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

[eloise_herisson]

No: HPFGUIDX 124012


JKR in interview:
> > A:
> > The moon wasn't up when he entered the Shrieking Shack.
> > 
> > Pippin:
> > Quite dodgy, that. The innocent chatter is trying to figure out 
> what 
> > happened when Lupin came out of the tunnel, and JKR only 
> > says what happened when Lupin went into it. And she needn't 
> > even have been talking about the same instance -- after all, 
> > Lupin went into the tunnel loads of times as a student. 
> 
> Renee:
> As the person who asks the question is very obviously referring to 
> the Shrieking Shack scene in POA, you're really overtaxing people's 
> credulity here, Pippin. You have to, of course, as JKR obviously 
> doesn't remember the moon was alreadu up when Lupin entered the 
> shack. From PoA, chapter 21, after Harry and Hermione have gone 
back 
> in time:
> 
> "They watched the four men climb the castle steps and disappear 
from 
> view. For a few minutes the scene was deserted. Then -
> 
> `Here comes Lupin!' said Harry, as they saw another figure 
sprinting 
> down the stone steps and haring towards the Willow. Harry looked up 
> at the sky. Clouds were obscuring the moon completely. 


Eloise:

How about the explanation that JKR *did* make a mistake, but a 
different one, or even more than one. It seems to me obvious that in 
the text, she is drawing attention to the presence of the moon and 
the fact that *it is obscured* as Lupin enters the Whomping Willow. 
In this case it could be that when she answered the question on the 
hoof as it were, she meant "the moon was not visible" rather 
than "the moon was not up", as obviously it was.

When Lupin transforms, it is when *the moon emerges from behind a 
cloud*. The two events are clearly linked. Now, as Pippin states, 
this potentially causes big problems for the so-called Prank, 
*unless* the fact is that the moon only became full at the point it 
emerged from the cloud, its earlier obscurance additionally masking 
the fact that it was not yet full (not that you can really discern 
that with the naked eye). I don't really buy that one.

I am very afraid that JKR has not been consistent here. It is clear 
that Lupin *did* transform when in the SS, as it is either stated or 
implied that the havoc wreaked in there and the sounds of hauntings 
that went on in there were caused by Lupin in his transformed state 
Was there an unobscured window available through which he might have 
observed the moon? I think it doubtful.

The text regarding the "Prank" suggest that it is timing which is the 
crucial thing, that regarding the night of the SS that it is the 
presence of a visible full moon. One consistent scenario I can 
construct is one whereby a werewolf transforms *if the moon is 
visible in the sky*, whether or not he is in direct line of sight or 
not. This means that if Severus entered the tunnel on a clear night, 
then he was in danger. Can't say I care for it much. 

Alternatively, we may posit that Lupin was at lesser danger of 
transformation on the night in question (PoA) because he had been 
taking his Wolfsbane Potion: having missed that night's dose he 
should have been OK had he not come into the presence of the full 
moon, but the compromised dosage in combination with the light/sight 
of the exposed moon was just too much. I think I like that better. It 
is a consistent explanation if we accept that JKR made a mistake in 
saying "the moon was not up" when she meant "the moon was not 
visible". Wolfsbane Potion doesn't seem to have been available to 
Lupin as a student, so back then the moon's effect would have been 
potent whether visible or not.

I leave others to decide what implication this theory has for ESE!
Lupin.

~Eloise