[HPforGrownups] Re: Time Period in Book 7

[Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer]

No: HPFGUIDX 2229

Hi --

eggplant88 at hotmail.com wrote:

> Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer <>
>
> >JKR: "There will be seven books.  One for each of his years at
> > Hogwarts and he'll turn 17 at the start of book 7."
>
> Eggplant said: <<<Yes but how old will he be at the end of book 7?
> There is no way I can interpret the above to mean that the end of the
> last book absolutely positively most be on graduation day and not one
> bit
> later.>>>

Let's take it one phrase at a time.  7 books -- surely we're agreed on
that point.  Each book will cover "one of his years at Hogwarts."
That's what she has said.  The 7th book will *start* with Harry at age
17.  If his birthday is as we all assume on 31 July 1980, and if the
Hogwarts school year ends in early to mid-June as it does in all the
previous 6 books, then it can be inferred that logically the 7th book
will end while Harry is still 17.

In any case -- I don't know why she would cover close to 2 yrs in the
7th volume, with the last year being entirely away from Hogwarts.  That
just doesn't square with the notion that each book represents one of his
years at Hogwarts.  She has said somewhere else (I can find the cite if
pressed) that Harry will have "come of age" in the wizarding world at
the end of the series.  Is there any evidence that the "adult age" or
"age of consent" in the wizarding world is 19??

You pointed out in a later message that Book 7 will be different in that
Harry won't be returning to the Dursleys.  That is presumably correct.
But, I don't know that there's a shred of evidence that suggests that
she'll extend the 7th book 15 mths beyond the time when it might
normally be thought to conclude.  I could see her extending it out to
include his 18th birthday, perhaps even letting us know what adult Harry
is initially planning to do with his life . . . . but the 19th birthday
seems completely implausible to me based on JKR's public statements of
her intentions for the series.

> <<<Why would she wish to impose such a restriction on herself? I
> can't see her forcing a plot line to an unnatural premature ending
> just so last book covers only one year like the previous 6. Obviously
> book 7 being the last will have things about it that are different
> from the other 6.>>>

I don't know why you think ending it in one month or so prior to his
18th birthday is an "unnatural premature ending."  I agree with Amanda
-- why is any ending that doesn't conclude the way you've worked out
(with Harry dying at age 19 one month after a marriage to Ginny &
leaving a little Harry Jr. on the way) "premature" and "restrictive"???
I definitely do not believe that JKR will end the series one whit before
she intends to -- nor do I think she will give her fans a "premature"
ending.

It seems to me that you're the one with the "restrictive" view of how
the series must end.  His dying at age 17 wouldn't work too well for
your theory about him leaving a pregnant wife (Ginny), would it?  She'd
only be 16, and JKR has certainly said she won't tackle teenage
pregnancy in the HP series.  She's only plausibly an adult if Harry
survives to be 19.

Like Lori, I can't otherwise discern *why* you're so invested in this
theory that Book 7 will cover 23 months (nearly 2 yrs).

Penny


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