Lily's Patronus (WAS: Re: Patronus question again)

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 187210


> Carol responds:
 Lupin says that the Patronus charm is advanced magic "well above the Ordinary Wizarding level," but that doesn't mean it's not taught to, say, seventh-year NEWT-level DADA students.

Potioncat:
JKR said that the Patronus charm is not taught at Hogwarts. But she was saying that Draco wasn't taught it. Who knows if it was taught in the Marauders' days? Yet, I got the impression that it was not taught at Hogwarts period.

> Carol:
> Side note: If Dumbledore actually taught Snape to communicate using a Patronus, he would have seen that it was a doe unless he did so before Lily died. And since DD knew about Snape's love for Lily, Snape had no reason *not* to use it to communicate with him.

Potioncat:
You don't think Snape's Patronus would be a doe before Lily died? I suspect that whenever he learned it, it never changed.

Carol:
> 
> And I don't think that Sirius Black would have laughed at Snape's Patronus, which was powerful and beautiful, which Snape must have used to communicate with him both before and after he realized that Harry must have gone to the MoM. 

Potioncat:
I used to think that Snape used some other means of communication because if they had known his Patronus was Lily they wouldn't have doubted him. But now I think perhaps it wouldn't be as obvious to them that the doe was Lily. Afterall, I doubt if Minerva's and Delorus's cat Patronuses represent the same person. (And I'm not sure Minerva's represents herself unless she's incredibly self reliant and self confident.)

I'm still not sure how he communicated, but based on DD's comment about the Order's means of communication, I have to think he did use it.

Carol: 
> Anyway, I agree with Magpie that Harry's reference to the doe as his mother's Patronus is a slip of some kind, whether on Harry's part or JKR's. 

Potioncat:
I don't see why Lily's Patronus couldn't be a doe. It does make a nice mate for James's stag--but I don't think it represents James. Clearly, her doe represents someone else. Maybe her mother.