jk rowling remus lupin biography

Remus Lupin

“i’m a fag!”

Professor Remus John [3] Lupin , O.M. (First Class) , ( 10 March , 1960 –  2 May , 1998 ), also known as Moony , was a half-blood wizard and the only son of Lyall and Hope Lupin (née Jenkins). He was afflicted with lycanthropy during his childhood, as Fenrir Greyback 's revenge against Lyall. He attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was Sorted into Gryffindor house. During his school years, he was one of the Marauders , boyfriend of Sirius Black , and besties with James Potter , and Peter Pettigrew . Together they created the Marauder's Map .

After Hogwarts, Remus Lupin married Sirius Black and together they adopted Harry and lived happily ever after in their gay little home. The End.

• 1.1 Early life (1960-1971)
• 1.2 Hogwarts years (1971-1978)
• 1.3 First Wizarding War (1978-1981)
• 1.4 Between the wars (1981-1994)
• 1.5.1 Battle of the Department of Mysteries
• 1.5.2 Battle of the Astronomy Tower
• 1.5.3 Battle of the Seven Potters
• 1.5.4 On the run
• 1.5.5 Battle of Hogwarts and death
• 1.6 Post-mortem
• 2 Physical appearance
• 3 Personality and traits
• 4 Magical abilities and skills
• 5 Possessions
• 6.1.1 Nymphadora Tonks
• 6.1.2 Teddy Lupin
• 6.2 The Marauders
• 6.3 Sirius Black
• 6.4 Severus Snape
• 6.5 Lily Evans
• 6.6 Harry Potter
• 6.7 Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley
• 6.8 Albus Dumbledore
• 6.9 Weasley family
• 6.10 Hogwarts residents
• 6.11 Order of the Phoenix members
• 7 Etymology
• 8.1 Author's comments
• 9 Appearances
• 10 Notes and references

Biography [ edit | edit source ]

Early life (1960-1971) [ edit | edit source ].

Remus was born on 10 March , 1960 to Lyall and Hope Lupin (née Jenkins) . At an early age, Remus was bitten by the werewolf,  Fenrir Greyback , and he became a werewolf himself. The bite was a response to an insult from Lyall to Fenrir Greyback .

His parents did everything that they could in order to try to find a cure for him, but there was none. Although he and his parents were unsure of the safety of allowing him to attend school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry , the Headmaster , Albus Dumbledore , successfully encouraged him to become a student.

Hogwarts years (1971-1978) [ edit | edit source ]

Remus attended Hogwarts and was sorted into Gryffindor house. To secure his safety, as well as that of his peers, Remus would be brought to the Shrieking Shack once a month for his transformations in order to prevent him from attacking other students. However, this isolation caused him to attack himself out of frustration. This, and the painful monthly transformations, made the villagers of Hogsmeade mistake his screams for that of violent ghosts . Dumbledore, wanting to keep the truth of these noises a secret, encouraged these rumours. Thus, the building was dubbed the Shrieking Shack , which held the reputation for being the most haunted building in Britain.

Remus became the very best of friends with fellow Gryffindors Sirius Black (soon to be lover), James Potter , and Peter Pettigrew . He kept his status as a werewolf a secret from all of the students at Hogwarts, including Sirius, James, and Peter, his fellow Marauders and future Order members. He made up stories to explain his monthly disappearances, such as that his mother was ill and he needed to go home to visit her. He was terrified that they would desert him once they found out what he truly was. However, Sirius, James, and Peter worked out the truth during their second year , and due to their acceptance of who Remus was, and their unusually strong friendship with him, they decided to learn how to become Animagi in order to keep Remus company during his transformations, as a werewolf is only a danger to humans.

By their fifth year , Sirius was able to become a dog, and James was able to become a stag, animals large enough to keep the wolfish Remus in check. Peter, meanwhile, was able to become a rat. Once a month during the full moon, Sirius, James and Peter would sneak out of the castle under James's Invisibility Cloak , transform, get into the Whomping Willow , walk down the tunnel and meet up with Remus in the Shrieking Shack. Under their influence, Lupin became tame; his body was still a wolf's, but his mind became less so when he was among them. The four of them soon left the Whomping Willow and would roam among the school grounds and Hogsmeade by night. Eventually, this group of friends came to call themselves the Marauders, and Remus' friends nicknamed him "Moony" because of his transformations during every full moon. [5]

Remus was a good student, but also a prankster. He and Peter Pettigrew would sometimes join Sirius and James in detention for mischief-making, though they did not get into as much trouble as their other friends. It's unlikely that any other Hogwarts students ever found out as much about the Hogwarts grounds and Hogsmeade as they did and Sirius, James, Remus and Peter used their knowledge of it to write the Marauder's Map and signed it with their nicknames. Unfortunately, it somehow ended up being confiscated by Argus Filch , but was eventually recovered by Fred and George Weasley in the 1989-90 school year.

Remus was also a Prefect while he was at Hogwarts, although he had trouble exercising discipline over his dearest friends, he claims Dumbledore hoped he could exert control over them as a Prefect. Sirius later tells Harry that Remus wasn't an idiot like his friends because he was never cruel to Snape. But Remus admitted that he regretted that he had never stepped in to stop it. [6]

First Wizarding War (1978-1981) [ edit | edit source ]

Shortly after graduating from Hogwarts, Remus joined the Order of the Phoenix along with Sirius , James , Peter and Lily Evans , standing up against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters . Remus failed to find employment following his education because of his affliction as a werewolf. However, James used his wealth to financially support him. [7]

By the height of the war, Remus' boyfriend Sirius Black had come to distrust him, suspecting that he might be a spy for the other side. Thus, when a prophecy was made about a child who would have the power to defeat the Dark Lord, and Dumbledore identified infant Harry Potter as a possible target, Remus was not included in the plan to keep the Potters safe, though he was aware that they used the Fidelius Charm . James and Lily Potter wanted to use Sirius as their Secret-Keeper , but Sirius thought that would be too obvious, and thus suggested Peter Pettigrew instead, who would be a nearly unpredictable move, him being known for his " measly empty-headedness ." Neither Dumbledore or Lupin knew of this switch. [5]

At the time of Lily and James's death, Lupin was in the north of the country on Order of the Phoenix business when he discovered what had, apparently, happened. This was one of the most traumatic events of Remus's life, especially since, within the next day, he would also be losing his other two best friends. [4]

Between the wars (1981-1994) [ edit | edit source ]

After Voldemort's first downfall, the Order of the Phoenix disbanded, and members returned to their busy lives with their families. Lupin, however, was left lonely and unhappy — his three best friends were dead, his mother had eventually died too, and he refused to spoil his father's peaceful existence by returning to live with him. Remus was forced to take jobs that were far below his level of ability, always knowing he would have to leave them before his workmates noticed the signs of his lycantrophy . [4]

By the early 1990s , Lupin was living in poverty, in a tumbledown, semi-derelict cottage in Yorkshire . Albus Dumbledore tracked Lupin down in the summer of 1993 , and offered him the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts, replacing the permanently amnesiac Gilderoy Lockhart . Lupin only accepted Dumbledore's proposal when he explained there would be a limitless supply of Wolfsbane Potion , courtesy of Severus Snape , now the Potions Master at the school. [4]

Although the students were kept in the dark about his affliction, the staff were made aware that he was a werewolf. Remus taught the class a comprehensive curriculum of identifying and sidestepping Dark creatures such as hinkypunks and Red Caps . He also taught the class about Boggarts . It was during that class that Harry realised his " greatest fear was fear itself " when his Boggart took on the form of a Dementor . After this, Remus gave Harry private lessons in producing a Patronus as a means to repel Dementors. Incidentally, being a werewolf, Remus' boggart would take on the form of the full moon. Students who saw this boggart form mistook it for a crystal ball, except for Hermione Granger , who cleverly deduced that Remus was a werewolf and kept the discovery to herself.

During his time as a Professor, Severus Snape , who had switched sides at the end of the war and became Potions Professor, provided Remus with Wolfsbane Potion , allowing him to retain his human mind during transformations.

Slytherin students, encouraged by Draco Malfoy , sneered at Remus' shabby clothes and poor appearance, although he seemed to ignore their comments. Regardless, his other students held him in extremely high regard and loved the hands-on style of his classes. He was considered by Harry and his friends to have been their only decent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Remus was soon summoned to Snape's office to identify whether a piece of parchment he caught Harry with to be a Dark Magic. Remus recognised it as the Marauder's Map but tried to pass it off as a product of Zonko's Joke Shop . At the same moment, Ron burst in to back up that claim. After escorting the two boys from Snape's office, Remus told them that he knows what the map was and was more astounded that they didn't hand it in, much to their surprise. He confiscated the map, knowing that it would be too dangerous for Harry to use the secret passages with Sirius Black on the loose.

For his third years ' end-of-year examinations in June, he prepared an unusual exam — an obstacle course out in the grounds in which the students had to:

• Wade across a paddling pool containing a grindylow
• Cross a series of pot-holes full of Red Caps
• Cross a marsh while being fed misleading directions by a hinkypunk
• Enter a trunk to battle a newly procured boggart . [5] Hermione Granger even commented in her fifth year that Lupin's exam was the only occasion where she and Harry took a Defence exam from a teacher who knew what they were doing (exams were cancelled in second year and Harry was exempt due to his status as a Triwizard Champion in fourth year).

The summer before Remus began his tenure as the Defence professor, Sirius Black escaped Azkaban . Remus, like the rest of the wizarding world, had believed that Sirius had betrayed the Potters to Voldemort and murdered Peter Pettigrew.

By the end of the school year , however, Remus knew the truth of what had happened and that Pettigrew was still alive, hiding in his Animagus form — Scabbers , the pet rat of Ron Weasley . He was watching the Marauder's Map, expecting Harry and his friends to go down to see Hagrid before Buckbeak 's execution and was shocked to see Pettigrew coming out of Hagrid's with them. Remus was reunited with his old "friend" Sirius, and the two resolved to kill Pettigrew for his part in the deaths of James and Lily and in framing Sirius. They were stopped by Harry Potter , who believed it would be better to hand Pettigrew over to the Ministry of Magic to prove Sirius's innocence, and also did not think his father would want Remus and Sirius to become killers.

However, that night happened to be a full moon, and Remus transformed into a werewolf , having forgotten to take the Wolfsbane Potion. Sirius was forced to turn into his dog Animagus form to protect Harry, Hermione , Ron from Remus, and unfortunately Pettigrew escaped during the chaos.

After the danger had passed, Remus resigned from his position when parents learned that he was a werewolf. His sudden resignation was much to the regret of the majority of the Hogwarts students and staff, who had all grown deeply fond of him. [5] Harry, in particular, begged him earnestly to stay, declaring that he was the best Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher that the students had ever had. Remus simply shook his head, handed him the Marauder's Map and also returned the Invisibility Cloak that was left at the Shrieking Shack , and told him that it had been a real pleasure teaching him, and that he was perfectly sure that they would soon meet again.

He sent a letter to his successor informing him of what he taught Harry and the others, but it was intercepted .

Second Wizarding War (1995-1998) [ edit | edit source ]

When Lord Voldemort returned, Remus rejoined the Order of the Phoenix . He was a member of the Advance Guard that escorted Harry Potter from 4 Privet Drive to 12 Grimmauld Place . Lupin lived for some time at Sirius's house, but he was not around very often as he was usually sent on many missions for the Order.

Battle of the Department of Mysteries [ edit | edit source ]

Remus participated in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries in 1996 and defeated a number of Death Eaters including their leader, Lucius Malfoy . He was one of the only three combatants to see the end of the battle unscathed, the others being Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter , proving Remus' exceptional skill at duelling . During this battle, Remus witnessed and was devastated by the death of his last surviving Marauder 'friend', Sirius , who was pushed through the veil in the Death Chamber by a curse cast by Bellatrix Lestrange . Remus barely managed to prevent Harry from diving in after Sirius, who was already lost. He was devastated, really. Who wouldn't be, after loving someone that long? Later that year, Remus began working as a spy for the Order, living among fellow werewolves and trying to convince them to join Dumbledore's side. Alas, it was difficult to convince them due to the fact that many were frightened and intimidated by  Fenrir Greyback . They all were also unsure if he was actually a werewolf, given his name. [6]

Battle of the Astronomy Tower [ edit | edit source ]

The following year, Remus fought bravely again at the Battle of the Astronomy Tower where he narrowly avoided death by a curse from Thorfinn Rowle . Remus, was devastated upon hearing about the death of Albus Dumbledore , who had been killed by Snape. However, the aftermath of the battle led to him to accept the love of Nymphadora Tonks , who pointed out that Fleur still loved Bill in spite of being attacked and scarred by Greyback . The pair attended their former Headmaster's funeral together [8] and soon married in the north of Scotland with only witnesses from the local tavern. [4] They were forced to do so quietly, given the general prejudice against werewolves. [9]

Battle of the Seven Potters [ edit | edit source ]

In July of 1997 , Remus participated in the Order's operation to remove Harry from his home before Voldemort could get to him. Remus acted as the protector of George Weasley , who took Polyjuice Potion to become one of the "seven Potters." The party was ambushed by at least thirty Death Eaters , and George was accidentally struck by Snape, who was trying to aim for a Death Eater but accidentally stuck George instead with his  Sectumsempra spell while George and Remus flew. Remus was unable to pay Snape back in time, it being all he could do to keep George on the broom.

He eventually got the injured George back to the Burrow to be cleaned up, though George permanently lost an ear. Upon arrival, Remus accosted Harry to prove that Harry was the real Harry. It was later revealed that Snape had sent the spell in an attempt to cut off the hand of a Death Eater aiming at Remus' back, presumably about to kill him. Remus was very anxious about the late arrival of his wife; Tonks had been aggressively pursued by her murderous, cruel aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange . When the party mourned the death of Alastor Moody , they discussed their betrayal. Harry voiced the opinion that he trusted all of them with his life. Remus urged caution, seeing as Harry's father was killed because he put his trust in the wrong friend.

Remus and Tonks both attended the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour shortly afterwards, and bravely defended the Burrow when it came under attack as Voldemort took over the Ministry . [9]

On the run [ edit | edit source ]

Remus suffered great mental anguish as the war escalated when he learned that his wife was pregnant. He even tore out a clump of his own hair in anxiety over the possibility that his child would be born a werewolf. He visited Harry, Ron, and Hermione while they hid out in Grimmauld Place and offered to help with their search for Voldemort's Horcruxes . However, Harry denounced him, calling him a coward for even considering leaving his wife alone while pregnant. Remus left them greatly agitated. [9]

Harry and his friends next heard of Remus on Potterwatch , under the code name "Romulus" . Remus made Harry realise that they were still good friends, with his putting forth the opinion that Harry's instincts were good and they were usually right.

Remus eventually came to his senses and reunited with Tonks in time to see his son born. They named him Edward Remus "Teddy" Lupin , after Tonks' father , who had recently been murdered by Snatchers after refusing to turn himself in to the Muggle-Born Registration Commission . Appearing to forgive and forget their earlier disagreement in Grimmauld Place, Remus asked Harry to be Teddy's godfather. [9]

Battle of Hogwarts and death [ edit | edit source ]

Remus was one of the many Order members who answered Neville Longbottom 's call to arms on 1 May , 1998 , when Harry, Hermione, and Ron returned to Hogwarts and Lord Voldemort gathered his army to attack the school. He organised and led groups to fight Death Eaters on the school grounds, along with Kingsley Shacklebolt and Arthur Weasley . His wife initially agreed not to participate in the Battle of Hogwarts , instead staying with their infant son, but was ultimately unable to bear leaving her husband to face such danger without her.

She left Teddy with her mother and raced to Hogwarts, where she was informed that Remus was last seen duelling Death Eater Antonin Dolohov . [6] Dolohov murdered Remus, who was no longer in prime fighting condition, due to months of protective and concealment charms in order to keep his wife and son safe from possible attacks. He was murdered in the Main Courtyard during the first half of the battle along with many others, including Tonks his wife, who was murdered by her aunt Bellatrix Lestrange . [10] Lupin's death was avenged by Filius Flitwick who defeated or possibly killed Dolohov.

Post-mortem [ edit | edit source ]

During the brief pause in the battle, Remus and Tonks's bodies were laid out beside each other in the Great Hall . The nature of Remus' death was not revealed, but his body was described as peaceful-looking [9] , implying that he was struck with either a Killing Curse or Dolohov's own curse ; both are known to leave no visible marks on the outer body.

However, Remus still had an important part to play in the war. When Harry proceeded to the Death Eater camp to be struck down by Lord Voldemort , he first activated the Resurrection Stone , bringing back the spirits of his parents, Sirius, and Remus; Remus expressed the hope that Harry would care for his son, lamenting that he would never know him, but also found comfort in the fact that his son would know and understand why he died: he was trying to make a world in which his son could live a happier life.

Remus Lupin was posthumously awarded the Order of Merlin , First Class, the first werewolf ever to have been accorded this honour. The example of his life and death was of much weight on lifting the stigma on werewolves among the wizarding society. [4]

Physical appearance [ edit | edit source ]

Remus is described as having a pale face with premature lines, and light brown hair that, with each book, becomes more and more grey. The lines on his face and his greying hair were the results of the great deal of stress his body underwent with each full moon. His clothing is consistently shabby and patched, presumably because of his inability to find a decently-paid job due to his status as a werewolf.

In 1993 , he sported a thin moustache, and from 1995 until his death, he sports more of a rough beard. He has scars cutting across his face and given Remus' comments on werewolf inflicted injuries being cursed wounds that are unlikely to fully heal after Fenrir Greyback 's attack on Bill Weasley , it is possible he bears more scars from his self-inflicted injuries during his transformations. In death, however, the flaws of his appearance were rectified, just like his friend Sirius Black ; his spirit was described as " younger, less shabby, and his hair was thicker and darker ."

Personality and traits [ edit | edit source ]

Remus was compassionate, intelligent, calm, tolerant, levelheaded, brave, kind, and good-natured. To much of the world, he seemed rather shy and drawn-in. Despite having suffered a great deal of prejudice in his life due to his lycanthropy, he managed to retain an ability to see the good in almost everybody and was extremely forgiving. He also had an excellent sense of humour, and when he was a student at school, was one of the Marauders . [5] However, unlike his friends, he never partook in bullying. He hence could be described as the most mature, responsible one of the group. He even became a prefect in his fifth year. [6] Also, unlike his friends, he was able to, or at least would try to maintain civil conversation with those he did not get along well with, a notable example being Snape.

Remus was unusually perceptive, with an uncanny ability to guess the thoughts of those around him. This is especially clear in his conversations with Harry, such as his intuiting that Harry was afraid that he thought he couldn't handle working with the boggart. He was a gifted teacher, with a rare flair for his subject and a profound understanding of his pupils. He was, as ever, drawn to the underdog, and Neville Longbottom especially benefitted from his wisdom and encouragement.

True to being a Gryffindor, Lupin was quite courageous. Nonetheless, he suffered deep-seated feelings of shame and fear of rejection which, in certain situations, led him to consider backing down. His greatest weakness was that, in his desperate longing to belong and be liked, he was neither as brave or honest as he should have been at times. Remus once claimed that he was cowardly, because he was unable to bring himself to tell Dumbledore that James, Sirius and Peter were Animagi, as it would have meant that he had betrayed Dumbledore's trust, which meant everything to him. His love of James and Sirius also led him to not do anything to stop their bullying other students, a most notable example being when Snape was constantly bullied by his friends, but Remus was terrified of losing them and therefore did nothing to stop the bullying, something that he later admits to regret. Perhaps the most critical example of this was his temptation to join Harry, Ron and Hermione on Dumbledore's mission and abandon his wife and unborn son because he was afraid that her family would be ashamed of him being a werewolf. However, ultimately he came to his senses.

He also has been noted to dislike the form of his Patronus as it takes the shape of a wolf. Lupin is disgusted by all things wolfish as they remind him of his condition, and due to this has been known to deliberately cast a non-corporeal patronus, particularly when in the company of others, for fear it would give him away as a werewolf. 

His Boggart is a full moon, possibly reflecting on an apparent terror of transforming near humans. This terror may stem from the time where Severus Snape was nearly bitten by him in his werewolf form.

Magical abilities and skills [ edit | edit source ]

Remus was an accomplished and skillful wizard with extensive knowledge of Dark creatures. Harry Potter and his friends also commented that he was the best D.A.D.A. teacher, they had ever had, a testament to his skills, knowledge, and his ability to effectively impart them to younger generations.

• Defence Against the Dark Arts : In 1993 , Remus took the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry , and was considered to be the best in this position by many of his students. It has been implied that his particular speciality in Defence is, ironically enough, against Dark Creatures. However, this is based on what he taught the third year students and may not reflect the full range of his knowledge and expertise. He also taught Harry Potter the highly advanced Patronus Charm , [5] which Remus himself must have mastered at a relatively young age, at least when he joined the first Order of the Phoenix . Remus's Patronus takes the form of a wolf , a reflection of his condition, but he can disguise it into a non-corporeal form to hide that fact.

• Non-verbal and wandless magic : While on the Hogwarts Express in 1993 , Remus conjured fire, (possibly Bluebell Flames ) without using a wand and non-verbally . [5] He could also open locks and chests and relight candles with just the wave of his hand. When Remus and Harry had a heated argument in 1997 , Remus struck him with a silent spell so quickly that Harry barely had time to reach for his own wand . Both wandless and non-verbal magic are very difficult, indicating Remus' magical power and skill.
• Duelling : Remus was a highly talented duellist. During the Battle of the Department of Mysteries , he was the only fighter besides Albus Dumbledore and his pupil Harry who was not wounded, killed, or incapacitated and he may have defeated the Death Eaters leader Lucius Malfoy in the process. [6] He also came out of the Battle of the Astronomy Tower [8] and the Battle of the Seven Potters unscathed, even though he had to support an injured George Weasley while fighting and flying during the latter conflict. Remus was able to survive the Battle of the Seven Potters even though he had several Death Eaters attacking him, though it should be noted that during the battle Severus Snape , who was secretly on Remus' side, attempted to protect him from one of the Death Eaters. However, Remus was killed in a duel during the Battle of Hogwarts with Antonin Dolohov , a highly skilled and dangerous Death Eater , who had previously defeated very talented wizards such as Alastor Moody and the Prewett brothers , though chances are he put up an excellent fight. [9]
• Charms : Remus appears to have been talented with Charms from a young age: he, James Potter , Sirius Black , and Peter Pettigrew managed to create the magically complex Marauders' Map as teenagers. [5] He was also able to cast a corporeal Patronus (form of a wolf), which is regarded as very advanced magic and a sign of superior magical ability. [11]

• Healing magic : In the spring of 1994 , Remus used a healing spell to bandage and splint broken bones. He used it on Ron Weasley to support Ron's broken leg.
• Transfiguration : Remus, along with Sirius Black , was able to perform Untransfiguration to force Peter Pettigrew to change into his human form (Pettigrew's Animagus form was a rat). He was also able to use conjuration an advanced form of Transfiguration. In 1994 he conjured chains to bind Peter Pettigrew to Ron Weasley .
• Flying : Remus was a good flyer as seen when he escorted Harry with the rest of the Advance Guard from the Dursley's house. [6] He was a skilled enough flier to be able to evade and duel Death Eaters while supporting an injured George Weasley during the Battle of the Seven Potters . [9]

Possessions [ edit | edit source ]

• Wand : Like most witches and wizards it can most likely be said that Remus's wand was among his most valued possessions and that he most likey purchased it at the age of eleven from Ollivanders . His wand was 10¼ inches, Cypress wood, and with Unicorn hair core.
• Cottage : In 1993 Remus lived alone in Yorkshire, England. Albus Dumbledore tracked him to this cottage and offered him the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Relationships [ edit | edit source ]

Family [ edit | edit source ].

The extent of Remus' relationship with his family is unknown, aside from how adored he was by his parents. During Remus' youth, his father offended Fenrir Greyback, causing Greyback to attack Remus, when he was merely four years old. Mr. and Mrs. Lupin are known to have been concerned over Remus being a werewolf, believing that this condition meant their son would be unable to attend Hogwarts . However, this was proven untrue.

Nymphadora Tonks [ edit | edit source ]

Remus and Tonks came to know each other as members of the Order of the Phoenix during the Second Wizarding War. Remus, so often melancholy and lonely, was first amused, then impressed, then seriously smitten by the young witch. He had never fallen in love before. If it had happened in peacetime, Remus would have simply taken himself off to a new place and a new job, so that he did not have to endure the pain of watching Tonks fall in love with a handsome, young wizard in the Auror office, which was what he expected to happen. However, this was war; they were both needed in the Order of the Phoenix, and nobody knew what the next day would bring. Remus felt justified in remaining exactly where he was, keeping his feelings to himself but secretly rejoicing every time somebody paired him with Tonks on some overnight mission.

It had never occurred to Remus that Tonks could return his feelings because he had become so used to considering himself unclean and unworthy. One night when they lay in hiding outside a known Death Eater’s house, after a year of increasingly warm friendship, Tonks made an idle remark about one of their fellow Order members ( "He’s still handsome, isn't he, even after Azkaban? "). Before he could stop himself, Remus had replied bitterly that he supposed she had fallen for his old friend (" He always got the women. "). At this, Tonks replied: " You’d know perfectly well who I’ve fallen for, if you weren’t too busy feeling sorry for yourself to notice. "

Remus’s immediate response was a happiness he had never experienced in his life, but this was extinguished almost at once by a sense of crushing duty. He had always known that he could not marry and run the risk of passing on his painful, shameful condition. Wiser than Remus, she was sure that he loved her, but that he was refusing to admit it out of mistaken nobility. However, he avoided working with her, barely talked to her, and started volunteering for the most dangerous missions. Tonks became desperately unhappy, convinced not only that the man she loved would never willingly spend time with her again, but also that he might walk to his death rather than admit his feelings.

Inspired by Fleur Delacour’s protestation of enduring love for Bill Weasley, who had been savaged by Greyback, Tonks made a brave, public declaration of her feelings for Remus, who was forced to admit the strength of his love for her. In spite of continuing misgivings that he was acting selfishly, Remus married Tonks quietly in the north of Scotland, with witnesses taken from the local wizarding tavern. He continued to fear that the stigma attached to him would infect his wife and wished for no fanfare around their union; he swung constantly between elation that he was married to the woman of his dreams and terror of what he might have brought upon them both. When she became pregnant, Remus was not delighted by this, he was in fact scared that he might be passing his condition on to an innocent child. He even attempted to abandon his pregnant wife and unborn child, but was stopped by Harry Potter. Realising the importance of staying with his family above all else, he returned to Tonks, bitterly ashamed.

Lupin and Tonks both died in the Battle of Hogwarts in May 1998, leaving their son behind in the care of his maternal grandmother, Andromeda Tonks , and his godfather, Harry Potter. Teddy was raised by Andromeda, but would spend a great deal of time with the Potter and Weasley families growing up. Teddy was a Metamorphmagus , like his mother.

Teddy Lupin [ edit | edit source ]

Remus' son was born in 1998 . Remus and his wife, Nymphadora Tonks, named him Teddy , after Tonks's father. At one point, Remus nearly abandoned his wife and unborn son, mostly out of premature shame, guilt, and the fear that his lycanthropy would be passed on and that he'd made outcasts out of Nymphadora and their child. Rather than wanting to face his impending fatherhood, he intended to help Harry, Ron, and Hermione with their mission of destroying Voldemort's Horcruxes (though he was actually unaware of what their "mission" entailed). Harry was, however, upset with the development and got into a rather heated argument with Remus that ultimately convinced him that the best course of action would be to support his family. He returned to his wife shortly thereafter.

Teddy was eventually born and despite his earlier fears and insecurities about being a father, Remus expressed joy at his son's birth and asked Harry to be Teddy's godfather. Sadly, Remus and his wife were killed at the Battle of Hogwarts , leaving Teddy an orphan when he was between two weeks and one month old. When Remus appeared again through the Resurrection Stone , he was rather devastated knowing that Teddy would have to grow up without either of his parents, but found some solace in knowing that Teddy would be living in a better world. Teddy was raised by his maternal grandmother, but he spent significant time with his godfather Harry Potter's family and the Weasleys.

The Marauders [ edit | edit source ]

As a Hogwarts student, Remus became good friends with fellow Gryffindors James Potter , Sirius Black , and Peter Pettigrew . In their second year, Remus' friends figured out that he was a werewolf ; instead of shunning him, as many in the wizarding world would have, they learned how to become Animagi by their fifth year to accompany Remus on his monthly transformations, preventing him from hurting himself. [5] Because he was grateful to his friends, Remus cut them a lot of slack [12] ; despite being dismayed by their bullying of Severus Snape , he did not attempt to stop them. Though he was his house's prefect , Remus had difficulty trying to curb his friends' mischievous behaviour. [6] However, Remus was not without a mischief-making streak himself, contributing to the invention of the Marauder's Map .

At some point, after Remus and his friends had all become members of the Order of the Phoenix , Sirius came to distrust Remus, fearing he might be a spy; the reasons for this are unknown. Sirius' distrust ensured that Remus was unaware when James and Lily changed their Secret-Keeper from Sirius to Peter, and thus he believed that Sirius had betrayed them when they were murdered by Lord Voldemort . The two reclaimed their friendship after Sirius escaped from Azkaban in 1993 , and Remus learned the truth. They planned to kill their traitorous former friend Peter, but were stopped by Harry Potter . [5] Remus and Sirius both became close to their late friend's son, and Remus was devastated when Sirius was killed in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries . [6]

The ending of the three Marauders who had stayed true to their friendship to the very end — James, Sirius, and Remus — was bittersweet: they all lost their lives to the two wizarding wars but were likely reunited in the afterlife,.

