Full Moon (was: Support for the ESE Lupin theory!)

[Renee]

No: HPFGUIDX 123934


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> 
wrote:
> 
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Renee" 
> > Fact is, that the full moon rises at sunset (and sets at 
sunrise), 
> > give or take a few minutes depending on where you are in the 
> world. 
> 
> Pippin:
> Yes and no. Shaun or one of our other astronomy buffs  will set 
> me straight on this if I am wrong, but astronomically, the moon is 
> full only for a moment, which can be day or night depending on 
> where you are.  Am I right? 
> 
> For example, according to the Farmer's Almanac, 
> the full moon will occur at 3:58 PM EST on March 25  2005. 
> Sunset for that day is 6:13 PM (in New York City).

Renee:
Yes, the astronomical full moon lasts less than a minute, IIRC. I 
only realised that's what you were probably thinking of after I'd 
hit the Send button. (But see below)
 
> Lupin asks Hermione whether she noticed that he was always ill 
> at the full moon. (This does not, of course, preclude his being 
ill 
> at other times such as Christmas.) Lupin's absences *must* 
> occur in the daytime-- otherwise how in heck would Hermione 
> know about them? 

Renee:
Some of Lupin's absences must indeed occur during the daytime if his 
transformations are linked to the astronomical full moon. But I hope 
you're not suggesting all of them took place during daytime - you 
can hardly deny his transformation at the end of PoA takes place at 
night, for instance, and this wouldn't be the only instance of a 
nightly full moon in the course of nine months. The time of the 
astronomical full moon shifts according to a pattern of 29.x days 
(don't know by heart what the x is). If Lupin *only* missed lessons 
because he was in wolf shape during those hours, he would have been 
able to teach on days following a full moon early at night, and 
there wouldn't have been enough of a pattern to his absences to make 
Hermione suspicious. It's more likely his absences during the 
daytime have at least something to do with his need for recovery 
after a rough night.

Pippin:
>  Apparently he transforms for a period around when  the moon is 
> full astronomically, and remains that way for some  time -- 
> perhaps six hours to so since he has reverted to human form by 
> "firs' thing this mornin'".   And it *is* important, because he 
> should have known, by the lunar chart, exactly when he was 
> going to transform. At least that's my explanation. It makes 
> sense of the canon and to borrow a phrase, I'm sticking to it. :)
> 

Renee:
It's a pity no one ever suggested this possibility to JKR, for I'm 
sure she'd have adopted it at once to explain Lupin's transformation 
at that particular moment, instead of coming up with inadequate 
explanations. :) 
As it is, she doesn't have a very good record of being adequate with 
dates and science-related data. It is as you say: your explanation 
*makes* sense of this piece of canon, but the sense wasn't quite 
there when she wrote it.    
  
finally, the part about the lunar chart makes it actually more 
plausible that Lupin just screwed up. Having to remember the full 
moon is one thing, having to keep in mind when exactly your 
transformation will take place after 1) you've just discovered you 
believed a lie and hated the wrong person for almost 13 years and 2) 
you have to unmask the real traitor to prove a friends innocence to 
the son of another friend - that's something different altogether. 
No wonder it slipped his mind!