Directly from the manufacturers (was PoA Chapter 14 Summary)

[Rosmerta]

No: HPFGUIDX 20526

First off, before I get into my extremely-nitpicky-but-to-me-hugely-
troublesome question below, I have to get on my soapbox for a minute 
and say that I think "Snape's Grudge" is the single best-written 
chapter in Harry Potter so far (this makes up for my recent bash of 
JKR on the FAT issue). 

In one chapter, we get enormous and emotional leaps forward in 
character development for Harry, Lupin, and most of all Snape (who 
*wouldn't* want to play him onscreen after reading his lines in this 
chapter alone?). We get major plot developments, some of which last 
into book 4 and presumably 5-7. And in one chapter we get not one but 
two of the best speeches in the entire series: Snape to Harry ("let 
the ordinary people worry about his safety! Harry Potter goes where 
he wants to...") and Lupin ("Your parents gave their lives to keep 
you alive, Harry. A poor way to repay them...") 

That said, I wonder if there's anybody willing to "go deep" with me 
on this "directly from the manufacturers" quote. I have never 
understood it from the moment I first read it. Consider: 

If Snape *does* know who MWPP are 1) why call Lupin? The second Snape 
sees their names appear under the very specific insults directed his 
way, it would be obvious (if he knew who they were) that the 
parchment (he doesn't yet know it's a map) is some artifact left over 
from their time at Hogwarts. Why call Remus? 

2) Let's say, for the sake of argument, that Snape does know who they 
are and that he calls Lupin (who would in that case be "one of them") 
to confront him directly. If so, what exactly is he saying by asking 
if Harry got it "directly from the manufacturers?" Of the four 
manufacturers, Pettigrew is believed to be dead by everybody but 
Sirius. Sirius is still believed by Harry and Snape and even Lupin at 
this point to be murderously after Harry and so therefore not 
supplying him with useful gifts. 

So Snape is either asking Lupin, "Did Harry somehow get this map from 
his dead father?" or "Did you, a person I already suspect as aiding 
and abetting Sirius Black, give this map to Harry?" The former is 
nearly impossible, given Harry's complete ignorance of his father pre-
Hogwarts and his 11-year imprisonment at the Dursley's, which Snape 
presumably knows about. So, by process of elimination, is Snape 
really asking Lupin, "did you give this to Harry?" 

But if that is what Snape's asking--if he knows who MWPP are in other 
words--it seems completely out of character (and also irresponsible 
as a teacher and official Hogwarts gadfly) that Snape would let the 
momentary noise of Ron bursting in and the extremely mild blustering 
of Lupin distract him enough to let them all leave his office scott-
free and with the map in tow.

If you remove that one sentence ("directly from the manufactuers") 
from the chapter, everything else Snape says and does before and 
after (even the shrieking shack scenes later on) seems to indicate 
that he of course knows who James etc. were but *doesn't* know them 
by their nicknames, Moony Wormtail Padfoot and Prongs. In which case, 
what the heck *did* Snape mean with his "manufacturers" line? 

~Rosmerta
who's been waiting for this chapter to come up so she could ask this 
question--can you tell?