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 — two of his three best friends were dead, one was imprisoned for mass murder, 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 lycanthropy. A faint ray of hope came for Remus when he heard of the new invention of the Wolfsbane Potion, which can mitigate the worst effects of lycanthropy, though this was almost immediately dashed when he saw the potion's complexity and expensive ingredients. Potions was not his strongest suit and he has a very low income rate.

While unable to afford the potion nor its ingredients, Lupin thought to search for the latter in the Forbidden Forest, where he ran into Hogwarts student Chiara Lobosca, whom he was able to get the potion from on a few occasions. They would meet each night for a week before a full moon, during which Chiara would give Lupin a bottle of potion. During the 1985–1986 school year, Jacob's sibling and Ben Copper witnessed a potion transaction between the two upon inquiry, Lobosca admitted that, unbeknownst to Lupin, she was giving Lupin potions made for her since the ingredients were only enough to make the dosage for one person and she felt he needed them more than she did. Upon hearing this, Lupin, who had been lead to believe that her supply of Wolfbane Potion was such that she just had plenty to share, reluctantly accepted this last potion from her, but then refused in advance to accept any more.