Wormtail used to live in Gryffindor's common room as Ron's pet. He was also one of the makers of the Marauder's Map and hence was aware of its working. So why didn't he fear that someday Harry might see one dot labelled Peter Pettigrew in the boy's dormitory and his secret might get exposed?
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1Related: Did Harry have the Marauder's Map at any point where Scabbers was with Ron? and Why couldn't Harry or anybody else see Peter Pettigrew aka Scabbers on the Marauder's Map when Lupin could? – AncientSwordRage Jun 03 '21 at 12:27
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if one assumes the map shows everyone in Hogwarts, he likely did see the name at some point, however, he probably took no notice, having never heard the name until his eavesdropping at The Three Broomsticks. Only then did he 'know' the name Peter Pettigrew. Up until that point, he likely assumed it was some rando first-year. Why Peter would bank on Harry's ignorance of one of his [Harry's] parents' best-friends is another matter lol – NKCampbell Jun 03 '21 at 16:05
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I haven't gone through the relevant chapters, but perhaps Harry just never had the map out and activated when Scabbers/Pettigrew was around. – Paul Johnson Jun 03 '21 at 16:28
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Perhaps yet another reason for Scabbers' disappearance? – Aww_Geez Jun 03 '21 at 16:36
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1Didn't Lupin mention that the more time spent as an animal the more like an animal you became? I would think that, while remaining intelligent, all the time Pettigrew spent as a rat disaccustomed him to much of the goings on in the human world -- so even if the map were mentioned in his presence he might likely have missed or ignored it. – Dúthomhas Jun 03 '21 at 17:58
1 Answers
He likely never would have found out Harry had the map in the time between Harry getting it and when he flees because of Sirius’s plan to capture him.
Harry told Ron and Hermione about the map on the day before the Christmas holidays. There is no evidence that Scabbers was in Ron’s pocket at this time, so it is likely that he did not hear this conversation where Harry reveals he has the map.
“Wow!’ said Ron, looking very impressed. ‘You’ve learnt to Apparate!’
‘’Course I haven’t,’ said Harry. He dropped his voice so that none of the sixth-years could hear him and told them all about the Marauder’s Map.”
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 12 (The Marauder’s Map)
Sometime in February, Scabbers faked his death, so he was no longer around Ron or Harry. Between when Harry first revealed the existence of the map and Scabbers faking his death, there are no mentions of the Marauder’s Map - Harry neither mentions it nor uses it between the Hogsmeade visit before the Christmas holidays and Scabbers’s “death”, so he would not have any other chance to find out about it.
“Harry looked down at the sheet Ron was holding. There was something red on it. Something that looked horribly like –
‘BLOOD!’ Ron yelled into the stunned silence. ‘HE’S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?’
‘N-no,’ said Hermione, in a trembling voice. Ron threw something down onto Hermione’s Rune translation. Hermione and Harry leant forward. Lying on top of the weird, spiky shapes were several long, ginger cat hairs.”
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 12 (The Patronus)
The reason that Pettigrew faked his death was that he knew Sirius and Crookshanks were working together to capture him, so it seems likely that he saw the need to escape for a different reason before he knew about the map and could consider that as a reason to escape.
“He tried to bring Peter to me, but couldn’t … so he stole the passwords into Gryffindor Tower for me … As I understand it, he took them from a boy’s bedside table …’
Harry’s brain seemed to be sagging under the weight of what he was hearing. It was absurd … and yet …
‘But Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it … this cat – Crookshanks, did you call him? – told me Peter had left blood on the sheets … I suppose he bit himself … well, faking his own death had worked once …”
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 19 (The Servant of Lord Voldemort)
Therefore, Harry having the map most likely did not cause him to leave Hogwarts because he did not find out about it between when Harry got it and his escape for a different reason.
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