Thoughts on the Marauder's Map

[Tom Wall <thomasmwall@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51905

I've been thinking about the Marauder's 
Map lately, and have been pondering the 
nature of this useful little magical 
instrument. 

Along the way, I've stumbled onto some 
questions and problems that both don't 
sit well with me, and that I can't seem 
to answer for myself. So, I figured that 
I'd throw out the canon I've collected, 
along with some comments, and see if 
anyone else out there might possibly 
shed some light on the subject for me.


<RELATED CANON>

1) "Well... when we were in our first 
year, Harry - <snip humorous innocence 
stuff> - George
(PoA, US paperback, Ch. 10, 191)

2) "It was a map showing every detail 
of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. 
But the truly remarkable thing were 
the tiny ink dots moving around it, 
each labeled with a name in miniscule 
writing. Astounded, Harry bent over it. 
A labeled dot in the top left corner 
showed that Professor Dumbledore was pacing in his study; the 
caretaker's cat, Mrs. Norris, was prowling the second floor; and 
Peeves the Poltergeist was currently bouncing around the trophy room. 
<snip observation of new passages>"
(PoA, US paperback, Ch. 10, 193)

3) "Now, Filch knows about these four" - he pointed them out - "but 
we're sure we're the only ones who know about *these.*" [emphasis 
converted from italics] - Fred
(PoA, US paperback, Ch. 10, 193)

4) "...something Harry had once heard Mr. Weasley say came flooding 
out of his memory.
*Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see 
where it keeps its brain.*" [emphasis converted from italics]
(PoA, US paperback, Ch. 10, 194)

5) "Then, quite suddenly, *as though following orders,* he rolled up 
the map, stuffed it inside his robes, and hurried to the door of the 
classroom." [emphasis is my own]
(PoA, US paperback, Ch. 10, 194)

6) "He pulled out the map again and saw, to his astonishment, that a 
new ink figure had *appeared* upon it, labeled Harry Potter. <snip>" 
[emphasis is my own]
(PoA, US paperback, Ch. 10, 194-95)

7) "I happen to know that this map was confiscated by Mr. Filch many 
years ago." - Lupin
(PoA, US paperback, Ch. 14, 289)

8) "I helped write it." - Lupin
(PoA, US paperback, Ch. 17, 347)

9) "I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's hut. Twenty 
minutes later, you left Hagrid, and set off back toward the castle. 
*But you were now accompanied by somebody else.*" - Lupin
[emphasis is my own]
(PoA, US paperback, Ch. 17, 347)

10) "Because the Marauder's Map never lies..." - Lupin 
(PoA, US paperback, Ch. 18, 351)

11) "Finally, in our fifth year, they managed [to complete the 
animagical transformation.]" - Lupin
(PoA, US paperback, Ch. 18, 354)

12) "I doubt whether any Hogwarts students ever found out more about 
the Hogwarts grounds and Hogsmeade than we did..." - Lupin
(PoA, US paperback, Ch. 18, 355)

13) "...And that's how we came to write the Marauder's Map, and sign 
it with our nicknames." - Lupin
(PoA, US paperback, Ch. 18, 355)

14) "A single dot was flitting around a room in the bottom left-hand 
corner - Snape's office. But the dot wasn't labeled "Severus 
Snape"... It was Bartemius Crouch." 
(GoF, US hardcover, Ch. 25, 466)

15) "I used the map I had taken from Harry Potter. The map that had 
almost ruined everything."
"Map?" said Dumbledore quickly. "What map is this?"
"Potter's map of Hogwarts. Potter saw me on it." - Crouch, Jr. and 
Dumbledore
(GoF, US hardcover, Ch. 35, 690)


<THOUGHTS AND QUESTIONS>

Now, I'm positive that there are more passages in canon that involve 
the map in some way, but at any rate, these are the ones that are 
directly related to my questions and musings.

Okey-dokey then:


- First, we know that Fred and George got the map in their first year 
at Hogwarts (1). I'm not sure that canon tells us exactly when they 
learned how to *use* it, but at any rate, by PoA they're in their 
fifth year, and Harry and Ron are in their third year, which means 
that Fred and George have had the map for the two-and-a-half years 
that HRH have been at Hogwarts.

Pettigrew's been with Ron by now for those two-and-a-half years *at* 
Hogwarts... and we don't know how long he might have been there with 
Percy, if at all, since it's not clear from canon that Scabbers was 
ever even at Hogwarts with Percy, just that he was Percy's rat.

