Snape finding Lily's letter

[Christine Maupin]

No: HPFGUIDX 174003

Steve:
> So, again, I ask, where and what is the confusion
> regarding this letter? 
 
va32h:
>Because the letter was written when Harry was one - which would make
> his parents and Sirius about 21. Sirius ran away from 12 Grimmauld
> Place when he was 16. 
 
>So either Sirius brought a bunch of mementoes back to 12 GP when he 
>moved back in during the events of OoTP (and assumed Harry wouldn't 
> be remotely interested in a picture of himself as a baby and a 
> letter from his mother??) or JKR has made a goof.


I failed to see anything unusual and wonder as Steve does what's the confusion.  The room had been ransacked; the letter could have been any where in it and with anything.  I don't remember every exact letter and photo I have tucked away in various boxes, drawers, files, etc.

As for having mementos at Grimmauld Place to begin with, I stored things at my Mom's long after I left home.  Yes, Sirius left home at 16 (and lived first with the Potters and then in a flat paid for with money his uncle left him) and distanced himself from his family...but nothing tells us (that I remember) that he never saw them again (it's not easy to totally cut ties with one's entire family).  And we don't know exactly when his parents died (again that I remember).  He might have inherited the house before October 31, 1981 and stored things there.  He went into hiding himself when James and Lily did -- with all the spells his father put on the house, 12 Grimmauld Place might have been a good hiding place for him.  Even if he had no contact with the house before OOTP, Lupin could have cleaned out Sirius's flat after his went to prison and kept things he thought were important, esp. things that reminded him of the good times (he had in a matter of 24 hours lost his three best friends and Lily and, in a way, Harry).  Explaining how the letter got there is easy...we just have to resign to the fact that we probably won't know the true details...

Christy