Whither Gryffindor Quidditch?

[Steve Vander Ark]

No: HPFGUIDX 4921

> > 
> > My guess is that the Gryffindor victory in PoA is the "Happy 
> Ending" to
> > the Quidditch saga > Do you really think so?  I hadn't thought of 
that.  What a drag, I 
> like Quidditch.  JKR likes it too, maybe she'll find a way to keep 
it 
> going.  I hope for at least one more year.  

I really can't imagine that Quidditch won't be a part of the rest of 
the series. I think GF represents a VERY unusual year at Hogwarts and 
that Quidditch will be back big time next year. Either that or 
there'll be a mutiny. But who will be Keeper? Who will be captain?

And, speaking of Oliver 
> being gone, won't Angelina be gone too?  She was able to enter her 
> name in the goblet; the selection was on Halloween, she said her 
> birthday was a week before.  If she's still a sixth year, late 
> October is pretty early in the school year to have her seventeenth 
> birthday.  Or is that how it works--since you have to be eleven to 
> enter HW, you have to be whatever age going into whatever school 
> year? What I mean is, she was sixteen when the school year started, 
> so she ~is~ a sixth year? 

That brings up the whole question of how old Hermione is for almost 
the entire school year. Is the cut-off date really Sept 1, no 
variation? Then Hermione turned 12 two weeks after the start of PS/SS 
and she is almost a year older than Harry. If that's the way it 
works, Angelina was 16 at the start of GF and turned 17 a month later 
and a half later, just in time to qualify for the tournament. That 
would put her in her 4th year in GF and now is going into her 7th 
year.

As I read the books and write timelines (I'm doing detailed timelines 
now of each book, day by day), I am coming quickly to the conclusion 
that in JKR's universe, time fits nice little patterns. September 1 
is always a Sunday because September 2, the first day of classes, is 
always the start of a week. In this way of thinking, the September 1 
cutoff for starting Hogwarts is a given. You get your mail from 
Hogwarts on your 11th birthday, you come to school on the following 
September 1, no matter where they fall relative to each other. 

But Hermione is referred to as being 13 at one point in PA. (To be 
fair, Harry and Hermione together are referred to as a pair of 13-
year-old wizards). So maybe common sense DID enter into it in her 
case, being as bright as she is, and she actually entered Hogwarts 
while she was still 10 and turned 11 two weeks later. To me, that 
makes perfect sense. And if we accept the idea that intention drives 
most magic, the system would nicely adjust itself to accept Hermione 
when it made sense to do so.

Just as an aside, I have to say how fascinating it is to actually 
timeline one of these books, figuring out what day things must have 
happened from this or that little clue. I start to realize just how 
disconnected from reality the HP universe really is...

Steve Vander Ark
The Harry Potter Lexicon
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon