CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 10: The Marauder's Map

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 189710

> CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
> Chapter 10:  The Marauder's Map

<snip summary>

> 1. Did you think about Lupin's mention about the Whomping Willow being planted the year he arrived at Hogwarts was significant?

Carol:
I thought it was an interesting coincidence, nothing to do with Lupin himself.

> Did you think the Whomping Willow being planted over a secret passage would become important?
> 
Carol:
Is the secret passage actually mentioned? (Sorry, no time to reread the chapter.) If so, I'm sure I thought it would be significant but I didn't anticipate anything like the events as they unfolded. 
> 
> 2. Harry has an understandable reluctance to seek help from adults.
Did you find it surprising that he readily confided in Lupin about the Dementors?
> 
Carol:
Not given that Lupin was present when Harry passed out and that he apparently knows a spell that will drive them off. (What I find interesting is *Lupin's* reluctance to teach the spell to Harry and his confession that he's no expert with the spell. (Can Lupin even cast a full-fledged Patronus? Are there other spells or methods that also work, at which he's also inexpert? We hear him confess earlier that he's not good with potion-making, apparently true or he wouldn't need Snape's help, and here he's again expressing ineptitude. Why, unless it's true?)
> 
> 
> 3. From the description of his "sudden motions" during his discussion with Harry, did you grow suspicious that Lupin might know more than he was letting on?
> 
Carol:
Absolutely. Any time a character in HP makes that sort of motion, he's concealing something. And given his anger when Harry mentions Sirius Black, that something concerns the supposed murderer. 
> 
> 4. The "passwords" to operate the Maurauder's Map are quite complicated. How do you think Fred and George figured them out?

Carol:
At first, I thought that, clever as the Twins are, even they could not have worked out the formula. But, later, we see that the map can somehow tell a kindred spirit from an enemy (I doubt that any teacher could use it without being told the secret, but, of course, it's particularly rude to Snape. And can you imagine McGonagall saying, "I solemn.y swear that I am up to no good"?). The map helps Harry enter the opening behind the witch's hump (as it must have helped the Twins). So I imagine it sensed that the Twins were mischief makers and helped them along as they came closer to the formula. It may even have overheard what they intended to do and asked them, "do you solemnly swear that you are up to no good?" and when they said, "Yeah! We do!" prompted them with, "Say it!" (I wonder if the spell works with "we" in place of "I"?)
 
> 5. What did you think of Harry's rationalization for using the map (
he only wanted to use it go into Hogsmeade, it wasn't as though he wanted to steal anything or attack anyone
 and Fred and George had been using it for years without anything horrible happening
), especially after his experience with Riddle's diary and Mr. Weasley's warning to "never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where it keeps its brain?"
 
Carol:
I'm pretty sure that JKR is on Harry's side here. He *only* wants to break a silly school rule, and it's not his fault that he doesn't have the signed permission form. On the other hand, it's pretty clear that the map is designed to aid mischief makers. If it isn't dark (black) magic, it's gray. Then, again, so are most of the spells that Harry uses without a qualm, especially in HBP. At any rate, as usual, any tinge of guilt or pangs of conscience he feels are quickly dissipated. Harry, in his own view and JKR's, can do no wrong. And, of course, it's necessary to the plot that he overhear, unseen, the conversation among the teachers and Rosmerta. (Come to think of it, why would they talk in the hearing of Ron and Hermione, who would be sure to pass on what they heard to Harry?)
> 
> 6. Did you find it amusing that Ron and Harry were able to answer all of Hermione's protests about Harry being in Hogsmeade and that she agreed not to report him?
> 
Carol:
No. It's par for the course. 
> 
> 7. Were you as surprised as Harry to learn about Sirius Black's connection to the Potters?
> 
Carol:
Yes and no. We've had clues--for example, Draco's remark about revenge and Lupin's odd reaction to the mention of Black. I think I was most surprised that the supposedly wonderful James Potter was a mischief maker like the Twins. (Funny that I didn't connect him and his friends to the map. And isn't it odd that Lupin never comes into the conversation?)
> 
> 
> 8. Madam Rosmerta's voice is described as "alive with curiosity" and "breathless with interest." If even Harry noticed this, do you think Madam Rosmerta was flirting with Fudge to get him to tell the story?

Carol:
I never thought about it, but I suppose it's just her personality. On the other hand, the narrator, seeing or rather hearing from Harry's perspective, may be attributing Harry's emotions to Rosmerta. I don't think Rosmerta *needs* to flirt. All of them--Fudge and the teachers--*want* to share what they know or think they know. They're as human as the students, and it's the topic of the year.

> 9. How did you think Sirius Black was able to remain unaffected by the Dementors in Azkaban?
>
Carol:
I didn't think he was unaffected so much as already crazy when he came in. He seems quite insane from the time we first see his photo on Muggle TV to the time he appears in the Shrieking Shack. And his wild laughter after he supposedly blew up the street confirms that picture of him. If anything, the Dementors would have made him more insane (as they did Bellatrix).

Carol, thanking Caryl for the interesting questions