PS/SS chapters 6-11 post DH look

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 180999

zanooda wrote:
> 
> The Twins stole the Map from Filch when they were in their first
year (PoA, p.191), so they definitely had it at this point. However,
we don't know how much time it took them to learn how to "work it".
They certainly had to experiment a lot with the Map to find out how to
activate it.
> 
> As a matter of fact, I don't understand how it is possible to
"guess" the right words ("I solemnly swear ... etc.) that activate the
Map. Maybe the Twins managed to establish some kind of contact with
the Map (like Snape in PoA) and it gave them a hint :-)? <snip>

Carol responds:

I think that the map can sense a kindred spirit or an enemy. It
insulted Snape, viewing him as the despised "Snivellus" of their
Hogwarts years, and it aided Harry, showing him how to get inside the
Humpbacked Witch statue (it showed the little figure labeled "Harry
Potter" tapping the statue with his wand and a tiny speech bubble over
his head that said "Dissendium").

I'm guessing that the map, labeled as "an aid to magical mischief
makers," was designed so that teachers and other "enemies"
(Slytherins? Prefects?) couldn't work it, but students like the
Weasley Twins, who were indeed "up to no good," could figure out how
to work it. They probably tried various spells and phrases that made
their intentions clear and were close enough to the right wording for
the map to drop them a little hint. (Maybe it even asked them their
names and their House and what they were up to.)

Of course, it wasn't as sophisticated as Tom Riddle's diary in that
respect, but I think it interacted with the user to some degree as the
Marauders themselves would have done, with their personalities, much
as the portrait of Phineas Nigellus retains his personality.

Carol, perhaps giving the Marauders too much credit and the cleverness
and persistence of the Weasley Twins too little