, he settled into what he later described as �the best times of my life� with the help of his three new friends, Peter Pettigrew, James Potter (who would later become Harry�s father), and Sirius Black. These three boys remained loyal to Remus even after they figured out his secret, and even went so far as to become unregistered Animagi (wizards with the power to transform into an individual animal at will) illegally just so they could keep Remus company while he was in the wolf state. Together, the four formed a band referred to as The Marauders, taking the nicknames Moony (Remus), Wormtail (Peter, who turned into a rat), Padfoot (Sirius, who turned into a large black dog), and Prongs (James, who transformed into a stag).
�Did you like question ten, Moony?� asked Sirius as they emerged into the entrance hall.
�Loved it,� said Lupin briskly. � �Give five signs that identify the werewolf.� Excellent question.�
�D�you think you managed to get all the signs?� said James in tones of mock concern.
�Think I did,� said Lupin seriously, as they joined the crowd thronging around the front doors eager to get out into the sunlit grounds. � �One: He�s sitting in my chair. Two: He�s wearing my clothes. Three: His name�s Remus Lupin���
-OotP
Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs spent their years at Hogwarts not only studying but breaking rules, pulling tricks, and traversing hidden passageways. Believed to be the greatest jokesters Hogwarts has ever known, their reputation could only be challenged by the Weasley twins in Harry�s generation, who actually used the school map the Marauders created to aid them their nefarious deeds.
All four Marauders belonged to Griffindor house. In his fifth year, Remus was made a prefect by Dumbledore, presumably to keep his three friends in check. However, it is here that we see displayed most prominently what many consider to be Remus� biggest fault��he likes to be liked.� In the beginning, Remus was afraid that no one would like him and become his friend, which simply reinforced in his mind the already existing necessity of keeping his lycanthropy a secret. Then, when his friends found out anyway and became Animagi for him, he was so anxious not to loose them and the trust and respect of Dumbledore that he kept their secret safe from the Headmaster, a decision that he stuck to (even though regretting it) through half of his adult life, contributing to a tragic misunderstanding. Once he became a prefect, instead of intercepting the other Marauders during their many escapades, he simply turned the other way, afraid of loosing their loyalty and affection.
Harry remembered Lupin saying back in Grimmauld Place that Dumbledore had made him prefect in the hope that he would be able to exercise some control over James and Sirius�But in the Pensieve [a record of Snape�s memory], he had sat there and let it all happen�
-OotP
�Of course he [James] was a bit of an idiot!� said Sirius bracingly. �We were all idiots! Well�not Moony so much,� he said fairly, looking at Lupin, but Lupin shook his head.
�Did I ever tell you to lay off Snape?� he said. �Did I ever have the guts to tell you I thought you were out of order?�
�Yeah, well,� said Sirius, �you made us feel ashamed of ourselves sometimes�That was something��
-OotP
The prankster�s animosity toward another student of their year, Severus Snape (who would later become Harry�s Potions Professor and Occlumency tutor), went so far that one joke would have cost Snape�s life if James hadn�t halted it before it went too far. The incident only heightened Snape�s hatred of James and Sirius and his disgust of Lupin (whom Snape had assumed was in on the joke, even though Remus really wasn�t). Snape�s feelings toward the Marauders persisted even into their adulthood, passing on to encompass Harry as well.
In his seventh year, Remus� friend James Potter started dating Lily Evans, whom James would eventually marry. All four Marauders, including Remus, graduated with flying colors after the normal seven years of schooling, afterwards joining...
THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX (1978)
�It�s a secret society,� said Hermione quickly. �Dumbledore�s in charge, he founded it. It�s the people who fought against You-Know-Who last time.�
-OotP
The four Marauders joined in the First War against �Lord� Voldemort, the evil and powerful wizard whose greatest wish was to take over the wizarding (and, through that, Muggle) world, enforcing his ideas of pure-blood elitism and the subservience of Magical Creatures, among other things. (Voldemort�s forces were, and are, known as the Death Eaters.)
Little is known about Remus� and the other Marauders� activities in the Order during the time between 1978 and 1981, except that all were very involved, and that James and Lily (Evans) Potter faced Voldemort three times while still escaping with their lives, a unique occurrence that only the Potters and another couple, the Longbottoms, had experienced. However, the bond that drew the Marauders together was weakening, and they suspected a spy had infiltrated the Order. The Potters were in danger, due to a prophesy that foretold either their son or the son of the Longbottoms would vanquish Voldemort. The Potters went into hiding, performing a spell at the suggestion of Dumbledore ensuring that only one person, their Secret Keeper, could possibly know their location or tell anyone else about it.
The immediate choice for Secret Keeper would have been Sirius, but Sirius saw that choosing himself would be too obvious, and decided to engineer a bluff in which a different Secret Keeper would be chosen, but Sirius would still go into hiding to appear as if he was the one. Peter had disclosed to Sirius that he suspected Remus was the spy, so Sirius convinced the Potters to choose Peter�who would seem innocuous anyway, as the weakest and least bright of the otherwise spirited group. However, it was Peter who had been the spy all along, and it was he who immediately told Voldemort the location of the Potters� hiding place.
