Back in October, I wrote an article on James Potter from the Harry Potter series. I really enjoyed writing that one, so I decided to write another one on James’ fellow marauder, Remus Lupin. Although Remus is a pretty important character in the series, he unfortunately doesn’t get a lot of recognition. This kind of stinks considering everything he did, not just in the four Harry Potter books he was actually in, but in the years before the first book even took place. Thankfully, I’m a huge nerd and a huge Remus fan so I decided to find out more information on him myself. This article will contain pretty much everything I know about Remus Lupin summarized into one article.

Before we get into all the juicy details, here’s a quick backstory on Remus. He was the only child of Lyall and Hope Lupin. Lyall worked for the Ministry of Magic and was asked to join the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. This is where things start to get messy. Fenrir Greyback was a very vicious and dangerous werewolf who was brought in by Lyall for questioning after two muggle children were killed. Everyone in the wizarding world saw all werewolves as incredibly dangerous and murderous creatures. So naturally, werewolves did everything they could to avoid being registered at the Ministry. They would sometimes even go so far as to live in ‘packs’ with other werewolves who were avoiding registration. Greyback was one of these werewolves. He pretended to be a muggle tramp who had no idea why the Ministry was accusing him of killing two innocent children.

Unfortunately, this little trick he was playing on Ministry committee members worked. Greyback had fooled most of them, but not all. Lyall was a very clever wizard and picked up on some of the very small signs and mannerisms of werewolves that Greyback was showing. When he tried to tell the committee members that he was right, they all just laughed at him. Obviously, this made him angry, so angry that he said that all werewolves were, “soulless, evil, deserving nothing but death”. Clearly, this made Greyback even angrier than Lyall to the point where he decided to seek revenge. Just before Remus’ fifth birthday (on the night of the full moon), Greyback snuck through Remus’ bedroom window and bit him, leaving little four-year-old Remus a werewolf for the rest of his life. After this, Remus had a very hard life. He wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone or play with any other children his age in case he accidentally mentioned the fact that he was a werewolf. So naturally, Remus was very lonely as a young boy. However, he wouldn’t be lonely for very long. Just before his eleventh birthday, Albus Dumbledore showed up to the Lupins’ uninvited and without any warning. He explained to Remus and his flabbergasted parents that he knew about Remus’ condition, but still wanted him to come to Hogwarts. So, on September 1, 1971 Remus boarded the Hogwarts Express for the first time. 

After that excessively long back story, let’s get into some of the more fun details about Remus’ years at Hogwarts. He very quickly became fast friends with three of his fellow Gryfinndors: James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. Scared he would lose his new friends if they found out the truth, Remus hid the reason for his monthly disappearances from his friends. However, James and Sirius both figured it out in their second year at Hogwarts and to Remus’ delight, they didn’t really care and kept being friends with him. This experience earned Remus a nickname that he would keep for the rest of his life: Moony. When they were in their fourth year at Hogwarts, Remus’ fellow marauders thought of an idea that would ensure that Remus stopped injuring himself when he was a werewolf. Their idea: let’s become animagi! In other words: go through a year-long process that is really dangerous and illegal to become random animals so we can protect Remus and spend more time with him. If that isn’t friendship, then I have no idea what is. James’ animagus was a stag, Sirius’ was a big black dog and Peter’s was a rat. It’s kind of ironic that your patronus and animagus are the same animal and your patronus describes your personality traits.  Peter’s animagus (who betrayed his best friends and faked his own death until he was found out 12 years later) was a literal rat. 

Actually, let’s talk more about that. Sirius Black for example. A very energetic, loyal and outgoing boy, right? Now let’s look closely at his name. If you like astronomy, you probably already know that Sirius is the name of a star. You also might know that the Sirius star can be found in a very specific constellation. This just so happens to be the constellation of a dog. This means that Sirius’ patronus and animagus were literally written in the stars before he was even born. Another funny thing with names, did you know that Remus’ father’s name basically means Wolf Wolf? His last name Lupin comes from the Latin word lupus which translates to wolf. His first name Lyall comes from the Old Norse word Liulfr which also means wolf! Also, random side note: Remus’ mother’s maiden name was Howell. Just let that sink in for a minute. Remus, who was bitten by a werewolf at the age of four, had a father whose name meant Wolf Wolf and a mother whose maiden name was Howell. That can’t be a coincidence, right?

Also, did you know that Remus had dyslexia? That’s actually one of the reasons why James and Snape had this huge rivalry going on. The majority of Harry Potter fans don’t know this, but Snape bullied Remus for being dyslexic when he would have trouble reading out loud in class. James being Remus’ friend obviously didn’t like the fact that his friend was being bullied, so let’s just say that James gave Snape a taste of his own medicine. However, enough about Snape and James (if you want to hear more about them though, I have a whole other article on James!). Here’s another random fact: did you know that Remus walked with a limp for almost his whole life? This was because his transformations got more painful as he became a teenager, specifically in his hip. If you pay really close attention in the movies, you’ll see that he either walks with a cane or with a limp and now you know why! 

Well, that’s pretty much all I know about everyone’s favorite chocolate-loving werewolf! Also, make sure you’re on the lookout because I might write an article on Sirius Black soon as well. I hope you enjoyed this article!

By Keira Hyatt ’26, Staff Writer

26khyatt@montroseschool.org