Name: Chris
DW username: milennialfalcon
E-Mail: canadia.dayo@gmail.com
IM: daccodacc
Plurk: gazzafizza

Other Characters: Alex Lannon, markedbyfate; Lana Baumgartner, bombshelled

Character Name: Remus Lupin
Series: Harry Potter
Timeline: Late in Sixth Year, spring of 1977 (Monday, March 7th, to be exact)
Canon Resource Link: Pottermore Wiki, Harry Potter Wiki, and regular old Wikipedia

Character History: Remus was born to a wizard, Lyall Lupin, and a muggle (nonmagical person) woman, Hope Howell Lupin, on March 12th, 1960. From an early age, he showed signs of magic, and his parents were pleased that their little boy would follow in his father's footsteps.

All that changed when Remus was four years old. His father, now working for the Ministry of Magic in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, ran afoul of a werewolf by the name of Fenrir Greyback. Greyback, wanting revenge, snuck into the Lupins' house and bit young Remus, turning him into a werewolf. Now, on every full moon night, Remus would change form into a vicious werewolf. When he was small, it was easier to keep him contained, but as he grew, so did the wolf. The Lupins were forced to move around to keep Remus' secret hidden, and Remus was never allowed to have any friends.

Normally, magic children in the UK get a letter when they turn eleven, inviting them to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Lupins were worried Remus would never receive his letter now that he was a werewolf, that he would be a danger to the students at Hogwarts, but Headmaster Albus Dumbledore himself visited the Lupins to personally assure them that this would not be the case, and that Remus was indeed welcome at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had arranged a safe and secure hideaway for Remus to use during his transformations: a house in the local village Hogsmeade, accessible by an underground tunnel from the Hogwarts grounds. In time, due to the pained noises and yells Remus would make during his transformation, this house came to be known as the Shrieking Shack. People became afraid to go near it, a fear which Dumbledore believed helped Remus keep his secret safe.

At Hogwarts, Remus was sorted into Gryffindor, a house that values bravery and loyalty. He was a bright student, eventually becoming a prefect in his fifth year. Never having had friends before, Remus was surprised when he was suddenly able to have chums his own age. He became close in particular with three other boys in Gryffindor: the boastful and mischievous James Potter, the suave pureblood Sirius Black, and the shy and dimwitted Peter Pettigrew. As they grew closer, Remus' friends began to notice his monthly disappearances. Despite Remus' attempts to come up with various excuses, they (they being James and Sirius) figured out his secret in their second year at Hogwarts. Rather than being afraid and abandoning him as Remus thought they would, they took it upon themselves to learn how to transform into animals-- a very difficult sort of magic, especially for students so young-- to accompany Remus in his wolf form. They truly were the best friends Remus could have.

The four of them together were a force of nature at Hogwarts, mapping its many secret corridors and vast grounds, and compiling their research on a map they called the Marauders Map (them being the Marauders). The Map also came with a clever charm to show where any person was at any given moment. It was unreadable to anyone who didn't know the passphrase, which was "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," and was signed by the four friends using their nicknames Moony (Remus), Wormtail (Peter, whose animal form was a rat), Padfoot (Sirius, a dog), and Prongs (James, a stag).

The Map allowed the boys, especially James and Sirius, to get up to much great mischief. Usually their pranks were all in good fun, but sometimes they could border on bullying, especially when centered around their nemesis, a Slytherin boy named Severus Snape. Remus disapproved of James' and Sirius' treatment of Snape, but rarely spoke out against it. Part of the reason Dumbledore named Remus prefect was in the hopes that he would bring his friends in line. That hope didn't exactly pan out.

The climate of the magical community at this time was very grim. A powerful dark wizard named Voldemort was rising to power, recruiting followers among wizards and dark creatures alike. A war was beginning, one which many feared Voldemort would win. After graduating Hogwarts, Remus and his friends joined the resistance movement, an organization known as the Order of the Phoenix. Around this time, a prophecy surfaced which foretold of a child who would be born who would put a stop to Voldemort's rise to power. Signs pointed to the child being the son of James Potter and Lily Evans, his school crush and later wife. Lily and James went into hiding, trusting only Sirius with their location. At the last minute, though, they changed their Secret Keeper to Peter, thinking everyone would assume they'd pick Sirius. This was their fatal mistake. Peter ratted them out to Voldemort, who, on Halloween night, 1981, broke into the Potter house and killed James and Lily. He tried to kill young Harry as well, but the boy, protected by his mother's sacrifice, survived, rebounding the Killing Curse onto Voldemort himself. Sirius, being the first on the scene, instantly confronted Peter, but Peter staged his own death and framed Sirius for it, causing him to be sent to Azkaban, the wizard prison.

