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Is extremely confusing. Lupin and Snape, in particular, make comments that don’t really make sense, but Jkr seems to have been trying to make their comments as mysterious as possible.
Now, I don’t really remember reading this book for the first time. I read it a very long time ago, if I had to guess after the fourth or fifth book had come out. I don’t think I knew what was happening, but I can’t say for sure. I can only speak in hindsight about the words that are spoken leading up to the reveal of the Mauraders.
Lupin says “Snape’s Grudge”, “these mapmakers would have wanted to lure you out of school. They’d think it extremely entertaining.”
Now, we know the Mauraders had a vicious trick streak and could be very mean with their pranks and jokes. Granted, we only see the worst of it focused on Snape, but I find it difficult to believe anyone could only be that cruel to one person. Maybe Snape got the brunt of it and was a specific target, but I get the idea that the Mauraders didnt often think about the consequences of their actions.
So it is possible Lupin simply thinks that the idea of a boy who was not supposed to go outside the castle doing so would be fun for them, because they simply just liked causing trouble. But the way its phrased, “lure”, makes me feel this doesn’t quite fit the bill. Before I go on to my next theory, I will say that Sirius luring Snape through the willow may be fresh on Lupin’s mind, so perhaps that’s where his choice of words came from.
However, even that I think lends to a different theory, that the strangeness of this comment comes more from Lupin thinking *Sirius* would like to lure Harry straight to him and think it very funny that Harry walked to his own death.
This actually makes a lot of sense on all stages. Lupin wouldn’t want to say only one Maurader would find it amusing, that is more telling than Lupin was trying to be. But he also would use the word lure specifically because of its menacing connotations.
It never actually gets directly explained though, which I think delves into this larger narrative of vague mentions of James and Sirius being terrors and mean without any real evidence that they were anything but. Which maybe they weren’t but they are examples of characters I feel I need a little more of, besides often vague statements about them.