Snape finding Lily's Letter

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 174101

> va32h wrote:
> 
> Personally, I think it's the author's responsibility to make sure
> her own story makes sense - and not our responsibility as readers 
> to go thinking up explanation after explanation for questionable
> continuity.

> KJ writes:
> 
> Exactly!  None of us are asking other posters to come up with 
> increasingly unlikely
> explanations for these glitches, particularly not with a suggestion
> of "duh".  The fact is, that there should not be such glaring, 
> obvious flaws in the plot.  

Jen:  I've been reading this thread, trying to imagine the 
explanation coming up in the story and failing to think of a 
legitimate reason why it would.  One scenario: Harry would wonder why 
the letter was there.  But why would he in that moment?  He's 
connecting to his mom, learning about a part of his life he never 
knew about.  And he associates GP with Sirius, even in a negative 
way.  So Harry wondering about why the letter is there would come 
across as a diversion, at least to me.

Maybe Hermione, the logical one?  She could bring it up and she and 
Harry might speculate.  If I read such a scene, I would expect it to 
mean something in the plot later, not explaining a process that has 
no narrative significance in the moment. 

JKR could have the letter at a different location, say the Trio track 
down the house Sirius lived in prior to Azkaban (if it's still around 
and in his ownership, both of which seem dubious after an estate has 
been settled).  If there's no bearing on the Horcrux search or the 
search for the truth about DD - Harry's minor quest - then it would 
seem like a moment inserted only for the Trio to find the letter.

Now the *timing* caught my eye.  If Wormtail was indeed down because 
he knew his vist was the last time he'd see the Potters (Harry's 
speculation), why did he go so long without seeing them?  Or is this 
a timing error?  Lily talks as if the b-day just occurred in the 
letter, which means writing sometime in August.  Several months 
passed before they died on Oct. 31st.  (And are the ornaments 
mentioned in the letter another word for knick-knacks?)  

I didn't notice this until re-reading though.  The first time through 
I was captured by the bitterseet idea of Harry having such an 
ordinary family moment to hold onto.  It was something I hoped to see 
so I was hanging onto the moment as well! 

Jen