During all this, Remus was up North on business for the Order of the Phoenix. In one night, he lost all of his friends, either to death or to prison. He was devastated, believing Sirius betrayed them. While the rest of the wizarding world was celebrating the fall of Voldemort, Remus went into isolation both to mourn and because of his status as a werewolf.

Over the next decade or so, Remus had trouble holding down a job or a permanent living space. All that would change when Dumbledore would invite Remus back to Hogwarts as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in 1993. He went, grateful to Dumbledore for the position and also for offering him something he could not obtain on his own: Wolfsbane Potion, a recent development that made his transformation, while no less painful, much safer for others around him. It was a strange ironic twist that Remus is now relying on Severus Snape, now a Potions professor at Hogwarts, for this potion. It was during this year that Remus met Harry, and learned the truth about Peter and Sirius, when Sirius breaks out of Azkaban and comes to Hogwarts. It turned out that Peter had been living in rat form as the pet of Harry's best friend Ron Weasley. At the end of the year, Remus' secret was made public, and he felt obliged to leave the school rather than face the consequences of what that meant.

Voldemort, though thought killed that fateful Halloween night, was not dead, however, and in the next few years began a second rise to power. The Order of the Phoenix was reformed, and Remus and Sirius, now reunited, both rejoined. The Order faced Voldemort in the Ministry's Department of Mysteries, and during the ensuing battle Sirius died, falling through a mysterious veil. This was very hard for Remus, as he'd finally lost his last school friend. During this time, Remus met Nymphadora Tonks, a young witch who developed feelings for him. Feelings which he didn't allow himself to return, due to his status as a werewolf and also the age difference between them. Tonks didn't care, however, and after a harrowing battle at Hogwarts in the spring of 1997, Remus confessed that he too loved Tonks. The two married, and soon Tonks became pregnant. Remus, scared that the child will be cursed with his affliction, thought of running away, but Harry convinced him not to abandon his child and his responsibilities. In the end, Remus returned to Tonks and she gave birth to a boy, Edward "Teddy" Lupin. Instead of inheriting werewolfism from Remus, Teddy inherits Tonks' ability to change her appearance. Remus was not only relieved, but overjoyed.

In early May, 1998, the Second Wizarding War came to a head, with another battle at Hogwarts. Harry successfully killed Voldemort, but many died in the process. Many, including both Remus and Tonks. Teddy was left to be raised by his grandmother. Shortly before Harry killed Voldemort, he used the Resurrection Stone, a powerful magic artifact, to see the spirits of his dead loved ones, including his parents, Sirius, and Remus.

Abilities/Special Powers: Remus is a wizard, meaning he can cast spells, brew potions, etc. and so forth. Most magic requires a wand, though some can be performed without one, such as Apparition, which is transporting oneself from place A to place B in an instant.

Remus is also, unfortunately, a werewolf. This means that every full moon he transforms into a gigantic wolf. The werewolf is bigger and stronger than a normal wolf, and attacks humans on sight, but will not attack other animals. A bite from a werewolf will turn a human into a werewolf.

Third-Person Sample:

Remus wakes in a fog, as he always does the morning after a full moon. His memories of the night previous are hazy at best, and his body aches from the transformation. But his mates are there to hand him his clothes and his wand, and they all smile and laugh and make their way through the tunnel back to the school. Peter goes first to stop the Whomping Willow from battering them, then James and Sirius head up, then finally Remus climbs out to find himself standing--

--On a hill. No, that can't be right. The Willow is downslope, by the lake. But there isn't any lake here, nor castle. Neither are his friends there. Remus' first thought is that they're having a laugh, hiding underneath James' invisibility cloak without him. "Very funny," he says. "You can come out now." But no one comes out. He's alone. Turning to look behind him, he sees neither the Whomping Willow nor the hole he just climbed out of, just smooth grass.

Taking a proper look around, Remus begins to think he's really ended up somewhere else somehow. He doesn't know of any magic that could have transported him so suddenly and silently. He didn't touch a portkey. He didn't apparate. He was nowhere near a fireplace. So ...how?

He sees a large mansion in the distance at the bottom of the hill, past some gardens, and decides he'd better have a look. Gripping his wand and limping slightly-- his body still aches, after all-- he starts down the hill. So much for a few hours sleep and a big Hogwarts breakfast.

First-Person Sample:

[Remus picks up the communicator, studying over it and eventually figuring out how to turn it on.] What...? Is this a phone, or some sort of telly with a camera? [Either way, it's now recording, so Remus, sheepish, brushes his hair out of his eyes and clears his throat.]

Ahem. Well. I appear to have found someone's... device, here. I assume you'll be wanting it back. If it's yours, then you can come and fetch it. I'm... [He looks around.] ...I appear to be in the gardens of some manor house. Haven't a clue how I've arrived here. Very strange.

[By this point he's less concerned with the communicator and more concerned with where exactly he is at the moment, so he ends the feed.]