[HPforGrownups] Re: Ages of Hogwarts students

[MariaJ]

No: HPFGUIDX 42019

Jo Serenadust wrote:

<snip>

> birthdate would fall into the next upcoming class.  My second and
> stronger reason for believing Hermione is older is based upon
> chapter 16 in GoF where Angelina Johnson is eligible for the
> triwizard tournament because she has just turned 17 in October.  My
> assumption has always been that she was in the same class as the
> twins which would make her one of the older 6th years.  Canon isn't
> really clear on this point though, so if she's still around as a 7th
> year in book 5, we'll have strong evidence for Hermione's Sept 19
> birthday making her older than Harry and Ron.

Poor Cedric, everyone forgets poor Ceddie. :)

In PoA Cedric is introduced as a fifth-year ("Wood had pointed out Cedric
Diggory to him in the corridor; Diggory was a fifth-year and a lot bigger
than Harry." Ch9) which means in GoF he's a sixth-year. In order to compete
in the Triwizard Tournament a student has to be over seventeen ("Only
students who are of age - that is to say, seventeen years or older - will be
allowed to put forward their names for consideration," Dumbledore says. GoF
Ch12) so that means Cedric, a sixth-year, is seventeen.

If Hogwarts has the same system that I'm used to here in Sweden where
everyone born the same year are in the same class, that means, going by the
fact that Harry will celebrate his sixteenth birthday the summer before his
sixth year, that around Halloween those sixth-years born from January to
Halloween will be sixteen and those unfortunate born Halloween to New Year
will be fifteen. The only way Cedric could be both a sixth-year and
seventeen is if he's repeated a year, which isn't entirely impossible of
course. Despite what the twins say, I don't think Cedric's stupid, but he
could have been ill or something.

If, on the other hand the cut-off date is September 1st, then those students
born between Sept 1st and Halloween would be seventeen in their sixth year,
and both Cedric and Angelina could belong to this group of students.

Of course, no one in their right mind would claim that maths is my strong
side, so I could be entirely wrong. Probably am.

Susanne wrote:

> I've been seeing the question about Hermione's age come up
> many times on different forums, and have to admit, I just
> don't quite get the importance.
> 
> What would it change about Hermione's character, should we
> find out one way or another in a future book?

Well, if Hermione is nearly a year older than Harry that means she'll be
celebrating her seventeenth birthday at the beginning of Book 6, and she'll
be of legal age in the wizarding world (she'll be eighteen and of legal age
in the Muggle world at the beginning of Book 7, for what it's worth). That
means she'll probably start taking Apparating lessons, and Hermione being
Hermione, passing the test with flying colours. It also means that Hermione
and eventually Ron (born in March, was it?) will be allowed to do magic
outside Hogwarts without getting angry notes from Mafalda Hopkirk about what
under-age wizards can and can't do. I'm sure that'll come in useful at some
point during Book 6.

And it means that in Book 7 *everyone* in Harry's year will be seventeen, in
other words they'll all be adults. I'm sure there are other things that JKR
hasn't told us about yet, besides Apparating, that you're only allowed to do
when you're legally an adult. Beyond that I can't really see any reason why
it would matter, at least not plotwise.

MariaJ, beating a hasty retreat into lurkville again