app for luceti!
Mun
Name: Cynthia
Livejournal Username: iamstillthemoon
E-mail: sapphirechalcedonyserastone@yahoo (si, it’s long)
AIM/MSN: AIM - Cynthia leers, MSN - sapphirechalcedonyserastone@yahoo.com
Current Characters at Luceti: N/A!
Character
Name: Remus John Lupin
Fandom: Harry Potter
Gender: Male
Age: Thirty-eight
Time Period: Post-death/pre-Resurrection Stone “revival”
Wing Color: Gray, like his streaked hair
History: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Remus_Lupin
Personality: Remus Lupin is your quintessential “good guy”: strong, compassionate, a mentor, a teacher, a nearly impenetrable rock…and, yes, he has a list of faults as well. What “good guy” doesn’t?
Remus serves, primarily, as a rock for his students, particularly the trio. He’s one of those adults who seems to have all the answers to all the questions they have and isn’t opposed to being honest with them. He’s encouraging and compassionate towards the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, and even Neville. He’s one of the few people who listens to Hermione about her house-elf brigade and doesn’t stop her, doesn’t tell her that house-elves are happy with their lot in life, and just lets her talk about it in general. He listens to Harry in his office when he can’t go into Hogsmeade, agrees to teach him how to produce a Patronus Charm, and helps him realize that he is not weak for passing out underneath prolonged exposure to dementors, makes him realize that he has had horrors in his life the others in school could never imagine. He goes out of his way to be readily available in the classroom when he teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts in 1993, in the trio’s third year. He retains a gentle, albeit firm, hand with his students, and is hailed by the Gryffindors as the best teacher of the class they ever had.
Outside of the classroom, he’s heavily involved with the Order of the Phoenix, a society founded by Albus Dumbledore during the First War to take on Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters. In the sixth book, he was heavily involved with his “equals”-living amongst werewolves and trying to persuade them over to the side of good. It was hard work, taxing, he revealed to Harry (though in not quite those words, of course), as Fenrir Greyback was there working against him. Greyback was the one who bit him as a child, turned him into “what” he was. He doesn’t seem to hold this very much over him, doesn’t seem extraordinarily bitter about at, bitter as, say, Snape and Harry are towards each other, or as bitter as Draco and Harry are towards each other, but he does say it after a pause and with a sense of sadness about it.
Remus is an odd man out when it comes to his equals. Most of the werewolves, it seems, tend to live outside the “normal” of wizarding society. Fenrir promises them equal status, prey if they’d like, things they are used to having been judged and segregated for. Remus is very responsible about his “condition.” He takes precautions, and he was the reason the Whomping Willow was placed on the grounds of Hogwarts, and he was the reason the Shrieking Shack was known as the most haunted building in Great Britain. He kept himself far away from what he would see in his great dementia as “prey”-other humans. Whereas Fenrir would purposefully put himself in spots where he could find and bite children, believing it was best to turn them “young” and raise them up with their own kind, Remus would rather be cooped up in a shack left to himself, even if that meant an absurd amount of delirium-induced self-mutilation. He would rather be left to scratch and bite himself than chance attacking anyone else. He takes the Wolfsbane Potion, which allows him to curl up harmlessly in his office and ride out the transformation as opposed to being driven insane and out of his mind. He’s responsible and does what he needs to do, coordinating and planning things carefully so that he doesn’t act foolishly or recklessly.
Strengths:
Educated; Knowledgeable; Experienced: Remus could be considered a master of magical dueling; he knows his stuff. He’s the only member of the Order aside from Dumbledore that comes out of the Battle of the Department of Mysteries unscathed. Tonks is knocked flat and has to be sent to Saint Mungo’s. Kingsley Shacklebolt takes a rather brutal beating, but holds his own better than most. Sirius Black ends up going through the veil, pushed through it by a Stunner sent from his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange. Only Remus remains standing and unharmed to grab Harry and keep him from following Sirius to his death, Dumbledore having to round up the conscious Death Eaters and place an Anti-Disapparition Jinx on them so that they couldn’t just transport out. While Remus fails to keep Harry from chasing after Bellatrix in the end, he saves his life by holding him back.
He’s hailed by most of the students of Hogwarts as the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher any of them ever had. He retains an incredible knowledge of the various beasts and beings of the magical world, and he always seems to have handy spells on his person. For instance, his use of Waddiwasi against Peeves could be considered an uncommon spell as it’s never seen again in the series, or even a sort of improvisation as theorized here at the bottom, which would lead one to believe that Lupin has quite a bit of mastery over a variety of magic.
He’s also one of three members of the Order entrusted to take others out onto the grounds of Hogwarts against Death Eaters in the Battle of Hogwarts. Kingsley is considered one of “the best” at what he does by many a person, and so for him to approve of Lupin would be a testament to his magical prowess. He was also considered to be a bit of a bookworm in school, so it’s very likely he was studying the art of magic a lot more than his trouble-loving friends were. He also would have to be very talented with charms in order to help create the Marauders Map with said trouble-loving friends.
On the Hogwarts Express, 1993, he produces fire (most likely the Bluebell Flames Hermione is so fond of and known for by Ron and Harry) and summons his Patronus without uttering a word. Nonverbal magic is rather difficult, thus proving another testament to his skills.
