Pettigrew in Hagrid's hut - an answer

[Susana da Cunha]

No: HPFGUIDX 113544

Mac asked two questions:
1. was Hagrid's hut built when the marauders made their map (I
suspect it was, but we don't know)? If not, then could it evade the
map's magic? I really like Ravenclaw Bookworm's suggestion that of
course Pettigrew would know to hide there if it wasn't on the map.
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Oh, I hate the way muggles think! But hey, if someone can do a scientific
explanation of a magical map, that would be little muggle me (I doubt a
wizard could - except for Hermione, maybe).

Ok, if the hut is not on the map, what will it show instead of the hut? Open
field, right? Then wouldn't it show Hagrid and Pettigrew in that open field?
Are you suggesting there is a 'black hole' there? Let me try to make a
logical explanation of a completely illogical thing. I need to beg your
amnesty here because there will be no canon to support what I'll say.

I don't see LWP&P measuring the distance between the lake and the castle and
doing scale conversions to fit the parchment. What they probably did was
bewitch the parchment to show the surroundings. And they probably had to do
it by stages: the surroundings of the north tower, the surroundings of the
trophy room, the surroundings of the third floor corridor (hang on, what's
that? It looks like a tunnel! Starts here behind this statue of a one-eyed
witch... probably has a password. Hey, Prongs, weren't you bragging about
knowing a spell that retrieves passwords last Christmas?). The thing is, I
don't believe they measured (or even looked at) all the corners of the
castle to bewitch the parchment. Would they have to enter every broom
closet? Every teacher's office? Every classroom?... They wouldn't need to be
in inside the hut to put it on the map.

Then they would put in the moving parts: people, ghosts, animals (at least
Mrs. Norris shows up), and they didn't pour a list of students and staff
into it (Harry wouldn't be on that list - he wasn't born). Instead, they
bewitch the parchment to reveal 'things with names' on each location.

Let me explain 'things with names': a spider is an animal, it moves, there
must be hundreds in the castle, yet it doesn't show up because it has no
name (the same with the basilic - unless Salazar or Tom named their little
pet). OTOH, Buckbeak has a name, so do Peeves, Mrs. Norris, and Peter
Pettigrew. The map searches the names, not movement or life. As to how the
map does that - hey, I'm a muggle! How should I know?

So what happens if they move the greenhouse to the other side of the castle?
(I've got canon! I've got canon!) From PoA: "Don't bother with the one
behind the mirror on the fourth floor. We ised it until last winter, but it'
s caved in - completely blocked." - The tunnel didn't disappear from the map
after collapsing. So, if they move the greenhouse (or Hagrid's hut) I assume
the map doesn't adapt.

But hey, it doesn't adapt either way: if the hut had been built after the
map, it wouldn't create a 'black hole' in the map, where you'd stop seeing
the 'things with names'.

The only 'black hole' I'd admit in the map would be the room of requirement.
Since the map doesn't adapt, what would it show there? -- running to check
in OotP - "He pulled out the Marauder's Map again and checked it carefully
for signs of teachers on the seventh floor. He let them all leave in threes
and fours, watching their tiny dots anxiously to see that they returned
safely to their dormitories".

Argh! It doesn't saayyyy! But then again, can the room of requirement turn
into a Quidditch pitch or does it have limited space? I'm getting off track
here. It doesn't matter, anyway. If the map adapts, then it will *certainly*
show Hagrid's hut.

Ok, about Pettigrew: he doesn't strike me as the sharp and intelligent type.
Personally, I have no problem believing he doesn't know what he's doing. If
he knows about the map he's double-panicking: he has to watch out for Sirius
AND Harry (or Lupin? Does he know the map was confiscated?) He knows he has
to leave, but he doesn't know where to go. He's accustom to sleeping all day
and being provided for. Half the way to the forest, Hagrid's hut could have
seem very tempting: food to steal, warmth, away from Ron's bed where Sirius
is looking for him, Harry is restricted to the castle and not likely to
visit (ok, I'm pushing his stupidity).

But I'd rather think Pettigrew is an idiot acting extra stupid on account of
panic, than to think the map has a 'black hole' in the place of Hagrid's
hut.



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2. Since harry II and Hermione II are there magically (though yes of
course physically too) can the Marauder's map plot them? Might they
be unplottable/detectable by magic (as JKR says Wizards can make
themselves - how Sirius wasn't found, nor can Voldemort be).
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Can the Marauder's map plot H2/H2? Off course. Why wouldn't it? It can show
every thing with name *except people who came back in time*? Time-turners
get you back in time *with an undetectable enchantment*?

The undetectable by magic issue is a different thing. H2/H2 were not
undetectable: we followed them and no magic of the sort was mentioned - ok,
I don't know what 'the sort' is. But if the undetectable is part of
time-turning, when was it removed, afterwards?

(An interesting thought just occurred to me: how confused would an owl be
trying to deliver a letter in that situation?)

But note: Sirius *was* undetectable, and he showed up on the map.



Susana

-- amazed at LP&P cleverness and having no problem thinking W was just
tagging along.