Sirius Black [ edit | edit source ]

Wolfstar are a slow burn, CANON, couple that formed a romantic bond in the later years of their hog warts experience, between 1976 and 1978. They had lived together after leaving Hogwarts, and once again after Sirius escaped from Azkaban. They had a tragic end, Sirius was killed just two years after being freed from his 12 year sentence at Azkaban, and Remus watched as he restrained Harry. Remus was later reunited with Sirius in the afterlife, as seen by the resurrection stone when the pair appeared alongside Harry’s parents, from the Resurrection Stone, during the Battle of Hogwarts, 1998.

Severus Snape [ edit | edit source ]

Severus Snape , a Slytherin student in Remus' year, shared a strong enmity with Remus' close friends James Potter and Sirius Black , who outright bullied Snape on occasion. Although not friendly with Snape , Remus never behaved cruelly to him. It is possible that he may have subtly identified with or sympathized with the lonely, isolated Snape, seeing a reflection of himself and how he would have been treated if he hadn't found the protection of his friends. Later in life, he said that he deeply regretted not having done anything to stop the bullying. [6]

At some point in their fifth year, Snape saw Madam Pomfrey leading Remus to the passageway on the full moon; Sirius thought it would be entertaining to inform Snape of how to freeze the Whomping Willow . Snape tried to do so, but was stopped by James before he could reach the Shrieking Shack , where Remus had transformed. Albus Dumbledore forbade Snape from revealing Remus' condition to anyone, and Snape deeply resented being put in James's debt and suspected that Remus might have been in on the dangerous prank.

As adults, Remus and Snape were civil to one another, although barely so on the latter's part. Remus claimed that he neither liked nor disliked Snape; of course they would never be bosom friends, after all that happened in their school days, but he also never forgot that Snape dutifully made him the Wolfsbane Potion, and made it perfectly every time so that he would not have to suffer at the full moon as he usually did. (Also, Snape secretly saved Lupin's life in  Battle over Little Whinging ). Snape, on the other hand, barely concealed his bitterness in their interactions. He was irked that Remus obtained the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, which he had always wanted for himself. He suspected that Remus was helping Sirius get into the castle and tried to convince Dumbledore to stop trusting him. Snape also took to dropping hints that Remus was a werewolf to students, which was understood by at least one of them ( Hermione Granger , who kept the discovery to herself). When Remus tried to inform Snape of Sirius' innocence, Snape refused to hear or believe any of it, and was determined to see Remus punished alongside Sirius. When Snape's old enemy escaped re-capture, Snape vindictively exposed Remus' werewolf status, which forced him to resign. [5]

In spite of all this, Remus believed that Snape was loyal to the Order of the Phoenix , encouraging Harry Potter to trust him and to continue his Occlumency lessons. He was shocked and angered when Snape killed Albus Dumbledore , who had been the one to assure other Order members that Snape was trustworthy. During the Battle of the Seven Potters , Snape was one of the Death Eaters who attacked Remus and George Weasley , the latter disguised as Harry by way of Polyjuice Potion . Snape, secretly still loyal to the Order, attempted to save Lupin by aiming a Sectumsempra at a Death Eater who was poised to kill Lupin, but accidentally struck George, who lost an ear. Remus, furious, expressed a desire to have " paid him back in kind ", but had to focus on getting himself and George to safety. [9]

Lily Evans [ edit | edit source ]

Remus met Lily Evans while they were both attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry . Lily was not on good terms with two of Remus' dearest friends, James and Sirius, but that did not mean she disliked Remus as well, given that he acted more mature and thoughtful than his friends, and did not participate in their bullying though he did nothing to stop them either. Remus and Lily were both made prefects during their fifth year, and they were friendly towards each other.

After Hogwarts, Lily married James Potter . Although Sirius was the best man, Remus probably attended their wedding, too, given his status as one of their dearest friends. They all became members of the Order of the Phoenix , during the First Wizarding War , and fought in several battles together. When Pettigrew betrayed the Potters to Voldemort, resulting in the tragic deaths of James and Lily, Remus was devastated. Later on, he became close to Lily's son, Harry, both as a paternal figure and a mentor. After Lupin was murdered during the Battle of Hogwarts , they were two of the four spirits whom Harry summoned.

Harry Potter [ edit | edit source ]

Remus met Harry Potter , the son of his late friends James and Lily Potter , for the first time since he was an infant, in 1993 when he saved Harry from Dementors on the Hogwarts Express. Remus was the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts during Harry's third year, and quickly became his favourite professor. The two bonded very closely. Remus found Harry to be; intelligent, kind, and an excellent Seeker, and had strong empathy for the pain that he had experienced throughout his life. Harry admired and cared about Remus even after he found out that he was a werewolf.

Remus also told Harry that the first time he saw him, he recognised him not by his scar , but by his eyes, which so closely resembled Lily's. It is suggested that Remus' classes were how Harry discovered his remarkable talent for Defence Against the Dark Arts . He took Harry aside to teach him the Patronus Charm , assisted him in avoiding trouble with Professor Snape , and returned the Marauders' Map to him once he was no longer a professor. [5]

The two met again in the summer of 1995 . Remus was part of the group of Order members who transported Harry from Privet Drive to 12 Grimmauld Place . Throughout the years, Remus shared with Harry many stories about his parents and godfather . He comforted Harry over Sirius's death and also offered him advice on other occasions. [6]

The only real disagreement they ever had was when Harry rejected Remus' offer to accompany him and his friends on the quest for Horcruxes. Harry became angry and cutting; he told his former teacher that he was being selfish and irresponsible for leaving his wife and unborn child. Remus responded with uncharacteristic violence and stormed out of the house, taking refuge in a corner of the Leaky Cauldron, where he sat drinking and fuming. However, after a few hours’ reflection, Remus was forced to accept that his former-pupil had just taught him a valuable lesson. James and Lily, Remus reflected, had stuck with Harry even unto their own deaths. His own parents had sacrificed their peace and security to keep the family together. When Remus' son Teddy Lupin was born, he asked that Harry be the boy's godfather, and after Remus' death Harry played a prominent role in Teddy's life. Remus was one of the spirits that came out of the Resurrection Stone to speak to Harry as he walked to what he believed was his death, indicating the almost familial bond between Remus and Harry. [9]

In Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them , Harry wrote in the werewolf section " aren't all bad ", showing that Remus being a werewolf did not bother him at all.

Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley [ edit | edit source ]

Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley were among the students who were very impressed by Remus' teaching when he was professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts for their third year. Hermione deduced that Remus was a werewolf early in the year, but kept this discovery to herself, not even telling her best friends; this is likely because she disapproved of the prejudice against werewolves and knew exposing the truth would hurt Remus. Although Ron initially reacted with fear to the revelation that Remus was a werewolf, he continued to admire and like Remus. In turn, Remus was fond of Ron and Hermione, and was particularly impressed by the latter's cleverness. [5] Ron and Hermione were shown to be very trusting of Lupin; when he appeared at Grimmauld Place, they lowered their wands as soon as he declared his name, something he reproached them for, " speaking as their former Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher ." Also, they both disapproved when Harry yelled at Remus for leaving his wife during her pregnancy, although they did not entirely disagree with Harry's reasoning. [9]

Albus Dumbledore [ edit | edit source ]

Albus Dumbledore was considered by many to be the greatest wizard of all time, and Remus Lupin was among his many admirers and staunch supporters. Dumbledore was Remus' Headmaster during his time at Hogwarts. Dumbledore accepted Remus into his school despite knowing his being a werewolf, as he valued Remus' strength of character and ability, and disregarded the stigma associated with his condition; the headmaster personally approached the Lupin family to invite Remus to school, knowing full well of the circumstances. In fact, it was Dumbledore who, by several special precautions, ensured that Remus' werewolf status was kept secret during his school years, effectively preventing him from being ostracised from his school mates. When Severus Snape found out what Remus truly was due to a cruel prank played on him by Sirius, Dumbledore was the one who swore him to secrecy. On his part, Remus confessed that Dumbledore's trust and exceptional kindness towards him meant everything to him, given that the vast majority of the wizarding world shunned him because of the deep prejudice towards werewolves, and Remus felt guilty for betraying this kindness by allowing his three Marauder friends illegally become Animagi and roaming wild during their schooling years.

Dumbledore was also the founder and leader of the Order of the Phoenix , an organisation that Remus joined after graduating from school, and he was trusted with many important missions. Remus was given the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts during the 1993–1994 school year , during which time Dumbledore requested that Snape brew the Wolfsbane Potion for Remus monthly; this, along with providing Remus with a paid job when he was suffering in poverty due to his condition, made Remus respect Dumbledore even more. Remus and Dumbledore fought alongside one another during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries , where they suffered a devastating loss: Sirius, one of their dearest friends, died at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange . Remus told Harry Potter on several occasions that he trusted Snape because Dumbledore did so. In 1997, Remus was devastated by Dumbledore's death after the Battle of the Astronomy Tower , and demonstrated his loyalty and faith to Dumbledore by fighting and tragically dying in the next year's Battle of Hogwarts .

Weasley family [ edit | edit source ]

Remus was always friendly with the Weasley family . He knew Arthur Weasley since the First Wizarding War , and they became friends again after Dumbledore led the second Order of the Phoenix . Arthur and Remus fought together at the Battle of the Seven Potters , where the latter was paired with Arthur's son, George . He saved George's life, as George would have fallen off his broomstick when he was cursed by Severus Snape . Arthur later thanked him for taking care of his son.

Remus also lived for some time with the Weasley family at 12 Grimmauld Place . There, Remus agreed with Molly not to tell Harry much about the Order of the Phoenix and Voldemort's plans. However, when Sirius argued with Molly, Remus didn't take either side.

Bill and Remus seemed to have been friends, as they fought together in several battles of the Second War; they were also the ones who attempted to find Mad-Eye 's dead body after the Battle of the Seven Potters. After the war, Remus and Tonks's son seemed to have a romantic relationship with Bill and Fleur's daughter .

Fred and George Weasley were also friends of Lupin. They were Lupin's students during their fifth year at Hogwarts and they also fought together at the Battle of the Seven Potters . Remus protected George from being killed; however, George's ear was accidentally cut off by Severus Snape . Lupin and the twins also appeared on the underground radio program Potterwatch and spoke to the wizarding community during the last year of the war. Both Fred and Lupin were killed during the Battle of Hogwarts .

He was also friends with Ginny . He first met her at Hogwarts Express , saved her from the Dementors and gave her chocolate and comforted her, and she stated that he was one of her favourite professors at Hogwarts. They fought on the same side at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries and survived the battle. After the war, Ginny and the rest of the Potter family shared a close relationship with Teddy Lupin, who came to Ginny and Harry's house for dinner four times a week.

His relationship with Percy was almost unknown. When Lupin was Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Percy most likely thought he was a good teacher. They met each other again during the Battle of Hogwarts , when Percy told his family that he had left the Ministry and wanted to join the Order, though there would hardly have been time for the two to become close.

Hogwarts residents [ edit | edit source ]

When Lupin was a student at Hogwarts, the professors seemed to like him, especially Minerva McGonagall , who had been his head of house. His professors probably considered Lupin a skilled wizard and a very good student, as he was made a prefect in his fifth year.

When Lupin became a professor, the other professors appeared to like and respect him, with the exception of Severus Snape . They either did not mind that he was a werewolf or did not show it, as they had been informed of his condition. Minerva even made reference to Lupin's evaluations on Harry's Defence Against the Dark Arts skills during a Careers Advice session. Many of them later fought alongside Remus at the Battle of Hogwarts .

Many of the students, including Harry Potter , Hermione Granger , Neville Longbottom , Dean Thomas and the Weasleys, liked him, while others, such as Draco Malfoy and several other Slytherins , disliked and regularly insulted him. Malfoy underestimated Lupin because of his poor-looking appearance. However, Lupin managed to be well-respected (and one of the best-liked professors), as he treated all the students based on their character, and not by their magical abilities, their blood status, or their wealth. When he left Hogwarts, many students continued to regard him as the best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher they had.

Order of the Phoenix members [ edit | edit source ]

Remus had a good relationship with the most of the Order of the Phoenix . In addition to Albus Dumbledore , Harry Potter , the Marauders , Lily Evans , Nymphadora Tonks , Hermione Granger , the Weasley family and Minerva McGonagall , he was friends with many of members.

One of his friends through the order was Kingsley Shacklebolt . They fought together in several battles of the Second Wizarding War , and appeared to be close enough. They also appeared on Potterwatch together during the last year of the war.

He was also a friend of Alastor Moody . They fought together in many battles, until Moody was killed by Voldemort in 1997 , during the Battle of the Seven Potters . Remus was devastated, as were many other members of the Order.

He must have been also a friend of Elphias Doge , Sturgis Podmore , Hestia Jones , Emmeline Vance , Dedalus Diggle and Mundungus Fletcher , as they were all members of the Advance Guard . It is also possible that he was a friend of Arabella Figg , as Dumbledore once told Sirius Black "to call Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg... the old company..." .

Remus was one of the many members of the Order of the Phoenix killed during Second Wizarding War .

Etymology [ edit | edit source ]

• The name "Remus" comes from the brothers Romulus and Remus, the legendary brothers who fought to the death over the control of Rome, having been raised by a mother wolf whose cubs had died. Because of this, some fans speculated that Remus had a brother, but "Romulus" is merely the code name used by Lupin for Potterwatch . Remus's intense rivalry with Romulus indicates Lupin's ongoing struggle with his other side, the werewolf.
• "Lupin" is derived from "lupinus", Latin for "wolf-like"; "lupus", or "wolf", being the basic word. Canis l​upus is the scientific name for the wolf - to be described as "lupine" means to "resemble a wolf." Lupin is also the name of an plant with edible seeds.

