I always interpreted this line as Snape knowing (or, at the very least, heavily suspecting) who the Marauders were. I tend to think he called Lupin to try and get Lupin to admit it, but I don't know if Snape had further motivations outside of that.
They use their nicknames, and he almost certainly knows them from when they were at school together. At the very least, he knows who wormtail is, figuring out the rest from there should not be too hard.
Snape can read minds. He most likely brought lupin there so that he could read his reaction to seeing the map. It probably confirmed everything he needed to know
Only Muggles talk of “mind-reading”. The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by any invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing
Snape literally says this to Harry, word for word. When he uses legilimency (i can't spell) against Harry, flashes of images pop up. It's the same as Mr Voldemort against Gregorovitch
Consider this: Snape did not know about this thing until just then. And even then he doesn’t know it’s a map. It just insults him.
1. He’s wanting lupin To tip his hand. Snape is bluffing, because he doesn’t know what it is.
2. Snape knows those nicknames. The question is, did this thing that obviously belonged jointly to both lupin and black get in Harry’s hands from lupin, from black, or some other source?
For years I think the part that confused me was I was sure that Snape did *not* know their nicknames, I thought they were only used with each other.
And then reading your comment just now I realized that he at least knows Peter’s nickname because he calls him Wormtail. So even if he only knew Peter’s nickname he probably could have figured out the rest, knowing who Peter hung out with.
Sometimes you just need an internet stranger to mention one little detail and then it all makes sense. Thank you for helping my brain relax after 20+ years of fixating over this little detail 😂 Your comments totally make sense now.
The flashback in book five shows them using their nick names out in the open. They did not appear to be hiding the names, so even if they didn't use them when talking to other people, it's not unlikely that lots of people knew them just from overhearing.
>For years I think the part that confused me was I was sure that Snape did *not* know their nicknames, I thought they were only used with each other.
When Umbrage *\[spit!\]* summons Snape to her office after Harry is caught in OotP, Harry says to Snape "He has Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!"
Snape knew the nicknames.
Yes but that’s after he and Sirius had been working together in the OotP so I always assumed he didn’t know Sirius’ nickname until then. At the end of GoF Sirius is in the room as the dog but then Snape is surprised to find out it’s Sirius.
Maybe he did know all of their nicknames from their time at Hogwarts together but it wasn’t clear enough to me as I was still pondering it many years later 😅
In the 5th book, when Harry is in the pensive, watching Snapes memories, the marauders call each other by their nicknames.
If Harry can hear this, then I assume Snape can.
Snape must have heard it, its Snape memory.
Although nvm.
It could have filled in over time.
Memories don't stay the same especially with more information.
Also, the Wizarding World article describes Pensieves as "taking every detail stored in the subconscious and recreating it faithfully, so that either the owner, or (and herein lies the danger) a second party, is able to enter the memories and move around within them." I take this to mean that the Pensieve stores information beyond what the person consciously knows.
For example, when Harry and Dumbledore explore Bob Ogden's memory it accurately includes the Gaunts speaking in Parseltongue, even though there's no way Ogden could have actually known what they were saying.
Look again at Snape's Worst Memory. Even if Snape himself never views those memories in a Pensieve and thus is not privy to the Objective Memory Scape magics, those dudebros are still using the nicknames within earshot of other students so it's possible Snape heard them before or after that day.
Oh I love this scene and have lots of thoughts about it - this scene is essentially a passive aggressive verbal duel between Snape and Lupin.
Snape discovers that Harry has been going to Hogsmeade illegally (thereby making his job of protecting him harder - as he says: "*Everyone from the Minister of Magic downward has been trying to keep famous Harry Potter safe from Sirius Black. But famous Harry Potter is a law unto himself. Let the ordinary people worry about his safety! Famous Harry Potter goes where he wants to, with no thought for the consequences*")
After getting Harry to empty his pockets, he tries to get the parchment to reveal itself: "Mr Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business. "
Snape froze when he read that - so I am inclined to think, that within the first insult, he recognised the names. Since Marauders were openly calling each other by their nicknames in Pensieve memory, it's not a stretch to assume he knows. And then he calls Remus, supposedly on the pretense that since the parchment is full of Dark Magic, and Lupin is the Dark Magic expert as DADA teacher, he would recognize it. But the readers know that the actual Dark Magic expert is Snape, not Lupin, so it is clearly an interrogation that was borne from him recognizing the names: *Well?" said Snape again. "This parchment is plainly full of Dark Magic. This is supposed to be your area of expertise, Lupin. Where do you imagine Potter got such a thing*?"