On October 31, 1981, when Harry Potter was one year old, Voldemort went to the Potters� home and killed Harry�s parents. However, when he attempted to kill Harry himself, the curse backfired for a mysterious reason (Dumbledore�s speculation being that Lily�s motherly love formed an unbreakable, ancient magic protection over her child when she gave her life to save him). The only mark the deadly curse left on Harry was a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, but the effects on Voldemort were drastically more severe. Many believed him to be dead and gone for more than 15 years later, even when he showed signs of regaining strength and returning during Harry�s adolescence.
The day after Harry�s parents died, Sirius sought out Peter in a blind rage. Peter, however, when cornered, severed his own finger, blasted 12 nearby Muggles to their deaths with one curse, transformed into a rat, and scampered off into hiding for 12 years. When the authorities arrived, all they saw was Sirius (whom, as Peter had shouted to anyone who could hear, was allegedly the Secret Keeper, and was therefore now assumed the culprit for the Potters� deaths) standing where twelve Muggles and a wizard once had been, laughing hysterically. Everyone assumed that Peter was dead, because the largest part they found of him was a severed finger, and Sirius Black was imprisoned in the wizard gaol, Azkaban, on a life sentence.
These events left Moony alone for�
THE TWELVE YEARS IN BETWEEN
We know very little about what happened to our favorite werewolf in the twelve years between the October of 1981 and September, 1993, except that Remus had trouble finding work because of his lycanthropy and the discrimination it entails. Many assume this to be the darkest and loneliest period of his life�the brother-like group that had included him had shattered, with one dead, one presumed dead, and one imprisoned for their murders. No written records of his activities during that time have come to light as of yet, and to the best of our current knowledge Remus also hasn�t recounted his experiences verbally. Speculation is wide-spread concerning what Remus did to support himself during those years�however, one of the few things we do know is that sometime before September 1, 1993, Albus Dumbledore contacted Lupin and offered him the job of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, which he accepted.
DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS (HOGWARTS, 1993)
Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger first encounter Lupin in the end compartment of the Hogwarts Express:
This had only one occupant, a man sitting fast asleep next to the window. Harry, Ron, and Hermione checked on the threshold�
The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard�s robes that had been darned in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Though quite young, his light brown hair was flecked with gray.
�Who d�you reckon he is?� Ron hissed as they sat down and slid the door shut, taking the seats farthest away from the window.
�Professor R. J. Lupin,� whispered Hermione at once.
�How d�you know that?�
�It�s on his case,� she replied, pointing at the luggage rack over the man�s head, where there was a small, battered case held together with a large quantity of neatly knotted string. The name
Professor R. J. Lupin was stamped across one corner in peeling letters.
-PoA
As Ron succinctly observed, �he looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn�t he?�
Lupin soon earns the respect and awe of the students when he sternly repels a Dementor (a Dark spirit used to patrol Azkaban, which feeds on human happiness and sucks out human souls) from the train.
�And Professor Lupin stepped over you, and walked toward the dementor, and pulled out his wand," said Hermione, �and he said, �None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go.� But the dementor didn�t move, so Lupin muttered something, and a silvery thing shot out of his wand at it, and it turned around and sort of glided away��
-PoA
Once the initial agitation surrounding the dementor attack subsided and the students settled back into their school routines, their fondness and respect for Professor Lupin only grew. He quickly became one of the best-liked teachers in Hogwarts, because of his patient nature and his unique teaching style�Lupin used his classes not only to instruct his students in the ways of fighting Dark Creatures, but also to increase their comfort and confidence performing the needed spells and charms, since he recognized that knowing the right words and wand-movements would be useless if the student didn�t have the confidence to carry them out in a crisis situation. Many of the spells he taught required not only an incantation but a corresponding mental attitude to make the spell work, so he strove to make the classroom as supportive and hands-on as possible. He also held high expectations for every student, and their respect of him was such that if they failed in a task or let him down, his disappointment was more stinging for them than any anger.
During that year, Lupin also became Harry�s first true mentor, tutoring him privately on the use of the defensive spell against dementors, the Patronus Charm. Harry was severely effected by the presence of the dementors as school guards (placed there that year due to the escape of Sirius Black from Azkaban). He came to Lupin asking for help, and they arranged regular meetings in which Lupin instructed him in the formation of a Patronus:
A ray of wintery sunlight fell across the classroom, illuminating Lupin�s gray hairs and the lines on his young face.
�Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them�
��There are�certain defenses one can use,� said Lupin. �But there was only one dementor on the train. The more there are, the more difficult it becomes to resist.�
�What defenses?� said Harry at once. �Can you teach me?�
�I don�t pretend to be an expert at fighting dementors, Harry�quite the contrary��
�But if the dementors come to another Quidditch match, I need to be able to fight them��
Lupin looked into Harry�s determined face, hesitated, then said, �Well�all right. I�ll try and help��
-PoA
During his time teaching at Hogwarts, Remus imbibed the Wolfsbane Potion regularly, a recently discovered concoction which allows the lycanthropic drinker to keep their mind, or human sensibilities, when they transform into a wolf once a month under the full moon. Ironically enough, it was Severus Snape who was obliged to compound the Wolfsbane Potion for Remus. With the aid of the potion, Remus was able to simply curl up on his desk and safely sleep when he became a wolf�otherwise, he would have been a fatal danger to the entire surrounding population, since werewolves without the constraint of the Wolfsbane Potion cannot stop themselves from manhunting�in fact, they cannot even remember what they did as the wolf when they return to human form.
As events transpired, it was discovered that Sirius Black was close to Hogwarts. Close to the end of the spring term, Sirius cornered Ron, Hermione, and Harry in the Shrieking Shack, a remote and dilapidated house which is believed by the villagers of Hogsmeade to be haunted, and is therefore avoided by most (in reality, the Shrieking Shack was constructed the year Lupin came to Hogwarts as a student, so that he would have a secure place in which he could transform once a month). In turn, Sirius was cornered by Lupin, aided by Harry, Ron and Hermione; then, with an explanation of the true events of October 31 and November 1, 1981, by Sirius with qualification by Lupin, all five cornered Peter Pettigrew, who turned out to have been Ron�s pet rat Scabbers all along. The six of them were then cornered by Snape, but they cornered him back and seemed to be making a grand escape towards revealing the truth when the full moon struck Remus, who had forgotten to take his potion that night because of the above-described events. Consequently, Remus was transformed into a bloodthirsty wolf; Sirius then transformed himself into his Animagus form, a large black dog, and wrestled the Wolf Lupin towards the forest to save the kids. Peter took this opportunity to transform back into his Animagus form, the rat, and scampered away before anyone could stop him�meaning that it was unlikely the truth would ever be believed by anyone, since their proof of Sirius� innocence revolved around the fact that Pettigrew was still alive.
That night, after escaping a dementor attack, Sirius was caught by Ministry of Magic officials. Things were looking grim when Dumbledore (the only one wise enough to believe their story, which was much reputed by Snape, who took all the credit for �capturing� Black) prompted Harry and Hermione to use Hermione�s Time Turner, a time travel device, to save Black. Harry and Hermione used the device to travel back in time and rescue a hippogriff (a half-horse, half-eagle creature) that was fated for execution. Harry dispelled the dementor attack that had almost overcome the group earlier, using the Patronus Charm Lupin had taught him. Together, Harry and Hermione flew the hippogriff to the window of the room in which Sirius was being held until the dementors were to suck his soul out�the Demontor�s Kiss. They rescued him before the Kiss was administered, and he flew away with Buckbeak the hippogriff, to go back into hiding.
Lupin, once again in human form, made his way back to the school the next morning, but not without a great deal of controversy now surrounding him. Snape, bitter that he had lost his recognition for Black�s capture once Black escaped, procured his revenge on Lupin (whom, once again, Snape assumed was in on it) by telling the students that the Defense Against the Dart Arts teacher was a werewolf. Although the staff had already been informed at the beginning of the school year, this fact came as a surprise to the students, and Lupin resigned that day. Not only did he expect the parents of students to demand his removal once they found out about his condition; he was also concerned over the safety of the situation himself:
�This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving from parents�They will not want a werewolf teaching their children, Harry. And after last night, I see their point. I could have bitten any of you�That must never happen again.�
-PoA
Lupin left Hogwarts for the second time quickly, and without ceremony.
ANOTHER YEAR OF PUTTERING
Once again, we have a gap in our records of the former professor�s movements. Again alone (for Sirius was forced to go deep into hiding again almost immediately after revealing the truth to his old friend) but hopefully less unhappy, Lupin puttered about for another unrecorded year. He sent a note about his classes� progress to the next DADA teacher, but few other records can be found of him between June 1994 and August 1995. However, in June 1995, Dumbledore gives us a clue about his upcoming renewed participation in the re-formed Order of the Phoenix:
�Now I have work for each of you. [Minister of Magic Cornelius] Fudge�s attitude, though not unexpected, changes everything. Sirius, I need you to set off at once. You are to alert Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher�the old crowd. Lie low at Lupin�s for a while; I will contact you there.�
-GoF
While some have read many implications into the phrase �lie low at Lupin�s for a while,� the best that I can come up with is that he actually has a house. I think that�s rather nice for him.
Sometime before the end of that summer, the headquarters of the second Order of the Phoenix were moved from Lupin�s abode to 12 Grimmauld Place, London, also known as the last ancestral estate of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. This was the dreary and doxy-infested �home� left to Sirius Black as heir of the Black family�and, although it wasn�t the pleasantest place to live, it provided the Order with the secrecy and safety they were in dire need of.
Coming soon...THE SECOND ORDER OF THE PHOENIX...stay tuned...
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