prillalar | Details, details

Details, details

So, I was sitting on the top floor of the double-decker bus on the way to work and reading Prisoner of Azkaban. I read this paragraph and something jumped out at me:

"It's on his case," she replied, pointing at the luggage rack over the man's head, where there was a small, battered case held together with a large quantity of neatly knotted string. The name Professor R. J. Lupin was stamped across one corner in peeling letters.

Lupin has "Professor" stamped on his luggage in letters that are peeling off. So, these are the possibilities I see:

He taught at another school of magic previously
He taught at a Muggle school previously
The case used to belong to a relative, maybe his father, who had the initials RJ
He's really lousy at name-stamping charms

Theories?

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Well, I think it's just another J.Ro continuity problem, personally. In the process of describing everything about Lupin was shabby, she included the stamping.

But taking it literally, I would just assume that new letters don't really stick on old cases very well.

Seconded. I don't believe JKR would have spotted a plothole like that. I wish it was otherwise, but...

Oh, I know it's really an error, but what fun is that? If it's in the canon, it must be accounted for!

That's really the fun of a loose canon, so to speak. Like after we saw Episode I, we were all, so *that's* why Vader wouldn't let Boba Fett shoot Chewbacca on Cloud City! 3P0 was on his back and Anakin recognized him!

I'm confused about what you think is in error. Is there a reason why Remus couldn't have been a professor before? Or should Remus be using magic to keep the old case looking new and spiffy? Or should I not be reading LJ at this hour, when I'm usually asleep?

Deep down, I really think that having the word "professor" so shabbily on Remus's luggage is an error on JKR's part, that she doesn't have a backstory for him where he was previously a professor. But I'm pretending that really she does have a rich backstory so we can speculate about what it is.

Of course, I could be underestimating her. :)

Well, there's the fact that we don't know what he did for twelve years, but he obviously survived (and eventually had a place to live where Sirius could lie low, post-Hogwarts, at which point I'm thinking he's still on Dumbledore's payroll), though he says he couldn't find paid work as an adult.

It is possible he had a string of jobs and got run out of each one as his secret was discovered, but the question is, was he registered previously? If so, is the registry public, or only available to the govt or to potential employers? Because apparently, the general wizarding populace didn't know he was a werewolf before Snape let it 'slip', or they knew and didn't care that he was teaching their children (which I find hard to believe, given how we're told werewolves basically have no rights, and look at Ron's reaction to him in the Shrieking Shack).

So he could have gotten jobs, and then when his absences were noted, someone checked him out on the registry, or he wasn't registered until he left hogwarts, when he had to, because he was outed.

Or it's 1am and I'm talking out my hat... *g*

Where is the registry mentioned in the books? I'd like to read up on that and I'm blanking.

The string of jobs makes sense. He could have been let go when his secret was discovered or his frequent absences around the full moon might have been a factor also.

This has got me thinking about the whole "lycanthropy as a metaphor for AIDS" thing and wondering: just how contagious is Remus, anyhow?

Can he only pass along lycanthropy if he bites someone while he's in his wolf form? Or would that work in human form as well? It would certainly make the sex precarious. *g*

Where is the registry mentioned in the books? I'd like to read up on that and I'm blanking.

It's in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, so depending on your definition of 'canon', that may be extra-canonical information.

He could have been let go when his secret was discovered or his frequent absences around the full moon might have been a factor also.

*nod*

Personally, I tend to put him in transient Muggle jobs like bartending, waiting tables, working retail for short stints where his absences wouldn't be noticed or he could switch shifts, and still make some money to eat with.

Alternately, members of his family are still alive and just eking out an existence, and he was living with them.

Can he only pass along lycanthropy if he bites someone while he's in his wolf form? Or would that work in human form as well? It would certainly make the sex precarious

According to FB, "When there is no full moon, the werewolf is as harmless as any other human."

You know, this book it mentions, "Hairy Snout, Human Heart," was published in 1975. I wonder if Remus is living off very small royalty checks... He could have been 16-17 or so then, and published anonymously with Dumbledore's help...

It's in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, so depending on your definition of 'canon', that may be extra-canonical information.

Oh, cool! As far as I'm concerned, that's canon. Now I just have to *find* my copy...

You know, this book it mentions, "Hairy Snout, Human Heart," was published in 1975. I wonder if Remus is living off very small royalty checks... He could have been 16-17 or so then, and published anonymously with Dumbledore's help...

That's a good thought. Thanks! This will help my Remus-y ponderings immensely.

Ah! Okay, I'm with you now. (Slow is I!)

I always figured the briefcase was an old gift from say, James and Lily or someone, before they realized he'd never ever get a job as a teacher in wizard society. And he'd had it for years, and pulled it out when his chance finally came.

You mean that it was always his dream to be a teacher and they gave him the case and then he could hardly get a job anywhere, let alone teaching, and the case got shabbier and shabbier? That's SO SAD!

Um, yeah. That's how I figure it.

It could be my penchant for wallowing in sentimentality, though.

Dude, I'll buy that.

*sniff*

Someone should write the Story of the Briefcase.

Or he lived, Harold Hill-like, as a traveling salesman of quack remedies (or potion ingredients or potions that worked), using the "Professor" part to give himself credentials.

Oh, please write that. I could so see him selling old ladies on tonics and potions (given his own admission that he was bad at potions, I can only wonder what he was actually selling *g*), based on his 'sweet, harmless' facade.

Oh, that would be so funny. Professor Lupin and the Medicine Show.

Nothing really to add, other than:
1. I would read that fic as well!
2. My personal Thread Of The Week. *hugs thread*

So cool that you noticed that...I think it's a fact about Remus that we all look at subconsciously. There are many Lupin fics that assume he taught in the Muggle world after Hogwarts.

love, lore

The thread hugs you back. :) I'm re-reading PoA to brush up on Remus and Sirius for some fic I want to start, so I'm sensitive to those details right now.

There's no reason to suppose he wasn't at another magic school previously. Theoretically, people are teachers because they are trained/have experience in teaching, right? I'm not sure how that works in the wizarding world, though, what with the centaurs and the Trelawney, etc, but...you know. It's possible he could have taught for a while before everyone found out he was a werewolf, or in a place poor enough that they didn't care. After all, only Dumbledore and Snape knew when he was at Hogwarts...nobody knew when he taught at Hogwarts.

Failing that, I'm going with the being lousy at name-stamping charms.

That's always been part of the wizarding world that puzzles me. What do they do after they leave Hogwarts (or Durmstrang et al) because we never hear them talking about universities.

I have to admit I've got a soft spot for the idea of Remus Lupin, Dr of Defence against the Dark Arts.

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