Oh dear god.

[prillalar]

In PoA, when Lupin forgets to take his potion, he doesn't actually change until they go outside and the moon comes out from behind a cloud.

How am I supposed to work with this? Why would anybody need that stupid potion if all they had to do during the full moon is stay indoors with the shades drawn?

I'm just going to ignore that particular passage.

I find it interesting, though, that after Lupin changes, he's then referred to as "the werewolf" and "it" rather than "Lupin" and "him".

Also, snow day! The buses are running, the schools are open, but my office is closed! I think this is a gift from the fic gods so I can get a good start on my Snape/Lupin fic, which I've been putting off. I hope that makes all the kids who have to trudge to school through the snow feel better.

Comments

[pauraque]

Yes, and the moon frequently rises during the day, and can be seen during daylight, so I wonder if werewolves would end up transforming during the day some months.

[semielliptical]

This is such an interesting question, and something I think about whenever I see the moon during the day. But I can't think of a single fic that mentions this, which seems strange to me.

[ari-o.livejournal.com]

Its possible. And could make for a funny fic - if the moon got screwed up and kept rising and setting unexpectedly.

[prillalar]

Good point! Now I'm thinking that a werewolf could avoid the change altogether simply by apparating somewhere else where the moon hadn't yet risen.

[pauraque]

I've definitely read a fic with that premise, but unfortunately I haven't a clue where I found it.

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

thistlerose has a story - well, the first one is "In Theory", where Sirius proposes exactly that, and then there's a sequel, the name of which I can't recall (I didn't like it as much as In Theory *g*) which deals with how it works.

[maidenjedi]

Hmm. But are werewolves able to get apparition licenses?

JKR oughta put out a book about the Magical Creatures laws so we know what's what.

[prillalar]

Now that's a wrinkle I never considered. Yikes!

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've wondered about that myself.

I suppose they'd all have lunar charts detailing the exact moment - to the second - of when the moon rose, much like this: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/MoonPhase.html.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

The way the moon "works" is that the time it rises and its fullness slowly change together (because the reason it looks "full" or "half" or whatever is because of its position relative to the earth and the sun, which also determines when it's visible) until at the full moon it rises shortly after sunset and sets shortly before sunrise.

Therefore, the full moon is NEVER visible during the day. Conversely, the full moon lasts the entire night.

(Actually, it turns out that this NEVER must be qualified slightly. At latitudes close to 66.5 degrees, occasionally this might happen very briefly. See http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=341 for details.)

[prillalar]

Ah, you are smart. Thanks for the info and the link. I think one of the reasons I find the phases of the moon so puzzling is it's a big spatial relations thing and I suck at those.