Letters

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 184233

Potioncat wrote:
> <snip> There was a time when some fans thought the letter came on
the student's 11th birthday--whenever the birthday was. I think it was
 because Harry's first letter was delivered (finally) on his birthday.
 The letters are sent in the summer, shortly before school starts. We
 see that in CoS when all the Weasleys get their letters. <snip>

Carol responds:
I'm not sure because I don't have time to check the first six books,
or rather, CoS through HBP, but I don't think that the letters
necessarily arrive in early summer (July). In some books, IIRC, the
school year has almost started before they receive their letters. It
seems to me that the date they receive the letter depends on when the
new teachers, chiefly the DADA teachers, are hired and select their books.

The permanent staff rarely change the books that they assign, though
Flitwick assigns a different version of the same book for each grade
level; McGonagall's Transfiguration book comes in Beginner's,
Intermediate, and Advanced versions; and most teachers apparently have
a different book for their NEWT students than for the younger ones.
These elements, like the list of supplies for first-years and the
welcome letter itself, would be standard every year. But each new DADA
teacher, and there's a new one every year, assigns a different book or
books, and other staffing changes (e.g., Hagrid as CoMC teacher) would
also necessitate changes.  If the DADA teacher and other new staff
members are hired early, the welcome letter and accompanying booklist
can be sent out in July, but in problem years (OoP and HBP, for
example) when the hiring of the DADA teacher is delayed (or
complicated by the new Potions master's procrastination), the letters
arrive very late.

Carol, apologizing for piling on details for such a minor matter