Compassionate; Tolerant; Sensitive; Accepting: Remus has had, to be blunt, a ridiculously shitty life. His father offended Fenrir Greyback, who then attacked in his werewolf form and turned Remus at a very young age. His parents feared he would never be able to attend a school of magic due his condition, but Dumbledore took steps and was more than accepting of him being a student at Hogwarts. Due to this, he is completely loyal to Dumbledore, almost as though he’s forever in his debt. The Wolfsbane Potion had not been invented then, so he took to harming himself in his transformed delirium as he didn’t have any humans to prey on. He tried his hardest to keep other students from realizing this, but when his buddies Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew worked it out, they decided to become Animagi so they could accompany him and keep him from harming himself further. (A werewolf is a danger only to humans, apparently, so it registers animals as a sort of equal and doesn’t seem to care about hurting them unless they get in between it and prey.) Due to this outpouring of acceptance and sensitivity towards himself, he grew to be a tolerant and nonjudgmental man.
But the world outside school was not so kind. James kept up Remus’ living expenses until his death, where it’s never mentioned how he managed to scrape by. He couldn’t find much work, if any, and spent his days in poverty, chronic illness, and shame. It wasn’t until Dumbledore offered him the position of professor that he really began to come back to himself as he was before. He spent the first lesson of the year being extremely kind and encouraging to Neville Longbottom, whose greatest fear ended up being Professor Snape. He gently nudged him in the direction of opposing this fear and congratulated him when he went up against the boggart and came out victorious. He listened to Hermione ramble on about the mistreatment of house-elves in the beginning of the fifth book, didn’t interrupt or insist that she was being absurd, but let her explain her point, even going so far as to listen to her compare the treatment of house-elves to the days of werewolves segregation. The rest of the wizarding world was quick to tell Hermione that house-elves liked serving, being obedient, and fulfilling their master’s wishes for no pay and no reward. Aside from Dumbledore, Lupin seems to be the only one who has heard Hermione out and thought it over as opposed to simply blowing it off as a Muggle-born who simply didn’t know what she was talking about.
Lupin reminds Harry in the sixth book that Dumbledore trusts Snape, and that if Dumbledore trusts Snape and they all trust Dumbledore, then they must trust Snape as well. Harry insists that Snape is doing something Dumbledore either doesn’t know about or a plot to do something beneath his nose, but never does Lupin raise his voice or grow a temper with him (despite what the movie shows!). He merely tells Harry that he inherited an old prejudice towards Snape, one that apparently has no possible ending, and that he needs to look past his hatred of him and see the issues as they stand. He neither likes nor dislikes Snape, he says, but that they will never be dear friends due to his refusal to stand up to James and Sirius and their harassment of him in school. Instead, he tolerates Snape’s snide remarks to him during his year at Hogwarts, is civil with him in public, extremely grateful for his provisions of the Wolfsbane Potion, and doesn’t seem to be embittered about Snape’s loud announcement one morning at breakfast about his half-breed status. He accepts his status as a half-breed, the fact of the matter that parents will be opposed to someone like him teaching their students, and agrees that if he were ever to run rampant without the potion again he couldn’t live with himself.
Not Confrontational; Calm; Gentle; Chill; Laid Back: Remus is an extraordinarily laid-back man who can make a point with a quiet statement as opposed to fierce wordplay and shouting. His statement about Harry’s dealings with the Marauders Map in 1993 is given calmly and in a somewhat offhanded manner, and yet it sticks with and has Harry thinking more on what Lupin said whereas all of Snape’s insistence on how terrible his father was and how much he was like him turned into fuel for hatred and slid off his back. Remus takes on several roles for Harry, a mix of father, brother, and mentor, which he seemingly extends in a lesser manner to the rest of his students. Upon Harry’s revelation in the sixth book that it was Snape who killed Dumbledore, Remus merely shouts “No!” and buries his face in his hands, which Harry can’t bear to watch as it seems “indecent” to him. He comments that it was the first time he could ever recall Remus losing control.
Snape spends a great deal of time in 1993 trying to rile Remus up or generally just get under his skin, just like he does with certain Gryffindor students. Snape takes over his class during one of his full moon recoveries, knocking the students from smaller beasts to nocturnal ones in a day-those beasts being werewolves, which they are not meant to study for weeks. He assigns them a hefty essay on how to recognize a werewolf, hoping that a student or two will realize Remus’ condition. Upon hearing this, Remus isn’t upset or visibly shaken in the least; he merely tells the students that they won’t have to hand the essay in and goes back to the lesson at hand. Snape gives his best glares of profound hatred every time Remus is around, but he plays civil and ignores any and all undertones of spite. When Harry sees Snape giving him his potion, he thanks Snape profusely despite the coldness of his manner and later tells Harry in 1996 that even though Snape hated him, did his best for students to recognize his lycanthropy, and was an overall buttmunch towards him, he must remain as grateful now for what he did for him as he was back when he was teaching.
The death of Sirius Black in 1995 was a great loss for Remus. He managed to hold Harry back from following his old friend to death, and when Harry was calm and Neville was sympathetic, he turned his attention to the clean up and gathering their friends who had been harmed in the battle, his voice sounding heavy and strained with every word. As opposed to Harry’s raging and reckless struggling upon his godfather’s disappearance, his insistence that he couldn’t be dead, Remus remained a steadfast rock, quietly bringing Harry up to the proper realization and maintaining his composure afterwards by turning their attention to reality as opposed to reminiscing and breaking down. James and Lily were taken from Remus in 1981, the same year he believed Sirius to have killed their other friend, Peter, and then been rightfully sent to Azkaban. He spent over a decade alone, James and Lily dead, Peter supposedly dead, and with the dark thoughts that Sirius had, in fact, been working for Voldemort, had led to the deaths of the Potters, and was therefore overjoyed to find out that Sirius was innocent and Peter was alive, although guilty of the crimes Sirius had been accused with. Sirius was Remus’ last friend, his last brother, and his death after having him only handed to him for under two years, to learn about each other from such a great divide of time, his death would have been a greater shock and disruption in his life than anything else that could have happened. However, he retained his control and consciously worked to keep in a presentable manner until the situation at hand was properly dealt with, which leads to:
Responsible; Reliable; Dependable; Selfless: Remus was made prefect with Lily Evans in his fifth year at Hogwarts, a badge given only to students who could handle the responsibilities and duties that came with it. Whereas Remus’ friends were never out of trouble, Remus was the responsible and mature within their circle. He recalled a little sadly about how very little control he could assert over them despite his status, which Sirius seemed to take as an age-old joke. However, he never stood up to them, again, with Snape, which he deeply regretted but was too afraid to change. I’ll go more into that in the Weaknesses section.