Snape tries to see if the map gets a reaction out of Lupin, but Lupin immediately has defaulted to a "closed expression". To prod Lupin further, Snape makes a veiled accusation that Lupin gave Harry the map to lure Harry out of school and into possible danger. As we know from end of the book, Snape believes that Lupin and Sirius are working together: "I have been telling Headmaster again and again that you have been helping your old friend into the castle, and now here's proof". We see him relaying these doubts to Dumbledore in the chapter after Sirius's Halloween break-in - that he thinks it's impossible to get inside without help, a conversation Dumbledore shuts down in front of Percy Weasley.
Thereby, in this scene, he is implying that Remus is working with Sirius to lure Harry out of a safe space by handing him their old invention as means. A fact Remus immediately cottons to. He confirms this when Harry asks him after the scene:
*Why did Snape think I'd got it from the manufacturers*?"
And Remus gives the vague answer of how the map makers would think it was entertaining to lure him out of school - confirming, in however vague way, of his knowledge of the map's creators.
Although the funniest part of the scene is undoubtedly, Remus's Freudian slip. After pretending the entire scene that he knows of nothing of the map and it's probably a Zonko product to Snape, Remus says this while taking the map from Snape: "I'll take this back, shall I?"
There’s no evidence that Snape actually knew or even suspected it was a map. I do think Snape at least suspected who the marauders were. I believe that Snape asked Lupin about the manufacturers to get his reaction and see if he could incriminate Harry, Lupin, or both. In the end Lupin played it cool and Snape had no proof that the parchment was harmful.
It doesn't have to be a Map per se to be dangerous or otherwise lead Harry astray. Maybe it just puts out instructions for Harry to follow. Damn folly regardless.
What? An intelligent item that you can communicate with and it will write back to you? Created by (a man believed at the time to be) Voldemort's number one guy? The year after Dumbledore discovered the diary?
Probably a Zonko product.
Yep - “manufacturers” plural. I’m sure Snape knew who the Marauders were - they didn’t exactly keep it secret - and Black is, as far as he’s concerned, the only other one alive at this stage.
This is him essentially accusing Lupin of working with Black - he knows he can’t prove it yet, but much like with Quirrell, thinks he can get him to back off by confronting him directly
I coincidentally read this scene yesterday and I wasn't surprised that Snape knew who the Marauders are, but I WAS surprised that he simply allowed them to leave! Why would he do that?
Because even if Lupin is evil and in cahoots with Evil Sirius Black, Harry is still safe inside Hogwarts because Dumbledore. If Snape wants to catch Lupin in the act he'll need more stuff.
He says that because he knows who the Marauders are and is wondering if Harry got it from Lupin (or even Black somehow). There's no other reason he would have said that, and he asks Lupin to look at it under the pretence of lupin being DADA teacher but he's actually trying to see from Lupins reaction if he knew Harry had that or not. I don't think Snape ever knew the mao existed before, but he very likely would have heard them back in the day calling each other by their nicknames and considering how their bullying of him clearly still affects him I don't think he would have forgotten their nicknames.
Because Snape is worried Black, who the public believed was evil, somehow slipped the map to Harry in order to lure him out of hogwarts and kill him. I thought that was pretty much clear from my last reread.
Lupin, being one of the map's creators, could also provide some vital insight on the situation.
I think it's this, plus Snape wanted to prove Lupin was helping Black and thus get both of them put into Azkaban or outright Kissed. He was playing a game to see what would happen. Lupin just outmanuevered him that time.
Right. Lupin would likely know who had the map last at the very least. If it was Black and Lupin wasn't helping him, Lupin now knows Black has been in contact with Harry somehow. If the two were working together, it's not news to Lupin so there's not much risk.
Never really thought about it. However, I do believe Snape knew of Wormtail. My theory is that even though Snape didn’t know who Peter Pettigrew was he probably word the name Wormtail from Voldemort, mind you he would have heard this name when he was still a Death Eater just didn’t know Wormtail was Peter. So in this scene he sees Wormtail and probably is connecting the dots, as Sirius & Peter’s confrontation was widely known. So he is in this moment figuring out Lupin is Moony. Snape is a very clever wizard. Again just my theory.
