Animals on Marauder's Map (Was: Mrs Norris: A Character Study)

[Steve Bates]

No: HPFGUIDX 1086

 > Nope, that doesn't work either, sadly - Harry saw Moody as Barty
> Crouch, remember?
> 
> Jeremy

Don't worry, I have an answer for that too :-).  It has to do with 
the exact nature of names.  Don't ask me for specifics, but I believe 
names have a lot of special significance in some cultures, even a 
magical significance; I am thinking mainly of Native American and 
African cultures, but maybe the Wiccans reading this could tell me if 
a person's name has a special significance in the Wiccan religion.
It can be said of a name that it is a "gift" from the parents to the 
child; in Harry's case his name is one of the few connections he has 
with his parents.  In a magical sense, then, only a name that is 
given has significance.  Barty Crouch stole Moody's identity, and 
thus his name, but since the name was taken, not given, the Map just 
wouldn't recognize the change.  Crouch's change of name is 
not "true".  But Wormtail's situation is different.  As a rat, he was 
adopted into the Weasley family and *given*, freely given, the name 
Scabbers.  In at least some sense, the Weasleys were his adopted 
parents, so the name they gave him would have the same significance 
as his other given name.  So it would be possible for the map to show 
either name for Wormtail, depending on who was using the map.