Behind the scenes [ edit | edit source ]

• Rowling wrote a full-length biography of Remus for Prisoner of Azkaban on Pottermore , which was released in the final instalment of the book, and provided information on his and Nymphadora Tonks 's relationship, as well as his youth [13] .
• Remus is portrayed by British actor David Thewlis in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , Order of the Phoenix , Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and Part 2 .
• Thewlis had originally auditioned for the part of Professor Quirinus Quirrell , but Ian Hart was eventually cast.
• In the books, Remus plays a relatively large part in Harry's life after he left Hogwarts as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. However, in the films, Remus plays a large part in Prisoner of Azkaban , and then his role is drastically reduced. His argument and brief falling out with Harry in Deathly Hallows is cut out, as is his bitterness at being a father. The audience is not made aware of Remus' child until a throwaway line in Deathly Hallows: Part 2 . Half-Blood Prince also cuts down his role, eliminating Remus's concerns about being in a relationship with Tonks. Overall, Remus is one of the most underused characters in the film series.
• David Thewlis was disappointed about his smaller appearances in the films, expressing a desire to be more involved.
• Originally, Remus and Nymphadora were supposed to survive the Battle of Hogwarts, but Rowling eventually killed them off as compensation after sparing Arthur Weasley from the death he was originally intended to die in the fifth book.
• The Marauders write their names on the Marauder's Map in this order: Remus, Peter, Sirius and James. Ironically, this, when reversed, is the order in which they die, James being the first in 1981 , Godric's Hollow ; Sirius in 1996 , Department of Mysteries ; Peter in March 1998 , Malfoy Manor ; Remus in May 1998 , Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry .
• The witch who pushes the lunch trolley , Remus, and Horace Slughorn are the only adults ever to be seen travelling to Hogwarts on the school train in the book series (the latter is never shown on the train in the films). Though the conductor is never shown in the books, he is seen in some of the video game adaptations.
• With his marriage to Nymphadora Tonks , Remus became related through his wife to the Malfoys, the Blacks, the Lestranges, the Weasleys, the Potters, the Longbottoms, and other pure-blood families. [14]
• It was predicted by many fans that Wormtail would kill Remus with his silver hand, as Remus is a werewolf. However, J.K. Rowling mentioned in an interview that, contrary to what is seen in films, in her view werewolves are not affected by silver. Ironically the Marauder that does die by the silver hand is not Lupin, but Wormtail himself.
• In the film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ' , Remus and Nymphadora were already in a relationship, rather then Remus initially rejecting her feelings.
• Remus survived the longest out of all the Marauders, beating Wormtail by some chapters in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows .
• After the Battle of the Seven Potters , 13 people (Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Fleur, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Remus, Tonks and Hagrid) gathered in The Burrow to mourn the death of Alastor Moody . Afterwards, Remus stood up and offered to look for Moody's dead body. Later in the Battle of Hogwarts , Remus was killed by Antonin Dolohov thus making another of Trelawney 's predictions come true for the third time (first time on Albus Dumbledore , and second on Sirius Black ) : that when thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die . However, as it is not known when Remus died, it is possible that Fred died before him.
• In an earlier draft of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , Defence Against the Dark Arts may have been taught by a woman. [15]
• His name is the inspiration for the wizard rock bands Remus and the Lupins and The Remus Lupins .
• According to StarDate Online's Moon Phase Calculator, Remus' birth date (10 March, 1960), fell two days before a full moon.
• Remus Lupin is unique among the teachers as he calls students per their names, not surnames. The only other teachers that are known to do this is the Headmaster Albus Dumbledore  and the Care of Magical Creatures professor .
• Remus Lupin is the only Marauder to be on anything resembling civil terms with Severus Snape as adults. Sirius and Snape had often argued as adults. Pettigrew was treated with contempt by Snape, going so far into being treated as a house servant at Snape's personal residence at Spinner's End .
• David Thewlis has said that Prisoner of Azkaban director Alfonso Cuaron told him to portray Remus as a "gay junkie". [16]
• Although Remus provides most of the books' information on the Patronus Charm, his own Patronus was never revealed in any of the books or media associated with the franchise until the release of the final chapters of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on Pottermore . His corporeal Patronus takes the form of a wolf , rather than a werewolf. Despite this, he normally preferred to purposely cast it as a non-corporeal form, as he considered the corporeal form to be too much of a giveaway. [4]

Author's comments [ edit | edit source ]

J. K. Rowling has stated that Professor Lupin is the kind of teacher she wishes she had while she was a student. He is good-natured, kind, and able to extract the best in everyone — for example, in spotting Neville Longbottom 's lack of confidence and helping him to overcome it by teaching him how to defeat the boggart .

The fact that Remus is a werewolf and needs to take a potion to avoid hurting people for the rest of his life makes him a symbol of the consequences of prejudice and segregation, as well as society's often negative reaction to the ill and the disabled. Particularly, the author has stated that Remus Lupin's characterisation and history are H.I.V. metaphors (e.g. someone who was infected young and suffered prejudice because of it; terrified of passing the condition on), as well as an exploration into why someone might become embittered as a result of contracting such a condition. [17]

As such, Rowling has also stated that "Lupin's failing is he likes to be liked. That's where he slips up — he's been disliked so often he's always pleased to have friends so cuts them an awful lot of slack." [12] This is why, for instance, despite disapproving of his friends' bullying of Severus Snape , he once tried to stop them but failed and never tried again.

Lupin was killed off in place of Arthur Weasley to remove the last of Harry's father figures in the books, and also to create a parallel between Harry's life and Teddy Lupin's. Rowling felt it was important to show the evils of Voldemort's actions and the devastating nature of war. [18]

Rowling has said that Remus is one of her favourite characters, and that if she could meet any of her characters, she would likely choose him. [19]

Appearances [ edit | edit source ]

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World
• LEGO Harry Potter: Characters of the Magical World
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
• Harry Potter LEGO Sets
• All the Young Dudes by MsKingBean89(Fan - fiction) "" (Archive Of Our Own)""

Notes and references [ edit | edit source ]

• ↑ Pottermore
• ↑ [1] The Lupin family is known British.
• ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 World Book Day webchat, 4 March, 2004
• ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Pottermore - New From J.K. Rowling: "Remus Lupin"
• ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• ↑ JK Rowling comments at Carnegie Hall
• ↑ 8.0 8.1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• ↑ Bloomsbury Webchat with J.K. Rowling, 30 July 2007
• ↑ Pottermore - New From J. K. Rowling - Patronus Charm
• ↑ 12.0 12.1 26 June 2003 Interview with J.K. Rowling at Royal Albert Hall
• ↑ See this interview on the Pottermore Insider
• ↑ Black family tree
• ↑ HP Lexicon's transcript of JKR's notes
• ↑ http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/04/every-so-often-remus-lupin-is-gay
• ↑ Court record of the legal dispute between J.K. Rowling and HP lexicon over the proposed publication by the latter of an unauthorized and unofficial Harry Potter encyclopaedia
• ↑ MSNBC interview
• ↑ 15 August 2004 Edinburgh Book Festival with J.K. Rowling
• Pages using duplicate arguments in template calls
• 1960 births
• 1998 deaths
• Battle of the Department of Mysteries participants
• Battle of Hogwarts participants
• Battle of the Seven Potters participants
• British individuals
• Broadcasters
• Battle of the Astronomy Tower participants
• Battle of Hogwarts fatalities
• Defence Against the Dark Arts Professors at Hogwarts
• Hogwarts prefects
• Hogwarts students
• Gryffindors
• First Order of the Phoenix
• Half-bloods
• Hogwarts employees
• Hogwarts students during the Marauders' era
• Killed by Antonin Dolohov
• Married individuals
• Mischief makers
• Murder victims
• Only children
• Order of Merlin recipients
• Second Order of the Phoenix
• Second War casualties
• Sorted in 1971
• Werewolf attacks
• Lupin family
• Advance Guard
• Welsh individuals

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JK Rowling Explained The Important Reason Behind Remus Lupin’s Character In Harry Potter

‘the wizarding community is as prone to hysteria and prejudice as the muggle one’.

There will never be a time that we’re not fascinated by the pure IRL magic that went into the masterminding of the Harry Potter series. Over the years we’ve found out that so much reasoning went into the creation of each spell, potion and personality. And the character of Remus Lupin is no exception.

If you don’t remember, Remus Lupin – who happens to be one of JK Rowling’s self-confessed ‘favourite characters in the entire Potter series’ - is one of the many people to take up the post of Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, and it’s later uncovered that he’s actually part werewolf.

In one of JK Rowling’s new e-books* Short Stories From Hogwarts of Heroism, Harship and Dangerous Hobbies*, she explains that there was an important reason behind Lupin’s condition of lycanthropy (the proper word for the transformation of a person into a wolf).

She wrote: ‘Lupin’s condition of lycanthropy was a metaphor for those illnesses that carry a stigma, like HIV and AIDS.

‘All kinds of superstitions seem to surround blood-borne conditions, probably due to taboos surrounding blood itself. The wizarding community is as prone to hysteria and prejudice as the Muggle one, and the character of Lupin gave me a chance to examine those attitudes.’

Importantly, she doesn’t skirt around the complications of living with lycanthropy in her writing. Lupin really struggled with his condition and was frequently rejected by the wizarding world because of it. But even though we know how his story sadly ends far too soon at the Battle of Hogwarts, Rowling definitely makes clear that, despite all the difficulties that came along, he lived a pretty phenomenal life (here’s looking at you Tonks and baby Teddy). Which, if you ask me, is at the core of so much of the series. Harry Potter movie marathon anyone?

Like this? You might also be interested in:

Here’s What All The Harry Potter Spells Actually Mean

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Study Says Harry Potter Fans Are Less Likely To Vote Trump, Makes JK Rowling’s Day

Follow Jazmin on Twitter @JazKopotsha

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

J.K. Rowling Apologizes for the Death of Remus Lupin

The author marked the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts.

— -- If you’re a true Harry Potter fan, every May 2 means puddles of water on your desk…not because you’ve been practicing the aguamenti spell, but because today marks the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, which means lots and lots of tears. Each year, wizards and muggles alike mourn this day on which many of their fictitious favorites met their demise in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

J. K. Rowling is no exception, taking to Twitter to apologize for one death each year on May 2. This year, it is everyone’s favorite warewolf-turned-teacher:

And according to the prolific author, his fate was not sealed until the fifth book in the series.

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Rowling explained that since Ron’s father Arthur survived, Remus Lupin was the character who ultimately kept the body count in check. But with his wife also a victim of Voldemort and his army, that left yet another Boy Who Lived: the couple’s son Teddy.

It’s some kind of consolation that Rowling is as upset over these deaths as we are. Last year, she apologized for killing Fred Weasley. But let’s be real. Killing Fred is something we will never get over.

Hey J.K., can you please pull a Jon Snow and *spoiler alert* bring some of these characters back to life?

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J.K. Rowling apologizes for another death in 'Harry Potter' and explains why she did it

"Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling kept her tradition of apologizing and explaining one death on the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts on Monday.

The bloody battle saw Voldemort's forces descend on Harry Potter, his teachers, his classmates, and the secret society of wizards against Voldemort, The Order of the Phoenix.

This year, Rowling chose to explain why Remus Lupin "had to die."

Professor Lupin was a friend of Harry Potter's parents while they attended Hogwarts, and became one of Harry's substitute parents. He was also a werewolf, having been bitten by the werewolf Greyback at a young age. He died during the Battle of Hogwarts. His death hit fans especially hard, because his wife Tonks also died, leaving their young son an orphan.

—J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 2, 2016

Rowling said Lupin's fate was attached to another character, Arthur Weasley. Arthur was Harry Potter's best friend Ron's father. 

Last year, on this day, Rowling apologized for killing Fred Weasley during the Battle, which she said was the "worst [death] for me, so I started with him.”

Watch: This early audition proves that Daniel Radcliffe was born to play Harry Potter

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J.K. Rowling

Who Is J.K. Rowling?

J.K. Rowling, is a British author and screenwriter best known for her seven-book Harry Potter children's book series. The series has sold more than 500 million copies and was adapted into a blockbuster film franchise.

Rowling was born Joanne Rowling on July 31, 1965, in Yate, England. She adopted her pen name, J.K., incorporating her grandmother's name, Kathleen, for the latter initial (Rowling does not have a middle name).

While struggling to support her daughter Jessica and herself on welfare, Rowling worked on her first book in the Harry Potter series. The idea for the book reportedly occurred to her while she was traveling on a train from Manchester to London in 1990.

READ MORE: J.K. Rowling's Incredible Rags to Riches Story

'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone'

After a number of rejections, Rowling finally sold her first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, for the equivalent of about $4,000; it hit shelves in June 1997. The word "Philosopher" in the book’s original title was changed to "Sorcerer" for its publication in America.

The book was the start of a seven-book series chronicling the life of the young wizard Harry Potter and his motley band of cohorts at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'

The second book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , came out in July 1998.

'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'

The third book in Rowling's series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , hit shelves in July 1999. By the following summer, the first three Harry Potter books had earned approximately $480 million in three years, with over 35 million copies in print in 35 languages.

'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'

The phenomenal response to Rowling's books culminated in July 2000, when the fourth volume in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , became the fastest-selling book in 24 hours ever. The book saw a first printing of 5.3 million copies and advance orders of over 1.8 million.

'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'

After a postponed release date, the fifth installment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , hit bookstores in June 2003.

'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'

The sixth installment, released in July 2005, sold 6.9 million copies in the United States in its first 24 hours. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was the biggest opening in publishing history.

'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'

Prior to its July 2007 release, the seventh and final installment in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , was the largest ever pre-ordered book at Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores and at Amazon.com. Rowling does not plan to write any more books in the series, although she has not entirely ruled out the possibility.

READ MORE: Harry Potter : The Real-Life Inspirations Behind J.K. Rowling's Characters

'The Tales of Beedle the Bard'

This collection of five fables mentioned in the Harry Potter book series, The Tales of Beedle the Bard , was released on December 4, 2008, at a tea party for 200 schoolchildren at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Rowling donated all royalties from the book to the Children's High Level Group (which has been renamed Lumos ), a charity that she co-founded to support institutionalized children in Eastern Europe.

'The Casual Vacancy'

Rowling's first book aimed at adults, The Casual Vacancy , was published in September 2012. The novel, a dark comedy about a local election in the small English town of Pagford, received mixed reviews.

A book review in The New York Times called the novel "disappointing" and "dull." A review in The Telegraph , however, gave the book three out of five stars, stating that “Jane Austen herself would admire the way [Rowling] shows the news of Barry’s death spreading like a virus round Pagford."

'Cuckoo Calling,' 'The Silkworm,' 'Career of Evil,' and 'Lethal White'

In April 2013, Rowling broke into a new genre, crime fiction, with a novel she published under the pen name Robert Galbraith. In the first few months following the release of Cuckoo Calling , the novel had modest sales and received positive reviews. Sales for the work skyrocketed in July when its author's identity was discovered.

According to Bloomberg News, Rowling said that "I had hoped to keep this secret a little longer, because being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience. It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name."

Rowling published three more books under the pen name Robert Galbraith: The Silkworm in June 2014 and Career of Evil , released in October 2015, followed by Lethal White in September 2018.

'Very Good Lives' (Rowling’s Harvard commencement speech)

In April 2015, Rowling’s 2008 Harvard commencement speech was published in book form as Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination .

The self-improvement guide offers personal anecdotes and advice on how to embrace failure and use your imagination to succeed. Proceeds from the book benefit Lumos, Rowling’s non-profit children’s organization.

‘Harry Potter: A History of Magic’

In 2017, Rowling announced on her website that she would publish two new books for an exhibition at the British Library that celebrates the 20th anniversary of the publication of her first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone .

The books, Harry Potter: A History of Magic (described as the adult version) and Harry Potter: A Journey Through a History of Magic (the kid-friendly version), were released on October 20th and feature manuscripts, original illustrations and an exploration of the Harry Potter characters and magic.