While Sirius could be looked to as the “cool” friend of Harry’s parents, Remus is easily the one who balances that out. Sirius is reckless, later thinking Harry less like James than he originally thought all because he saw taking the risk of seeing him as a reason to keep from doing it as opposed to a reason to do it. Sirius holds grudges more deeply, is angered more easily, and is more prone to cruelty and nasty temperament than his counterpart, Remus. Remus is slow to anger, forgives, and is careful and cautious in most all he does. He looks upon lesser creatures such as the Black’s house-elf Kreacher with kindness as opposed to condescension and hate, which Harry picks up from Sirius.
Dumbledore counts on Remus in many ways and gives him opportunities for having proven himself that speak to his mature, responsible, reliable, etc., nature. He offers him the post of professor in 1993, clearly believing him to be more than up to the job of guiding, teaching, and being there for the students he’d hold account for. In 1996, he entrusts him with the job of appealing to what Remus calls his “equals” (werewolves), but Remus doesn’t seem to think of this as a burden. He sees clearly that he is “pre-made” for the job, and though it taxes him and wears him thin, he proves himself selfless, keeping himself in close vicinity to the monster that turned him to half-breed status so many years ago. To put himself in close proximity to Snape, who hates him, in 1993, and then to the monster that turned him, in 1996, proves him to be a rather selfless person who can be relied on despite the worst of circumstances to prove himself a good man, though he never thinks of himself as superior to anyone else. He knows his lot in life due to his half-breed status, and he never makes a move to laugh in the face of it and somehow “prove” himself above that standard, though his actions and character prove that he is not at all what his condition would make him out to be in the minds of the rest of the wizarding world.
Upon Arthur Weasley’s hospitalization in Saint Mungo’s, Christmas 1995, he reveals that another patient in the ward was bitten by a werewolf, for which there was no cure. He tells his family that he tried to be comforting by telling him he had a friend, a good man, who found the condition quite tolerable when it came down to it, and that he mentioned no names. Unfortunately, the other patient snapped back at him and refused to speak further. When Remus and a few other members of the Order come to call, he speaks with Arthur and the others briefly before making his way over to the bite patient, who is mentioned as having no visitors. What goes on there is anyone’s guess, but his willingness to speak openly about his condition and aid another who seems rather cut off to even mentioning speaks miraculously to his selfless nature, I think.
Weaknesses:
Existential Melancholy; Low Self-Esteem; Lacking Self-Worth; Problems with Confidence: Remus and his “equals’ are not treated very kindly by the rest of their world. The more he thinks on his status and is exposed to his kind, the grayer his hair becomes, the more lines develop prematurely on his face, and the thinner and even more ill-looking he gets. Though he does not speak on the treatment of his condition by the world at large until the seventh book, the way he speaks to Harry on his mission from Dumbledore in 1996 subtly gives quite a bit of it away. He speaks with a calm, grave, and quiet tone, whether to keep his conversation from carrying or because his lot in life has worn him down to the nitty gritty, both seem plausible as Harry gives out the outburst that he’s quite normal, he just has a problem, which Remus doesn’t seem to believe in the slightest.
It isn’t until fall 1997 that more on the existence of a werewolf is given. Remus comes to the trio in their hiding place with news and an eagerness to join them in whatever it is they are doing, something he doesn’t know. He offers assistance, up until Hermione asks him about Tonks, a young metamorphmagus whom he just married a few months prior. He claims that she will be fine with her mother, and later reveals as though slightly repulsed that she’s pregnant. Harry and co. congratulate him, but he won’t hear any of it. He breaks out of control, goes on about how they have only seen him beneath the power of Dumbledore and within the Order, that the normal wizard on the street can barely be arsed to speak on the weather with him once his condition is revealed, that he would be better off far away from any child he might bear, a child that would have to live in shame of him. Even then, he continues, he fears the child will carry his condition with him, which he sees as an abominable action on his part, handing down such a thing to an innocent. For the first time, Harry sees “the shadow of the wolf on his face,” and it isn’t until he calls him out as a coward that Remus is driven completely out by his own fears made manifest.
In the author’s own words: 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.”-is the rest of the quote.
