Wizard longevity and Harry's pubescence

[merimom3]

No: HPFGUIDX 40127

I had a thought that might tie together some of the things that have 
been being tossed about her over the last week.

1.  Wizards live longer than Muggles. (Dumbledore is 150, even, 
apparently, without the aid of something like the SS)
2.  Harry and the gang seem to be reaching adolescence at a slower 
pace than we might expect.

I believe that 1 explains 2.  If your life span is doubled, perhaps 
the time it takes you to mature is also doubled, or at least 
lengthened somewhat.  Now the fact that wizards and witches seem to 
be given adult-like privileges and responsibilities at Muggle-mature 
ages seems to contradict this (Apparate license at 17; Percy gets a 
job right out of Hogwarts, when he is presumably 18).  But you could 
look at these things as lower-level, comparable to getting one's 
driver's license at 16 (in the US) or being able to work at 14.  We 
don't know when more important milestones might be reached, like 
when one could vote (if there is any of that in the WW) or marry or 
sign legal documents.

To put it concretely, maybe learning to Apparate at 17 is like 
getting a learner's driver's license at 15, putting wizards and 
witches two years behind Muggles in maturity.  This fits with the 
delays we seem to be seeing, and seems a small price to pay for 
living more than a century.

Ginny