[HPforGrownups] Re: Snape finding Lily's Letter

[Christine Maupin]

No: HPFGUIDX 174373

Christy (that's me, the person responding to Potioncat):
(snipping)  
> > Maybe its not the letter but simply a letter.  Other plausible 
> > explanations for it do exist right?  (Sometimes JKR gives us 
> > details that foreshadow and sometimes she just gives us details.)
 
Potioncat:
(snipping just a small bit)
>  The Purloined Letter
> I'm not sure if the letter has become a dead horse or a tennis 
> ball. We all seem to agree that the letter was brought back to 12 
> GP off-page. The saga of the letter works better for some of us 
> than others, but there are some things the letter's story does 
> accomplish. This brief, two-part episode packs a lot into a little 
> space.
<snip>
> When Harry (and the reader) does see the letter again, he gets the 
> final bit about DD. He discovers it was Snape who went through the 
> house. He sees Snape tearing off the section of the photo that has 
> Lily, and sees for a second time, how deep Severus's feelings are 
> for his childhood friend. 
> 
> There's several bit of irony connected to this little subplot. A 
> character says that Moody's curses must be working, because Snape 
> hasn't revealed the secret, yet Snape has already been there. The 
> very thing that was taken from the house was the letter right in 
> front of us. Harry and Snape are both hungry for keepsakes of a 
> lost time.
<snip>
> And, no, the letter on the table in OoP probably isn't this letter--
> but I like that version and I'm sticking to it! ;-)

 
Very nice summary of the importance of the letter and a worthy focus of discussion -- how it got to Grimmauld Place in the first place and whether or not the letter mentioned in OOTP is the letter isn't that important in the grand scheme of things.  Your observations here capture what is important very nicely.

And, I too find it poignant that Sirius gave Harry his first broom and his Firebolt -- and, sadly, Harry has neither to remember him by ... 

Christy, who would like to think the letter on the table in OOTP is the letter but can't believe it because she thinks Sirius would have shown it to Harry and at least given him the photo as a memento if it was (so we agree to disagree on that...)