Marauder's Map how-to / Fleur / Head of Slytherin House

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston) <catlady@wicca.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48703

infiniT wrote:

<< That leads me to think that, even tho he was taking the Polyjuice 
Potion, his real name would show up on the Map, right? Maybe that 
can be filed under the burning question of how come nobody ever 
discovered PP's name as PP!Scabbers on the Map...Or did he not drink 
the Potion for a short time so that he really *was* Crouch Jr.? >>

I doubt he would skip the Polyjuice at the very time that he would 
MOST need to be Moody, in case he was caught burgling Snape's office. 
I believe that the Map shows people under their true names even when 
the people are transformed. Therefore, I used to often wonder how 
come the twins never noticed this Peter Pettigrew bloke hanging out 
with first brother Percy and then brother Ron? People told me that 
"perfect Percy" would leave his pet in the dorm room all day rather 
than carrying him around to classes, and the twins never felt a need 
to check who was in Percy's dorm room ... it's the people OUTSIDE 
the room who could catch them breaking rules! ... and therefore they 
never saw Peter's name while Percy had the rat. 

I believe the twins would occasionally want to check that there was 
no one in Percy's dorm room, when they wanted to sneak into it to 
prepare some 'joke' on Percy (or on Oliver), but I can make up an 
excuse why Percy took Scabbers out for an airing at just those times.

And if the twins never used the Map to look into Gryffindor dorm 
rooms, that would explain why they never noticed Ron (and presumably 
Percy  before him) in the same bed as someone named "Peter", which I 
really think would make them curious...

But why did they never see Ron and Peter together outside Gryffindor 
Tower? People have suggested that Fred and George, having used the 
Map to memorise all the secret passageways (presumably including ones 
they DIDN'T mention to Harry, because of not leading to Hogsmeade), 
used it only to check that 'the coast was clear' in places that they 
wanted to sneak through. Maybe no longer used it for even that 
purpose, if they had learned a specialized spell to do exactly that. 
To me, that seems dreadfully unimaginative of them -- *I* would have 
been constantly checking to find two people together in small private 
places! -- but would explain why they were so willing to give the Map 
to Harry: they weren't using it anymore.

Cheryl wrote:

<< First, I wonder how the Twins *learned* to operate the Map.

Oryomai wrote:

<< Even if they *are* the top students in the school, how did they 
find all the passageways? The one under the Whomping Willow is 
obvious, Lupin used it. But how about the one behind that witch? How 
in the name of Salazar Slytherin would they know to tap the hump and 
say "Dissendium"? >>

I don't know any canon for it, but I believe that there are magical 
ways to diagnosing magic. Like maybe you cast a spell on an artifact 
and it turns different colors to show what kinds of spells were used 
to create it, except probably way more complicated. I believe that 
Bill uses that sort of analytical spell in his work as a cursebreaker 
and Fred and George used that sort of analytical spell to figure out 
the Marauder's Map. I'm sure they have the ability; they are bright 
kids with powerful magic, as shown by inventing and making the Canary 
Creams and the Ton-Tongue Toffee.

So I assume that the "Marauders" (yes, I know that that is not what 
they called themselves -- the Map has singular "Marauder" -- but I'm 
sure that they called themselves SOMETHING and Marauders is TYPE of 
things those cliques called themselves in those days) used that type 
of analytical magic when exploring the castle. Maybe they could find 
a secret passage in the wall by tapping on it and hearing that it 
wasn't solid, or maybe a spell to state the density of material that 
the spell passed through? Then tracing the passage to its entrance. 
maybe by dowsing? Then maybe "Dissendium" is a perfectly common spell 
for opening things by splitting them (like jar and lid) rather than a 
password?

Is making the Map at age 16 is more impressive than TMR making the 
Diary at age 16? Sixteen year old wizards seem to be able to do great 
things -- what will Hermione do in book 5 or 6? 

Diana wrote:

<< [Fleur] 'll also be the first DADA teacher that won't be actively 
reviled, disliked or disdainfully ignored by at least some portion of 
the students and/or professors. >>

I think Hermione actively dislikes Fleur. Didn't she make a number of 
scornful remarks about the way Fleur dresses?

Cole Biancardi wrote:

<< I am curious if anyone else here has speculated who was the head 
of house of Slytherin during Snape's time. Since it has been stated 
that Snape was part of a gang of Slytherins who were all DeathEaters, 
doesn't it seem that the head of house at that time could have been a 
DeathEater as well? Could that gang of Slytherins really kept their 
involvment as DeathEaters from their head of house? Also, what 
happened to that person? >>

Someone proposed a theory that Karkaroff was head of Slytherin House 
at that time and recruited his Slytherin students as Death Eaters. 
There is the makings of a good story there, where K was trying to 
seduce young Severus into his bed and the Dark Lord's service, and 
Sevvie kept resisting until he went into a rage at what he perceived 
as Dumbledore's unfair favoritism of Gryffindor in (what he perceived 
as) not adequately punishing Sirius et alia for The Prank. Convinced 
that Dumbledore was a hypocrite who didn't practise the goodness he 
preached, Sevvie was utterly furious at himself for having been such 
a naive fool as to be deceived by Dumbledore's sweet talk, and 
presented himself to his Head of House: "Do you still want what 
you've been asking me for all year?"

In general I think that no one was recruited as a Death Eater while 
still at Hogwarts; they may have admired the Death Eaters from afar 
while in school, but they were recruited after they left school and 
joined the adult world. In that case, the Head of their old House 
might have talked up the Dark Side while they were in school and 
passed info to the DE recruiters about which kids would be useful and 
how to approach them.

OR the Head of their old House might have been firmly attached to the 
Light Side, horrified at what happened to his kids, and passed info 
to the Light Side about their weaknesses, how to defeat or capture 
them... imagine how awful he'd feel at seeing what had only recently 
been children in his care killed (Rosier, Wilkes) or put into Azkaban 
(the Lestranges) because of *his* information -- maybe he committed 
suicide. Less angstily, maybe he was killed by some of his own old 
students whom he was trying to arrest.

By the way, does Biancardi mean 'white heart'? 'Coal-white heart?'