His fear of being discovered as a youth at Hogwarts was great, and when his friends figured out his symptoms, his condition, and then accepted and went above and beyond to be loyal to him, he took this all to heart greatly and made many a mistake simply because they allowed him to remain their friend. James and Sirius were quite terrible to Snape, who was a Slytherin in their same year. They tortured and taunted him relentlessly, the only real ground of which was seen once because they were “bored.” They disarmed him and hung him upside down, James intent on magicking his pants off and most likely revealing the none-too-clean undergarments beneath. Peter always seemed to grow excited at this, overly eager to be “one of the guys,” to be able to bask in the “cool” of Sirius and the glory of James as a top Quidditch player. Remus, however, would school his nose in his book as though unaware such a thing was going on, a frown line creasing his features. He never stood up to them, had them stop what they were doing to Snape, all because he was grateful for their friendship and perhaps even afraid of what similar things they could do to him were he to get on their wrong side. He regretted this later, and very much so, though he realized that it was the past and he could therefore do nothing about it.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t change very much in his adult life. While not as reckless and impulsive an influence as Sirius, Remus is still not the best of influences Harry could have asked for. When Harry steals Umbridge’s fireplace in fifth year to ask about how his mom and dad got together, to not-so-subtly ream the two of them for their treatment of Snape and frequent comparisons to his father, Remus indulges his foolish decision as opposed to refusing to speak with him and insisting he get out of her office immediately. It was well known by that time that all entrances and exits of any kind to Hogwarts were being watched restlessly, and it would have been the mature and sensible and adult thing for him to refuse to fetch Sirius and indulge Harry in his senselessness.
He doesn’t try and persuade the trio out of whatever the task they are doing in 1997 when he visits them; he instead shows eagerness to join them, which Harry calls him out on as trying to be reckless, as wanting an adventure, as stepping in Sirius’ shoes. He insists the opposite, that he can be of use, but we find out he’s also being cowardly and running from his unborn child. He tries too hard with them at times, too eager, too pleased, but he can still fall flat on being the mature and responsible adult they need.
Samples (ALL samples must be set in Luceti-verse.)
First Person:
[Voice Post]
[There’s some rustling, a clearing of the throat, and then a hoarse male voice speaks, one that sounds like it hasn’t been used in quite some time…or that it may not be used to speaking overall. The voice betrays no emotion as it speaks, though a sense of bemusement rises up towards the end.]
To whom it may concern:
Firstly, I’d be very appreciative if my wand would be returned to me. Secondly, the new clothing is very nice, thank you, but I’d much rather wear my own. Thirdly, to whomever is out there, would there be an explanation as to why I am suddenly sporting a pair of wings? I’m many things, but none of them a winged creature. And if this is some sort of heaven-
[There’s a long pause.]
If those things could be answered, that would be wonderful. Thank you.
Third Person:
Dora. Dolohov. Bellatrix. Purple flames. Look over there, wand out, wand out!
Dora. Dolohov. A moment’s hesitation. A flicker of fear, of incensed rage. Why hadn’t she stayed with Andromeda and their son? Why had she abandoned their son?
Dora. Purple flames. A curse he didn’t see coming because he’d seen her. Running out on the grounds, looking around for him, no doubt. How had she known? Who had alerted her? The curse came, it came in a warm wave of purple and fire, of of of…
And then he’d spotted her. Bellatrix. Coming their way, and with…with a last breath, he couldn’t save his wife. He could see the look on the twisted witch’s face, could tell she was looking at his wife, his wife, it was all a mistake, a big mistake, that she was headed for her, his wife, his Dora. Dora, his wife…and he couldn’t breathe. The life was leaving him. His wife wasn’t aware of her aunt approaching, she was so worried about him him HIM.
She didn’t care about all that stuff, anyway. She loved him.
He awoke with a small yelp, starting in his sleep. There was a bed, obviously, because he’d just fallen off it and hit the ground unceremoniously. Alert, confused, ashamed, he moved around, backed into the wall. He was dead. He’d died. He’d felt the life leave him, saw his wife’s death coming for her. He had died in the battle, he had died for the lives of others, for Harry and Ron and Hermione and Neville and the other students, for Seamus and Hagrid, for Fred and George and Bill and Percy, for Charlie and Fleur, Mrs. Weasley, that was her…for his wife, trying to keep her safe, for his son, his son, the metamorphmagus, not a werewolf, clean and whole and innocent and young…
When he realized he wasn’t wearing anything to cover his scarred torso, he grabbed the sheet off the bed (Whose was it? Where was he?) and held it up to his chest, breathing rapidly, panting, trying to understand, to formulate an answer. He had died, he knew that much. And yet here he was, breathing in and out, his lungs working. A trembling hand went to his chest-his heart was indeed beating. If his heart was working, blood was pumping through his veins. If his lungs were working, if his eyes could see, his ears could hear, his nose…all his senses, yes they were all intact.
He sat against the wall for what could have been ten minutes or ten years, he couldn’t be sure. The feeling of breathing, of his heart, of his lungs…it was taking some getting used to all over again. He couldn’t be alive, but he was. The purple flames had devoured him. They had sucked the life out of him, done to him what was fortunately not done to Hermione.
And then there was a dull pain as he pressed himself completely against the wall. A pain he didn’t recognize. A pain as though…
He felt his shoulder blades, finding what could only be wings attached to them. At this bizarre discovery, he stood, trying his hardest not to turn in circles like a dog chasing its tail as he tried to understand what was attached to his body. No, he wasn’t imagining it…he gripped one of them and pulled, but it would not budge. He couldn’t see his wand anywhere, so there was no way he could magic them off. He pulled harder this time, emitting a cry of anguish at the pain he felt.
Yes, they were stuck on him. They were a part of him.
He moved, spotting a book in the room. Perhaps this would give him insight.
Resigned to believe in his corporeal form once more, he made his way to it, wondering what was in its depths. And, if it turned out to be nothing, he’d just put his clothes (which he had spotted earlier) on and go out into this great place he knew naught of, and see what he could make of it himself.