In May 2019, it was reported that Rowling would be publishing four more Harry Potter stories. However, the author cleared up the confusion on her website, explaining that the “bite-sized e-reads” contain no new material. The A Journey Through… e-books were adapted from a companion audiobook to History of Magic narrated by Natalie Dormer.

DOWNLOAD BIOGRAPHY'S J.K. ROWLING'S FACT CARD

'Harry Potter' Movies

A film version of Rowling’s first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone , was released in November 2001 and was directed by Chris Columbus and starred Daniel Radcliffe , Emma Watson and Rupert Grint .

In its opening weekend in the U.S., the film debuted on a record 8,200 screens and smashed the previous box-office record, earning an estimated $93.5 million ($20 million more than the previous record-holder, 1999's The Lost World: Jurassic Park ). It ended the year as the top-grossing movie of 2001.

The second and third films in the series — Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), directed by Columbus, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), directed by Alfonso Cuarón — each enjoyed similar record-breaking box-office success. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , directed by Mike Newell, was released in 2005.

The fifth movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , directed by David Yates, was released in 2007. The film featured a script by screenwriter Michael Goldenberg, who replaced Steve Kloves, scriptwriter of the first four films.

The film version of the sixth installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, directed by Yates, was released in July 2009. The final film for the seventh book in the series was released in two installments: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010) and Part 2 (2011), both directed by Yates .

'Fantastic Beasts' Film Series

In 2013, Rowling announced a new film series with Warner Bros. According to Entertainment Weekly , Rowling explained that the movies, based on her 2001 Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, would draw from "the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for 17 years," but "is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the 'Harry Potter' series, but an extension of the wizarding world."

Developed from a script by Rowling — her screenwriting debut — and starring Eddie Redmayne , Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was released in November 2016. Following in the footsteps of Rowling's previous creations that made it to the big screen, Fantastic Beasts dazzled audiences with its depictions of sorcery and grossed more than $800 million worldwide.

The film's sequel generated controversy ahead of its planned November 2018 release date for the decision to include Johnny Depp in the cast. During a time when influential Hollywood actors and executives were coming under fire for past indiscretions, fans were troubled by the allegations of domestic abuse that contributed to Depp's divorce from Amber Heard.

However, in late 2017, both Rowling and Warner Bros. issued statements in support of Depp. “The filmmakers and I are not only comfortable sticking with our original casting, but genuinely happy to have Johnny playing a major character in the movies,” said Rowling.

In 2014, Rowling published a short story about grown-up Harry Potter and a Hogwarts school reunion on her website Pottermore . Since the site launched, she’s added more stories and information about all things Harry Potter.

‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ Play

In June 2016, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , a two-part play written by Jack Thorne and based on an original idea by Thorne, Rowling and director John Tiffany, debuted on the London stage to a sold-out audience.

Although she had originally stated Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows would be the final book in the series, the play features an adult Harry Potter and has been officially touted as the eighth installment of the series.

The play’s cast differs from that of the original films. The next month, as with her previous books, fans lined up at bookstores pending the midnight release of Jack Thorne’s script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child .

Husband and Children

On December 26, 2001, Rowling married anesthetist Dr. Neil Murray at the couple's home in Scotland. They have two children together, David (born in 2003) and Mackenzie (born in 2005). Rowling has one child, Jessica (born 1993), from her previous marriage.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: J.K. Rowling
• Birth Year: 1965
• Birth date: July 31, 1965
• Birth City: Yate, England
• Birth Country: United Kingdom
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: J.K. Rowling is the creator of the 'Harry Potter' fantasy series, one of the most popular book and film franchises in history.
• Fiction and Poetry
• Astrological Sign: Leo
• University of Exeter
• St Michael's Primary School in Winterbourne
• Wyedean School and College
• Interesting Facts
• Before J.K. Rowling published her 'Harry Potter' series, she was a single mom on welfare.
• As of 2017, Rowling's net worth is about $850 million dollars.

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: J.K. Rowling Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/jk-rowling
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: March 29, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014
• I was set free because my greatest fear had been realized and I still had a daughter that I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
• Why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential.
• Hopefully, after 'Harry,' I'll still be publishing. That's what I want.
• For a few years, I did feel I was on a psychic treadmill, trying to keep up with where I was. Everything changed so rapidly, so strangely. I knew no one who'd ever been in the public eye. I didn't know anyone—anyone—to whom I could turn and say, 'What do you do?' So it was incredibly disorienting.
• The worst that could happen is that everyone says, 'That's shockingly bad.'
• You don't expect the kind of problems wealth brings with it. You don't expect the pressure.
• Anything is possible if you've got enough nerve.
• To the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.
• Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.

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Why J.K. Rowling’s Latest Apology Is Even More Meaningful than It Seems

Another year, another apology from J.K. Rowling . The Harry Potter author has made it her new annual tradition to celebrate the fictional, casualty-heavy Battle of Hogwarts (May 2) by apologizing for ripping her young readers’ hearts out. Last year, she apologized for bumping off Fred Weasley ; this year it’s Remus Lupin, who died, Rowling says, so Arthur Weasley could live. But for a significant portion of the Harry Potter fandom, Lupin’s death hurt most of all, which makes this apology especially welcome.

“Once again, it’s the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts so, as promised, I shall [apologize] for a death. This year: Remus Lupin,” Rowling tweeted . “In the interests of total honesty I’d also like to confess that I didn’t decide to kill Lupin until I wrote Order of the Phoenix .” Rowling famously mapped out most of her saga so the revelation that she didn’t decide to sacrifice Lupin until writing her fifth novel is somewhat significant.

So what does Arthur Weasley have to do with Lupin’s death alongside his wife, Tonks, in the Battle of Hogwarts? “Arthur lived, so Lupin had to die. I’m sorry. I didn’t enjoy doing it,” Rowling said, meaning that not all of Harry’s kindly father figures could make it through the book in one piece. Rowling told Meredith Vieira back in 2007

I swapped [Lupin and Tonks] for Mr. Weasley. But they didn't then die until Seven . . . If there’s one character I couldn’t bear to part with, it’s Arthur Weasley. And I think part of the reason for that is there were very few good fathers in the book. In fact, you could make a very good case for Arthur Weasley being the only good father in the whole series.

Lupin certainly wasn’t gunning for father of the year to poor Teddy when he abandoned his pregnant wife, Tonks. Speaking of which, Rowling also says that “the only time my editor ever saw me cry was over the fate of Teddy.” Some Harry Potter fans are hoping to get plenty of Teddy when the eighth installment in the Potter saga— The Cursed Child —debuts this summer.

Lupin, and the dearly departed Sirius Black, were both complicated father figures for Harry, but that’s not why many Potter fans embraced them so fiercely. Many latched on to the friendship between Lupin and Sirius Black as the likeliest candidate for a gay relationship in the franchise. (This was before Rowling announced, after the book series had concluded, that Dumbledore was gay.) The Prisoner of Azkaban director Alfonso Cuarón saw the Lupin/Black relationship the same way, and, when he directed David Thewlis in the role, gave the actor some guidance. Thewlis told Entertainment Weekly : “Alfonso Cuarón, in the rehearsals, without J.K. Rowling’s knowledge, told me that [my character] was, in fact, gay. So I’d been playing a part like a gay man for quite a long time. Until it turned out that I indeed got married to Tonks. I changed my whole performance after that. Just saw it as a phase he went through.”

Leaving the “just a phase” comment aside, it’s easy to see how Lupin—a man who is haunted and ashamed of a deeply personal secret, in this case, being a werewolf—could translate to many readers as homosexual. And given how far Hollywood still has to go in actually representing gay relationships, audiences still find themselves endowing same-sex friendships with romantic overtones. (Think Cap/Bucky in The Avengers or Finn/Poe in Star Wars .) But with increased pressure for both Lucasfilm and Disney Animation to turn homosexual subtext into text, the days of searching for glimpses of gay undertones may soon be in the rearview. Still, we’ll never forget the characters who got us here. R.I.P., Remus and Sirius.

Harry Potter in Vanity Fair

Joanna Robinson

Joanna robinson is a senior staff writer at *vanity fair.*.

• New from J. K. Rowling
• The Lupin Family
• The Order of the Phoenix

Remus Lupin

By far he is considered as the best teacher of his subject.

• 1.1 Discovered in Book 3, Chapter 5, The Dementor
• 1.2 Discovered in Book 3, Chapter 7, The Boggart in the Wardrobe
• 1.3 Discovered in Book 3, Chapter 8, Flight of the Fat Lady
• 1.4 Discovered in Book 3, Chapter 12, The Patronus
• 1.5 Discovered in Book 3, Chapter 14, Snape's Grudge
• 1.6 Discovered in Book 3, Chapter 16, Professor Trelawney's Prediction
• 1.7 Discovered in Book 3, Chapter 17, Cat, Rat and Dog
• 1.8 Discovered in Book 3, Chapter 18, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
• 1.9 Discovered in Book 3, Chapter 19, The Servant of Lord Voldemort
• 1.10 Discovered in Book 3, Chapter 20, The Dementors' Kiss
• 1.11 Discovered in Book 3, Chapter 22, Owl Post Again
• 1.12 Discovered in Book 4, Chapter 14, The Unforgivable Curses
• 2.1 Parents
• 2.3 Childhood
• 2.5 The Order of the Phoenix
• 2.6 The Wolfsbane Potion
• 2.7 Return to Hogwarts
• 2.8 Marriage
• 2.9 Parenthood
• 3 J.K. Rowling's thoughts

From Story [ ]

Discovered in book 3 , chapter 5, the dementor [ ].

"Professor R. J. Lupin is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. On the train, he shares a carriage with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and their friends, although he spends much of the journey asleep. Lupin wakes after the train stops unexpectedly and the carriage is plunged into total darkness. He conjures a handful of flames, illuminating a Dementor as it appears in the doorway. Lupin sends the Dementor away and, as Harry wakes from his faint, Lupin gives him chocolate to help his recovery. Lupin leaves to talk to the train driver, and on his return announces that the Hogwarts Express will arrive at the school in ten minutes."

Discovered in Book 3 , Chapter 7, The Boggart in the Wardrobe [ ]

"For the third-year Gryffindors' first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, Professor Lupin leads the class along a deserted corridor and round a corner, where they encounter Peeves stuffing chewing gum into a keyhole. Lupin performs the 'Waddiwasi' spell, sending the gum shooting out of the keyhole, and straight down Peeves' left nostril. Lupin leads the class down a second corridor, and into the staff room. Beckoning the students towards the end of the room, Lupin stands next to a large wardrobe, which gives a sudden wobble and bangs off the wall. Lupin tells them that there is a Boggart in the wardrobe. He nominates Neville to be the first student to face the Boggart, asking him what he is most frightened of in the world. After Neville answers, Lupin explains that as the Boggart bursts out of the wardrobe, it will take the form of Professor Snape. He tells Neville to imagine his grandmother, and the clothes she wears. Combined with the 'Riddikulus' charm, Neville should be able to force the Boggart Snape into the hat, handbag and dress that his grandmother wears, causing the other students to laugh at it. As the Boggart is released, and the students take it in turn to face it, Lupin encourages them. When it is Harry's turn, however, Lupin runs in front of him. The Boggart turns into a silvery white orb, which hangs in the air."

Prof Lupin with Prof Dumbledore and Prof McGonagall in front of the shattered portrait of the Fat Lady

Discovered in Book 3 , Chapter 8, Flight of the Fat Lady [ ]

"Lupin sees Harry walking past his office, and invites him in to see the Grindylow intended for the next Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. When Harry asks why he was not allowed to confront the Boggart in the staff room, Lupin replies that he had thought it obvious: that the Boggart would take the form of Lord Voldemort. He is surprised when Harry says that he thought of Voldemort at first but then he remembered the Dementors. He suggests that what Harry fears most of all, therefore, is fear itself. When Professor Snape enters Lupin's office with a potion for him, he gulps it down and is unconcerned when Harry worries about Snape's intentions.

Lupin hurries through the corridor towards the portrait of the Fat Lady, accompanied by Professors McGonagall and Snape."

Discovered in Book 3 , Chapter 12, The Patronus [ ]

Professor Lupin facing his Boggart

"In his first lesson after Christmas, Lupin is reminded of his promise to help Harry defend himself against Dementors. He suggests that they meet on Thursday evening in the History of Magic classroom. Lupin arrives after Harry, carrying a large packing case with him. He tells Harry he found another Boggart, and has brought it to practise on. Lupin tells Harry he will be learning the Patronus Charm, a highly advanced spell. He teaches Harry the incantation, reminding him to concentrate on a happy memory, and is pleased with Harry as he practises. When Harry collapses after facing the Boggart, Lupin is worried, and pales when Harry mentions that he heard Voldemort again. After Harry's second attempt, he attempts to persuade Harry to stop the lesson, and regrets suggesting it in the first place. He opens the case for the third time reluctantly, but is pleased when Harry produces a cloudy patronus. He refuses to let Harry practise any further. Lupin is clearly uncomfortable when Harry questions him about Sirius Black, but does admit that they knew each other at Hogwarts."

Discovered in Book 3 , Chapter 14, Snape's Grudge [ ]

"Lupin is summoned by Professor Snape to his office, and promptly arrives in the fireplace using Floo powder. When he is shown the Marauder's Map, an odd, closed expression appears on his face. Lupin disagrees with Snape about the map being a Dark object, and tells Snape that it is probably a joke-shop product. After Ron corroborates this, Lupin tucks the map into his robes and escorts the boys out of Snape's office. He tells Harry and Ron that he knows what the map is, and that it was confiscated by Filch years ago. He is astounded that they haven't handed it in and tells Harry that he can't let him have it back. Lupin explains that the mapmakers would have thought it entertaining to lure students out of school, and admits that he has met them. He admonishes Harry for not taking Sirius Black seriously, and says that his reckless behaviour is a poor way to repay his parents' sacrifice."

Discovered in Book 3 , Chapter 16, Professor Trelawney's Prediction [ ]

"Lupin organises an unusual exam for the third-years, and creates a sort of obstacle course outside in the sun. He congratulates Harry at the end of his exam, and tells him that he gained full marks. He is startled when a screaming Hermione bursts out of the trunk with the Boggart in it."

Discovered in Book 3 , Chapter 17, Cat, Rat and Dog [ ]

"Lupin hurries up the stairs of the Shrieking Shack when he hears Hermione calling out, and bursts into the room at the top. He sees Ron lying on the floor, Hermione cowering and Harry standing over Black, and he promptly disarms Harry and Hermione. Lupin is oddly emotional as he asks Black where 'he' is, but is confused by Black's response. His eyes widen as he realises something the others cannot, and he asks Black whether 'they' switched, without telling anyone. When Black nods, Lupin walks over and embraces him like a brother.

