New thought, old topic

[cynthiaanncoe at home.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 24791

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Amanda Lewanski <editor at t...> wrote:
> Well, one can only hope it's a new thought.
> 
> My husband is just about through PoA (rejoice with me!), and in 
casting
> a glance over at him as he was reading, I noticed he was at the 
scene in
> Snape's office, just after Draco has reported seeing Harry's head in
> Hogsmeade. It was the part where he's discussing the map with Lupin.
> 
> I had posted before, eons ago, my problem with this scene--if Snape
> knows who the authors of the map are, then his questions to Lupin 
seem
> very odd and veiled and not in character. If he doesn't, how does he
> know enough to be worried that Harry got the map directly from the
> manufacturers? I could never resolve this.
> 
> But I had a new thought. Snape pretty clearly does not know *who* 
Moony,
> Padfoot, Wormtail, and Prongs were. But they were using those 
nicknames
> "internally" while still at school. So it occurred to me that it was
> abundantly likely that Snape had had jokes or tricks or amusing 
hexes or
> something played/cast on him that were signed or identified by those
> aliases. He knows those names, indeed, from past days, and I'll bet 
his
> past experience with those names is what leads him to think the map 
is a
> danger and/or Harry's obtaining it from the makers is bad.
> 
> *However,* I'll bet he has no idea who the real people behind those
> aliases are, which is why he could speak that way to Lupin, as if 
he had
> no idea. He didn't. But he *had* seen the four aliases before.
> 
> This is borne out in the conversation between Lupin, Harry, and Ron
> immediately after they leave Snape's office. Harry asks, "Why did 
Snape
> think I'd got it from the manufacturs?" and Lupin answers, "Because
> those manufacturers would have wanted to lure you out of the school"
> (paraphrasing a bit). The implication is clear that Lupin knows two
> things: (a) that Snape knew both the names and the character of the
> mapmakers, and (b) that Snape didn't know Lupin himself was one. 
This
> implies a bit of past history.
> 
> So I'm throwing out to the group my theory that Snape had had prior
> experience, probably bad, with jokes or other stuff from "Moony,
> Padfoot, Wormtail, & Prongs," recognized those names, and considered
> them a danger and possibly affiliated with dark magic. BUT, Snape 
did
> not know *who* Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, or Prongs actually *were,*
> which explains the way he discusses the map and the manufacturers 
with
> Lupin the way he does. Nothing in Snape's manner indicates he had 
any
> idea that Lupin was one of those mapmakers; he consulted him 
because he
> was the DADA teacher and a pro in the field.
> 
> So, have I explained the oddness? It seems right to me.
> 
> --Amanda, excited about maybe explaining something!


Amanda, you should be excited, because I think you hit the nail on 
the head.  I'm reviving this post because I have one extra idea to 
make your theory work.

I suggest that the reason that Snape calls Lupin has something to do 
with the joke Sirius played on Snape to cause Snape to almost run 
into Lupin/werewolf in the Shrieking Shack.  Perhaps the joke was 
played using the Marauder's Map.  Sirius had betwitched the map to 
tip Snape off about Lupin, using the same sort of charm that caused 
it to insult Snape.  

So when Snape sees these same nicknames insulting him, he calls 
Lupin.  Snape summons Lupin not because Lupin is the DADA teacher 
(Snape doesn't even respect Lupin enough to give him the satisfaction 
of seeking Lupin's advice).  Rather, Snape summons Lupin because 
Snape thinks Lupin was "in on the joke" the last time Snape saw the 
Marauder's Map and can explain why the map is behaving the same way 
it did when Snape was tricked long ago.

This also makes sense when we are told that Lupin is doing some very 
fast thinking.  He is piecing together that Snape has seen the map 
before, that it was the source of the joke, etc.

Nice work, Amanda.

Cindy