Thoughts on the Marauder's Map

[Tom Wall <thomasmwall@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51910

Ed wrote:
There were about 4 versions of 
this post in email (and I only 
scanned the ones after the first 
-- thinking they were material the 
same).


I reply:
Yeah, sorry about that - I guess that's a result of the deleting and 
re-posting to try and cover my tracks on the typos.

Ed wrote:
While Tom raises some good questions, isn't he not asking the 
trickiest one?
 
And that is:  When Lupin and/or Snape are looking at the map, 
wouldn't an accurate map show 2 Harry Potters and 2 Hermione Grangers 
because of the Time Turner?

Or is the question:  Because the map must show 2 each of these 
characters, why is that not commented upon by the adults looking at 
the map?


I reply:
Well, Lupin *could* have been aware of the Time Turner and just not 
commented. I am fairly certain that he would have been able to see 
both HH pairs. My only guess: maybe the reason he didn't talk about 
it, and maybe the reason he might not have even noticed it is because 
he was too focused on (and shocked by) Sirius and Pettigrew.

But, by the time that Snape got to Lupin's office, all he saw on the 
map was Lupin darting down the passage. So, by that point, one of the 
HH pairs was already in the Shrieking Shack, which *isn't* on the 
map, meaning that Snape would have only seen one HH pair, the one 
hiding in the forest... so no biggie there, and that would also 
explain why Snape isn't able to connect the Time-Turner with foul 
play later on in the hospital.

And since he didn't take the map with him (since Lupin returns it to 
Harry later) I'm guessing that he just ignored the two in the forst 
and went into the passageway... so that by the time he *did* get to 
the shack, he probably just assumed that the two he sees in the shack 
were the two he saw in the forest, and they're not, but he wouldn't 
know that.

-Tom