matching up dates

[Athena Appleton]

haha... to show what a true nerd I am, I found out either that Harry was born in 1982, or there is a descrepency in the books.

In Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, first chapter, Harry is brought to the Dursleys on a Tuesday. A few chapters later, when Hagrid is telling Harry the story of what happened to his parents, he says the attack (that we know happened the day before Harry was brought to the Dursley's) happened on Halloween night, the Halloween night when Harry was 1 year old (which would be his second Halloween). The only Halloween that fell on a Monday in the time frame we're talking about was in 1983, meaning Harry was born in July of 1982. Since J.K. Rowling said in an interview that Snape was about 35 or 36. Okay, so 1982+11 (Harry's age) = 1993, the setting of P/SS. If Snape (and the Marauders) was 36 years old, they graduated from Hogwarts in 1974. James and Lily got married sometime between 1974 and around the middle of 1981.

I'm a moron... If Harry was supposedly born any other year than 1982, there is a descrepancy in the books.

[Phaerie]

1982 sounds about right, as when the first books were actually published, Harry was the same aga as me. ( now 18 ). But Jk would have written them before and she's said that it took here a long time to get them published.

Tho officially if harry was "born" in 1982 he'd be 21 now!

Edited to fix the 8) into a real 8 and a parenthesis and to change 2 into "

[Broccoli]

There is a nice article on the dates in the Harry Potter Lexicon. There is actually a lot of unclarity about this

[Athena Appleton]

1982 sounds about right, as when the first books were actually published, Harry was the same aga as me. (now 18). But Jk would have written them before and she's said that it took here a long time to get them published.

Tho officially if harry was "born2 in 1982 he'd be 21 now!

well, yeah, but think about it... it took, what, three years for OotP to come out?

I know I'm dating myself by saying this, but does anyone here remember the babysitter's club? they were in eighth grade for at least six years.... lol at least J.K. Rowling isn't doing that...

[Ferrus]

There is an easier way to do those measurements... is CoS nearly-Headless Nick has his 500th deathday and on the plaque it says: 1492-1992. A bit easier isn`t it? Of course, that puts harrys birth into 1980, so there is something wrong somewhere...

[Scellanis]

lol, thats weird, he is actually one year older than me then...wow

[Athena Appleton]

heeheehee! This is making my head feel funny! Different "proofs" prove different years... how annoying

[Jotomicron]

Well, the fact is that absolute dates aren't really important. I mean, if we start making some sums and subtractions, we discover that in GoF, both Sept 1st and Sept 2nd were Mondays (see the Lexicon url Brocolli gives a little before this post)... This is not quite related to years, but, if we associate the facts, we conclude that it's not important weather Harry was born in 1980 or 1982... just think he was born in earlier 1980's...

[Athena Appleton]

awww, i know... more than wanting to know exactly what year harry was born in, I was wondering if it was true what someone said about James and Lily got married and had Harry immediately after they got out of Hogwarts... and this theory, confusing though it is, would show that there were several years they could be living and working before having Harry.

[Aberforth]

If Snape was 35/36 in PS, that would mean James and Lily had Harry when they were 24/25, 7 or 8 years after leaving school.

[Athena Appleton]

right... and that bit about Snape being around 36 was from an actual J.K. Rowling interview, seperate from the books.

[Jotomicron]

But do we know James and Snape had the same age?

[Athena Appleton]

yes, because they took their OWLS in fifth year together ("Snapes Worst Memory", OotP)

[Ferrus]

Unless one of them reapeated a year... Which I dont think is the case...

[Athena Appleton]

I don't think so either... besides, do Hogwarts students repeat years if they fail, or are they simply not allowed to come back? At the very end of Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, after the end-of-term feast, they get their exam results.

To their great srprise, bot he ad Ron passed with good marks. Hermione, of course, had the best grades of all the first years. Even Neville scraped through, his good Herbology mark making up for his abysmal Potions one. They had hoped that Goyle, who was almost as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he had passed, too.[/i]