Map musings, werewolfery, Lockhart

[Tabouli]

No: HPFGUIDX 36182

This Marauder's Map always makes me muse.  The more I think about it, the more questions come to mind...

Eloise:
> (The biggest potential plot hole, is that in PS/SS, it should have shown Lord 
Voldemort everywhere that Quirrel went.)<

Hmm, dunno, my feeling is that we can patch over Map plotholes like this with a mere "the Map wasn't designed to cope with unusual magically-induced circumstances", such as the double Hermione and Harry with the Time turner, or the phantom Voldemort living in Quirrell's head, or someone who turned up to Hogwarts in the arms of a weeping Filch, cursed into the form of a cat called Mrs Norris (glances fondly at the FLIRTIAC dinghy).  After all, it's working pretty hard already, and it *was* invented by a bunch of 15 year old boys who wanted it for "check the coast is clear" purposes, rather than "uncover magical mysteries" purposes.

Which brings me to something I've always wondered about - what level of talent would those lads have needed to develop something as impressive and powerful as the Marauder's Map at only 15 with only 4+ years of magical training?  I can see them coming up with the concept (whose imagination do people think was the mastermind there - James?), and I presume that dedicated research a la Hermione would probably yield the components of the theory eventually, but still, even Crouch/Moody is impressed (and alarmed).  Then there's Voldemort himself, who came up with that nifty "store my 16yo self in a diary" trick at a similar age.

My point is, the Trio are now at around the age and level of training when these feats were achieved, and I really don't think we've seen anything like the level of ingenuity and sheer craftsmanship exhibited by past generations.  OK, so the twins have come up with some Wizard Wheezes, but come now, a transfiguration potion in a snack is hardly up there with the Marauder's Map or Riddle's diary.   And all the tricky situations we've seen wriggled out of thus far have been dealt with fairly simply in magical terms - an Accio spell to get a broomstick, a Polyjuice potion.

Moreover, researching an answer to a specific question as simple as "how can Harry breathe underwater?" looked to be insanely difficult in GoF in the absence of some form of magical catalogue or Boolean search engine.  Compare that with the sort of research and ingenuity required to develop the Map! (and why hasn't anyone else in the adult world come up with something along these lines for surveillance purposes before or since - is this concept so original and creative as all that?  Or is it just that Hogwarts is the only place in the Wizarding World which a decent research library, and the university-less adult wizard population just doesn't have the access to information Hogwarts students do?)

Could it be that in fifth year students reach a critical mass of magical knowledge (perhaps a library search engine spell?) which enables them to invent fiendishly clever magical devices?  Will we see the Trio collaborating on some impossibly ingenious device in OoP?  Or are they too busy rescuing each other and the world from Voldemort's evil plans to find time to invent complex magical devices, or less ingenious/talented/imaginative than their forbears?  Moreover, if three fifth year students can (a) research and (b) successfully execute the magic to turn themselves into Animagi, and even (c) teach and help the "talentless" Pettigrew to do something so purportedly difficult, why doesn't everyone do it?  (and surely the ever-burgeoning number of unregistered Animagi should come as no surprise).

On the subject of the Map, one more musing: the Map never lies, right?  Shows who polyjuiced and animagified people really are, right?  OK then - what do you think would happen if and when Voldemort turns up in Hogwarts? (let's avoid the Quirrell bit for now - arguably he wasn't properly present then).  Would he show up as Tom Riddle or Lord Voldemort?  Is your map label fixed at birth, or can it change if your "true nature" changes? (and at what point would Tom's label have swapped to Voldemort, if so?)

Dicentra:
> just as Lupin transformed into a werewolf--Pettigrew gets hold of Lupin's dropped wand (***note to those who wonder about lost wands: apparently, they do get dropped when wizards transform***) <
Devin:
> Even leaving this aside, werewolves maybe don't have the same 
rules of Animagi as far as wands are concerned (and clothes?--does it 
mention anywhere for sure about the werewolf and clothes?).  I still 
think Animagi retain their wands (they certainly seem to retain their 
clothes).  Another question, canon is strangely silent on the state 
of Pettigrew's clothes in PoA...is he naked?<

I think the fact that the werewolf transformation is *involuntary* is significant here.  Presumably if clothes transform, a wand in the robe pocket would transform as well.  Mind you, I've always found this a bit too convenient for my liking, as I recounted moons ago in my "Animagus Clothing Cop-Out" post...

Hey, here's a truly grisly end to the series for everyone... Harry suddenly realises that the wolf that has been set on him in a last gesture of defiance from an almost-dead Voldemort is in fact Lupin in werewolf form, and has seconds to come up with a plan to subdue him and put him somewhere safely where he can wait for sunrise.  While struggling to get an appropriate spell organised, Harry gets bitten and knocked unconscious.  The next, last morning, he awakens in the hospital wing, to discover that Moody arrived just in time to kill Lupin and Stun him.  Harry, Madame Pomfrey's protests unregistered in his ears, rises blankly from his bed and walks out into the world to face the rest of his life as a werewolf, the fame of killing Voldemort never compensating for the mark of Lupin's teeth on his throat, fading to a new, crescent shaped SCAR...

(note to those who haven't read this: JKR claims that the last word of Book 7 will be "scar").

Nyarth:
> But this raises another question in my mind.  Vampire or no, why 
didn't Snape tell anyone about Lupin?  I know Dumbledore made him 
promise not to, but at that early age was a promise to Dumbledore 
really worth that much to him?  You'd think he'd be itching to run 
off and tell everyone that that nasty Gryffindor is a werewolf, and 
he was right all along... and instead he spends his remaining two 
years at Hogwarts biting his tongue.  <

Hmmm, I see the point, but not necessarily.  There's another factor to take into account - Snape, however determined to smear Lupin and friends, has just had the fright of his life.  Were it not for James, he'd have been torn to pieces by a werewolf or at the very least a severely injured werewolf himself.  I think that might well be traumatic enough to seal his lips and keep his head down for a couple of years.  After all, if (in Snape's mind) Sirius was murderous enough to send him into the jaws of a werewolf in return for greasy snooping, the mind boggles to think what he might do to someone who publicly exposed one of Sirius' best friends to public condemnation and disgrace.

In closing, do people think Lockhart went to Hogwarts?  If so, and if we can assume he's young enough to have been there when Dumbledore was about (which surely he was, as D was around even 50 years ago as Transfiguration teacher), surely Dumbledore and his ex-schoolmates at least would have known he wasn't talented enough to do the tasks of which he boasted.  I'd bet he had an image makeover at some stage (after discovering he could hide his weak-chinned weediness with flamboyance and foppery): could he have adopted "Gilderoy Lockhart" as a stage name as well?  Wouldn't have fooled Dumbledore, of course, but then, D did seem to know exactly what he was hiring in Lockhart, judging by his "hoist with your own petard" comments.  So why hire him?  Must come back to his philosophy about "life lessons" being more important in the long run.  Teach students not to be fooled by appearances, maybe.

Tabouli.


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