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

[a_b_desert_king]

No: HPFGUIDX 124066


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "vmonte" <vmonte at y...> wrote:
> 
> <Quote from interview -
> Q: Can you explain how Lupin turns into a werewolf, since he didn't
> turn in the Shrieking Shack in Prisoner of Azkaban, but instead
> he turned only when the full moonlight hit him outside the
> tunnel? If he only turned into a wolf in the moonlight, why didn't
> he just stay inside? Did it have to do with the potion? Or was the
> moon not up yet?
> 
> A: The moon wasn't up when he entered the Shrieking Shack.
> 
> vmonte responds: 
> The real answer is because it made a much more dramatic impact for 
> him to change when he did. 
> 
> Vivian

Heather here:

I'm not really sure where to jump in with this, but I guess this is 
the place because ultimately I agree with Vivian; this is the time 
Lupin *needed* to change for the story to unfold as it did.  As some 
have postulated, perhaps there is a specific *time* when the moon is 
considered 'full' and this is the time when Lupin transforms.  By 
literary design, the moon just happened to become 'full' when Lupin 
leaves the tunnel (imagine if the moon had become 'full' while they 
were in the tunnel - end of story.<eg>).  In the Shrieking Shack 
Lupin himself says he transforms every full moon, inside or outside: 
(p258, PoA, Am. Ed.)

"The Potion that Professor Snape has been making for me is a very 
recent discovery.  It makes me safe, you see. As long as I take it 
in the week preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I 
transform... I am able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and 
wait for the moon to wane again.  Before the Wolfsbane Potion was 
discovered, however, I became a fully fledged monster once a month"

When Lupin forgets to take his Potion even once through that week he 
becomes dangerous.  As a student, the Wolfsbane Potion did not exist 
so he transformed every month - therefore he would have been a 
danger to SS during the prank (which I really think was just that - 
I've known many teenagers who don't think things through.  I'd bet 
that Sirius told SS to go to the tunnel thinking that SS would be 
too chicken to do so - much like Malfoy did to Harry in PS/SS when 
he challenged him to a duel at midnight).

Literary license allows JKR to make the 'full' moon begin just as 
the group exits the tunnel.  Lupin would have transformed at just 
that moment whether he was inside or outside.  The fact that he 
hadn't taken his last dose of Potion meant that he didn't just curl 
up and go to sleep on his comfy couch in his office this particular 
time.  

Heather - who gets a mental image of her pooch curled up on the 
couch with his tail over his nose whenever she reads Lupin's 
description of transforming while a teacher at Hogwarts