Marauder's Map

Marauder's Map
Manufacturer	James Potter Sirius Black Remus Lupin Peter Pettigrew
Date of invention	fl. 1975 to 1978
Owner(s)	Argus Filch Fred Weasley George Weasley Harry Potter
Book information
First appearance	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Last appearance	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Marauder's Map is a wizarding parchment which shows the location of everything and everyone in Hogwarts Castle, including secret passageways. It is very powerful and is not fooled by disguises. It does not include locations that the inventors failed to find like the Chamber of Secrets, and it does not include unplottable locations. It appears throughout the Harry Potter book series.

About

Function

The parchment is plain and ragged until a person taps it using a wand and says the words: "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good". Ink lines begin to spread like a spider's web and join up into a drawing of the school's layout. To get the ink to disappear, they have to tap it again and say "mischief managed".

It is very detailed. It shows and labels the location of every room and tower in Hogwarts Castle and the school grounds. It also has the seven secret passageways of Hogwarts which are generally unknown. There are tiny dots with the name of every person in the castle, shows where they are and follows that person wherever they go. The secret passageways include:

• Passageway behind a mirror in fourth-floor
• Passageway under Whomping Willow leading to Shrieking Shack
• Passageway behind one-eyed witch statue in third-floor leading to Honeydukes cellar in Hogsmeade

It does not show the destination of the passageways that lead into Hogsmeade because they aren't within the school grounds. One of these passageways is under the Whomping Willow which leads to the Shrieking Shack, but the map stops tracking it to there at edge of the paper. The name of anyone walking down it will disappear. It doesn't differentiate two people who share the same name, e.g. Barty Crouch Snr. and Barty Crouch Jnr. were just labelled "Bartemius Crouch". It does show the true name of anyone using Polyjuice Potion or the Cloak of Invisibility, or those who are in Animagus form.

Intelligence

It is capable of understanding the intentions of whoever is in possession of it and identifies who they are. It will insult Professor Snape whenever he has it and it understands his demand to know what it is. However, while it knows how insult Snape, it is unknown whether it can do it to anyone else. Snape and the Marauders did not like each other so it is possible they only taught it how to insult Snape.

If someone is trying to get into a secret passageway and can't figure out how, it shows them how to open it. If they are standing at the passaway behind the statue of the one-eyed witch, their ink version will tap the witch using a minute wand and a tiny speech bubble will show the password to open it.

History

Invention

James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew invented the Marauder's Map while they were at Hogwarts. After training for three years to be Animagus, they used what they learned about the school while sneaking around to invent the Marauder's Map, including the secret passageways. It was very helpful when they were sneaking around and breaking the rules because it shows where people are. They didn't use their real names on the map, instead using their nicknames based on their Animagus form, or in Lupin's case, his werewolf form, to disguise who the inventors are.

It was eventually confiscated by Argus Filch who probably had an idea of what it was because he put it in a filing cabinet labelled "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous".

Fred and George

In their first year at Hogwarts, Fred and George Weasley were taken to Argus Filch's office for breaking school rules. They saw the filing cabinet labelled "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous" and dropped a Dungbomb so Fred could have a chance to grab anything in it. He happened to grab the Marauder's Map.

Fred and George eventually worked out how to use it because it kept flickering into life and giving them clues. They used it to sneak around and especially took notice of the secret passageways, and it was very useful whenever they wanted to prank someone. After a few years of using it and growing close to Harry Potter, they decided he had more of a need for it when he couldn't go to Hogsmeade. At that point, they knew where the secret passageways were. They gave it to him on a Hogsmeade weekend.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter used the Marauder's Map to get into Hogsmeade. They advised him on what secret passageways he should use because they knew some of them had been found by Filch and others had caved in or been difficult to get into. Harry first used it to take the secret passageway to the Honeydukes cellar. Hermione thought he should have given it to Professor McGonagall to check it wasn't dangerous but Harry and Ron refused to do that.

In February 1994, he tried to use the Honeydukes passageway to get to Hogsmeade. He checked the Map to find out if anyone was nearby before opening it and saw Neville Longbottom heading that way. He couldn't get in the passageway by the time Neville reached him. Professor Snape passed by and found it strange they were hanging around in that corridor. Harry decided to leave it in case Snape realised there really was something there. When he stopped searching the corridor so he could retry, he opened it and went to Honeydukes. When he returned a few hours later, Snape was waiting. He intercepted Harry and asked what was hidden in his coat pocket. He gave Snape the Map but it had turned back into a blank parchment. He demanded Harry tell him what was it was and how it worked, but he told Snape it was a Zonko product. He thought Harry was lying and asked the parchment to show him its content but it insulted him instead. He gave it to Professor Lupin, the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, to investigate it.

Lupin knew what it was because he was one of the inventors of it, but he supported Harry by saying it was just a joke product. Ron also backed it up by telling Snape he had purchased it for Harry at Zonko's. Snape sounded like he suspected the truth behind its invetion and was worried Harry had been given it by Black or Lupin. Lupin told Snape he was keeping it. When they left, Lupin told Harry he knew what it was and Harry was curious to know how. He thought it eas strange that both Lupin and Snape were concerned about who invented it. Lupin told Harry the inventors will find it entertaining to persuade Harry to leave the safety of the school grounds. He asked if Lupin knew who they were and he admitted he did. He did not tell Harry anything but he was worried about the co-creator, Sirius Black, finding it.

In June, Lupin knew Harry would head over to Hagrid's Hut for Buckbeak's beheading and checked the Map to find out if he did. He was shocked when he saw Harry, Ron and Hermione with a fourth name, Peter Pettigrew. He thought Peter had been killed by Sirius twelve years earlier. Lupin understood that it meant Sirius was innocent. He traced everyone to the Shrieking Shack and walked over there. After reuniting with Sirius, they told Harry the truth. While hurrying there, Lupin left the parchment open in his office. Snape found it and saw Lupin running down the secret passageway to the Shack.