Marauder's Map boundaries nitpick; following orders; Sirius correction

[dfrankis at dial.pipex.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 19843

Rereading the relevant bits of PoA, Lupin was reading the map to keep 
an eye on Harry: 'I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's 
hut.  Twenty minutes later, you left Hagrid, and set off back towards 
the castle.  But now you were accompanied by somebody else.' (Peter)

I take this to imply that Lupin couldn't actually see inside the hut, 
otherwise he would have spotted Peter there when they arrived, if not 
before.  This would explain why, if Lupin had used the map earlier, 
Peter would not appear.

Then, Snape, later: 'One glance... told me all I needed to know.  I 
saw you running along this passageway and out of sight.'  So the 
Shrieking Shack is off the edge of the map (and hence Snape didn't 
see Peter, Black or the children).

Later still (in Harry's and Hermione's time line) they stay just 
inside the forbidden forest to hide while all this is going on, 
initially near Hagrid's hut, then towards the Willow to get a view, 
so it's plausible they were off the edge on the two occasions that we 
know the map was being looked at.

On the question Harry suddenly behaving 'as though following orders', 
it occurs to me that (as with setting Dobby free, and stabbing the 
diary with the Basilisk tooth, and maybe forcing the drops of light 
back along the wand line) Harry has a gift of knowing what to do.  
This behaviour is therefore characteristic of Harry, not the map.  
The trip to Hogsmeade is important because of Fudge's revelations 
about the Fidelius charm.

On an earlier post, I said Sirius set up base in the Shack.  I notice 
that he says that he has been living in the Forbidden Forest - in 
which case the shack is just a useful place for disposing of Peter.

David