Dates in QTA/FB (was have books in hand)

[absinthe at mad.scientist.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 14258

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
> Heidi wrote:
> 
> > > S
> > > P
> > > O
> > > I
> > > L
> > > E
> > > R
> > > S
> > > P
> > > A
> > > C
> > > E
> > > If dumbledore is alive tto writ book intros in 2001, then does 
> that 
> > mean he
> > > survives the end of book 7?
> > > And if the charity is "in harry potter's name" and not memory, 
> does 
> > that
> > > mean he does too?
> 
> And Snuffles wrote:
> 
> > I think it must do because he 'is a triffle reluctant to allow the 
> > book to be reprinted' (FB) which seems to suggest that he was 
> > consulted
> 
> I got all excited about the two worlds (ours and theirs) coming 
> together, not least because of the above point (I'm not too worried 
> that Harry will die, but I am about Dumbledore).  Major date 
problem, 
> however: 
> 
> Assuming that QTA was yanked from the library recently (I know 
> they're just being cute with the 3/11 return date, but let's say 
it's 
> 3/11/00 to allow some printing time <g>);
> 
> and also assuming that another joke with the signout dates is that 
> this book goes out *constantly*--no year-or-more gaps with this one 
> the way there are with titles such as Advanced Arithmancy--
> 
> then C. Diggory took it out well after 1995.
> 
> ???
> 
> This would seem to bear out the theory, recently proposed by someone 
> on here (sorry, can't find it even though it was a recent post), 
> that "now" is 2001 for us but 1995?6? for the HP world.  In which 
> case we have to treat the forewords as being written in the months 
> after GoF, i.e. 1995-96, and can't draw any conclusions about who's 
> alive in 2001.
> 
> I thought we could solve the whole thing by saying C. Diggory is a 
> different C. Diggory--maybe Cedric had a several-years younger 
> brother or sister?  Or proposing the Cedric-becomes-a-ghost (who- 
> still-loves-Quidditch) theory.  But we also have O. Wood on there 
and 
> he hasn't been around since 1994...
> 
> Maybe there are lots of copies of QTA in the Hogwarts library so 
that 
> there *are* long gaps between each of these signouts, in which case 
> O. Wood could've signed it out in 1994, C. Diggory in 1995, H. 
Potter 
> in 2001 even though there are only a couple dozen names total.
> 
> Or maybe this copy got retired in 1996 and has been sitting on the 
> storage-room shelf with H. Potter 3/11/96 as the most recent patron. 
 
> That still seems to leave long gaps between signouts though.
> 

Before I write my response, I must say that the veil between our world 
and the Potter world has become virtually non-existant.

Amy alluded that there are more than one or two copies of this book in 
the Hogwarts library. I agree with that especially since it is a very 
popular book with the students.

Also, Dumbledore is using Harry's, Ron's and Hermione's name 
recognition for this charitable effort. So it only makes sense that 
the chosen copy will have their names on the register.

Finally, when I read the introduction to FB, I thought "YAY! MAJOR 
MAJOR SPOILERY CLUE to Book 7!!!".....but we'll have to wait and see. 

:-)Milz