Remus Lupin, Werewolf Hunter

Dumbledore made the announcements. "Let us all welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Remus Lupin."

The tall, well-dressed man at the staff table stood up. He looked to be a young man, in his thirties, with a confident, athletic bearing and neatly trimmed, sandy hair. He waved graciously at the students, many of whom were gasping.

"Blimey!" said Ron. "I can't believe they got Remus Lupin! Defense class this year is going to be wicked!" he said admiringly.

"Who?" said Harry.

"The famous werewolf hunter! He's killed more werewolves than anyone!"

—-

There was one word written on the blackboard: Werewolves.

Professor Lupin addressed the class with his loud, confident voice. "I know that you know what I'm famous for, so let's get this subject out of the way, shall we? This won't be the only subject I cover this year, of course, but I thought I might as well teach it first, since so many of you have been asking me questions about werewolves already. I told Professor Dumbledore that I could spare only one year of my time to teach at Hogwarts, so it makes sense that I spend a good part of that year focused on my specialty. The most important thing to know about werewolves is that they are soulless, evil, deserving nothing but death. Although some may disguise themselves as human in order to get closer to their victims—"

Hermione's hand was up and waving.

"Yes? You have a question?"

"There is disagreement about the nature of werewolves," said Hermione. "Many authors agree with you that werewolves are evil, but others strongly disagree, saying that they are no more or less evil than humans. In fact, they deserve our sympathy for—"

Professor Lupin laughed. "Oh, we have a werewolf lover in our class, do we? Let me tell you a story about how deceptive werewolves are, little girl. My father, Lyall Lupin, specialized in dark creatures too. Once when he was working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, they were investigating a case where two children had been mauled by a werewolf. They captured a werewolf and brought him in for questioning. He claimed to be nothing more than a Muggle tramp who was utterly amazed at finding himself in a room full of wizards, and horrified by the talk about the poor, dead children. His filthy clothing and lack of wand were sufficient to persuade two overworked and ignorant members of the questioning committee that he was telling the truth, but my father was not so easily fooled. He recognised certain telltale signs in the werewolf's appearance and behaviour and told the committee that he ought to be kept in detention until the next full moon, a mere twenty-four hours later."

Professor Lupin had his audience at the edge of their seats. He smiled to see them so rapt, and continued.

"The werewolf sat in silence while my father was laughed at by his fellow committee members ('Lyall, you just stick to Welsh Boggarts, that's what you're good at'). My father, generally a mild-mannered man, grew angry. He drew his wand, stunned both the werewolf and his two fellow committee members, and transported the werewolf to our home, where he kept him imprisoned in one of our sheds, which my father had heavily reinforced for containing dark creatures. Sure enough, when the full moon rose, we heard terrifying howls coming from that shed as the werewolf transformed.

"As generally happens when werewolves transform while trapped in an enclosed space, without humans to bite, this werewolf turned on himself, biting himself with the ferocity usually reserved for human victims. By the time he transformed back to his human guise at moonset, he was grievously injured and quite weakened. It was easy for my father to finish him off. He let me watch. I was only four at the time. It made quite an impression on me. I knew then what I wanted to do for my career."

Hermione gasped. Without even raising her hand, she asked, "But was there any proof that this was the werewolf that had killed those children?"

Professor Lupin shrugged. "What does it matter? He was a werewolf."

Hermione made up her mind right then. She had a time turner and she knew how to use it. She would go back in time and save that poor innocent werewolf.