Can the Marauder's Map be deceived?

[finwitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 54212

--- Rowen Avalon:

> My personal conviction is that the Map has a sort of built 
> in "confidentiality clause." If you don't know who someone really 
is, 
> then they would appear on the map as whoever you thought them to 
be. 
> Thus Scabbers would appear as Scabbers. (If you are familiar with 
> Diane Duane's _Young Wizards_ series, this concept is similar to 
the 
> one presented in _A Wizard Abroad_. The one about why the Manual 
> didn't list Nita's aunt in the directory.) 
> 
> However, this doesn't apply to strangers. Since you haven't 
mistaken 
> their identity, they will show up as their true selves.

This doesn't apply to Polyjuiced Bartholomeus Crouch. Map places his 
true name (though without Jr after it to separate father and son 
sharing the name) when Harry looks at it. Also, Lupin/Sirius said at 
some point that 'the map never lies' IIRC, so it does show true 
identity of anyone - polyjuiced, under invisibility cloak or animagus
(at least Moony saw Wormtail in it). However, it might have special 
protection to it's makers, so that *their* animagus form doesn't show 
to any but another one in the group.

Or, well... Harry just never paid attention to a dot saying Peter 
Pettigrew, and it's not like Harry's used the map often 
when 'Scrabbers' was there. Weasley twins... well, we don't know when 
they got the map or even how they learned to operate it. They might 
have been taught by one maker who pretended to be a pet to their 
brother and since he had been no threat so far, they chose to trust 
him and never told anyone (or if they did, they weren't believed).

-- Finwitch