Lupin is remarkably calm after Hermione's accusations and he tells her that, for once, she is not completely right. He denies that he has been helping Black to get into the castle, and also that he wants Harry dead, but admits that he is a werewolf. He is impressed when he finds out how long Hermione has known, and that she noticed both that his 'illnesses' coincided with the full moon, and that the Boggart he faced turned into a moon. He tells the trio that the staff are aware he is a werewolf, but that Dumbledore had a hard time persuading some of them that Lupin was trustworthy.

Lupin denies that he has been helping Black, and gives the trio back their wands in a bid to persuade them to listen. Lupin tells Harry that he knows how to operate the Marauder's Map because he is Moony, one of the makers of it. He explains how he was studying the Marauder's Map in his office as the events in the grounds occured and, as he did, he noticed an unusual name appear on the map, so unusual that he could hardly believe it. He tells the trio that he watched on the Map as Black pulled not one, but two people into the Whomping Willow. Lupin asks to see Scabbers, and appears to be holding his breath as he stares intently at the rat."

Discovered in Book 3 , Chapter 18, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs [ ]

"Lupin restrains Black when he attempts to kill Scabbers, and insists that they explain things to Harry, Ron and Hermione before they harm the rat. He starts to tell his story, but breaks off when he hears a loud creak, and the bedroom door opens. Seeing no one there, Lupin continues his story. He explains to the trio that the Shrieking Shack was never haunted: the horrific sounds people used to hear were made by him. He tells them that the tunnel and the Shack were all built for his use, and the Whomping Willow planted to conceal the entrance, so that he had somewhere to be during his monthly transformations.

Aside from his transformations, Lupin had a happy life at school. However, he had to hide his werewolf transformations from everyone, including his three closest friends. He tells the trio that Black, James Potter and Pettigrew eventually worked out the truth, and decided to try to become Animagi to help make his transformations bearable. As animals, his friends could accompany Lupin whilst he was a werewolf without being harmed, and under their influence he became less dangerous, his mind less wolfish. Lupin tells them that he and his friends were soon leaving the confines of the Shrieking Shack during the full moon, roaming the school grounds at night. During this time they discovered more about the grounds and the school than any other, and that was how they came to write the Marauder's Map.

Lupin tells the trio that he sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore's trust, but that he always managed to forget his guilty conscience when they started to plan the next month's adventure. Lupin has been battling with himself all year, wondering whether to tell Dumbledore that Black is an Animagus and could easily get into the school unrecognised, but ultimately he couldn't bring himself to admit that he had betrayed the Headmaster when he was a student."

Discovered in Book 3 , Chapter 19, The Servant of Lord Voldemort [ ]

"When Snape arrives in the Shrieking Shack and starts making assumptions about Lupin's behaviour, Lupin tries to reason with him. He thinks Snape is a fool for letting a schoolboy grudge allow an innocent man go to Azkaban. He is attacked by Snape, and lies on the floor, bound by ropes. He is released by Sirius after Snape is knocked out. Lupin listens to Black's story, and slowly starts to understand what happened all those years ago. He is stunned when he sees Scabbers missing toe, and realises that Pettigrew must have cut his finger off himself to fool people. Lupin eventually insists that Ron hand Scabbers to him, assuring Ron that the spell won't harm Scabbers if he really is just a rat. He and Black cast the spell and watch as Scabbers transforms into Pettigrew.

Lupin is deceptively pleasant to Pettigrew, but grows less friendly the more he questions his old friend. He is unimpressed by Peter's excuses, and doesn't believe his protestations of innocence. Lupin correctly deduces that Black didn't tell him about the change of Secret Keeper because he initially thought Lupin was the spy. Lupin tells Pettigrew that he should have realised if Voldemort didn't kill him, he and Sirius would. Lupin is staggered when Harry moves to shield Pettigrew, but reluctantly agrees to allow the Dementors to deal with him back at the school. He binds and gags Pettigrew, then goes to help splint Ron's leg. Lupin thinks that it would be better to revive Snape after they have returned to the school, and levitates his unconscious colleague using the incantation Mobilicorpus. Lupin tucks the Invisibility Cloak into his pocket for safe-keeping and volunteers to be one of the people chained to Pettigrew."

Discovered in Book 3 , Chapter 20, The Dementors' Kiss [ ]

"Lupin and Ron are shackled together with Pettigrew for the walk back to Hogwarts. Still shackled to Pettigrew and Ron, Lupin starts towards the castle, his wand trained sideways at Pettigrew's chest. Lupin comes to an abrupt stop as the clouds shift to reveal the full moon. He goes rigid and his limbs start to shake as he begins to transform into a werewolf. Lupin makes a terrible snarling noise as his head lengthens; his body follows, his shoulders hunch, hair begins to sprout on his face and hands, and his hands start to curl into clawed paws. He wrenches himself free of the manacle binding him once he is fully transformed, and is immediately attacked by Sirius in his Animagus form. Lupin is seized around the neck by Sirius, and is dragged away from Ron and Pettigrew. He and Sirius fight, clawing and ripping at each other until, with a howl, Lupin finally turns and flees into the Forbidden Forest."

Discovered in Book 3 , Chapter 22, Owl Post Again [ ]

"Lupin hands in his resignation once news that he is a werewolf spreads through the school. He is packing his things up in his office when Harry arrives. He tells Harry that he thinks the loss of the Order of Merlin hit Snape hard, which is why he accidentally let Lupin's identity slip. He tells Harry that owls will soon start to arrive from anxious parents, who will be unwilling to let a werewolf teach their children, and that resigning is the best option. Lupin implies that Dumbledore told him about the events of the previous night, and tells Harry that he is proud of him for all he has learnt and the lives he saved. He asks Harry to tell him about his Patronus, knowing that it was the only thing that could have driven the Dementors away. Lupin tells Harry that James always transformed into stag, which was why they called him Prongs. He gives Harry back his Invisibility Cloak, and the Marauder's Map. Lupin feels less guilty about giving Harry the Map as he is no longer Harry's teacher, and knows that Harry, Ron and Hermione will find a use for it. He tells Harry that James would have been disappointed if his son had never found any of the castle's secret passageways. Lupin assures Dumbledore that there is no need to accompany him to the gates, and tells Harry he is sure they will meet again. He leaves the office, carrying his suitcase and the empty Grindylow tank."

Discovered in Book 4 , Chapter 14, The Unforgivable Curses [ ]

"Lupin sent Professor Moody a letter about the now fourth-year Defence Against the Dark Arts students, telling him what they covered in lessons during their third year."

New from J.K. Rowling [ ]

Parents [ ].

Remus Lupin was the only child of the wizard Lyall Lupin and his Muggle wife Hope Howell. Lyall Lupin was a very clever, rather shy young man who, by the time he was thirty, had become a world-renowned authority on Non-Human Spiritous Apparitions. These include poltergeists, Boggarts and other strange creatures that, while sometimes ghostlike in appearance and behaviour, have never been truly alive and remain something of a mystery even to the wizarding world. On an investigative trip into a dense Welsh forest in which a particularly vicious Boggart was supposed to be lurking, Lyall ran across his future wife. Hope Howell, a beautiful Muggle girl who worked in an insurance office in Cardiff, had taken an ill-advised walk through what she believed to be innocent woodland. Boggarts and poltergeists may be sensed by Muggles, and Hope, a particularly imaginative and sensitive person, had become convinced that something was watching her from between the dark trees. Eventually, her imagination became so overactive that the Boggart assumed a form: that of a large, evil-looking man, bearing down on her with a snarl and outstretched hands in the gloom. Hearing her scream, young Lyall came sprinting through the trees, causing the apparition to shrink into a field mushroom with one wave of his wand. The terrified Hope thought, in her confusion, that he had driven her would-be attacker away, and his first words to her - 'it's all right, it was only a Boggart' made no impression on her. Noticing how very beautiful she was, Lyall made the wise decision not to talk about Boggarts any more, but instead agreed that the man had been very big and scary, and that the only sensible thing to do was for him to accompany Hope home to protect her. The young couple fell in love, and not even Lyall's shamefaced admission, some months later, that Hope had never really been in danger, dented her enthusiasm for him. To Lyall's delight, Hope accepted his proposal of marriage and threw herself enthusiastically into preparations for the wedding, complete with a Boggart-topped cake. Lyall and Hope's first and only child, Remus John, was born after a year of marriage. A happy, healthy little boy, he showed early signs of magic and both parents imagined that he would follow in his father's footsteps, attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in due course.

By the time that Remus was four years old, the amount of Dark magical activity across the country was increasing steadily. While few yet knew what lay behind the mounting attacks and sightings, Lord Voldemort's first ascent to power was in progress and Death Eaters were recruiting all kinds of Dark creatures to join them in their quest to overthrow the Ministry of Magic. The Ministry called in the services of authorities on Dark creatures - even those as minor as Boggarts and poltergeists - to help it understand and contain the threat. Lyall Lupin was among those asked to join the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, which he did gladly. It was here that Lyall came face-to-face with a werewolf called Fenrir Greyback, who had been brought in for questioning about the death of two Muggle children. The Werewolf Registry was badly maintained. Werewolves were so shunned by wizarding society that they generally avoided contact with other people; they lived in self-described 'packs' and did all they could to avoid being registered. Greyback, whom the Ministry did not know to be a werewolf, claimed to be nothing more than a Muggle tramp who was utterly amazed at finding himself in a room full of wizards, and horrified by the talk about the poor, dead children. Greyback's filthy clothing and lack of wand were sufficient to persuade two overworked and ignorant members of the questioning committee that he was telling the truth, but Lyall Lupin was not so easily fooled. He recognised certain telltale signs in Greyback's appearance and behaviour and told the committee that Greyback ought to be kept in detention until the next full moon, a mere twenty-four hours later. Greyback sat in silence while Lyall was laughed at by his fellow committee members ('Lyall, you just stick to Welsh Boggarts, that's what you're good at'). Lyall, generally a mild-mannered man, grew angry. He described werewolves as 'soulless, evil, deserving nothing but death'. The committee ordered Lyall out of the room, the head of the committee apologised to the Muggle tramp and Greyback was released. The wizard who escorted Greyback out of the inquiry was intending to place a Memory Charm upon him, so that he would forget having been inside the Ministry. Before he had a chance to do so, he was overpowered by Greyback and two accomplices who had been lurking at the entrance, and the three werewolves fled. Greyback lost no time in sharing with his friends how Lyall Lupin had just described them. Their revenge on the wizard who thought that werewolves deserved nothing but death would be swift and terrible. Shortly before Remus Lupin's fifth birthday, as he slept peacefully in his bed, Fenrir Greyback forced open the boy's window and attacked him. Lyall reached the bedroom in time to save his son's life, driving Greyback out of the house with a number of powerful curses. However, henceforth, Remus would be a full-fledged werewolf. Lyall Lupin never forgave himself for the words he had spoken in front of Greyback at the inquiry: 'soulless, evil, deserving nothing but death'. He had parroted what was the common view of werewolves in his community, but his son was what he had always been - loveable and clever - except for that terrible period at the full moon when he suffered an excruciating transformation and became a danger to everyone around him. For many years, Lyall kept the truth about the attack, including the identity of the attacker, from his son, fearing Remus's recriminations.

Childhood [ ]

Lyall did all he could to find a cure, but neither potions nor spells could help his son. From this time onwards, the family's lives were dominated by the need to hide Remus's condition. They uprooted themselves from village to town, leaving the instant that rumours of the boy's odd behaviour started. Fellow witches and wizards noticed how peaky Remus became as new moon approached, not to mention his monthly disappearances. Remus was not allowed to play with other children, in case he let slip the truth of his condition. In consequence, and in spite of his loving parents, he was a very lonely boy. While Remus was small, his containment during his transformation was not difficult; a locked room and plenty of silencing spells usually sufficed. However, as he grew, so did his wolfish self, and by the time he was ten years old, he was capable of pounding down doors and smashing windows. Ever more powerful spells were needed to contain him and both Hope and Lyall grew thin with worry and fear. They adored their son, but they knew that their community - already beset with fears at the mounting Dark activity around them - would not be lenient on an uncontrolled werewolf. The hopes that they had once had for their son seemed in ruins, and Lyall educated Remus at home, certain that he would never be able to set foot in school. Shortly before Remus's eleventh birthday, no less a person than Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, arrived uninvited on the Lupins' doorstep. Flustered and frightened, Lyall and Hope tried to block his entrance, but somehow, five minutes later, Dumbledore was sitting at the fireside, eating crumpets and playing Gobstones with Remus. Dumbledore explained to the Lupins that he knew what had happened to their son. Greyback had boasted of what he had done and Dumbledore had spies among Dark creatures. However, Dumbledore told the Lupins that he saw no reason why Remus should not come to school, and described the arrangements that he had made to give the boy a safe and secure place for his transformations. Due to the widespread prejudice around werewolves, Dumbledore agreed that for Remus's own sake his condition should not be broadcast. Once a month, he would leave for a secure and comfortable house in the village of Hogsmeade, guarded by many spells and reached only by an underground passage from the Hogwarts grounds, where he could transform in peace. Remus's excitement was beyond anything he had known before. It was the dream of his life to meet other children and have, for the first time, friends and playmates.

The Marauders: Remus Lupin (werewolf), James Potter (stag), Sirius Black (dog) and Peter Pettigrew (rat)

Sorted into Gryffindor house, Remus Lupin was swiftly befriended by two cheerful, confident and rebellious boys, James Potter and Sirius Black. They were attracted by Remus's quiet sense of humour and a kindness that they valued, even if they did not always possess it themselves. Remus, always the underdog's friend, was kind to short and rather slow Peter Pettigrew, a fellow Gryffindor, whom James and Sirius might not have thought worthy of their attention without Remus's persuasion. Soon, these four became inseparable. Remus functioned as the conscience of this group, but it was an occasionally faulty conscience. He did not approve of their relentless bullying of Severus Snape, but he loved James and Sirius so much, and was so grateful for their acceptance, that he did not always stand up to them as much as he knew he should. Inevitably, his three best friends soon became curious as to why Remus had to vanish once a month. Convinced by his lonely childhood that his friends would desert him if they knew that he was a werewolf, Remus made up ever more elaborate lies to account for his absences. James and Sirius guessed the truth in their second year. To Remus's astonished gratitude, they not only remained his friends but thought up an ingenious method of easing his monthly isolation. They also gave him a nickname that would follow him all through school: 'Moony'. Remus finished his school career as a Prefect.

The Order of the Phoenix [ ]

By the time the four friends left school, Lord Voldemort's ascendancy was almost complete. True resistance to him was concentrated in the underground organisation called the Order of the Phoenix, which all four young men joined. The death of James Potter, along with his wife Lily, at the hands of Lord Voldemort, was one of the most traumatic events of Remus's already troubled life. His friends meant even more to him than to other people, because he had long since accepted the fact that most people would treat him as untouchable, and that there could be no possibility of marrying and having children. Even worse, within twenty- four hours he had also lost his two other best friends. Remus was in the north of the country on Order of the Phoenix business when he heard the horrible news that one of them had murdered the other, and was now in Azkaban, a traitor to the Order and to Lily and James themselves. The downfall of Voldemort, such a source of jubilation to the rest of the wizarding community, marked the beginning of a long stretch of loneliness and unhappiness for Remus. He had lost his three close friends and, with the Order disbanded, his previous comrades returned to busy lives with families. His mother was now dead, and while Lyall, his father, was always delighted to see his son, Remus refused to endanger his father's peaceful existence by returning to live with him. Remus now lived a hand-to-mouth existence, taking jobs that were far below his level of ability, always knowing that he would have to leave them before his pattern of growing sick once a month at the full moon was noticed by his workmates.

