Snape on the prowl - Lupin's name - Snape and the Marauders' Map

[Muridae]

No: HPFGUIDX 32841

Jo Ellen wrote:

>I agree with the statement about Snape being happy to nail any
>student he finds breaking the rules.I personally got the impression
>he enjoys it. He must be lying in wait for them because I have not
>always gotten an explaination as to why Snape is roaming the castle
>in the middle of the night.

Chronic insomniac, perhaps? All the events of his Death-Eater days may 
come back to haunt him in the wee small hours, prompting him to combat 
it by taking a little relaxing stroll around the castle before returning 
to bed to catch a few more hours of fitful sleep. If he manages to feel 
better about himself by catching a few students up to no good in the 
process, then he might well account it a sleepless night well spent.

Martin Smith wrote:

>So, okay, "Lupin" is derived from the latin word for wolf, lupus.
>And "Remus" brings to mind the legend of Romulus and Remus, who were brought
>up by a she-wolf.
>But, is not lupin also a flower? Yes it is (just watch the MP Flying Circus
>episode where gentleman/robber Dennis Moore steals lupins from the rich and
>hand to the poor).
>And what is Remus other than "summer" spelt backwards and missing a not so
>important m?
>Therefore, the PoA DADA professor's name does not always mean "Werewolf" but
>sometimes "summer flower". Which, IMHO, describes his personality rather
>well: most of the time being a calm, friendly man, like a summer flower, and
>sometimes a ferocious killer werewolf. Perhaps mum and dad Lupin first
>thought of the flower meaning of the name, and never considered the
>possibility of him becoming a werewolf.
>Which (if this even by my standards far-fetched theory holds) would put him
>in the ever-growing family of florists in Potterverse: Lily, Petunia,
>Sprout, Narcissa... meet Lupin! And head of the family, the creature who
>makes all flowers come to life, the bumblebee, aka Dumbledore.

This was very much my thought also, as Lupin's big secret was slowly 
revealed. When we first met him on the train I had him pegged as yet 
another flower name having, like Martin, noticed that the wizarding 
world has a great fondness for "nature" names. It also likes to use 
Latin, or at least names that have Roman origins, and that seemed as 
good an origin for "Remus" as any.

I found myself having to reassess the name at the point where Snape 
assigned the Gryffindor DADA class that werewolf essay for homework, and 
was pretty much convinced that both of Lupin's names had double meaning 
when Lupin himself was so very happy to assure the kids that they didn't 
need to do that homework assignment after all. But I do think that the 
double meaning is deliberate.

Rowling clearly likes to play with her characters names, and makes many 
of them appropriate to the characters talents and circumstances, and 
that's something that you learn to look out for. When the werewolf hints 
and evidence start stacking up, Lupin's name becomes more and more 
damning in its connotations. But if all we'd ever heard of werewolves 
was the rumour that they might be roaming the Dark Forest, wouldn't it 
have been possible to take a certain DADA professor's name at face 
value? Even if he *is* the DADA professor and experience tells us that 
therefore something *must* be up with him?

Besides, Mum and Dad Lupin wouldn't have had much choice about saddling 
their soon-to-be-bitten-by-a-werewolf child with their surname. 
Although, I guess, if the irony had occurred to them later on after 
Remus had suffered that life-changing bite, they *could* have changed 
their family's name by deed poll.

Brian Yoon wrote:

>The Map had already been confiscated once.  Even though the authorities
>never actually figured it out (I still wonder how the Weasley twins did),

It was probably easier for the twins to work it out than it was for the 
person who confiscated it. Filch is a Squib, after all. And as it had 
been locked away in one of the filing cabinets in his office, it's quite 
likely that it went no further than Filch himself. If he'd taken it to 
Dumbledore to show him, Dumbledore would most likely have recognised the 
type of magical artefact it had to be in the same way as Snape did, but 
he'd also probably have held on to it. And Filch would have been 
unlikely to take it to him in the first place, because it would have 
been admitting that he didn't know how to figure it out for himself, and 
we *know* that he's touchy on the subject of his lack of wizarding 
aptitude.

>it
>might have been involved in some mischief beforehand to warrant being taken.
>Perhaps Snape had been involved in an accident with the Map before?  He
>might just think it was Dark Magic, as he accused it of being.

I don't think that Snape knew it was a map. Just that he knew enough to 
know that it was an enchanted parchment with hidden writing on it. In 
some ways it's a little similar to Tom Riddle's diary (it even writes 
back), and he knew enough about such things in general terms to be able 
to force it to activate itself. But it had clearly been password 
protected, quite likely specifically against him (and others), so 
although he gets a barrage of insults from MWPP, he doesn't actually get 
to see the map in action until he goes to Lupin's office to remind him 
about taking his potion. If it had been lying on Lupin's desk in its 
blank and dormant state he might not have been able to break through the 
layers of protection, but Lupin had rushed off to the Shrieking Shack 
and left it working, so all he had to do was look.

>He might not have known it was a Map until he actually saw it on Lupin's
>desk.

I agree. I think that as a result of the insults that appeared when he 
tried to activate it earlier he had a pretty good idea who might have 
written it though.

-- 
Muridae