The timeline on the DVD *confirms* canon.

[gwendolyngrace]

No: HPFGUIDX 55888

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Ali" <Ali at z...> wrote:
> 
> 
> My impression is that whilst JKR is very pedantic and thorough with 
> regards to some issues, dates and numbers are not amongst them. 
> Thus, whilst I will believe that JKR authorised the DVD timeline 
and 
> therefore *canonised* Hermione's birthday as later than Harry's, I 
> cannot believe that she thought through all the implications of 
this 
> particular date when she first wrote it - perhaps Heidi's idea of 
> the Autumn equinox will give her a way out of this potential Flint.
> 


I definitely agree that dates and numbers are not her strong suit. 

However, what's wrong with a "school year" cutoff? 

Say that Professor McGonagall consults the rolls in early spring of 
the current school year. Any witches or wizards who will be turning 
11 *at any time* between the end of the current term and the end of 
the *next* school year get their letter that summer?

Okay, so for some Muggle-educated kids, this may mean that they will 
have already started at a secondary school before they switch to 
Hogwarts. So? I'm sure it's not unheard of for people to change 
schools even a year after starting. Usually it's because of moving, 
but I would think there are many times where the parents and teachers 
feel a student will perform better in a different setting. So they 
pull the child out of the school where they've just spent a year and 
next term pop them in elsewhere. Or is that completely forbidden in 
English schools? Once you start somewhere, that's it, unless your 
family moves to a different jurisdiction?

By that logic, Ron was born in 1981, which makes him younger than the 
other two, which IMO does make sense. 

So if the end of term is around June, then there'd be a roughly 
June/July cutoff, and all the kids in a given first-year will 
celebrate their 11th birthdays through the course of that year.

Gwendolyn Grace