The Wolfsbane Potion [ ]

One development in the wizarding community gave Remus hope: the discovery of the Wolfsbane Potion. While this did not prevent a werewolf losing his human form once a month, it restricted his transformation to that of an ordinary and sleepy wolf. It had always been Remus's worst fear that he would kill while out of his right mind. However, the Wolfsbane Potion was complex and the ingredients very expensive. Remus had no chance to sample it without admitting what he was and so he continued his lonely, itinerant existence.

Return to Hogwarts [ ]

Once again, Albus Dumbledore changed the course of Remus Lupin's life when he tracked him down to a tumbledown, semi-derelict cottage in Yorkshire. Delighted to see the Headmaster, Remus was amazed when Dumbledore offered him the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He was only persuaded to accept when Dumbledore explained that there would be a limitless supply of Wolfsbane Potion, courtesy of the Potions master, Severus Snape. At Hogwarts, Remus revealed himself to be a gifted teacher, with a rare flair for his own subject and a profound understanding of his pupils. He was, as ever, particularly drawn to the underdog, and both Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter benefited from his wisdom and kindness. However, Remus's old flaw was at work. He had grave suspicions about one of his old friends, a known fugitive, but did not share them with anyone at Hogwarts. His desperate desire to belong and to be liked meant that he was neither as brave nor as honest as he ought to have been. An unfortunate combination of circumstances arose that resulted in Remus undergoing a true werewolf's transformation on the grounds of the school. Severus Snape's resentment, never abated by Remus's subsequent respectful politeness, made sure that it was widely known what the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was. Remus felt obliged to resign and departed Hogwarts once more.

Marriage [ ]

As Lord Voldemort once again gained ascendancy, the old resistance regrouped and Remus found himself once more part of the Order of the Phoenix. This time, the group included an Auror who had been too young to belong to the Order during its first incarnation. Clever, brave and funny, pink-haired Nymphadora Tonks was a protégée of Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, the toughest and most grizzled Auror of them all. Remus, so often melancholy and lonely, was first amused, then impressed, then seriously smitten by the young witch. He had never fallen in love before. If it had happened in peacetime, Remus would have simply taken himself off to a new place and a new job, so that he did not have to endure the pain of watching Tonks fall in love with a handsome, young wizard in the Auror office, which was what he expected to happen. However, this was war; they were both needed in the Order of the Phoenix, and nobody knew what the next day would bring. Remus felt justified in remaining exactly where he was, keeping his feelings to himself but secretly rejoicing every time somebody paired him with Tonks on some overnight mission. It had never occurred to Remus that Tonks could return his feelings because he had become so used to considering himself unclean and unworthy. One night when they lay in hiding outside a known Death Eater's house, after a year of increasingly warm friendship, Tonks made an idle remark about one of their fellow Order members ('He's still handsome, isn't he, even after Azkaban?'). Before he could stop himself, Remus had replied bitterly that he supposed she had fallen for his old friend ('He always got the women.'). At this, Tonks became suddenly angry. 'You'd know perfectly well who I've fallen for, if you weren't too busy feeling sorry for yourself to notice.' Remus's immediate response was a happiness he had never experienced in his life, but this was extinguished almost at once by a sense of crushing duty. He had always known that he could not marry and run the risk of passing on his painful, shameful condition. He therefore pretended not to understand Tonks, which did not fool her at all. Wiser than Remus, she was sure that he loved her, but that he was refusing to admit it out of mistaken nobility. However, he avoided any further excursions with her, barely talked to her, and started volunteering for the most dangerous missions. Tonks became desperately unhappy, convinced not only that the man she loved would never willingly spend time with her again, but also that he might walk to his death rather than admit his feelings. Remus and Tonks both fought Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries, a battle that resulted in the public exposure of Voldemort's return. The loss of the last of his school friends during this battle did nothing to soften Remus's increasingly self-destructive attitude. Tonks could only watch in despair as he volunteered to spy for the Order, leaving to live among fellow werewolves to try to persuade them to Dumbledore's side. In doing this, he was exposing himself to the possible reprisals of the werewolf who had changed his life forever, Fenrir Greyback. Remus came face-to-face with both Greyback and Tonks at Hogwarts barely a year later, when the Order clashed with Death Eaters within the castle. During this battle, Remus lost yet another person he had loved: Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore had been adored by every member of the Order of the Phoenix, but to Remus, he had represented the sort of kindness, tolerance and understanding that he had received from nobody in the world outside his parents and his three best friends, and had been the only man ever to offer him a position within normal wizarding society. In the aftermath of the bloody fight, inspired by Fleur Delacour's protestation of enduring love for Bill Weasley, who had been savaged by Greyback, Tonks made a brave, public declaration of her feelings for Remus, who was forced to admit the strength of his love for her. In spite of continuing misgivings that he was acting selfishly, Remus married Tonks quietly in the north of Scotland, with witnesses taken from the local wizarding tavern. He continued to fear that the stigma attached to him would infect his wife and wished for no fanfare around their union; he swung constantly between elation that he was married to the woman of his dreams and terror of what he might have brought upon them both.

Parenthood [ ]

Within a few weeks of their marriage, Remus realised that Tonks was pregnant and every fear he had ever had surfaced. He was convinced that he had passed on his condition to an innocent child and that he had condemned Tonks to the same life as his mother, forever moving around, unable to settle, having to hide her increasingly violent child from sight. Full of remorse and self-recrimination, Remus fled, leaving the pregnant Tonks, seeking out Harry and offering to accompany him on whatever death-defying adventure awaited. To Remus's shock and displeasure, the seventeen-year-old Harry not only declined his offer but became angry and insulting. He told his ex-teacher that he was acting selfishly and irresponsibly. Remus responded with uncharacteristic violence and stormed out of the house, taking refuge in a corner of the Leaky Cauldron, where he sat drinking and fuming. However, after a few hours' reflection, Remus was forced to accept that his ex-pupil had just taught him a valuable lesson. James and Lily, Remus reflected, had stuck with Harry even unto their own deaths. His own parents, Lyall and Hope, had sacrificed their peace and security to keep the family together. Bitterly ashamed, Remus left the inn and returned to his wife, where he begged her forgiveness and assured her that, come what may, he would never leave her again. For the rest of Tonks’s pregnancy, Remus eschewed missions for the Order of the Phoenix and made it his first priority to protect his wife and unborn child. The Lupins' son, Edward Remus ('Teddy'), was named for Remus's recently deceased father-in-law. To both parents' relief and delight, he showed no sign of lycanthropy when born, but inherited his mother's ability to change his appearance at will. On the night of Teddy's birth, Remus briefly left Tonks and his son in the charge of his mother-in-law, so that he could go and find Harry for the first time since their angry confrontation. Here, he asked Harry to be Teddy's godfather, feeling nothing but forgiveness and gratitude towards the person who had sent him home to the family that gave him his greatest happiness.

Both Remus and Tonks returned to Hogwarts for the final battle against Voldemort, leaving their tiny son in the care of his grandmother. The couple knew that if Voldemort won this battle, their family was sure to be eliminated: both were notorious members of the Order of the Phoenix, Tonks was a marked woman in the eyes of her Death Eater aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange, and their son was the very antithesis of a pure-blood, having many Muggle relatives and a dash of werewolf. Having survived numerous encounters with Death Eaters and fought his way skillfully and bravely out of many tight corners, Remus Lupin met his end at the hands of Antonin Dolohov, one of the longest-serving, most devoted and sadistic of all Voldemort's Death Eaters. Remus was no longer in prime fighting condition when he rushed to join the fight. Months of inactivity, using mostly spells of concealment and protection, had blunted his duelling capabilities, and when he ran up against a dueller of Dolohov's skill, now battle-hardened after months of killing and maiming, his reactions were too slow. Remus Lupin was posthumously awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class, the first werewolf ever to be accorded this honour. The example of his life and death did much to lift the stigma on werewolves. He was never forgotten by anyone who knew him: a brave, kind man who did the best he could in very difficult circumstances and who helped many more than he ever realised.

J.K. Rowling's thoughts [ ]

Remus Lupin was one of my favourite characters in the entire Potter series. I made myself cry all over again while writing this entry, because I hated killing him. Lupin's condition of lycanthropy (being a werewolf) was a metaphor for those illnesses that carry a stigma, like HIV and AIDs. All kinds of superstitions seem to surround blood-borne conditions, probably due to taboos surrounding blood itself. The wizarding community is as prone to hysteria and prejudice as the Muggle one, and the character of Lupin gave me a chance to examine those attitudes. Remus's Patronus is never revealed in the Potter books, even though it is he who teaches Harry the difficult and unusual art of producing one. It is, in fact, a wolf - an ordinary wolf, not a werewolf. Wolves are family-orientated and non-aggressive, but Remus dislikes the form of his Patronus, which is a constant reminder of his affliction. Everything wolfish disgusts him, and he often produces a non-corporeal Patronus deliberately, especially when others are watching.

See also [ ]

• Remus Lupin on Harry Potter Wiki
• Wolfsbane Potion
• Harry Potter
• 2 Ravenclaw
• 3 Slytherin

This Is the Only Time J.K. Rowling Cried Over the Death of a Harry Potter Character

If you're a Potterhead, you already know that today is the 18th anniversary of the tragic Battle of Hogwarts. Even though they died fighting for a good cause, it was truly heartbreaking to see several major characters go. And while it may not make up for the loss, author J.K. Rowling has a tradition of apologizing for each death.

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Last year, she focused on the death of Fred Weasley, and this year, she reveals exactly what went down with Remus Lupin and how she felt about having to kill him off.

Remus was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who mentored Harry, and who turned into a werewolf in the middle of the night. They developed a strong bond. He's even the one who taught Harry how to do the Patronus Charm.

As the creator of each character, there's no denying the special bond J.K. has with each character. So having to be the one to write in Remus' death couldn't have been easy.

Depending on how you see it though, her characters never completely go away. Remus' legacy will continue on for Potterheads everywhere. Will a tribute to Snape be next? He always had an odd relationship with Harry, but he made such an impact in his life. Only one more year until the next apology!

Related: Harry Potter Fans Will Freak Out Over J.K. Rowling’s New Book

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JK Rowling reveals Remus Lupin’s werewolf condition metaphor for HIV

• Sep 08 2016
• Written by Joe Williams
• Save for later

The Harry Potter author says she wanted to draw attention to the stigma many still face.

JK Rowling delighted fans recently after she announced the release of three new Hogwarts e-books which collect together material from her ‘Pottermore’ project.

The books – released on September 6 – are packed full of trivia on a range of characters from the series, including fan favourite Remus Lupin.

In a section of ‘Short Stories From Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship, and Dangerous Hobbies’, Rowling details the life of Lupin, writing that the professor’s werewolf condition is a metaphor for illnesses that carry a stigma.

Lupin — who Rowling calls “one of her favourite characters in the entire Potter series” — was plagued by his condition and often faced rejection from the wizarding world.

“Lupin’s condition of lycanthropy was a metaphor for those illnesses that carry a stigma, like HIV and AIDS,” Rowling reveals in the book.

“All kinds of superstitions seem to surround blood-borne conditions, probably due to taboos surrounding blood itself.

“The wizarding community is as prone to hysteria and prejudice as the Muggle one, and the character of Lupin gave me a chance to examine those attitudes.”

However, despite the stigma he previously faced, Rowling reminds readers that Lupin eventually found acceptance with “a wife, a son, wonderful friends” – not to mention helping rid the world of the most evil wizard of them all.

Some of the information was previously detailed on Pottermore.

Rowling was forced to hit back earlier this week, after receiving “tons of abuse” from disgruntled Harry Potter fans after they wrongly believed she had said that Sirius Black – Lupin’s close friend and confidante – is not gay.

The “announcement” – the result of an unrelated cryptic message from Rowling simply saying “No, he isn’t” – infuriated some Twitter users, who quickly began attacking the author using the #JKRowlingIsOverParty hashtag.

Some ‘fans’ declared her a “traitor to the LGBT cause”, with others claiming the author – who recently defended Olympian Tom Daley from anti-gay trolls – is actually a “homophobe”.

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Why J.K. Rowling can NEVER be the 'People's Princess'

In 2020, Joanne "Jo" Rowling, aka J.K. Rowling , began to spew forth a torrent of anti-trans rhetoric across various platforms while championing legislation that directly harms transgender people, particularly transgender women. Most recently, she falsely alleged that a cisgender female boxer, Imane Khelif , is transgender to belittle the trans community and bully Khelif.

Rowling refuses to use the correct pronouns in depicting transgender people as inherently dangerous. She wrongfully asserts she is protecting cis women like herself. Meanwhile, Rowling ignores or even justifies the high rates of violence against transgender people.

Rowling basks in the attention heaped upon her every time she Tweets.

Like others who grew up loving the Harry Potter books, I wonder about Rowling's Death Eater transformation. Of course, we don't need to know why Rowling says what she says; it's enough to know she's causing harm. But curiosity remains. One theory is that Rowling has inherited the transphobia prevalent among white feminists in Britain . Other people, Rowling included, blame her behavior on her past traumas.

Many of us are confused because we once thought the Harry Potter series advocated for kindness and equality.

The series staunchly defends people with non-magical heritage: Muggleborns, more cruelly known as Mudbloods. Lord Voldemort's evil plan revolves around Muggle domination, and in fighting Voldemort, protagonists simultaneously fight to protect Muggles and Muggleborns alike. Muggleborn discrimination appears to stand in for the discrimination of people due to race, sexuality, gender, and more.

There's an essential bit of historical context we need to consider when pondering the ethics of Harry Potter : J.K. Rowling would have been an impressionable almost 16-year-old when Prince (now King) Charles married 20-year-old Diana Spencer, a commoner, in 1981. Though the marriage between Charles and Diana famously ended in divorce, at the time, the idea of a non-royal marrying a prince sparked excitement worldwide. Diana gave birth to a boy named Harry in 1984. Meanwhile, in Harry Potter, a member of wizarding royalty (a "pureblood"), James Potter, married a "commoner" (a "Muggleborn"), Lily Evans, who gave birth to a boy named Harry in 1980.

The analogy becomes clear: Muggleborns correlate most strongly with British non-royals ("commoners").

Today, with her defensive transphobic writings, Rowling tries to represent herself as a reborn Princess Diana. A mother and survivor of a difficult divorce, a victim of the paparazzi and of extremist narrowmindedness, a staunch supporter of AIDS patients, and a hero to women and gays everywhere. Rowling seems to think everyone ought to love her — and her views – like they loved Lady Di.

