Snape's Culpability in the Prank (WAS: James and Sirius as Bullies)

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 181247

> Mike:
> PS - Point of Order to Montavilla: The Marauders only started their 
> marauding in their fifth year. I don't think they had already made 
> the Marauder's Map by then. I rather thought they wouldn't have made 
> it until their seventh year. Both because they needed more time to 
> gather the information and they would need more magical knowledge to 
> make the map. 
> 
> When Lupin says "that's how we *came* to write the MM" <my emphasis>, 
> it sounds like that was after a good bit of exploring and that the 
> idea to make it wasn't foremost in their minds. IMO, they "came" to 
> make it later, after they had a lot of marauding under their belt.
> 
> My point? I don't think it was as much of an advantage as you may 
> think. I don't think they had it for that much of their school days, 
> and I really do think they made it to pass on to the next generation. 
> Besides, Filch confiscated somewhere in there, though he could have 
> got it away from whomever the Marauders passed it on to.

Montavilla47:
I agree that they probably didn't have that map until fifth year. 
I also suspect that the map was a work-in-progress, since it 
didn't have every area of Hogwarts on it, even when Harry received 
it (the room of requirement wasn't on it).  

As to how long it took to make the map, it's hard to say.  If they
restricted their nocturnal adventures to only those times that 
Lupin was transformed, they would only have about thirty
opportunities to explore before they graduated, assuming they 
could transform into animals at the beginning of the fifth year.

On the other hand, there was no reason they couldn't explore 
Hogwarts in human form on the other nights, since they had 
James's invisibility cloak.  And, if they were exploring in human
form (whether just James and Sirius or all four), they'd have a 
motivation to create the map to help avoid the teachers
who patrolled the halls at night.

I realize that's all speculation, but it seems more logical to me
than that they got away with exploring the castle as a stag,
a large dog, a rat, and a werewolf.  Of those animals, only the 
rat would have been unnoticeable roaming the hallways and
poking into the alcoves, looking for secret entrances.

Of course, on the nights they accompanied the transformed
Lupin, they would have concentrated their exploring on the 
Forbidden Forest and the streets of Hogsmeade.  

So, how shall we quantify the amount of time they had that 
map?  Was it only a week or two before they graduated?  Was
is as long as two years?  A year?  Half a year?

However long it was, it added to their tactical advantage.  

Montavilla47