Lupin
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Portrayed By David Thewlis
House Gryffindor
Year Graduated
Position Civilian
Sex Male
Race Half-Blood
Age 34
Place of Birth London, UK
Date of Birth March 10th, 1960
First Appearance Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Character History:

A half-blood, Remus Lupin’s life has been filled with difficult trials and tribulations from his youth. His father insulted werewolf Fenrir Greyback while Remus was just a child, and the werewolf’s payback was to bite and infect the boy. All efforts to find a cure were a failure and Remus was left wondering why the fates conspired against him in this way.

All hope would not be lost, however. When the prospect of Remus attending Hogwarts was raised, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore saw the potential in it working out and it was decided. So set in motion the events that would shape him into the man he is today.

Sorted into Gryffindor, it wasn’t long before the initially shy and reclusive Lupin began to open up around a few other students who befriended him. Among them were James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew.

Meanwhile, Lupin disappeared for unknown reasons once a month. In nearby Hogsmeade, a house had been built as a safe haven for Lupin when it came time to undergo the painful, horrific transformation from boy to werewolf. The howls and painful sounds from within as he bit and clawed at himself in frustration quickly earned the place a nickname: The Shrieking Shack. Dumbledore himself did nothing to downplay the rumors that soon led to it being thought of one of the most haunted places around.

During their second year, Lupin’s friends began to suspect something was up as the disappearance continued, coinciding with each full moon. The excuses that worked while they were firsties did no longer and though Lupin had tried to hide what he was due to worry that they’d shun him or fear him, to his surprise they accepted it without hesitation.

Further astonishing him, and cementing their friendship, Potter, Black and Pettigrew made the choice to learn how to become Animagi so they could give Lupin some companionship in the middle of his turns. The thought was werewolves weren’t a threat to anyone but humans and it proved true. Although it took constant practicing, they weren’t able to pull it off until they were in their fifth year. Potter ended up able to become a stag, Prongs. Black turned into a dog, Padfoot. Pettigrew ended up a rat, Wormtail. As for Lupin, he was given the nickname of Moony. Thus, the Marauders were officially born.

For Lupin’s changes, he would become joined by his friends in the Shrieking Shack after the others snuck in via the Whomping Willow, and they’d have the run of the Hogwarts grounds and Hogsmeade at night. Though Lupin was afraid someone would cross their path and face a terrible fate, they always avoided any real trouble.

Though Potter and Black were the biggest troublemakers of the group, Lupin’s playful prankster side began to develop with their encouragement. He generally kept his nose clean better than they did but they all spent their share of time in detention, points taken from Gryffindor. Their shining moment was the creation of the Marauder’s Map, generated from their expansive knowledge of the castle, grounds and surrounding area.

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Problem was, Potter, Black and Pettigrew hadn’t been the only ones who suspected something was going on. Slytherin student Severus Snape, who was in the same year as the quartet, became very interested as he began to figure out the pattern of Lupin’s disappearances. Snape had already had enough trouble with Potter and Black to despise them and, because of their friendship, Lupin and Pettigrew as well. Snape was frequently the subject of the group’s bullying and he decided to trail them and see about having them booted from Hogwarts if he could catch them in something.

They nearly got him first. During their sixth year, Black coaxed Snape out to the Whomping Willow and told him about the way inside. It was the night of Lupin’s latest shift and they figured Snape would get quite the scare, or worse. It was Potter who tried to stop things before they went too far but Snape found out the truth about Lupin all the same. Dumbledore made Snape keep quiet about it all, but Lupin became a bigger target of the Slytherin’s ire from that point forward.

Though Lupin was a Prefect in his later years at Hogwarts, he was generally ineffective in preventing his friends from getting into further mischief. He never actively bullied Snape, but neither did he do much to prevent it from happening.