Well. How's that going, Jo?

Princess Diana was beloved in part for her support for stigmatized people, including AIDS patients. In April 1987, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, Princess Diana opened the UK's first HIV/AIDS unit. She was photographed shaking hands with patients, publicly challenging the widely-held misconception that AIDS could be transmitted through touch while demonstrating her compassion for the community.

After Diana's death, Rowling began to imitate the princess's advocacy for people with HIV/AIDS. We learn that Harry's kind new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Remus Lupin, has a condition that represents AIDS: lycanthropy. Rowling overtly confirmed that lycanthropy is a metaphor for AIDS while suggesting her continued interest in blood: royal blood, "common" blood, and blood-borne conditions.

However, the metaphor itself is flawed, as Lupin is a danger to others. This fact does an abject disservice to those struggling with AIDS. When many readers– including the actor who played Lupin in the movies –assumed Lupin was gay, Rowling denied it , married Lupin to a woman, then killed him off.

Rowling might want to seem progressive, but she has absolutely zero interest in envisioning queer sexuality . There are no canonical lesbian characters in the Harry Potter books; all female characters dutifully become wives and mothers. There are also no canonically gay characters in the Harry Potter series. In an interview before the publication of the seventh book, Rowling threw out that she'd always seen Albus Dumbledore as gay. That was never made canon in the books, however. Focusing on Dumbledore as a celibate and subtly representing his desire as immoral, Rowling rescues her character from the supposed dangers of queer existence by shoving him into asexuality.

Harry Potter claims that Muggleborns shouldn't be mistreated, yet it emphasizes the value of pure blood throughout. Harry can defeat Voldemort thanks to his blood relationship with the Peverells, who created the Deathly Hallows, including the Elder Wand, which ultimately comes into Harry's rightful possession. It's all about blood and biology–and power.

Rowling stands for cis women and cis women only, defending them with tired, transphobic rhetoric from people who had no quarrel with her to begin with. Rowling isn't about to become royalty. But she makes an unfathomable amount of money, and she can continue to make herself feel bigger by stomping on marginalized people and trashing their access to medical care.

In the seventh book, when Hermione drinks Polyjuice Potion with Harry's hair in it and is magically trapped in a boy's body, Harry continues to use she/her pronouns and knows she is a girl.

If only Rowling possessed the wisdom she bestowed upon a fictional character.

And to any transgender readers, know that you are loved, and you deserve all the love in the world.

Dr. Vivian Delchamps Wolf (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of English at the Dominican University of California (DUC). She teaches 19th-century American literature, feminist disability studies, writing, and the health humanities. She received the Melba Beals Award for Excellence in Diversity for contributions to equity work on campus. Her published and forthcoming articles appear in Disability Studies Quarterly, the Emily Dickinson Journal, and Literature & Medicine, among others.

Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ + and Allied community. Visit pride.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. We welcome your thoughts and feedback on any of our stories. Email us at [email protected]. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists and editors, and do not directly represent the views of PRIDE.com or our parent company, equalpride.

New Times, New Thinking.

Remus Lupin and the stigmatised illness: why lycanthropy is not a good metaphor for HIV/AIDS

Using werewolves as a metaphor for people with HIV and AIDS seems, at best, woefully ill-considered.

By Anna Leszkiewicz

As more extraneous Harry Potter content is released into the world this week via three new eBooks , JK Rowling has given us new information on one of the most popular characters in the Harry Potter series: Remus Lupin – a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. Not only do we hear more about Lupin’s childhood, we also learn more about what Rowling intended to achieve with his character. Lupin, one of the characters most frequently rewritten as gay by Harry Potter fans, was meant to metaphorically represent those with “illnesses that carry a stigma, like HIV and AIDS”:

Remus Lupin was one of my favourite characters in the entire Potter series. I made myself cry all over again while writing this entry, because I hated killing him. Lupin’s condition of lycanthropy (being a werewolf) was a metaphor for those illnesses that carry a stigma, like HIV and AIDS. All kinds of superstitions seem to surround blood-borne conditions, probably due to taboos surrounding blood itself. The wizarding community is as prone to hysteria and prejudice as the Muggle one, and the character of Lupin gave me a chance to examine those attitudes. Remus’s Patronus is never revealed in the Potter books, even though it is he who teaches Harry the difficult and unusual art of producing one. It is, in fact, a wolf – an ordinary wolf, not a werewolf. Wolves are family-orientated and non-aggressive, but Remus dislikes the form of his Patronus, which is a constant reminder of his affliction. Everything wolfish disgusts him, and he often produces a non-corporeal Patronus deliberately, especially when others are watching.

Of course, there are… issues here. It can be facetious to follow metaphors through too literally, but comparing lycanthropy and HIV invites deeply problematic comparisons. Let’s restrict ourselves just to the Pottermore entry to begin with.

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In it, Rowling describes a community that stigmatises werewolves, who are “so shunned by wizarding society that they generally avoided contact with other people”. She notes that Lupin’s own father, “generally a mild-mannered man”, would describe werewolves as “soulless, evil, deserving nothing but death”. Of course, Lupin is one of the most kind, intelligent and popular characters in the Harry Potter series. Rowling here hopes to make a point about how misplaced and damaging stigmatisation is.

But Lupin is a “good” werewolf – while his condition is often used to reveal prejudice, it is equally as often used to set him apart from other “bad” werewolves. He listens to his doctor, takes his medicine, and isolates himself from anyone he may pose a “danger” to. The passage praises Lupin’s “respectful politeness”, “lonely, itinerant existence”, and his refusal to interact with other people without taking Wolfsbane. It’s all a bit Mark Fowler saying a tearful goodbye before riding away on his motorbike in EastEnders , and plays into the respectability politics that doggedly follows those with stigmatised illnesses. Lupin is a good, responsible patient existing in opposition to those other more threatening patients (who we still need to watch out for). In fact, Lupin is a rare exception that forces people to challenge assumptions that are, in most other circumstances, proved correct.

Rowling goes on to describe Lupin after he has become a werewolf:

[Lupin] was what he had always been – loveable and clever – except for that terrible period at the full moon when he suffered an excruciating transformation and became a danger to everyone around him.

But Lupin is described as loveable despite or aside from his condition – which makes him explicitly a “danger to everyone around him”. His condition is unpredictable and difficult to manage, makes him violent, and puts his friends and family at risk. Even loveable Lupin is made less human by his disease.

All this is before we really consider the other werewolves in the series (and this passage), who are at best so embittered by prejudice that they become horrible and vindictive – and at worst inherently violent. In the Pottermore passage, we learn that Fenrir Greyback (one of the Potter series’s most twisted villains, a werewolf who intentionally hurts, infects and even eats children) was subject to the anti-werewolf slurs of Lupin’s father Lyall, and decided to bite Lupin to teach his father a lesson.

Shortly before Remus Lupin’s fifth birthday, as he slept peacefully in his bed, Fenrir Greyback forced open the boy’s window and attacked him.

The imagery here is loaded – the violence clearly carries sexual undertones. This is something we also see in depictions of Greyback in the books, who, to Ron, calls Hermione “your pretty little friend” and insists “I’ll get a bite or two” out of her. Dumbledore is disgusted by Greyback’s “taste for human flesh that cannot be satisfied”. If being a werewolf is parallel to being a person with HIV, then this moment ascribes to one of our culture’s most offensive smears: that those with sexually transmitted diseases are sexual deviants and will even rape the innocent simply to pass on their symptoms.

This continues throughout the Harry Potter series. In the sixth book, Lupin describes Greyback as “the most savage werewolf alive today”:

He regards it as his mission in life to bite and to contaminate as many people as possible; he wants to create enough werewolves to overcome the wizards. Voldemort has promised him prey in return for his services. Greyback specialises in children… Bite them young, he says, and raise them away from their parents, raise them to hate normal wizards.

Even if Greyback is meant to be a warning about how discrimination can be damaging – the lack of humanity here, and his desire to “recruit” the “normal” into his abnormal community, especially young people, has rhetorical parallels with homophobic , heterosexual fears of the “conversion” of their straight children by perverted older gay men.

But if Greyback is pictured as the worst of werewolves, he is by no means alone. Throughout the series, werewolves are constantly associated with darkness, supporting Voldemort as a community. On Pottermore , Rowling describes werewolves as follows:

While in his or her wolfish form, the werewolf loses entirely its human sense of right or wrong. However, it is incorrect to state (as some authorities have, notably Professor Emerett Picardy in his book Lupine Lawlessness: Why Lycanthropes Don’t Deserve to Live) that they suffer from a permanent loss of moral sense. While human, the werewolf may be as good or kind as the next person. Alternatively, they may be dangerous even while human, as in the case of Fenrir Greyback, who attempts to bite and maim as a man and keeps his nails sharpened into claw-like points for the purpose. […] Genuine wolves are not very aggressive, and the vast number of folk tales representing them as mindless predators are now believed by wizarding authorities to refer to werewolves, not true wolves. A wolf is unlikely to attack a human except under exceptional circumstances. The werewolf, however, targets humans almost exclusively and poses very little danger to any other creature.

By Rowling’s own definitions, it seems like people are right to fear werewolves. They are depicted as inherently more aggressive, more prone to violence, and less human as a result of their condition. They “target” other humans, can lose their sense of their morals, and turn against anyone who does not share their illness. Using them as a metaphor for people with HIV and AIDS is not a progressive move. It seems, at best, woefully ill-considered. At worst, it parrots our society’s most discriminatory fears of stigmatised illnesses.

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JK Rowling says Remus Lupin’s condition as a werewolf is ‘a metaphor for illnesses with a stigma, like HIV and AIDS’

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In one of her new ebooks, released on September 6, JK Rowling has explained the truth behind Remus Lupin’s condition.

The author detailed that Remus’ being part werewolf was a metaphor for ‘illnesses that carry a stigma’.

She swrote: ‘Lupin’s condition of lycanthropy was a metaphor for those illnesses that carry a stigma, like HIV and AIDS.

‘All kinds of superstitions seem to surround blood-borne conditions, probably due to taboos surrounding blood itself. The wizarding community is as prone to hysteria and prejudice as the Muggle one, and the character of Lupin gave me a chance to examine those attitudes.’

The excerpt appears in Short Stories From Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship, And Dangerous Hobbies on Pottermore, which also explains how Lupin became part werewolf.

He was bitten as a child by a man/werewolf who wanted revenge on Remus’ dad.

After that he wasn’t allowed to play with other children for fear they would find out, and he alienated himself from society. If his condition was discovered, his parents would uproot their family and move.

That was until Albus Dumbledore showed up and invited him to attend Hogwarts. There he made great friends in James Potter and Sirius Black, and had a very happy life with a wife and child.

Sadly, he didn’t make it to the end of the Harry Potter series, despite being one of JK’s ‘favourite’ characters, but he most definitely died a hero’s death.

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Why Remus Lupin’s Dementor explanation to Harry was so important

When I was growing up, if I banged my knee or cut my hand, to stop myself from crying, I would think about all that Harry Potter had endured in his young life, telling myself that if Harry could survive several Dementor attacks, I could probably be brave about my twisted ankle. The characters of Harry Potter have always been people I could turn to for hope, inspiration and advice (it’s the reason I always check the ceiling for poltergeists), but as I’ve got older, the meanings of some conversations have become more layered.

A moment that has always been special and full of meaning is the exchange between Harry and Remus Lupin in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. You know the one. “It has nothing to do with weakness.” The words Harry longs and needs to hear, after years of grief, torment and loss. “It has nothing to do with weakness.” Lupin’s acknowledgment of the “horrors” in Harry’s past is such a simple, sigh-of-relief moment for Harry and for us. I think so many of us need to be told that the stress or worries that we feel regularly are not our fault and that we’re handling it in the best way that we can. Harry hasn’t been taught how to forgive himself or even how to like himself so of course, his natural instinct would be to blame himself, especially after a lifetime of bullying at the hands of the Dursleys. Lupin sees this and understands. Perhaps out of everyone Harry has met so far, Lupin understands him the most. As a small boy himself, his life was changed irrevocably when he was bitten by Fenrir Greyback, leading to a lifetime of being shunned and isolated. A couple of years after this chat with Harry, Lupin is still struggling to accept that anyone would be capable of loving him, despite Tonks making her feelings very clear. He doesn’t want to inflict the life he has had onto anybody else but it’s precisely these experiences that make him so perfectly placed to guide a lost and confused Harry.

There are so many times in Harry Potter’s life where his feelings of frustration, loneliness and heartache could have been relieved immeasurably by talking to someone. He, as do many of us, bottles up his feelings to the extent that he explodes at the people who mean the most to him. We see this happen over and over, where pride or embarrassment has overtaken his willingness to seek advice, so for him to actually reach out and ask, “why?” is such a simple but huge step - it’s one of the few times that he asks for help and luckily, Lupin steps up.

We know that in contrast to many of his classmates, Harry has had a tough life and as he has fewer, happy memories to protect him from the Dementors, his worst experiences come to the surface much quicker and with a far more damaging effect. Ron’s reaction to the Dementor on the train is a really good way of showing how different people deal with grief and stress. Ron has had a happy childhood and has never really experienced hardship at this point, certainly not compared to Harry but still, he thought he “would never feel cheerful again”. We’re all on a spectrum, nobody is immune to the effect of the Dementors, no matter how privileged or happy their lives have been. Remember Dudley? I have always wondered what he felt the night when he met the Dementors on a warm, summer’s evening. If anyone had a ‘charmed’ life, it was Diddikins, so did his years of endless torture of Harry come back to haunt him that night? Did the screams of the children he bullied ring in his ears? Who knows but I think of all the characters and creatures we meet in the wizarding world, the Dementors are perhaps the most terrifying because unlike werewolves or dragons or Basilisks, they don't cause physical suffering but they reflect and amplify emotional pain that already exists within their victims. And although a Patronus may banish the Dementors themselves, the memories and the trauma remain because they were always there to begin with and no balm or stitch or phoenix tear will make it better, but time and talking usually helps to heal.

There are so many parallels to be drawn between what witches and wizards hear when they are close to Dementors and that little voice in our head that keeps us awake at night, making us relive our most upsetting and embarrassing moments. Most people have felt that heavy cloud of despair descend, but it’s the people we turn to who offer us hope and help that we remember. Lupin makes it so easy for Harry to be honest, there’s no talk of being brave, or keeping his chin up or being a man. Instead, he says how wise it is to be fearful, which 20 years ago, was quite radical advice for a thirteen-year-old boy. He teaches Harry to recognise the Dementors for what they are - greedy, soulless, evil creatures - while also giving him the confidence and knowledge to fight back, by harnessing his happiest memories, another piece of advice I’ll be following from now on.

Further Reading

Complete the quote quiz: remus lupin edition, the remus lupin challenge quiz, a celebration of the introverts of the wizarding world, dementors and chocolate.

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