*delurk* Re: Lupin and the moon

[scabbers at pacbell.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 17829

All right, I've been lurking for a long time, but this topic will make 
me stay awake screaming any time.  There's nothing I can think of to 
make this not a plot hole, unless you want to subscribe to complex 
theories such as "Snape doctored the Wolfsbane Potion, and the moon 
wasn't really full that night," or somesuch.  It's a glaring error, for 
the painful reason that if all Lupin had to do to avoid transformation 
was stay indoors, there never would've been a need for Wormtail, 
Padfoot and Prongs (heresy!)
Another thing... she gives us the date of that night, and it isn't 
consistent with there being a full moon if the others in the book 
occurred around September (the train ride), Halloween (Snape and the 
Potion), and Christmas (Lupin was ill that day). It's actually 
consistent with waning crescent... the most un-werewolfy time I can 
imagine. 
One more thing... it's a common misconception that the full moon rises 
before sunset in the summer.  It doesn't... This year's June full moon 
in Glasgow, Scotland, for example, rises at 10:29 pm while the sun sets 
at 9:55 pm.  Admittedly, there is still twilight, which is perhaps the 
cause of this belief.  If you go further north, past the Arctic Circle, 
the full moon sometimes doesn't even rise in summer (corresponding to 
the sun not setting).  Tourists in Alaska sometimes show up wondering 
what it'd be like to see the full moon and the midnight sun in the sky 
at the same time... it doesn't happen.  Maybe Lupin should spend his 
summers in Iceland?
If anyone comes up with a satisfying theory, my nights would be more 
peaceful... but I suspect JKR just figured we wouldn't notice.  And 
hey, it makes for a dramatic scene with the clouds... auughhh.

*stops before she starts banging head on wall*

Moon
who is a planetary scientist and loves werewolves