Upon graduating, Lupin became a member of the Order of the Phoenix along with Potter, Black, Pettigrew and Lily Evans. Lily was another Gryffindor student Lupin had fancied a bit, but Potter had eyes for her and Lupin decided against getting in the way. The Order existed to resist Voldemort and his minions and served as a way for Lupin to keep busy since he had trouble getting any work thanks to what he was.

Loyalty began to crumble as the war with Voldemort peaked with Black suspecting Lupin was a spy for the Dark Lord. A prophecy came to be that said a child would defeat Voldemort and when Dumbledore believed baby Harry Potter might be a target, Lupin was left out of the plans for keeping the Potters (James and Lily, who had married) safe. Instead of Black, the Secret Keeper chosen as part of the Fidelius Charm was Pettigrew.

Though Lupin knew of the charm, both he and Dumbledore were left in the dark about the switch. It would be a fatal mistake. Pettigrew went over to the other side and his betrayal led to the deaths of James and Lily Potter along with others in Godric’s Hollow. When Voldemort tried to kill the infant Harry it backfired and Voldemort lost his powers and form, leaving Harry with a scar on his forehead.

Pettigrew faked his death while Black was framed for it and sent to Azkaban Prison. Lupin went into hiding. Dumbledore took Harry Potter to live with the Dursleys in the Muggle world where he could grow up away from those seeking to find and destroy him, long enough to go to Hogwarts when he was of age.

As Harry was beginning his third year at Hogwarts, Lupin was brought back by Dumbledore to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor after two years of cycling through others. They first met on the train to the castle when a Dementor neared Harry. They’d been assigned to “guard” Hogwarts after news of Black’s escape from Azkaban circulated. Lupin protected Harry from the Dementor’s potential attack.

Initially during that year, news of Lupin being a werewolf was kept only to the faculty members. In addition, Snape assisted in helping Lupin avoid the mental side that accompanied the change by making the Wolfsbane potion. It seemed more of a professional courtesy than a personal one, as the animosity Snape felt toward Lupin did not relent. However, Lupin was thankful for it.

Along the way, Lupin taught the students about identifying and dealing with or avoiding various dark creatures including boggarts. When one took the form of a Dementor in front of Harry after turning toward him and away from Neville Longbottom, Lupin dealt with it. Before it was over, it had turned into a full moon. Most of the students mistook it for a crystal ball, but that was when Hermione Granger began to suspect what Lupin really was.

Lupin would soon begin giving Harry private lessons to help him deal with his fears. In the process, he was taught the Patronus charm, something that would help defend Harry from real Dementors. By the time Harry mastered it, it wound up being a stag: the Animagi form his father had taken.

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While Lupin prepared his students for a three-part exam during their end of year tests, he’d also been uncovering the truth of what happened when Pettigrew betrayed them all, coming to realize Black was in fact not guilty of any of it. He’d suspected Pettigrew had spent the time since disguised as Ron Weasley’s rat, Scabbers. It culminated when Lupin and Black confronted Pettigrew in the Shrieking Shack and were about to kill him when Harry stopped them and convinced them to turn Pettigrew in to help clear Black’s name.

Before anything else could be done, the full moon came out and Lupin shifted before their eyes. He attacked but Black protected Harry, Ron and Hermione as Pettigrew escaped in the process. Following that, parents learned of the fact Lupin was a werewolf and even though most of the students wanted him to stay, Harry especially, Lupin resigned. He did leave Harry with the Marauder’s Map, however.

Since then Lupin has continued to assist Dumbledore with the Order of the Phoenix, just from outside Hogwarts and in different ways. Unfortunately, a horrific incident developed in which he and American lawyer Holly Maplewood, who aided in helping Black during his hearing, were captured by the Ministry. By then it was under the control of Dolores Umbridge, who was responsible for the two of them being left in a cell as the full moon approached.

When the door between them was unlocked and left to swung open, there was nothing to prevent Lupin from biting and infecting Holly. It was only the arrival of Black, Nymphadora Tonks, Alistaire Phoenix and Jack Noble that helped prevent Lupin from mauling Holly to death, but by then the damage had already been done. She was infected.

