Several important things should be noted: one, Bartemius Crouch, who was too ill to attend the Yule Ball and had to sendsent [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Percy Weasley|Percy Weasley]] in his place, is apparently well enough to be able to gotravel to Hogwarts and root through Snape's office. Another is the Egg and its song; learningsolving the Egg's riddle only leads to yet another problem for Harry—he must find a way to breathe underwater for anone hour so he can get to the lake's bottom, and the Tournament is only a few weeks away. Additionally, there is Professor Moody's odd behavior when he spots the Marauder's Map. He is intensely interested in it, staring fixedly withat one or both eyesit when he realizes what it is and then borrows it from Harry.
Another consideration is the ongoing enmity between Snape and Moody. In a later chapter, Sirius says Snape was never accused of being a Death Eater; this turns out tois beactually falseincorrect, Snape was accused, but Dumbledore vouched for him. It was Moody who arrested Snape, and who is probably still suspicious that he is a Death Eater. [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Igor Karkaroff|Karkaroff]] is a known Death Eater, [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Sirius Black|Sirius]] mentioned that just before the Firstfirst Tasktask. If Snape was or still is a Death Eater, as [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Ron Weasley|Ron]], Harry, and to a lesser extent [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Hermione Granger|Hermione]] believe, that would explain why he and Karkaroff were on a first-name basis at the [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Major Events/Yule Ball|Yule Ball]].
Moody uses the [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Accio|summoning spell]] to scoop the map from Snape. Some readers may wonder why Harry didn'tdid not use the same charm to retrieve it. He had his wand; he was attempting to reach the map with his wand to blank it when Filch appeared at the foot of the stairs. It seems likely that Harry, with the Egg screaming and Filch rapidly approaching, simply panicked. One can imagine the flash ofwords "Why didn't I remember that?" crossingflashing across Harry's mind when Moody used the summoningSummoning charm on the map.
