QUOTES

[cur]

PRISONER OF AZKABAN

"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice suddenly. Professor Lupin appeared to have woken up at last. Harry could hear movements in his corner. None of them spoke. There was a soft, crackling noise and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames. They illuminated his tired grey face, but his eyes looked alert and wary. "Stay where you are," he said, in the same hoarse voice, and he got slowly to his feet with his handful of fire held out in front of him. "They call it the Dementors' Kiss," said Lupin, with a slightly twisted smile. "It's what Dementors do to those they wish to destroy utterly. I suppose there must be some kind of mouth under there, because they clamp their jaws upon the mouth of the victim and - and suck out his soul." [...] Lupin drank a little more Butterbeer, then said, "It's the fate that awaits Sirius Black. It was in the Daily Prophet this morning. The Ministry have given the Dementors permission to perform it if they find him." Harry sat stunned for a moment at the idea of someone having their soul sucked out through their mouth. But then he thought of Black. "He deserves it," he said suddenly. "You think so?" said Lupin lightly. "Do you really think anyone deserves that?" "You called, Severus?" said Lupin mildly. "I certainly did," said Snape, his face contorted with fury as he strode back to his desk. "I have just asked Potter to empty his pockets. He was carrying this." Snape pointed at the parchment, on which the words of Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs were still shining. An odd, closed expression appeared on Lupin's face. "Well?" said Snape. Lupin continued to stare at the map. Harry had the impression that Lupin was doing some very quick thinking. "Well?" said Snape again. "This parchment is plainly full of Dark Magic. This is supposed to be your area of expertise, Lupin. Where do you imagine Potter got such a thing?" Lupin looked up and, by the merest half glance in Harry's direction, warned him not to interrupt. "Full of Dark Magic?" he repeated mildly. "Do you really think so, Severus? It looks to me as though it's merely a piece of parchment that insults anyone who tries to read it. Childish, but surely not dangerous? I imagine Harry got it from a joke-shop -" Then Lupin spoke, in an odd voice, a voice that shook with some suppressed emotion. "Where is he, Sirius?" [...] "But then..." Lupin muttered, staring at Black so intently it seemed he was trying to read his mind, "why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless –" Lupin's eyes suddenly widened, as though he was seeing something beyond Black, something none of the rest could see, "unless he was the one... unless you switched... without telling me?" Lupin stopped dead. Then, with obvious effort, he turned to Hermione and said, "How long have you known?" "Ages," Hermione whispered. "Since I did Professor Snape's essay..." "He'll be delighted," Lupin said coolly. "He set that essay hoping someone would realise what my symptoms meant. Did you check the lunar chart and realise that I was always ill at full moon? Or did you realise that the Boggart changed into the moon when it saw me?" "Both," Hermione said quietly. Lupin forced a laugh. "You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione." Lupin's face had hardened, and there was self-disgust in his voice. "All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. But I didn't do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I had betrayed his trust while I was at school, admitting that I'd led others along with me... and Dumbledore's trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job, when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am."

ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

But before he could make a decision about what to do next, a second, slightly hoarse voice floated upstairs. "It's all right, Harry. We've come to take you away." Harry's heart leapt. He knew that voice, too, though he hadn't heard it for over a year. "P-Professor Lupin?" he said disbelievingly. "Is that you?" [...] Remus Lupin stood nearest to him. Though still quite young, Lupin looked tired and rather ill; he had more grey hairs than when Harry had last said goodbye to him and his robes were more patched and shabbier than ever. Nevertheless, he was smiling broadly at Harry, who tried to smile back despite his state of shock. "Excellent," said Lupin, looking up as Tonks and Harry entered. "We've got about a minute, I think. We should probably get out into the garden so we're ready. Harry, I've left a letter telling your aunt and uncle not to worry -" "They won't," said Harry. "- that you're safe -" "That'll just depress them." "- and you'll see them next summer." "Do I have to?" Lupin smiled but made no answer. "Personally," said Lupin quietly, looking away from Sirius at last, as Mrs Weasley turned quickly to him, hopeful that finally she was about to get an ally, "I think it better that Harry gets the facts - not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture - from us, rather than a garbled version from... others." His expression was mild, but Harry felt sure Lupin, at least, knew that some Extendable Ears had survived Mrs Weasley's purge. "Well," said Mrs Weasley, breathing deeply and looking around the table for support that did not come, "well... I can see I'm going to be overruled. I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has Harry's best interests at heart -" [...] Sirius started to rise from his chair. "Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Harry," said Lupin sharply. "Sirius, sit down." Mrs Weasley's lower lip was trembling. Sirius sank slowly back into his chair, his face white. "I think Harry ought to be allowed a say in this," Lupin continued, "he's old enough to decide for himself." "You see the problem," said Lupin. "While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumour-mongering, so most of the wizarding community are completely unaware anything's happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse." "But you're telling people, aren't you?" said Harry, looking around at Mr Weasley, Sirius, Bill, Mundungus, Lupin and Tonks. "You're letting people know he's back?" They all smiled humourlessly. "Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mad mass-murderer and the Ministry's put a ten thousand Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?" said Sirius restlessly. "And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community," said Lupin. "It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf." Sirius, who was right beside Harry, let out his usual bark-like laugh. "No one would have made me a prefect, I spent too much time in detention with James. Lupin was the good boy, he got the badge." "I think Dumbledore might have hoped I would be able to exercise some control over my best friends," said Lupin. "I need scarcely say that I failed dismally." [...] "Molly, that's enough," said Lupin firmly. "This isn't like last time. The Order are better prepared, we've got a head start, we know what Voldemort's up to -" Mrs Weasley gave a little squeak of fright at the sound of the name. "Oh, Molly, come on, it's about time you got used to hearing his name - look, I can't promise no one's going to get hurt, nobody can promise that, but we're much better off than we were last time. You weren't in the Order then, you don't understand. Last time we were outnumbered twenty to one by the Death Eaters and they were picking us off one by one..." [...] "And as for who's going to look after Ron and Ginny if you and Arthur died," said Lupin, smiling slightly, "what do you think we'd do, let them starve?"

THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

To Mrs Weasley's displeasure, Harry's sixteenth birthday celebrations were marred by grisly tidings brought to the party by Remus Lupin, who was looking gaunt and grim, his brown hair streaked liberally with grey, his clothes more ragged and patched than ever. "There have been another couple of Dementor attacks," he announced, as Mrs Weasley passed him a large slice of birthday cake. "And they've found Igor Karkaroff's body in a shack up north. The Dark Mark had been set over it - well, frankly, I'm surprised he stayed alive for even a year after deserting the Death Eaters; Sirius's brother Regulus only managed a few days as far as I can remember." "It isn't our business to know," said Lupin unexpectedly. He had turned his back on the fire now, and faced Harry across Mr Weasley. "It's Dumbledore's business. Dumbledore trusts Severus, and that ought to be good enough for all of us." "But," said Harry, "just say - just say Dumbledore's wrong about Snape -" "People have said it, many times. It comes down to whether or not you trust Dumbledore's judgement. I do; therefore, I trust Severus." "But Dumbledore can make mistakes," argued Harry. "He says it himself. And you -" He looked Lupin straight in the eye. "- do you honestly like Snape?" "I neither like nor dislike Severus," said Lupin. "No, Harry, I am speaking the truth," he added, as Harry pulled a sceptical expression. "We shall never be bosom friends, perhaps; after all that happened between James and Sirius and Severus, there is too much bitterness there. But I do not forget that during the year I taught at Hogwarts, Severus made the Wolfsbane Potion for me every month, made it perfectly, so that I did not have to suffer as I usually do at the full moon." "But he 'accidentally' let it slip that you're a werewolf, so you had to leave!" said Harry angrily. Lupin shrugged. "The news would have leaked out anyway. We both know he wanted my job, but he could have wreaked much worse damage on me by tampering with the Potion. He kept me healthy. I must be grateful." "Maybe he didn't dare mess with the Potion with Dumbledore watching him!" said Harry. "You are determined to hate him, Harry," said Lupin with a faint smile. "And I understand; with James as your father, with Sirius as your godfather, you have inherited an old prejudice. By all means tell Dumbledore what you have told Arthur and me, but do not expect him to share your view of the matter; do not even expect him to be surprised by what you tell him. It might have been on Dumbledore's orders that Severus questioned Draco." "Oh, I've been underground," said Lupin. "Almost literally. That's why I haven't been able to write, Harry; sending letters to you would have been something of a give-away." "What do you mean?" "I've been living among my fellows, my equals," said Lupin. "Werewolves," he added, at Harry's look of incomprehension. "Nearly all of them are on Voldemort's side. Dumbledore wanted a spy and here I was... ready-made." He sounded a little bitter, and perhaps realised it, for he smiled more warmly as he went on, "I am not complaining; it is necessary work and who can do it better than I? However, it has been difficult gaining their trust. I bear the unmistakeable signs of having tried to live among wizards, you see, whereas they have shunned normal society and live on the margins, stealing - and sometimes killing - to eat." Lupin paused and then said, "It was Greyback who bit me." "What?" said Harry, astonished. "When - when you were a kid, you mean?" "Yes. My father had offended him. I did not know, for a very long time, the identity of the werewolf who had attacked me; I even felt pity for him, thinking that he had had no control, knowing by then how it felt to transform. But Greyback is not like that. At the full moon he positions himself close to victims, ensuring that he is near enough to strike. He plans it all. And this is the man Voldemort is using to marshal the werewolves. I cannot pretend my particular brand of reasoned argument is making much headway against Greyback's insistence that we werewolves deserve blood, that we ought to revenge ourselves on normal people." "But you are normal!" said Harry fiercely. "You've just got a - a problem -" Lupin burst out laughing. "Sometimes you remind me a lot of James. He called it my 'furry little problem' in company. Many people were under the impression that I owned a badly behaved rabbit." "Ron - Dumbledore's dead," said Ginny. "No!" Lupin looked wildly from Ginny to Harry, as though hoping the latter might contradict her, but when Harry did not, Lupin collapsed into a chair beside Bill's bed, his hands over his face. Harry had never seen Lupin lose control before; he felt as though he was intruding upon something private, indecent; he turned away and caught Ron's eye instead, exchanging in silence a look that confirmed what Ginny had said. "You see!" said a strained voice. Tonks was glaring at Lupin. "She still wants to marry him, even though he's been bitten! She doesn't care!" "It's different," said Lupin, barely moving his lips and looking suddenly tense. "Bill will not be a full werewolf. The cases are completely -" "But I don't care either, I don't care!" said Tonks, seizing the front of Lupin's robes and shaking them. "I've told you a million times..." And the meaning of Tonks's Patronus and her mouse-coloured hair, and the reason she had come running to find Dumbledore when she had heard a rumour someone had been attacked by Greyback, all suddenly became clear to Harry; it had not been Sirius that Tonks had fallen in love with after all... "And I've told you a million times," said Lupin, refusing to meet her eyes, staring at the floor, "that I am too old for you, too poor... too dangerous..." "I've said all along you're taking a ridiculous line on this, Remus," said Mrs Weasley over Fleur's shoulder as she patted her on the back. "I am not being ridiculous," said Lupin steadily. "Tonks deserves somebody young and whole." "But she wants you," said Mr Weasley, with a small smile. "And after all, Remus, young and whole men do not necessarily remain so." He gestured sadly at his son, lying between them. "This is... not the moment to discuss it," said Lupin, avoiding everybody's eyes as he looked around distractedly. "Dumbledore is dead..."