Lily's letter (was What triggered ancient magic? WAS: Re: James and Intent

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 187059

Pippin in 187054:
> Pippin:
> It's not like there was something of Lily's that he could ask for. Snape did not go and take something from the house at Godric's Hollow, as he could have done.  He  found the letter while he was searching GP and took it on impulse. Of course it was not his, but it is not like it was one of Harry's prized possessions.  Harry did not even know it existed. 
> 
> Snape would have to search GP to make sure there was nothing that would show he was the one who tipped off the Order that Harry had gone to the MoM. That would be pretty hard to explain to Voldemort. He knows that with all the Order now secret keepers, it is not going to be possible to keep the other DE's out of GP forever. They are the ones who are going to get whatever is in the house, not Harry.

Potioncat:
Have you said this before? For some reason I've had the impression--from the group at large, I think--that Snape was looking for the letter. That's one reason Lily's letter never sat well with me. What would make Snape expect to find a letter from Lily at 12 GP? But that he was looking for something else makes a lot more sense. And explains why he was crying.


> 
> Carol wrote in post 187057:
> I think we need to consider the circumstances. It's not as if, like Mundungus, he had immediately gone to Order Headquarters to steal what had been Sirius's property and sell it for personal profit. He only comes there (apparently after the Seven Potters incident though it would make more sense to me if it were just after the death of Dumbledore), he's in desperate straits. He's just taken part in the Seven Potters chase on Dumbledore's orders and has accidentally Sectumsempra'd George Weasley's ear in saving Lupin. Dumbledore expects him to protect the students of Hogwarts and maintain seeming loyalty to LV while the rest of the WW hates him as the supposed murderer of Dumbledore. 


Potioncat:
Why do you think this happened after the Seven Potters? I was certain it happened immediately after killing DD. I'll try to look later, I think JKR has said so in an interview.