Yes, that was the plan.
Name: Cynthia
Livejournal Username: iamstillthemoon
E-mail: sapphirechalcedonyserastone@yahoo (si, it’s long)
AIM/MSN: AIM - Cynthia leers, MSN - sapphirechalcedonyserastone@yahoo.com
Current Characters at Luceti: N/A!
Character
Name: Remus John Lupin
Fandom: Harry Potter
Gender: Male
Age: Thirty-eight
Time Period: Post-death/pre-Resurrection Stone “revival”
Wing Color: Gray, like his streaked hair
History: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Remus_Lupin
Personality: Remus Lupin is your quintessential “good guy”: strong, compassionate, a mentor, a teacher, a nearly impenetrable rock…and, yes, he has a list of faults as well. What “good guy” doesn’t?
Remus serves, primarily, as a rock for his students, particularly the trio. He’s one of those adults who seems to have all the answers to all the questions they have and isn’t opposed to being honest with them. He’s encouraging and compassionate towards the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, and even Neville. He’s one of the few people who listens to Hermione about her house-elf brigade and doesn’t stop her, doesn’t tell her that house-elves are happy with their lot in life, and just lets her talk about it in general. He listens to Harry in his office when he can’t go into Hogsmeade, agrees to teach him how to produce a Patronus Charm, and helps him realize that he is not weak for passing out underneath prolonged exposure to dementors, makes him realize that he has had horrors in his life the others in school could never imagine. He goes out of his way to be readily available in the classroom when he teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts in 1993, in the trio’s third year. He retains a gentle, albeit firm, hand with his students, and is hailed by the Gryffindors as the best teacher of the class they ever had.
Outside of the classroom, he’s heavily involved with the Order of the Phoenix, a society founded by Albus Dumbledore during the First War to take on Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters. In the sixth book, he was heavily involved with his “equals”-living amongst werewolves and trying to persuade them over to the side of good. It was hard work, taxing, he revealed to Harry (though in not quite those words, of course), as Fenrir Greyback was there working against him. Greyback was the one who bit him as a child, turned him into “what” he was. He doesn’t seem to hold this very much over him, doesn’t seem extraordinarily bitter about at, bitter as, say, Snape and Harry are towards each other, or as bitter as Draco and Harry are towards each other, but he does say it after a pause and with a sense of sadness about it.
Remus is an odd man out when it comes to his equals. Most of the werewolves, it seems, tend to live outside the “normal” of wizarding society. Fenrir promises them equal status, prey if they’d like, things they are used to having been judged and segregated for. Remus is very responsible about his “condition.” He takes precautions, and he was the reason the Whomping Willow was placed on the grounds of Hogwarts, and he was the reason the Shrieking Shack was known as the most haunted building in Great Britain. He kept himself far away from what he would see in his great dementia as “prey”-other humans. Whereas Fenrir would purposefully put himself in spots where he could find and bite children, believing it was best to turn them “young” and raise them up with their own kind, Remus would rather be cooped up in a shack left to himself, even if that meant an absurd amount of delirium-induced self-mutilation. He would rather be left to scratch and bite himself than chance attacking anyone else. He takes the Wolfsbane Potion, which allows him to curl up harmlessly in his office and ride out the transformation as opposed to being driven insane and out of his mind. He’s responsible and does what he needs to do, coordinating and planning things carefully so that he doesn’t act foolishly or recklessly.
Strengths:
Educated; Knowledgeable; Experienced: Remus could be considered a master of magical dueling; he knows his stuff. He’s the only member of the Order aside from Dumbledore that comes out of the Battle of the Department of Mysteries unscathed. Tonks is knocked flat and has to be sent to Saint Mungo’s. Kingsley Shacklebolt takes a rather brutal beating, but holds his own better than most. Sirius Black ends up going through the veil, pushed through it by a Stunner sent from his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange. Only Remus remains standing and unharmed to grab Harry and keep him from following Sirius to his death, Dumbledore having to round up the conscious Death Eaters and place an Anti-Disapparition Jinx on them so that they couldn’t just transport out. While Remus fails to keep Harry from chasing after Bellatrix in the end, he saves his life by holding him back.
He’s hailed by most of the students of Hogwarts as the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher any of them ever had. He retains an incredible knowledge of the various beasts and beings of the magical world, and he always seems to have handy spells on his person. For instance, his use of Waddiwasi against Peeves could be considered an uncommon spell as it’s never seen again in the series, or even a sort of improvisation as theorized here at the bottom, which would lead one to believe that Lupin has quite a bit of mastery over a variety of magic.
He’s also one of three members of the Order entrusted to take others out onto the grounds of Hogwarts against Death Eaters in the Battle of Hogwarts. Kingsley is considered one of “the best” at what he does by many a person, and so for him to approve of Lupin would be a testament to his magical prowess. He was also considered to be a bit of a bookworm in school, so it’s very likely he was studying the art of magic a lot more than his trouble-loving friends were. He also would have to be very talented with charms in order to help create the Marauders Map with said trouble-loving friends.
On the Hogwarts Express, 1993, he produces fire (most likely the Bluebell Flames Hermione is so fond of and known for by Ron and Harry) and summons his Patronus without uttering a word. Nonverbal magic is rather difficult, thus proving another testament to his skills.