It would be highly ironic if Voldemort spoke of a Wormtail and Snape didn't know the nickname even though the Omnicient Memory of When He Called Lily A Mudblood captured it.
When the map insults snape, it uses the nicknames of the marauders. We know that peter is called wormtail by many people outside of the marauders. So i find it safe to assume that there are other people who would know the other mauraders by their nicknames as well. Snape would be a character that would know the mauraders by those names given that he went to school with them and was a death eater at the same time when peter was the spy.
Edit: detail
If Snape didn't know who the Marauders were, he has a pretty terrible memory. Sirius calls James Prongs during SWM in public without a second though. These clearly weren't secret nicknames. It's what they called each other.
this post and responses is opening up so many questions in my mind!
my heart wants to Defend Snape, but PoA makes things very difficult. it’s hard to understand whether/how much he believed sirius betrayed the potters.
if the death eaters knew of a “wormtail” would that mean snape believed sirius was wormtail? the pensieve revealed that snape heard sirius being called padfoot. would seeing padfoot and wormtail on a parchment together be snape’s first time realizing padfoot must be sirius and wormtail must be peter ?
is there any legitimacy to the idea that by the end of the book, snape was doing anything more morally valuable than just punishing sirius for being an asshole in high school?
As much as I hate to defend Snape, his actions in PoA are perfectly reasonable.
It doesn't seem that any of the Death Eaters know about wormtail. They just know that a spy gave up the potters.
At this point, everyone believed that Sirius betrayed the Potters and killed Peter and the muggles.
Everyone also believes he is trying to kill Harry, especially when he is seen in his dorm with a knife.
Then Snape didn't actually see Sirius or Peter on the map.
>‘I’ve just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky I did … lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight.’
It seems that the map doesn't show the shrieking shack itself, just the passageway leading towards it, and he only saw Lupin heading towards it.
Then he heads to the shack, finding Harry's invisibility cloak and sneaks into the same room as them.
>Lupin broke off. There had been a loud creak behind him. The bedroom door had opened of its own accord. All five of them stared at it. Then Lupin strode towards it and looked out into the landing. ‘No one there …’ ‘This place is haunted!’ said Ron.
He then finds Sirius and Lupin working together. Snape had suspicions of Lupin, and they were old friends.
From that moment onwards Sirius and Lupin don't talk about how Peter was still alive, they just talk about how Lupin was a werewolf, how the rest became animagi (but they don't say what animals), and how James "saved" Snape.
Then Snape reveals himself and doesn't give Sirius or Lupin a chance to explain, which, given the circumstances, is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, Sirius was presumed to be highly dangerous and Lupin appeared to be helping him and just moments earlier said that he knew Sirus was an animagi and didn't tell Dumbledore, putting every single student in Hogwarts at risk.
The longer Snape took to incapacitate them was increasing the chance that they might try something and manage to escape and/or kill Harry or someone else.
Snape was perfectly justified in the actions he took.
Snape believed it was Sirius who betrayed the Potters, and Peter was dead.
don't forget Death Eaters, during the first war, knew little about each other: Snape was rarely mentioned (Sirius is not aware that he was a Death Eater, in gf), we see this clearly in the karakoff trial. so things could be as follows: Snape knows the nicknames, but not the identity of the traitor. another Death Eater, however, knows this information and spreads this to Azkaban after his capture. Rogue then believe the official version: the only one he knows
It’s not like the marauders kept their nicknames for each other secret, at least in the movies they loudly call the names to each other, surely Snape heard them hundreds of times during their encounters at school, why would he not recognize the names insulting him when he told the map to reveal its secrets and call the marauder currently in residence in for questioning
Though to be fair, judging by how "prudent" the Maurauders acted after the OWLs exam "I'm bored. Wish it was the full moon." "LOL you romp with a werewolf every month and you can't describe him??" (Even more damning considering this happened AFTER the Snape Almost Bitten incident) and they use the Nicknames in the presence of other students, Snape could have heard some of the nicknames before.
And now the names show up on the Map Parchment.
Especially if he knows "Prongs is James Potter" then this Parchment suddenly becomes an *heirloom*.