So, why haven't Fred and George noticed, in two-and-a-half-years, 
that there's a guy named Peter Pettigrew following their little 
brother around?


- Second, we can see that the Marauder's Map shows quite a bit about 
the castle and the locations of its inhabitants (2). It even shows 
Dumbledore in his study (2), and Crouch Jr. in Snape's office (14.) I 
would say that that's fairly thorough. 

Yet, when Harry exits the classroom, his dot "appears" (3), meaning 
that it wasn't there before. We also learn that Lupin was watching 
the trio both before and after they entered Hagrid's hut around the 
time of Buckbeak's execution (9), and that Lupin is only aware of 
Pettigrew's presence on the map *after* the trio leave Hagrid's hut 
(9).

A few thoughts and questions here:

a) Although the map can show Dumbledore in his study, it doesn't show 
Harry in that classroom, so: 
b) Even though the map never lies (10,) maybe it doesn't always know 
the truth itself, in other words:
c) Are there still properties of the map that we don't know about, or 
perhaps:
d) Did the Marauder's have to have *been* in a room for its 
inhabitants to show themselves on the map, or even more exciting:
e) Are there properties of some Hogwarts *rooms* that prevent people 
from showing up on the map?


- Third, from quotes 11, 12, and 13 combined, we learn from Lupin 
that during their fifth year the Marauders wrote the map. So, if a 
bunch of fifth years can write a map that's enchanted like this, then:

a) Clearly members of the staff would be *able* to accomplish the 
same thing, so: 
b) Does it stand to reason that the staff would have something with 
similar properties, and:
c) Might this possibly explain how Dumbledore would *appear* to be so 
omniscient when it comes to Harry being in trouble within the castle?
d) For Dishwasherites, might this be a possible explanation (totally 
conjecture, all the same) for how Dumbledore would have reason to 
suspect Pettigrew?


- Fourth, Lupin speculates that he "doubts" that anyone came to know 
the grounds better than they did (12), and we know that there are 
*supposedly* passages that even Filch doesn't know about (3), and we 
know from quotes 12 and 13 together that the Marauders wrote the map 
based on their meanderings, which leads me to a few more thoughts and 
questions.

a) The map would appear in some ways to be based on the Marauders' 
experience directly, so:
b) The Chamber of Secrets is probably not on the map, and
c) That means that there *could* be (and probably *are*) other 
passages that aren't on the map at all because the Marauder's never 
found them, and:
d) What would happen to the map if HRH were to find one of these, in 
other words:
e) Would the new passage appear on the map, or:
f) Would it appear as though they were wandering in empty space?


- Fifth, Lupin says that he *knows* that Filch confiscated the 
map "many years ago" (7), so I'm eager to find out:

a) How Filch might have found out about the map, and:
b) Why Dumbledore doesn't appear to know about it (15), and:
c) If Filch got it while the Marauders were still students, or:
d) If perhaps they handed the map down to others and that it was 
eventually confiscated from them, and:
e) (canon not quoted here) WHY Filch would have considered the map to 
be 'highly dangerous?'


- Sixth, and finally, there are a few passages that kind of make me 
wary of the map, namely quotes 4 and 5, and 15 (by connection.) the 
first draws an odd link between the map and (paraphrased) "objects 
that can think for themselves" (4). The other actually indicates that 
Harry, after watching the map, acts 'as though following orders' (5). 
And although we know this chronologically before quote 15 occurs in 
GoF, we *are* nonetheless aware that Crouch!Moody was in possession 
of the map for a period of time, *AND* that it was "on" the whole 
time, *AND* that he was in contact with Lord Voldemort during that 
time, so:

a) Is it perhaps possible that the map was used by Lord Voldemort or 
some other spy during the last (first) conflict, and:
b) That it might have been tampered with somehow by a supporter of 
Lord Voldemort, and:
c) Can we safely assume that Lord Voldemort, via Crouch!Moody, is 
*now* aware of the secret passages into and out of Hogwarts?


Anyways, any thoughts on this would be helpful and very welcome.


-Tom


P.S. - I realize that my questions and conclusions, in the a-b-c 
sections of the post, are not always necessarily ordered in an 
obvious way - that's just how my mind connects things. I apologize if 
it's confusing, and if it's any consolation, it's often confusing to 
me, too. ;-)

P.P.S. - After I posted this, I noticed that there were a few typos 
that squeaked by my attention, and so I deleted it. Hope that wasn't 
a hassle for anyone who might have read it.