Uncle Tom?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 167006

I accidentally sent this post to the list owners instead of the group.
My apologies for any duplication of Ceridwen's points. It was written
before her message appeared.

Carol earlier:
> > I think and hope we've seen the last reference to "your mother's
eyes." (I fully realize that the Snape/Lily theorists think
differently on this question.)
>
firefly responded:
> Sorry, JKR has stated that in book 7 :The fact that Harry "has his
mother's eyes" will prove to be an important plot point.

Carol again:

I'm familiar with the quotes, which do not specifically refer to Book
7. The first is from 1999 and could have referred to any book from GoF
onward:

[Question]: Do you know what Harry's parents look like?

[JKR]: Yes. I've even drawn a picture of how they look. Harry has his
father and mother's good looks. But he has his mother's eyes and
that's very important in a future book.

Loer, Stephanie. "All about Harry Potter from quidditch to the future
of the Sorting Hat," The Boston Globe, October 18, 1999

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/1099-bostonglobe-loer.html

The point is alluded to again but not directly answered in the 2000
Newsround interview, which follows the publication of GoF:

[Questioner]: Are there any special wizarding powers in your world
that depend on the wizard using their eyes to do something?

JKR: Why do you want to know this?

[Questioner]: Well because everyone always go on about how Harry's got
Lily Potter's eyes.

JKR: Aren't you smart - there is something, maybe coming about that,
I'm going to say no more - very clever.

So "something maybe coming about that" could refer either to special
wizarding powers that depend on wizards using their eyes (Legilimency
and Occlumency) or to Harry having Lily's eyes or both. The question
and answer preceded GoF and again did not specify a particular book.
(The "special wizarding powers," of course, appeared in OoP.)

"JK Rowling talks about Book Four," cBBC Newsround, July 8, 2000

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0700-cbbc-mzimba.htm

No indication whatever that the significance of Harry's having Lily's
eyes would be revealed in book 7. She could have been referring to 5,
6, or 7 (or, IMO, to 5 *and* 6 because the "special wizarding skill"
and "Lily's eyes" are two separate topics.

The fact that Harry has Lily's eyes has *already* proved important.
Harry would not have been able to retrieve the true memory from
Slughorn is his eyes didn't remind Slughorn of Lily's. Slughorn,
unlike virtually everyone else, is constantly reminded of Lily rather
than James when he sees Harry, and that reminder, combined with his
sentimental fondness for Lily's memory and his guilt about having
talked to Tom Riddle about Horcruxes, is what enables Harry to
retrieve the true memory from Slughorn. That was a *very* important
plot point. I doubt that it will be repeated with a different
character in Book 7.

Re Lily/Snape: If Snape, who has looked into Harry's eyes many times,
were going to see Lily there, surely, he'd have seen her there
immediately. Instead, Professor Snape says nothing whatever about
Lily. All he sees when he looks at Harry is James (and a Chosen One
who's not up to snuff).

Carol, thinking that perhaps we should not trust our memories
regarding interview quotes (or, in my case, publishing dates)