[HPforGrownups] Re: (Wolfbane Potion and) Character Summary: Remus J. Lupin

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 11880

Rita Winston wrote:

> There has been much speculation about WHEN the Wolfbane Potion was
> invented -- any time from when Remus left school to the time that he
> started teaching at Hogwarts -- some people seem to think that SNAPE
> invented it between the time that Lupin agreed to replace Lockhart and
> the start of term.

I scanned through PoA in one of my recent, um, enforced stays in the
Throne Room (something's going around, we've all got it). Lupin says the
potion was recently discovered, and he says that Snape has kindly
concocted it for him, but "concocted" can just mean "made," and might be
a JKR selection to sound more arcane. I didn't get any clear sense that
Snape invented it, and Lupin is fair-minded enough to have mentioned
this, when he's discussing it with Harry in his office.

> I haven't been able to figure out whether that is the same folklore
> that claims that wearing a wolfbane flower will cause a person to turn
> into a werewolf. I don't know whether the two plants named wolfbane
> are the same plant or different plants with the same name -- IIRC the
> flowers that turn a person into a werewolf are large and usually
> yellow but sometimes white (or is it just that they look white in the
> moonlight?).

Folklore will vary, not only from country to country but from village to
village. It's not unusual for the item or talisman or token that
prevents a condition, to be a cause of it someplace else. The only
continuous thread is the connection between the item and the
condition--*how* they are connected often varies.

> Speaking of turning into a werewolf -- we have been told that in the
> JKR world it is transmitted by bite (like rabies). Is lycanthropy
> contagious from the bite of a werewolf while in human form?

Okay, I've done some thinking about this, because Sirius, in dog form,
is bitten by Lupin during their fight in the moonlight, but to our
knowledge has not become a werewolf. I will borrow a thought from "Three
Hearts and Three Lions" by somebody or other I cannot recall, a fantasy
novel involving the inevitable "man from our world transported to world
of magic" theme. Holger is our man's name, and in one situation must
determine for a panic-stricken mob which of their lord's family is the
werewolf that has been terrorizing the village. Holger rules out the
son, because the son has the flu or something, the reasoning being that
canines cannot have the flu, so if the son had transformed, the flu
germs would have been eradicated, since they do not survive in a canine
host, and when he became human again he would no longer be sick. Looking
at Sirius' bite in this light, I imagine that the magical virus or
whatever that causes lycanthropy must have a human as its host, and that
Sirius cannot be infected if he's bitten in dog form, since the
infecting agent cannot infect a dog. [The helpfulness of this particular
novel ends here, as lycanthropy is an inherited tendency in that world,
rather than a disease.]

Back to JKR's world. As for whether you can get lycanthropy from a
contact with the human phase--the infecting agent only makes its victim
want to attack humans while the host is in wolf form; this suggests to
me that it is primarily contagious from the wolf form. If the host was
able to infect others as a human, the infecting agent, wanting to be
spread, would make the host aggressive all the time, wouldn't it?
However, the agent clearly remains in the host's system at all times,
whatever form he or she may take, so I still wouldn't want to drink from
Lupin's cup or do any deep kissing (or have my kids in his class,
sorry).

> Which reminds me: it seems like the fanfic world believes that a
> werewolf is burnt by the touch of silver even when in human form, and
> some have Snape deliberately serving the Potion in a silver cup, from
> spite. I can't remembering finding ANYTHING about werewolves and
> silver in canon.

True; I looked, and the goblet that Snape brings is just a goblet. The
material is unspecified, although the potion within is described as
smoking. No other references to silver that I could find. I'd bet it
stands, though; JKR seems to have gone with the straight Hollywood
werewolf version.

--Amanda


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