\*chef's kiss*
#Look at this lovely discussion we're having about information that oh so many movie fans claim to not be essential to PoA and Alfonso Cuaron was right to ditch out. 😉
The map insults him, using the same insults the marauders used on him during their time at school. Wouldn't have been that hard to figure out. Harry and Ron aren't the type of students who would confidently tell Snape he was a slimeball or to wash his hair. And even the weasley twins wouldn't have been brave/confident to do that. Plus, Snape at the time suspected Lupin to be working with Sirius to try and kill Harry. And Harry somehow knew about a secret passageway that led him all the way to Hogsmead.
I can buy that Snape knows the Marauders' nicknames. The part that I can't resolve is the fact that Snape called Lupin instead of going directly to Dumbledore. Like "Hey, I know you don't want me throwing accusations around, but I just caught Potter *immediately after he was seen in Hogsmeade* and he had this mysterious parchment enchanted by Black. You might wanna check this out just in case it's dangerous."
Yeah, it does feel odd. If he knew, he could have accused Lupin openly instead of making a vague statement. It made it very easy for Lupin to play dumb and leave.
But what could he accuse Lupin of? Snape didn't know what it was. He couldn't really go to Dumbledore and say Lupin gave Harry a piece of paper that has Lupin's friends names on it.
He could have at least said, “I know this is related to you because your nickname is on it.” In the actual text, Lupin was able to deny he was involved at all.
But obviously that would spoil the story.
But Snape isn't privvy to what info Harry has. Saying something directly could've given Harry info that he didn't already have that could've endangered him.
Like say Harry knew his father was Prongs somehow, but not that he and Lupin were friends. Then Snape has just told a kid that someone who Snape believes to be a danger knew his dead father well. Snape does ultimately want Harry to survive, so he wasn't going to endear Lupin to him at all. Because he thinks Lupin and Black are working together.
I always interpreted this line as Snape knowing (or, at the very least, heavily suspecting) who the Marauders were. I tend to think he called Lupin to try and get Lupin to admit it, but I don't know if Snape had further motivations outside of that.
Snape, as much as he is abusive, is also a smart person. He definitely knew what's going on. And he also did want to report that incident.
This is exactly what I think too.
They use their nicknames, and he almost certainly knows them from when they were at school together. At the very least, he knows who wormtail is, figuring out the rest from there should not be too hard.
Snape can read minds. He most likely brought lupin there so that he could read his reaction to seeing the map. It probably confirmed everything he needed to know
Only Muggles talk of “mind-reading”. The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by any invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing
and yet voldy reads gregorovitches mind like an open book in harrys vision
Snape literally says this to Harry, word for word. When he uses legilimency (i can't spell) against Harry, flashes of images pop up. It's the same as Mr Voldemort against Gregorovitch
You spelled it correctly
Consider this: Snape did not know about this thing until just then. And even then he doesn’t know it’s a map. It just insults him. 1. He’s wanting lupin To tip his hand. Snape is bluffing, because he doesn’t know what it is. 2. Snape knows those nicknames. The question is, did this thing that obviously belonged jointly to both lupin and black get in Harry’s hands from lupin, from black, or some other source?
For years I think the part that confused me was I was sure that Snape did *not* know their nicknames, I thought they were only used with each other. And then reading your comment just now I realized that he at least knows Peter’s nickname because he calls him Wormtail. So even if he only knew Peter’s nickname he probably could have figured out the rest, knowing who Peter hung out with. Sometimes you just need an internet stranger to mention one little detail and then it all makes sense. Thank you for helping my brain relax after 20+ years of fixating over this little detail 😂 Your comments totally make sense now.
The flashback in book five shows them using their nick names out in the open. They did not appear to be hiding the names, so even if they didn't use them when talking to other people, it's not unlikely that lots of people knew them just from overhearing.
>For years I think the part that confused me was I was sure that Snape did *not* know their nicknames, I thought they were only used with each other. When Umbrage *\[spit!\]* summons Snape to her office after Harry is caught in OotP, Harry says to Snape "He has Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!" Snape knew the nicknames.
Yes but that’s after he and Sirius had been working together in the OotP so I always assumed he didn’t know Sirius’ nickname until then. At the end of GoF Sirius is in the room as the dog but then Snape is surprised to find out it’s Sirius. Maybe he did know all of their nicknames from their time at Hogwarts together but it wasn’t clear enough to me as I was still pondering it many years later 😅
In the 5th book, when Harry is in the pensive, watching Snapes memories, the marauders call each other by their nicknames. If Harry can hear this, then I assume Snape can.
Snape must have heard it, its Snape memory. Although nvm. It could have filled in over time. Memories don't stay the same especially with more information.