Compassionate; Tolerant; Sensitive; Accepting: Remus has had, to be blunt, a ridiculously shitty life. His father offended Fenrir Greyback, who then attacked in his werewolf form and turned Remus at a very young age. His parents feared he would never be able to attend a school of magic due his condition, but Dumbledore took steps and was more than accepting of him being a student at Hogwarts. Due to this, he is completely loyal to Dumbledore, almost as though he’s forever in his debt. The Wolfsbane Potion had not been invented then, so he took to harming himself in his transformed delirium as he didn’t have any humans to prey on. He tried his hardest to keep other students from realizing this, but when his buddies Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew worked it out, they decided to become Animagi so they could accompany him and keep him from harming himself further. (A werewolf is a danger only to humans, apparently, so it registers animals as a sort of equal and doesn’t seem to care about hurting them unless they get in between it and prey.) Due to this outpouring of acceptance and sensitivity towards himself, he grew to be a tolerant and nonjudgmental man.
But the world outside school was not so kind. James kept up Remus’ living expenses until his death, where it’s never mentioned how he managed to scrape by. He couldn’t find much work, if any, and spent his days in poverty, chronic illness, and shame. It wasn’t until Dumbledore offered him the position of professor that he really began to come back to himself as he was before. He spent the first lesson of the year being extremely kind and encouraging to Neville Longbottom, whose greatest fear ended up being Professor Snape. He gently nudged him in the direction of opposing this fear and congratulated him when he went up against the boggart and came out victorious. He listened to Hermione ramble on about the mistreatment of house-elves in the beginning of the fifth book, didn’t interrupt or insist that she was being absurd, but let her explain her point, even going so far as to listen to her compare the treatment of house-elves to the days of werewolves segregation. The rest of the wizarding world was quick to tell Hermione that house-elves liked serving, being obedient, and fulfilling their master’s wishes for no pay and no reward. Aside from Dumbledore, Lupin seems to be the only one who has heard Hermione out and thought it over as opposed to simply blowing it off as a Muggle-born who simply didn’t know what she was talking about.
Lupin reminds Harry in the sixth book that Dumbledore trusts Snape, and that if Dumbledore trusts Snape and they all trust Dumbledore, then they must trust Snape as well. Harry insists that Snape is doing something Dumbledore either doesn’t know about or a plot to do something beneath his nose, but never does Lupin raise his voice or grow a temper with him (despite what the movie shows!). He merely tells Harry that he inherited an old prejudice towards Snape, one that apparently has no possible ending, and that he needs to look past his hatred of him and see the issues as they stand. He neither likes nor dislikes Snape, he says, but that they will never be dear friends due to his refusal to stand up to James and Sirius and their harassment of him in school. Instead, he tolerates Snape’s snide remarks to him during his year at Hogwarts, is civil with him in public, extremely grateful for his provisions of the Wolfsbane Potion, and doesn’t seem to be embittered about Snape’s loud announcement one morning at breakfast about his half-breed status. He accepts his status as a half-breed, the fact of the matter that parents will be opposed to someone like him teaching their students, and agrees that if he were ever to run rampant without the potion again he couldn’t live with himself.
Not Confrontational; Calm; Gentle; Chill; Laid Back: Remus is an extraordinarily laid-back man who can make a point with a quiet statement as opposed to fierce wordplay and shouting. His statement about Harry’s dealings with the Marauders Map in 1993 is given calmly and in a somewhat offhanded manner, and yet it sticks with and has Harry thinking more on what Lupin said whereas all of Snape’s insistence on how terrible his father was and how much he was like him turned into fuel for hatred and slid off his back. Remus takes on several roles for Harry, a mix of father, brother, and mentor, which he seemingly extends in a lesser manner to the rest of his students. Upon Harry’s revelation in the sixth book that it was Snape who killed Dumbledore, Remus merely shouts “No!” and buries his face in his hands, which Harry can’t bear to watch as it seems “indecent” to him. He comments that it was the first time he could ever recall Remus losing control.
Snape spends a great deal of time in 1993 trying to rile Remus up or generally just get under his skin, just like he does with certain Gryffindor students. Snape takes over his class during one of his full moon recoveries, knocking the students from smaller beasts to nocturnal ones in a day-those beasts being werewolves, which they are not meant to study for weeks. He assigns them a hefty essay on how to recognize a werewolf, hoping that a student or two will realize Remus’ condition. Upon hearing this, Remus isn’t upset or visibly shaken in the least; he merely tells the students that they won’t have to hand the essay in and goes back to the lesson at hand. Snape gives his best glares of profound hatred every time Remus is around, but he plays civil and ignores any and all undertones of spite. When Harry sees Snape giving him his potion, he thanks Snape profusely despite the coldness of his manner and later tells Harry in 1996 that even though Snape hated him, did his best for students to recognize his lycanthropy, and was an overall buttmunch towards him, he must remain as grateful now for what he did for him as he was back when he was teaching.
The death of Sirius Black in 1995 was a great loss for Remus. He managed to hold Harry back from following his old friend to death, and when Harry was calm and Neville was sympathetic, he turned his attention to the clean up and gathering their friends who had been harmed in the battle, his voice sounding heavy and strained with every word. As opposed to Harry’s raging and reckless struggling upon his godfather’s disappearance, his insistence that he couldn’t be dead, Remus remained a steadfast rock, quietly bringing Harry up to the proper realization and maintaining his composure afterwards by turning their attention to reality as opposed to reminiscing and breaking down. James and Lily were taken from Remus in 1981, the same year he believed Sirius to have killed their other friend, Peter, and then been rightfully sent to Azkaban. He spent over a decade alone, James and Lily dead, Peter supposedly dead, and with the dark thoughts that Sirius had, in fact, been working for Voldemort, had led to the deaths of the Potters, and was therefore overjoyed to find out that Sirius was innocent and Peter was alive, although guilty of the crimes Sirius had been accused with. Sirius was Remus’ last friend, his last brother, and his death after having him only handed to him for under two years, to learn about each other from such a great divide of time, his death would have been a greater shock and disruption in his life than anything else that could have happened. However, he retained his control and consciously worked to keep in a presentable manner until the situation at hand was properly dealt with, which leads to:
Responsible; Reliable; Dependable; Selfless: Remus was made prefect with Lily Evans in his fifth year at Hogwarts, a badge given only to students who could handle the responsibilities and duties that came with it. Whereas Remus’ friends were never out of trouble, Remus was the responsible and mature within their circle. He recalled a little sadly about how very little control he could assert over them despite his status, which Sirius seemed to take as an age-old joke. However, he never stood up to them, again, with Snape, which he deeply regretted but was too afraid to change. I’ll go more into that in the Weaknesses section.
