Marauders Timeline

[Steve Vander Ark]

No: HPFGUIDX 8986


> I tend to agree with Steve's timeline in the Lexicon.  Lupin tells 
Harry that the Whomping Willow (is that right?) was planted the year 
that he arrived and that Dumbledore was headmaster.  Dumbledore didn't 
become headmaster until 1972, which would mean that Lupin, James, 
Lily, Sirius would have been at Hogwarts no earlier than 1972.

Note, however, that the timeline you're referring to is a RELATIVE 
one, which means that I don't know what date it all starts with. Since 
we can't pin down an actual date for the Marauders to be at Hogwarts, 
I chose one that had some logic to it and created the timeline 
relative to that. 

Dumbledore became headmaster and with that administrative change, 
Lupin was allowed to attend. But we don't even know how old Lupin was 
at that time...had he NOT come to school for a few years, then when 
Dumbledore took over did he get to come? 

We do know that Lupin was described as "quite young" in PA, which 
doesn't tell us chronological age, I realize, with wizards' extended 
lifespan. But putting that aside, it suggests to me that Lupin (and 
the others) would be no more than thirty in 1993, the beginning of the 
book PA. So that means they were born in the early 1960's. 

But it's all relative. And there are plenty of perfectly reasonable 
scenarios which would throw all this out the window in a hot second.

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