Timeline Problems

[Bill]

No: HPFGUIDX 30351

I think a lot of the timeline problems stem from the fact that JKR 
gets her information second hand.  I mean, who is telling her about 
Harry in the first place? Is it Harry, perhaps sending her telepathic 
signals so that she actually thinks she is making up the story - or
is it someone else?  If someone else, the story JKR is telling is 
therefore third or fourth hand.  It is a well documented fact that
the more a story is relayed the more variations creep into it.  
Also, a number of people can see the same thing and yet report 
different things.  How JKR gets the story depends on the accuracy of 
times and dates and even statements about Playstations which might be 
not PS 1 or PS 2 but really Nintendo. 

My own theory is that Harry is telling the story, since we are often
told things which he is thinking and which happen only to him; 
therefore only he would have knowledge of the events.  By the same 
token, the wizard world is notorious for wanting to keep Muggles in 
the dark about thier doings - so a few, well placed inaccuracies will 
ensure that Muggles are confused. 

The only other answer is that JKR really is making the whole thing up,
and of course that is ridiculous.