Chapter Discussion: Prisoner of Azkaban Ch 18: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Pron

[Geoff]

No: HPFGUIDX 190493

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nikkalmati" <puduhepa98 at ...> wrote:
 
> > Questions
> > 1. Lupin says the Marauders' map never lies, could this be a support for the
> > argument that the map does not have dark magic in it? Do you agree or disagree
> > with it?

Nikkalmati:
 > The map never lies in the sense that what it shows is always correct.   It is not sentient.  What it shows reflects reality.  Lupin of course knows this because he helped in its creation.  I don't think it involved Dark Magic.  Didn't the Mauraders hate Dark Magic?  It is a complex piece of charm work.  I am not sure how it could insult Snape in Ch. 14 unless it had been preprogramed years earlier in case Snape found it.

Geoff:
I do not believe that Dark Magic would  be needed for the task for which the Map 
was created. It is merely designed to show where anyone is. I agree that the magic 
which runs it is fairly complex but it's not intrinsically different from the sort of 
GPS technology which, for example, allows our bus operators to check precisely 
where each vehicle is.

I wonder if in fact it is a distant cousin to the very simple "Point Me" spell which 
Harry uses in GOF.

With regard to its insulting ability, I think you are right. The Map was designed 
when its creators were at Hogwarts and I suspect that James and possibly Sirius 
did most of the development work. Since Snape was a frequent target of these 
two Marauders at least, it doesn't surprise me that that might be an inbuilt 
function.