TBAY: the Marauder's Map

[violetbaudelaire2002]

No: HPFGUIDX 39881

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "random_monkey0_0" <ntg85 at p...> 
wrote:
> This must have been brought up before, but I didn't see many 
theories 
> on the FAQ:
> 
> How did Fred and George figure out how to work the 
Marauder's Map?
> If they found the map in Filch's office, they couldn't have been 
given 
> instructions on how to use it. How on earth could they have 
come up 
> with the phrase, "I solemly swear I am up to no good?" 
Consider how 
> many possible combinations of words there are in the English 
language, 
> compounded by the fact that it would have been much more 
secure for 
> the Marauders to come up with a string of gibberish or foreign 
words, 
> instead of an actual phrase. Granted, they might have used a 
real 
> sentence for the ease of memory (this *is* a group with Peter 
> Pettigrew in it, after all), but that's still a lot of phrases to go 
> through. 
> 
> I have several theories, with varying levels of plausability:

I am happy this subject was brought up, though as I am new 
here, this could all be previously hashed material. I had a slight 
revelation (not the right word...) upon my last reading of SS- Fred 
and George could not have had (or at least been using) the  
Marauder's Map at the time of SS. Somewhere in ch. 11 or 12 of 
the US version, they say that they are going to check out a 
passage that Lee Jordan discovered, though they think it was the 
one they found in their first year. If they were using the map (they 
say in PoA that they got it first year), then they wouldn't have to 
check out this passage- they would know of its existence or lack 
thereof. 
If my math is correct (and my math tends to be shaky), Fred and 
George are third years in SS (right?)- they snagged the map first 
year, and at least by fifth year (the time of PoA) they know how to 
use it. Theoretically they could have been playing around with 
combinations for four years.
It is also possible that the map told them how it worked- maybe 
by some magic, or come act of Fred and George, the map was 
able to sense a prankster vibe/connection.
Or- maybe our good friend Scabbers told them (subliminal 
messaging, anyone?). It is save to assume that  animagi retain 
some level of human cognitive  function, though according to 
Sirius  they lose human emotions- they can obviously hear, can 
they speak?
The biggest question about the map is how Fred and George 
never noticed someone with the name Pettigrew on the map, but 
Lupin  did. Maybe I'm straying from the book- but maybe the map 
didn't show the same things to them that it showed Harry or even 
the makers of the map. Maybe Fred and George didn't have the 
right magic/vibe/whatever to fully utilize the map...

just thoughts... 
VioletBaudelaire- who is completely addicted to children's 
literature and  will never grow up