Remus Lupin: A Biography
written by Bobby Drake
Hello there! Matthew Lupin here! Today I am going to tell you all about the life of my father, Remus John Lupin.
Last Updated
05/31/21
Chapters
19
Reads
2,152
Hogwarts Years
Chapter 2
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, 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' 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.
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.
However, Remus' frequent disappearances riled up an unhealthy curiosity in Severus Snape, a Slytherin student whom the Marauders often bullied, in the same year as Remus. Because of Severus' enmity towards Sirius and James, he disliked Remus and Peter by association, making him all the more suspicious. He often followed Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter around in order to see what they were up to and in an effort to have them expelled. Sometime in their early school career, Sirius played a malicious prank on Snape by telling him about the Whomping Willow passageway, hoping that he would be terrified or even get seriously hurt by what he found at the other end. James, who hated Snape, was able to stop Snape and save his life in the nick of time, but Snape still uncovered Remus' secret, seeing him at the end of the passage.
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.
Remus became the very best of friends with fellow Gryffindors Sirius Black, 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' 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.
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.
However, Remus' frequent disappearances riled up an unhealthy curiosity in Severus Snape, a Slytherin student whom the Marauders often bullied, in the same year as Remus. Because of Severus' enmity towards Sirius and James, he disliked Remus and Peter by association, making him all the more suspicious. He often followed Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter around in order to see what they were up to and in an effort to have them expelled. Sometime in their early school career, Sirius played a malicious prank on Snape by telling him about the Whomping Willow passageway, hoping that he would be terrified or even get seriously hurt by what he found at the other end. James, who hated Snape, was able to stop Snape and save his life in the nick of time, but Snape still uncovered Remus' secret, seeing him at the end of the passage.
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.
