Directly from the manufacturers (was PoA Chapter 14 Summary)

[foxmoth at qnet.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 20531

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Rosmerta" <tmayor at m...> wrote:

> 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? 
>

	Suppose that Snape recognizes the *parchment*, not the knicknames, 
from his school days. He doesn't know that Filch confiscated it. He 
doesn't know it's a map, but has always suspected it has something to 
do with the way the Marauders were able to slip in and out of the 
grounds.
	When Snape finds the parchment on Harry, he suspects that Sirius 
has given Harry the parchment in hopes of luring him out of bounds. He 
calls Lupin, probably expecting that Lupin will identify the parchment 
and that it came from Sirius. Lupin, who knows that Filch had the map, 
pretends not to recognize it, thus arousing Snape's suspicions that 
Lupin and Sirius are in league. At that point, Snape lets loose with 
his "from the manufacturers" line, meaning Sirius and Lupin. But since 
Snape doesn't know who MWPP are, and Harry obviously doesn't either, 
Snape hasn't got anything concrete, so he has to let Harry go.
	I expect Snape doesn't reveal that he's seen the parchment in the 
past because he too was out of bounds or spying at the time.
Pippin