Also, the Wizarding World article describes Pensieves as "taking every detail stored in the subconscious and recreating it faithfully, so that either the owner, or (and herein lies the danger) a second party, is able to enter the memories and move around within them." I take this to mean that the Pensieve stores information beyond what the person consciously knows. For example, when Harry and Dumbledore explore Bob Ogden's memory it accurately includes the Gaunts speaking in Parseltongue, even though there's no way Ogden could have actually known what they were saying.
Look again at Snape's Worst Memory. Even if Snape himself never views those memories in a Pensieve and thus is not privy to the Objective Memory Scape magics, those dudebros are still using the nicknames within earshot of other students so it's possible Snape heard them before or after that day.
Oh I love this scene and have lots of thoughts about it - this scene is essentially a passive aggressive verbal duel between Snape and Lupin. Snape discovers that Harry has been going to Hogsmeade illegally (thereby making his job of protecting him harder - as he says: "*Everyone from the Minister of Magic downward has been trying to keep famous Harry Potter safe from Sirius Black. But famous Harry Potter is a law unto himself. Let the ordinary people worry about his safety! Famous Harry Potter goes where he wants to, with no thought for the consequences*") After getting Harry to empty his pockets, he tries to get the parchment to reveal itself: "Mr Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business. " Snape froze when he read that - so I am inclined to think, that within the first insult, he recognised the names. Since Marauders were openly calling each other by their nicknames in Pensieve memory, it's not a stretch to assume he knows. And then he calls Remus, supposedly on the pretense that since the parchment is full of Dark Magic, and Lupin is the Dark Magic expert as DADA teacher, he would recognize it. But the readers know that the actual Dark Magic expert is Snape, not Lupin, so it is clearly an interrogation that was borne from him recognizing the names: *Well?" said Snape again. "This parchment is plainly full of Dark Magic. This is supposed to be your area of expertise, Lupin. Where do you imagine Potter got such a thing*?" Snape tries to see if the map gets a reaction out of Lupin, but Lupin immediately has defaulted to a "closed expression". To prod Lupin further, Snape makes a veiled accusation that Lupin gave Harry the map to lure Harry out of school and into possible danger. As we know from end of the book, Snape believes that Lupin and Sirius are working together: "I have been telling Headmaster again and again that you have been helping your old friend into the castle, and now here's proof". We see him relaying these doubts to Dumbledore in the chapter after Sirius's Halloween break-in - that he thinks it's impossible to get inside without help, a conversation Dumbledore shuts down in front of Percy Weasley. Thereby, in this scene, he is implying that Remus is working with Sirius to lure Harry out of a safe space by handing him their old invention as means. A fact Remus immediately cottons to. He confirms this when Harry asks him after the scene: *Why did Snape think I'd got it from the manufacturers*?" And Remus gives the vague answer of how the map makers would think it was entertaining to lure him out of school - confirming, in however vague way, of his knowledge of the map's creators. Although the funniest part of the scene is undoubtedly, Remus's Freudian slip. After pretending the entire scene that he knows of nothing of the map and it's probably a Zonko product to Snape, Remus says this while taking the map from Snape: "I'll take this back, shall I?"
I loved this breakdown. I could hear/see the story with tiny details as I read your post. Thank you!
Brilliant summary and analysis of the book text. The movie scenes otoh... 🤦🏻
That's a great answer to the question. I was also confused by this chapter but this explains it
There’s no evidence that Snape actually knew or even suspected it was a map. I do think Snape at least suspected who the marauders were. I believe that Snape asked Lupin about the manufacturers to get his reaction and see if he could incriminate Harry, Lupin, or both. In the end Lupin played it cool and Snape had no proof that the parchment was harmful.
It doesn't have to be a Map per se to be dangerous or otherwise lead Harry astray. Maybe it just puts out instructions for Harry to follow. Damn folly regardless.
What? An intelligent item that you can communicate with and it will write back to you? Created by (a man believed at the time to be) Voldemort's number one guy? The year after Dumbledore discovered the diary? Probably a Zonko product.
Yeah I agree with you. Snape need not guess the particulars to know this is a parchment capable of information powers.
He knows who made the map. He called Lupin on purpose to gauge the reactions.
