Harry Potter: 10 Important Details You Didn’t Know About Sirius and Remus’s Friendship

While they make for good movies, the Harry Potter adaptations leave a lot out. In fact, one of the most consistent criticisms that the series faces is that they completely butcher the source novels. Whether it be through poor character adaptations or just leaving massive (and important) chunks out of the story, the Harry Potter franchise could have been more faithfully adapted.

Unfortunately, two of the biggest targets are Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. The movies barely cover their friendship and important past, even though there’s a lot of good stuff there.

These are ten important details most people didn’t know about Sirius and Remus’s friendship.

10 They Helped Create The Marauder’s Map

One of the biggest sins of the movie series is not going into detail regarding the Marauder’s Map. The map plays an important role in Prisoner of Azkaban (and some subsequent movies), but viewers are never really given any information regarding its production.

The map was co-created by Remus and Sirius during their Hogwarts years, with help from James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. And speaking of a lack of information regarding the Marauders Map…

9 Sirius Is Padfoot And Remus Is Mooney

Prisoner of Azkaban explicitly mentions the names Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. Yet it fails to give viewers the rest of the admittedly very important information. Movie viewers would not know that those are the nicknames of Remus, Peter, Sirius, and James, respectively.

The nicknames derive from their Animagus (and werewolf) forms. Remus is a werewolf (Mooney), Peter is a rat (Wormtail), Sirius is a dog (Padfoot), and James was a stag (Prongs).

8 Remus Kept His True Form A Secret

It’s clear that Remus is very secretive of his werewolf form. This is made an important aspect of Prisoner of Azkaban, as Remus continuously abandons his teaching duties during his transformative period.

What audiences don’t learn is that Remus was secretive of his true form from a very young age, and even kept it from Sirius and the rest of the Marauders. Despite making up stories to explain his random disappearances, the Marauders eventually learned the truth and gladly accepted his condition.

7 Sirius Helped Tame Remus

By their fifth years, the Marauders were comfortable in their animal forms.

But Remus was still dangerous in his werewolf form, as he can’t control his more animalistic and ferocious tendencies. As such, both Sirius and James would use their Animagus forms (dog and stag, respectively) to help control Remus while he was in his werewolf form. The three would travel to the Shrieking Shack to ensure that Remus didn’t hurt anyone.

6 Snape Hated Remus Through His Association With Sirius

Prisoner of Azkaban goes into little detail regarding the history between Snape and Remus. It’s clear that there is some hostility there, but it never explores the issues in detail. Much of the hatred stems from their past, as Snape was often bullied by James and Sirius.

Even though Remus never personally partook in the bullying, he was deemed guilty by association. Snape’s hatred turned into fear when he saw Remus in his werewolf form.

5 Remus Grew Depressed Over Sirius’ Supposed Betrayal

The movies never really explore Sirius’ depression after the First Wizarding War. With James and Lily dead, Peter presumed dead, and Sirius a supposed traitor who had allegedly given up Lily and James (not to mention being arrested for killing dozens of muggles), Remus understandably grew despondent.

There’s a lot of history behind that Shrieking Shack sequence that the movie never really covers.

4 Remus Became Distrusted By Sirius

During the First Wizarding War, Sirius grew to distrust Remus.

Sirius began to harbor suspicions that Remus was working as a double agent with Voldemort and increasingly kept him out of the loop. When the prophecy was made regarding the downfall of Voldemort, Sirius kept Remus out of the plan to keep Harry safe. When the role of Secret Keeper changed from Sirius to Peter, Remus was left completely unawares. It was the beginning of the end of their friendship.

3 Remus Lived With Sirius

One of the series’ biggest sins is greatly excluding Sirius from the proceedings. While he does appear in later movies, his role is greatly reduced after Prisoner of Azkaban.

In fact, audiences are barely given any information regarding his general goings-on. After rejoining the Order of the Phoenix, Remus lived with his old friend Sirius at his house, 12 Grimmauld Place. While he’s seen in the house in the movies, it’s never explicitly mentioned that he’s living there.

2 Remus And Sirius Both Talked To Harry In The Fire

A great example of Remus’s general lack of movie respect is his absence from the Order of the Phoenix fireplace sequence. In the movie, Harry talks with Sirius about the Order, the movement of Voldemort, and the disappearances.

In the novel, Harry talks to both Sirius and Remus about Snape’s memories and the revelation that his father was a bully. It speaks on their shared past, and it’s a scene that’s sorely missing from the film adaptation.

1 Remus Never Told Dumbledore About Sirius

Remus once had the chance to tell Dumbledore that James, Sirius, and Peter were Animagi. But he refused. For one thing, revealing that Sirius was an unregistered Animagus would mean admitting an illegal practice.

But Dumbledore also didn’t know that they quelled Remus while he was in werewolf form, and admitting so would have greatly betrayed his trust in them.

About The Author

Nathan Sharp
(852 Articles Published)

Nathan Sharp is a writer from outside Toronto, Ontario. He has a love of movies and television, having enjoyed them for more than twenty years. His preferences include drama, action, and horror, with the former being a particular point of interest and fascination.

He also has a love of video games, particularly those of Rockstar.

Whether it be about film, television, or video games, Nathan loves a good discussion and has written hundreds of articles for Screen Rant.

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