Distraught and wracked with guilt, Lupin kept himself holed away inside the Black House at Grimmauld Place until the others helped pull him out of his funk. He visited Holly at St. Mungo’s and would later help her get through her first transformation inside the Shrieking Shack, the place they’d been ambushed at the month prior.

Now, Lupin is faced with the next chapter in his life as the forces of good continue to ready themselves for the darker days ahead.

Game Logs

Logs featuring Lupin

Miscellaneous

Personality

Nurturing: This is one of Lupin’s core traits and helps tie into what’s made him a natural at teaching. He has a patient way of explaining things to students in a cordial way (though he’s stern when necessary) and he’ll make sure they understand something even if it requires spending a little extra time to go about it.

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Courageous: Though he doesn’t like thinking of himself as a hero, Lupin’s actions tend to define him as one in standing against Voldemort and his minions. He could have easily gone over to their side like many other werewolves do, but he’s stuck by those important to him and sought to give them his all in fighting the Dark Lord, including preparing Harry Potter for what must be done.

Cautious: The simple fact Lupin is a werewolf requires him to be extremely careful in nearly all things, especially around the time of a full moon. He’s had a routine for about 30 years, well over 350 transformations, and the only time he infected someone else was because he was captured and placed in a situation that couldn’t be prevented. Still, he carries the guilt over things that could have been done differently leading up to it and is even more careful to see it never happens again. By now it’s no real secret what he is, however, so there are certain precautions that have to be taken even on a day to day basis.

Good: There may be times where temptation rears its ugly head, but at his core Lupin is steadfast in his beliefs that he must fight on the side of good, aid Dumbledore any way he can and ensure that Harry Potter is ready for what his future holds. His calm outward nature runs counter to the wild and deadly werewolf he does his best to keep tamed when the moon is full and he’s the sort of person to lend a hand to someone in need even if others pass on the chance to assist.

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Enabler: If there’s one knock on Lupin, it’s that he’s weak in the sense he lets others do things they shouldn’t when he fears speaking up or acting against it might cost him a friend. Being what he is, he’s used to being shunned and looked at with fear or worse, so any time he’s able to befriend someone he works hard to keep that friendship intact. During his time as a student, Sirius Black and James Potter got away with a lot of things partially because Lupin was unwilling to say anything about it even when his conscience told him he ought to, especially when he was a Prefect and they took advantage of his tendency to look the other way. In part, it led to the Marauders making things pretty rough for a few students in particular. The need to feel wanted and valued was too great to do what was always right and even now it can still come up.

Mischievous: When you’re part of a quartet that called themselves the Marauders and even helped make a map of Hogwarts that allowed you to sneak around anywhere you wanted, yes, there’s more than just a bit of mischief in you. While Lupin wasn’t the ringleader of the group by any stretch of the imagination, he surely had his moments where pranks were played on others, including the other Marauders. He was never mean or spiteful about it, at least not when he could help it, but he spent his share of time in detention even though he was normally a mostly model student. To this day he has a healthy sense of humor about most things and while he keeps it more bottled up, it comes out when the time is right.

Quiet: No question, Lupin is not one to run around drawing attention to himself or creating a ruckus. He’d be just fine living the rest of his life in peaceful seclusion, if only life would allow it. Since it doesn’t and he does what he can to help those closest to him in resisting Voldemort, it keeps him more in the public eye than he’d prefer. He balances it out by being more of a quiet observer and an even better listener. When he yells, there’s always a reason for it.

Wise: One doesn’t last 30 years as a werewolf with just one slip (horrific as it is) without being smart and experienced. Early on, especially once coming to Hogwarts, a routine was developed to keep him separate from others when his “furry little problem” came around and all that time in the Shrieking Shack helped give him room to think about himself, his condition and so much more. Much wisdom has been learned from his days as a student along with the time spent between graduation and returning to teach at the school, something he is always willing to try passing on by way of advice to a student in need of it.

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