While Sirius could be looked to as the “cool” friend of Harry’s parents, Remus is easily the one who balances that out. Sirius is reckless, later thinking Harry less like James than he originally thought all because he saw taking the risk of seeing him as a reason to keep from doing it as opposed to a reason to do it. Sirius holds grudges more deeply, is angered more easily, and is more prone to cruelty and nasty temperament than his counterpart, Remus. Remus is slow to anger, forgives, and is careful and cautious in most all he does. He looks upon lesser creatures such as the Black’s house-elf Kreacher with kindness as opposed to condescension and hate, which Harry picks up from Sirius.
Dumbledore counts on Remus in many ways and gives him opportunities for having proven himself that speak to his mature, responsible, reliable, etc., nature. He offers him the post of professor in 1993, clearly believing him to be more than up to the job of guiding, teaching, and being there for the students he’d hold account for. In 1996, he entrusts him with the job of appealing to what Remus calls his “equals” (werewolves), but Remus doesn’t seem to think of this as a burden. He sees clearly that he is “pre-made” for the job, and though it taxes him and wears him thin, he proves himself selfless, keeping himself in close vicinity to the monster that turned him to half-breed status so many years ago. To put himself in close proximity to Snape, who hates him, in 1993, and then to the monster that turned him, in 1996, proves him to be a rather selfless person who can be relied on despite the worst of circumstances to prove himself a good man, though he never thinks of himself as superior to anyone else. He knows his lot in life due to his half-breed status, and he never makes a move to laugh in the face of it and somehow “prove” himself above that standard, though his actions and character prove that he is not at all what his condition would make him out to be in the minds of the rest of the wizarding world.
Upon Arthur Weasley’s hospitalization in Saint Mungo’s, Christmas 1995, he reveals that another patient in the ward was bitten by a werewolf, for which there was no cure. He tells his family that he tried to be comforting by telling him he had a friend, a good man, who found the condition quite tolerable when it came down to it, and that he mentioned no names. Unfortunately, the other patient snapped back at him and refused to speak further. When Remus and a few other members of the Order come to call, he speaks with Arthur and the others briefly before making his way over to the bite patient, who is mentioned as having no visitors. What goes on there is anyone’s guess, but his willingness to speak openly about his condition and aid another who seems rather cut off to even mentioning speaks miraculously to his selfless nature, I think.
Weaknesses:
Existential Melancholy; Low Self-Esteem; Lacking Self-Worth; Problems with Confidence: Remus and his “equals’ are not treated very kindly by the rest of their world. The more he thinks on his status and is exposed to his kind, the grayer his hair becomes, the more lines develop prematurely on his face, and the thinner and even more ill-looking he gets. Though he does not speak on the treatment of his condition by the world at large until the seventh book, the way he speaks to Harry on his mission from Dumbledore in 1996 subtly gives quite a bit of it away. He speaks with a calm, grave, and quiet tone, whether to keep his conversation from carrying or because his lot in life has worn him down to the nitty gritty, both seem plausible as Harry gives out the outburst that he’s quite normal, he just has a problem, which Remus doesn’t seem to believe in the slightest.
It isn’t until fall 1997 that more on the existence of a werewolf is given. Remus comes to the trio in their hiding place with news and an eagerness to join them in whatever it is they are doing, something he doesn’t know. He offers assistance, up until Hermione asks him about Tonks, a young metamorphmagus whom he just married a few months prior. He claims that she will be fine with her mother, and later reveals as though slightly repulsed that she’s pregnant. Harry and co. congratulate him, but he won’t hear any of it. He breaks out of control, goes on about how they have only seen him beneath the power of Dumbledore and within the Order, that the normal wizard on the street can barely be arsed to speak on the weather with him once his condition is revealed, that he would be better off far away from any child he might bear, a child that would have to live in shame of him. Even then, he continues, he fears the child will carry his condition with him, which he sees as an abominable action on his part, handing down such a thing to an innocent. For the first time, Harry sees “the shadow of the wolf on his face,” and it isn’t until he calls him out as a coward that Remus is driven completely out by his own fears made manifest.
In the author’s own words: 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.”-is the rest of the quote.
