Harry Potter sat in a chair and sifted though what was left of Severus Snape's life. Snape's flat in Spinner's End had been condemned, and nobody had bothered to touch anything the man had left behind after he had died in the war with Voldemort several years earlier.
The entire building had sat empty, no one quite getting around to remodeling or razing the thing. Hermione Granger overheard some officials speaking about having passed an ordinance that the building should be demolished as soon as possible. She had thereby let Harry know that was about to happen. And Harry, knowing that Snape had no living relatives, had decided to take it upon himself to go through what possessions had belonged to the man. At the time, Harry figured he owed it to Snape to do that much. However, after spending several days at the task, he was almost beginning to wish that he hadn't volunteered.
Snape's hovel was in such a state of disarray that Harry couldn't understand how anybody could have lived there. Beneath years of dust and cobwebs lay piles and piles of old potion manuals, books about everything from the magical properties of parsnips to Dark Arts, parchment notes, broken quills, broken furniture, empty ink bottles, cauldrons, phials of ingredients, and who knew what else.
As Harry sorted through stuff on top of an old desk in a corner, he came to learn that Snape didn't typically have things so untidy. Hermione was gracious enough to join Harry in his clean-up, and it was because of her powers of observation that he now knew that somebody had ransacked the place. Whether it was by someone looking for something specific, or by vandals, Hermione couldn't tell. It was also possible that somebody had gone through the stuff more than once.
Harry picked up an old yellowed parchment envelope, dusted it off, and saw Snape's name written across the back in bold frilly script. He turned it over and saw a symbol etched in the wax seal. He wasn't entirely certain, but it looked like the Black family crest. Instantly, Harry's curiosity got the better of him. Who in the Black family would have sent a letter to Snape? He caught himself wondering just how old the letter was. Upon closer examination, the wax seal on the envelope didn't even look disturbed. Why would Snape keep an unopened letter? More to the point, why would he have left it unopened?
The more Harry thought about it, the more he yearned to know what was inside of the envelope. But he felt like it was breaking into Snape's privacy by reading such a missive. If it was still sealed shut, there was probably a very good reason.
"Hermione," said Harry, "I found this envelope over here." He walked over to his bushy-haired best friend and handed her the letter.
"The Black family crest," she mused, as she examined it. "I wonder why they would've sent Snape a letter?" She looked at it closer. "It doesn't even look like it's been opened."
"I know."
Hermione went to tear open the wax seal and Harry stopped her, saying, "Do you really think that's a good idea? I mean, it could be private."
Hermione rolled her eyes and replied, "Harry, we've been tearing through Snape's things for the past week and a half. Surely he won't mind now–he's dead."
Still feeling as if they were disturbing something which shouldn't be disturbed, Harry gave Hermione the okay to open the letter.
Inside was a very cryptic message in the same bold script which adored the back of the envelope:
It is done. She is safe.
H.A.B.
In actuality, Harry and Hermione could not tell if the first letter was an P, H, R, or B because the ink had smeared across the parchment.
"Oh great," lamented Harry, "not again."
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.
"What is it with the Black family and signing their initials? First, it's 'R.A.B', now it's 'H.A.B.' or whatever. Not only that, but what the heck is 'She is safe' supposed to mean?"
"It obviously means that someone Snape cares or cared about was brought to safety."
"Obviously," Harry answered sarcastically, as if the writer of the letter had intentionally been cryptic simply to spite him. If there was one thing Harry couldn't stand, it was an unsolved mystery.
"Clearly, some research needs to be done," Hermione mused, getting a certain glint in her eye.
"Oh no, I know that look. To the library?" he asked.
"In this case, no. We need to check out the Black family tapestry on the wall of 12 Grimmauld Place."