What about the Door?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 99591

> Carolyn:
> No, there is no door, all Lupin says is that 'Snape glimpsed 
me..at  the end of the tunnel'
> 
> But, never mind the door, there is the little question of how a 
tunnel so small that the kids had to crouch double to walk along 
in  POA (1), was big enough to take a full-grown stag, complete 
with  antlers *and* a large werewolf(2)- at the time of the Prank, 
and at  other times a gigantic dog (3). <

Pippin:
Everyone did not have to go down the tunnel. Peter, as the 
smallest, could freeze the willow. He could also easily negotiate 
the tunnel in rat form. Lupin, whose mind seemed to become 
less wolfish in the presence of the animagi, could then follow 
Peter to where the others were waiting, perhaps just inside the 
edge of the forest. Of course they had the invisibility cloak too.
It's also possible that Padfoot could  scrunch along on his belly 
as transformed Lupin must have. But Prongs couldn't 
manage the tunnel, so he must have rescued Snape in human 
form. 

Lupin says Snape didn't get all the way to the Shack but 
glimpsed him, Lupin, at the end of the tunnel. I gather that Lupin 
transformed while Snape was on his way. James arrived and  
pulled Snape back pursued by Lupin. Snape must have seen 
Lupin at the willow end of the tunnel. Lupin would have been 
held back from pursuit by the writhing branches. In werewolf 
form Lupin would have lacked either the intelligence or the 
manipulative skill to press the knot.  I would think that ordinarily 
the werewolf would be compelled to stay at the shack end 
because of the proximity of the humans in the village. 

I'd guess that either Snape entered the tunnel on a dare, and 
thought all the werewolf noise was just a trick, or else he was 
bewitched.

Centaurs do not ordinarily interfere in human business, so it is 
unlikely that they would have told anyone at the school even if 
they realized a werewolf and three Animagi were roving their 
forest.  They wouldn't know that the werewolf was Lupin in any 
case, since there are apparently other werewolves in the forest. 
Is there a colony of exiled werewolves living in it somewhere, like 
a leper colony of old?

The merpeople live deep at the bottom of the lake. After three 
and a half years at Hogwarts Harry didn't know they were there. 
Apparently they don't get out much.

Any villagers who spotted Lupin during one of his close calls 
wouldn't necessarily associate him, or the large animals with the 
school. After all, most young wizards are hardly capable of such 
advanced magic. 

Hagrid wouldn't want to hurt an interestin' creature like a 
werewolf. He would give it a wide berth so it wouldn't be driven to 
attack him (assuming giant blood doesn't make you werewolf 
proof.) 

After four years of planning, the marauders would have had 
plenty of experience negotiating the halls with the invisibility 
cloak. I'm sure they gave themselves alibis. Who knows, maybe 
there was a friendly House Elf willing to say they'd been raiding 
the kitchens all the time.

The marauders  eventually made the map, which they could use 
even in animagi form (remember cat!McGonagall reading a map 
in book one?) so they could avoid watchers on the grounds or in 
the castle. There probably were some close calls. 

How much did Dumbledore know and when did he know it? I 
somehow think that if Dumbledore had been aware of what they 
were doing,  he would have arranged a safer way for them to do 
it. As it was he was risking his own job if Lupin escaped. 

Peter must have been a godsend in getting in and out of 
Gryffindor Tower and Hogwarts undetected. He could slip 
outside without going through the portrait hole, then signal the 
others when the Fat Lady was asleep or off on one of her 
rambles.  On the way back, he could enter first in rat form, 
transform back, then open the portrait for the others.


Pippin