His fear of being discovered as a youth at Hogwarts was great, and when his friends figured out his symptoms, his condition, and then accepted and went above and beyond to be loyal to him, he took this all to heart greatly and made many a mistake simply because they allowed him to remain their friend. James and Sirius were quite terrible to Snape, who was a Slytherin in their same year. They tortured and taunted him relentlessly, the only real ground of which was seen once because they were “bored.” They disarmed him and hung him upside down, James intent on magicking his pants off and most likely revealing the none-too-clean undergarments beneath. Peter always seemed to grow excited at this, overly eager to be “one of the guys,” to be able to bask in the “cool” of Sirius and the glory of James as a top Quidditch player. Remus, however, would school his nose in his book as though unaware such a thing was going on, a frown line creasing his features. He never stood up to them, had them stop what they were doing to Snape, all because he was grateful for their friendship and perhaps even afraid of what similar things they could do to him were he to get on their wrong side. He regretted this later, and very much so, though he realized that it was the past and he could therefore do nothing about it.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t change very much in his adult life. While not as reckless and impulsive an influence as Sirius, Remus is still not the best of influences Harry could have asked for. When Harry steals Umbridge’s fireplace in fifth year to ask about how his mom and dad got together, to not-so-subtly ream the two of them for their treatment of Snape and frequent comparisons to his father, Remus indulges his foolish decision as opposed to refusing to speak with him and insisting he get out of her office immediately. It was well known by that time that all entrances and exits of any kind to Hogwarts were being watched restlessly, and it would have been the mature and sensible and adult thing for him to refuse to fetch Sirius and indulge Harry in his senselessness.
He doesn’t try and persuade the trio out of whatever the task they are doing in 1997 when he visits them; he instead shows eagerness to join them, which Harry calls him out on as trying to be reckless, as wanting an adventure, as stepping in Sirius’ shoes. He insists the opposite, that he can be of use, but we find out he’s also being cowardly and running from his unborn child. He tries too hard with them at times, too eager, too pleased, but he can still fall flat on being the mature and responsible adult they need.
Samples (ALL samples must be set in Luceti-verse.)
First Person:
[Voice Post]
[There’s some rustling, a clearing of the throat, and then a hoarse male voice speaks, one that sounds like it hasn’t been used in quite some time…or that it may not be used to speaking overall. The voice betrays no emotion as it speaks, though a sense of bemusement rises up towards the end.]
To whom it may concern:
Firstly, I’d be very appreciative if my wand would be returned to me. Secondly, the new clothing is very nice, thank you, but I’d much rather wear my own. Thirdly, to whomever is out there, would there be an explanation as to why I am suddenly sporting a pair of wings? I’m many things, but none of them a winged creature. And if this is some sort of heaven-
[There’s a long pause.]
If those things could be answered, that would be wonderful. Thank you.
Third Person:
Dora. Dolohov. Bellatrix. Purple flames. Look over there, wand out, wand out!
Dora. Dolohov. A moment’s hesitation. A flicker of fear, of incensed rage. Why hadn’t she stayed with Andromeda and their son? Why had she abandoned their son?
Dora. Purple flames. A curse he didn’t see coming because he’d seen her. Running out on the grounds, looking around for him, no doubt. How had she known? Who had alerted her? The curse came, it came in a warm wave of purple and fire, of of of…
And then he’d spotted her. Bellatrix. Coming their way, and with…with a last breath, he couldn’t save his wife. He could see the look on the twisted witch’s face, could tell she was looking at his wife, his wife, it was all a mistake, a big mistake, that she was headed for her, his wife, his Dora. Dora, his wife…and he couldn’t breathe. The life was leaving him. His wife wasn’t aware of her aunt approaching, she was so worried about him him HIM.
She didn’t care about all that stuff, anyway. She loved him.
He awoke with a small yelp, starting in his sleep. There was a bed, obviously, because he’d just fallen off it and hit the ground unceremoniously. Alert, confused, ashamed, he moved around, backed into the wall. He was dead. He’d died. He’d felt the life leave him, saw his wife’s death coming for her. He had died in the battle, he had died for the lives of others, for Harry and Ron and Hermione and Neville and the other students, for Seamus and Hagrid, for Fred and George and Bill and Percy, for Charlie and Fleur, Mrs. Weasley, that was her…for his wife, trying to keep her safe, for his son, his son, the metamorphmagus, not a werewolf, clean and whole and innocent and young…
When he realized he wasn’t wearing anything to cover his scarred torso, he grabbed the sheet off the bed (Whose was it? Where was he?) and held it up to his chest, breathing rapidly, panting, trying to understand, to formulate an answer. He had died, he knew that much. And yet here he was, breathing in and out, his lungs working. A trembling hand went to his chest-his heart was indeed beating. If his heart was working, blood was pumping through his veins. If his lungs were working, if his eyes could see, his ears could hear, his nose…all his senses, yes they were all intact.
He sat against the wall for what could have been ten minutes or ten years, he couldn’t be sure. The feeling of breathing, of his heart, of his lungs…it was taking some getting used to all over again. He couldn’t be alive, but he was. The purple flames had devoured him. They had sucked the life out of him, done to him what was fortunately not done to Hermione.
And then there was a dull pain as he pressed himself completely against the wall. A pain he didn’t recognize. A pain as though…
He felt his shoulder blades, finding what could only be wings attached to them. At this bizarre discovery, he stood, trying his hardest not to turn in circles like a dog chasing its tail as he tried to understand what was attached to his body. No, he wasn’t imagining it…he gripped one of them and pulled, but it would not budge. He couldn’t see his wand anywhere, so there was no way he could magic them off. He pulled harder this time, emitting a cry of anguish at the pain he felt.
Yes, they were stuck on him. They were a part of him.
He moved, spotting a book in the room. Perhaps this would give him insight.
Resigned to believe in his corporeal form once more, he made his way to it, wondering what was in its depths. And, if it turned out to be nothing, he’d just put his clothes (which he had spotted earlier) on and go out into this great place he knew naught of, and see what he could make of it himself.
Yes, that was the plan.