Ages?

[Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer]

No: HPFGUIDX 7890

Hi --

Stephanie Becvar wrote:

> I have a question, i read somewhere, maybe on this list maybe not,
> that
> someone assumed sirius, lupin, snape, etc. were about 43.  This makes
> no
> sense to me, bc that would make Lily around 30 when she had Harry.  I
> always assumed, that they got married in their early twenties, or even
> right after they graduated Hogwarts.  It would make sense that the
> wedding would happen, Harry would be born,

Well, I'll climb on my soapbox briefly to state that no matter what you
believed as a teenager, babies do not *always* immediately follow
marriage, even when the parents desperately want that.  I suffered
through 4 yrs of infertility to get where I am (6 mths pregnant at last)
so .... I tend to get a bit touchy when people make this assumption
(right up there with "Oh, you've been married 7 years?  'Bout time you
two got around to having kids."  Grrrr!).

Okay ... anyway ... back to the Potters.  Assuming no infertility, it is
possible that they had Harry in their early 20s.  But, I have assumed
that Lily's occupation will turn out to be just as important as James'
career -- in fact, I suspect that they must have been working in the
same field.  It seems more plausible to me that they worked at least
several years before having a child, and that they were more likely
mid-20s when they had Harry.  I guess I don't see how Lily & James could
have had an important occupation (and JKR has said we'll learn more
about their occupation(s) and its importance later) for only a brief
period of time after graduating.  So, I say it seems more reasonable
that they got married relatively early (maybe at age 19-20) but didn't
have Harry until they were 25-27.

> and Mrs. Weasley more in her late 40's, which makes sense seeing as
> how Bill is about 23.

We've had huge debates in the past about the ages of the older Weasley
kids -- hopefully the Weasley FAQ can be uploaded soonish so you can
more easily read the arguments we've advanced.  I'm in the Bill is 26/27
in GoF camp.  I put Charlie at 24-26 in GoF camp.  You have to look at
all the statements in the books about when Gryffindor last won the
Quidditch Cup & House Cup & such to start really piecing it together.
Simon has done a good draft of the Weasley FAQ so far so ... as soon as
we can get our act together & start uploading these FAQs, you'll see
what I mean.

Penny


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