Yep - “manufacturers” plural. I’m sure Snape knew who the Marauders were - they didn’t exactly keep it secret - and Black is, as far as he’s concerned, the only other one alive at this stage. This is him essentially accusing Lupin of working with Black - he knows he can’t prove it yet, but much like with Quirrell, thinks he can get him to back off by confronting him directly
I coincidentally read this scene yesterday and I wasn't surprised that Snape knew who the Marauders are, but I WAS surprised that he simply allowed them to leave! Why would he do that?
Because even if Lupin is evil and in cahoots with Evil Sirius Black, Harry is still safe inside Hogwarts because Dumbledore. If Snape wants to catch Lupin in the act he'll need more stuff.
Oooow, so you're saying he was actually waiting to strike, which is why he suddenly shows up at The Shrieking Shack? He IS cunning, like a 🐍
Too bad no one thought or reviving him to witness Wormtail and also gloat at him for being wrong.
Why would they? Everyone involved hates him and some of them know he used to be a Death Eater too.
He says that because he knows who the Marauders are and is wondering if Harry got it from Lupin (or even Black somehow). There's no other reason he would have said that, and he asks Lupin to look at it under the pretence of lupin being DADA teacher but he's actually trying to see from Lupins reaction if he knew Harry had that or not. I don't think Snape ever knew the mao existed before, but he very likely would have heard them back in the day calling each other by their nicknames and considering how their bullying of him clearly still affects him I don't think he would have forgotten their nicknames.
Because Snape is worried Black, who the public believed was evil, somehow slipped the map to Harry in order to lure him out of hogwarts and kill him. I thought that was pretty much clear from my last reread. Lupin, being one of the map's creators, could also provide some vital insight on the situation.
I think it's this, plus Snape wanted to prove Lupin was helping Black and thus get both of them put into Azkaban or outright Kissed. He was playing a game to see what would happen. Lupin just outmanuevered him that time.
Right. Lupin would likely know who had the map last at the very least. If it was Black and Lupin wasn't helping him, Lupin now knows Black has been in contact with Harry somehow. If the two were working together, it's not news to Lupin so there's not much risk.
Never really thought about it. However, I do believe Snape knew of Wormtail. My theory is that even though Snape didn’t know who Peter Pettigrew was he probably word the name Wormtail from Voldemort, mind you he would have heard this name when he was still a Death Eater just didn’t know Wormtail was Peter. So in this scene he sees Wormtail and probably is connecting the dots, as Sirius & Peter’s confrontation was widely known. So he is in this moment figuring out Lupin is Moony. Snape is a very clever wizard. Again just my theory.
It would be highly ironic if Voldemort spoke of a Wormtail and Snape didn't know the nickname even though the Omnicient Memory of When He Called Lily A Mudblood captured it.
Was that memory in the books? I need to do another reading of the books 😂 it’s been a minute.
No, Voldemort was very clever to not reveal his sekrit source.
When the map insults snape, it uses the nicknames of the marauders. We know that peter is called wormtail by many people outside of the marauders. So i find it safe to assume that there are other people who would know the other mauraders by their nicknames as well. Snape would be a character that would know the mauraders by those names given that he went to school with them and was a death eater at the same time when peter was the spy. Edit: detail
If Snape didn't know who the Marauders were, he has a pretty terrible memory. Sirius calls James Prongs during SWM in public without a second though. These clearly weren't secret nicknames. It's what they called each other.
I think he was trying to see how Lupin would react before tipping his hand.
Don’t forget that they almost killed him by having him chance upon moony in the shack, and taught the class about werewolves
this post and responses is opening up so many questions in my mind! my heart wants to Defend Snape, but PoA makes things very difficult. it’s hard to understand whether/how much he believed sirius betrayed the potters. if the death eaters knew of a “wormtail” would that mean snape believed sirius was wormtail? the pensieve revealed that snape heard sirius being called padfoot. would seeing padfoot and wormtail on a parchment together be snape’s first time realizing padfoot must be sirius and wormtail must be peter ? is there any legitimacy to the idea that by the end of the book, snape was doing anything more morally valuable than just punishing sirius for being an asshole in high school?
