Lupin shook his head with a smile.
"Yes," he said, "but not just him, many have used it. I've told you, spells go through phases of popularity..."
"But it sounds like it was invented around the time when you were in school." Harry insisted.
"Not necessarily. Like anything else, spells have their trendy and outdated times." He looked intently at Harry's face, then calmly said, "Are you suspecting the book came from your father? But James was Pure-blood, Harry, I assure you, he never asked us to call him 'Prince'."
"Oh, no," Harry waved his hand, "I'm not suspecting my dad. The Half-Blood Prince had high skills in potions, and I know how capable my dad was in Magic Potion..."
Lupin's expression twitched as if holding back laughter.
"Well." He laughed, "Your dad... um, wasn't great at potions. We also wondered why your mother, who was so brilliant in potion-making, was interested in your father."
"To be honest, I wonder too." Harry nodded vigorously.
But he wouldn't say that part of the reason his parents got together was thanks to Vivi.
When Lily was undecided, it was Vivi who helped her make up her mind to get together with James.
Of course, Harry deserves some credit too, since Vivi wanted to ensure Harry was born smoothly, which is why she matched Lily and James.
Otherwise, Vivi probably wouldn't have cared who James was.
"But one thing is for sure, at least the Half-Blood Prince…" Lupin thought for a moment then couldn't help but laugh, "most likely was a Hogwarts student."
Harry's face darkened.
"Look at what you said, it's like saying nothing at all." He said.
"Hahahaha…" Lupin laughed heartily, "But I really don't know who the Half-Blood Prince is — at least none of the four Plunderers are, your dad and Sirius were Pure-bloods, and I'm a Werewolf, if there were a nickname, it should be Half-blood Wolf King — and Peter Pettigrew? He's quite insecure… maybe you could ask Severus?"
"Alright." Harry shrugged, "I'm just curious anyway, asking Professor Snape is out of the question, I don't want him using the opportunity to deduct points from Gryffindor."
"Something Severus would do." Lupin nodded.
He even thought, if James knew Snape got points deducted from Harry for this, what would he do.
Old Snot Spirit, deserving of an Inverted Golden Bell!
At this moment, the door opened again, and Sirius returned to Grimmauld Square Number Twelve.
As soon as he entered, Sirius was looking around the room, and when his eyes landed on Lupin, he spread his arms wide and walked up with a laugh, giving Lupin a hug.
"Old buddy!" He said with a beaming smile, "Did you know? Today the Aurors achieved a major success — they caught the werewolf Fenrir Greyback!"
Hearing Sirius's words, Lupin's pupils contracted violently.
Then he plopped down onto the sofa.
"Good, good... finally caught him!" Lupin muttered.
"Fenrir Greyback?"
Hermione, who had unknowingly walked over, asked curiously upon hearing the name.
"Haven't you heard of him?" Lupin turned his head to ask.
"No." Hermione answered truthfully.
"I have." Neville raised his hand and said: "My Grandma used to scare me by saying Greyback would come grab me, then I'd stop crying..."
"My mom also used Greyback to scare me!" Draco suddenly chimed in.
"Us too." The Weasley family kids said in unison.
It was clear that Pure-blood Wizard families loved using Greyback as a boogeyman to scare their kids...
Mentioning Greyback worked better than You-Know-Who when kids cried at night.
A special technique for kids, right?
"Let me explain."
Lupin paused a moment, then smiled.
"Fenrir Greyback is the most savage werewolf in the world today, he makes it his mission to bite and infect as many people as he can, wanting to create a legion of werewolves to defeat wizards — Greyback targets children specifically... he says to bite them while they're young, then take them away from their parents, raising them to hate wizards."
He paused again and added, "It was Greyback who bit me."
"What?" Hermione asked in shock, "When you were young?"
"Yes. My father offended him." Lupin said, "For a long time I didn't know which werewolf attacked me. I even felt sorry for him, thinking he couldn't control himself, when I already knew what it felt like to transform."
He glanced at Hermione, "But Greyback's not like that, during full moons, he gets close to his prey, ensuring his attacks are successful — it's all premeditated, just to create more werewolves."
"That's what I admire about you, Remus." Harry said wistfully: "You suppressed those urges, for you it's just a furry little problem—"
Lupin patted Harry's shoulder.
"You know, Harry? I've always thought of you as another James — he used to say in public it's my 'furry little problem,' so much so that people thought I had a disobedient rabbit."
Saying that, Lupin couldn't help but laugh, "Speaking of which, your mother only learned what it was after dating your dad, I remember she even asked me where that rabbit had gone."
Harry thought about it, indeed something his mom would do.
At that moment, Mr. Weasley walked over with a bowl of eggnog.
"Who wants some eggnog?" he chuckled as he asked.
"I'll have some, sir." Hermione stepped forward, holding a small bowl.
Ron also approached with a bowl but was stopped by Mrs. Weasley.
"You know," Sirius handed his eggnog to Ron, "in Italy, even children get a bit of wine during meals..."
"But this is the United Kingdom." Mrs. Weasley said sternly, "My kids aren't of age, I won't allow them to drink!"
Eggnog, also known as egg milk punch, is a traditional Christmas drink prepared from eggs, milk, and rum.
While it is a Christmas drink, it does contain alcohol — though most families wouldn't stop kids from having some to boost the holiday spirit.
But Mrs. Weasley evidently thought differently.
"Actually, drinking age in the UK is earlier." Hermione muttered in a low voice to Harry.
It was apparent she wasn't like Fleur, at least she didn't confront Mrs. Weasley loudly.
But Ron found an opportunity and, when Mrs. Weasley wasn't looking, downed the eggnog in one gulp.
"One day, I'll drink Flaming Whiskey to my heart's content." He whispered to his twin brothers.
"Mom!" The twins suddenly called out in unison, "Ron said he will drink Flaming Whiskey to his fill one day!"
Ron was stunned, he truly didn't expect his brothers to sell him out so quickly.
I mean, you two...
"Ronald Weasley!" Mrs. Weasley yelled, "Even when you're of age, I'll never allow you to binge drink! Never!"
"I didn't!" Ron retorted, "Fred and George made it up!"
But Mrs. Weasley no longer looked his way, turning back to direct the House-Elves in preparing Christmas ingredients.