13 Harry Potter Plot-Holes (That Were Totally Solved)

4. Wormtail And The Marauder's Map

The "Plot-Hole"

If the Weasley twins has access to the Marauder's Map from their first year until they passed it on to Harry, how come they never noticed that someone called Peter Pettigrew - whose name would have been well-known in magical communities thanks to Sirius Black's alleged crimes - was following their brother around? And sleeping in his bed. And watching him shower...

The Solution

According to Oliver Phelps (via The Huffington Post), it could simply be that Peter is a family secret:

“Maybe it’s a boo in the family that no one talks of. ‘Who’s this Peter bloke? Maybe it was an unspoken word in the Weasley’s family.”

Funny, but unlikely. JK Rowling's response is better:

"It would not have mattered if they had. Unless somebody was very familiar with the story of Sirius Black (and after all, Sirius was not Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's best friend – indeed, they never knew him until after he escaped from Azkaban), Fred and George would be unlikely to know or remember that Peter Pettigrew was the person Sirius had (supposedly) murdered. Even if Fred and George HAD heard the story at some point, why would they assume that the 'Peter Pettigrew' they occasionally saw moving around the map was, in fact, the man murdered years before?

Fred and George used the map for their own mischief-making, so they concentrated, naturally enough, on those portions of the map where they were planning their next misdeeds. And finally, you must not forget that hundreds of little dots are moving around this map at any given time… Fred and George did not know everyone in school by name, so a single unfamiliar name was unlikely to stand out."

Still doesn't answer the bed issue, but they presumably simply didn't look there any night they were off making mischief?