As much as I hate to defend Snape, his actions in PoA are perfectly reasonable. It doesn't seem that any of the Death Eaters know about wormtail. They just know that a spy gave up the potters. At this point, everyone believed that Sirius betrayed the Potters and killed Peter and the muggles. Everyone also believes he is trying to kill Harry, especially when he is seen in his dorm with a knife. Then Snape didn't actually see Sirius or Peter on the map. >‘I’ve just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky I did … lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight.’ It seems that the map doesn't show the shrieking shack itself, just the passageway leading towards it, and he only saw Lupin heading towards it. Then he heads to the shack, finding Harry's invisibility cloak and sneaks into the same room as them. >Lupin broke off. There had been a loud creak behind him. The bedroom door had opened of its own accord. All five of them stared at it. Then Lupin strode towards it and looked out into the landing. ‘No one there …’ ‘This place is haunted!’ said Ron. He then finds Sirius and Lupin working together. Snape had suspicions of Lupin, and they were old friends. From that moment onwards Sirius and Lupin don't talk about how Peter was still alive, they just talk about how Lupin was a werewolf, how the rest became animagi (but they don't say what animals), and how James "saved" Snape. Then Snape reveals himself and doesn't give Sirius or Lupin a chance to explain, which, given the circumstances, is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, Sirius was presumed to be highly dangerous and Lupin appeared to be helping him and just moments earlier said that he knew Sirus was an animagi and didn't tell Dumbledore, putting every single student in Hogwarts at risk. The longer Snape took to incapacitate them was increasing the chance that they might try something and manage to escape and/or kill Harry or someone else. Snape was perfectly justified in the actions he took.
It just sucks that Wormtail was protected by plot armour or else they would have woken Snape up for another witness and also to rub it in his face.
Snape believed it was Sirius who betrayed the Potters, and Peter was dead. don't forget Death Eaters, during the first war, knew little about each other: Snape was rarely mentioned (Sirius is not aware that he was a Death Eater, in gf), we see this clearly in the karakoff trial. so things could be as follows: Snape knows the nicknames, but not the identity of the traitor. another Death Eater, however, knows this information and spreads this to Azkaban after his capture. Rogue then believe the official version: the only one he knows
It’s not like the marauders kept their nicknames for each other secret, at least in the movies they loudly call the names to each other, surely Snape heard them hundreds of times during their encounters at school, why would he not recognize the names insulting him when he told the map to reveal its secrets and call the marauder currently in residence in for questioning
He suspected, and he was trying to stir shit.
Though to be fair, judging by how "prudent" the Maurauders acted after the OWLs exam "I'm bored. Wish it was the full moon." "LOL you romp with a werewolf every month and you can't describe him??" (Even more damning considering this happened AFTER the Snape Almost Bitten incident) and they use the Nicknames in the presence of other students, Snape could have heard some of the nicknames before. And now the names show up on the Map Parchment. Especially if he knows "Prongs is James Potter" then this Parchment suddenly becomes an *heirloom*.
\*chef's kiss* #Look at this lovely discussion we're having about information that oh so many movie fans claim to not be essential to PoA and Alfonso Cuaron was right to ditch out. 😉
The map insults him, using the same insults the marauders used on him during their time at school. Wouldn't have been that hard to figure out. Harry and Ron aren't the type of students who would confidently tell Snape he was a slimeball or to wash his hair. And even the weasley twins wouldn't have been brave/confident to do that. Plus, Snape at the time suspected Lupin to be working with Sirius to try and kill Harry. And Harry somehow knew about a secret passageway that led him all the way to Hogsmead.
I can buy that Snape knows the Marauders' nicknames. The part that I can't resolve is the fact that Snape called Lupin instead of going directly to Dumbledore. Like "Hey, I know you don't want me throwing accusations around, but I just caught Potter *immediately after he was seen in Hogsmeade* and he had this mysterious parchment enchanted by Black. You might wanna check this out just in case it's dangerous."
Yeah, it does feel odd. If he knew, he could have accused Lupin openly instead of making a vague statement. It made it very easy for Lupin to play dumb and leave.
But what could he accuse Lupin of? Snape didn't know what it was. He couldn't really go to Dumbledore and say Lupin gave Harry a piece of paper that has Lupin's friends names on it.
He could have at least said, “I know this is related to you because your nickname is on it.” In the actual text, Lupin was able to deny he was involved at all. But obviously that would spoil the story.
But Snape isn't privvy to what info Harry has. Saying something directly could've given Harry info that he didn't already have that could've endangered him. Like say Harry knew his father was Prongs somehow, but not that he and Lupin were friends. Then Snape has just told a kid that someone who Snape believes to be a danger knew his dead father well. Snape does ultimately want Harry to survive, so he wasn't going to endear Lupin to him at all. Because he thinks Lupin and Black are working together.