How Old Are Snape/Sirius/Lupin/James/Peter?

[psychic_serpent]

No: HPFGUIDX 75927

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Marci" <blackgold101 at y...> 
wrote:
> > Buttercup asks:
> > 
> > I must have misunderstood the interview, I thought she
> > was referring to their ages in Book 1 as 35 or 36
> > years old, which would make them  40 or 41 in Book 5. 
> > Did she specifically say POA? Thanks!

Well, GoF had just come out when Snape was said to be 35 or 36.  If 
he was 35 at the end of Harry's fourth year, he would be twenty 
years older than Harry or born in 1960.  He was in the same year as 
MWPP, so they would also be born in 1960.  Lily could be in a 
different year, but I personally believe she was in the same year.

It was also about that time that she identified Dumbledore as being 
around 150 and Minerva as around 70, so I'd alter a number of the 
years below just a bit.
 
> In AdultHPFanatics at yahoogroups.com, "Marci" <blackgold101 at y...> 
> wrote:
> 1841ish Albus Dumbledore

I'd recommend 1844 or 1845.  Small adjustment.

> 1919    Minerva McGonagall

I'd say 1925, to have her born 70 years before 1995.

> 1926    Tom "Lord Voldemort" Riddle (16 when opened the Chamber)*
> 1929    Hagrid (3rd year when expelled at 13)*
> 1931    Moaning Myrtle (IF she was a first year when she died)

There's no real basis for making Myrtle a first year when she died.  
Her concerns about her appearance seem to imply a slightly older 
student, frankly.  I'd have guessed at least third or fourth year at 
the time of her death.

> 1945-6  Petunia, Vernon

This would make Petunia about fifteen years older than Lily, and she 
was having a child the same year as her sister!  I think one reason 
Petunia married Vernon was because he was available and she would 
consider someone who was single far into her twenties to be an old 
maid (something Petunia would never want to be).  I doubt that she 
was more than six years older than Lily.  If she was so much older, 
the way her parents treated Lily after they found out she was a 
witch would hardly affect her, after all.  She'd be living on her 
own already, most likely, if the age difference was that great.  I 
do think Vernon is older than Petunia, but probably by no more than 
five or six years.

> 1948    Lucius, Arthur, Molly

I think Arthur and Molly need to be a bit older than this, actually, 
as they probably started having kids in 1964 or 1965.  I'd put Molly 
in 1943 and Arthur just before that.  We know from OotP that Lucius 
(*) was born in 1954 because he was 41 in 1995.

> 1955-6  Snape, Lily, James, Remus, Peter, Sirius (Possibly 
>         Narcissa, Andromeda & Bellatrix)

As noted above, Snape, Lily, James, Remus, Peter and Sirius seem far 
more likely to be born in 1960.  We have no way of knowing when 
Narcissa and her sisters were born.

> 1963(?) Barty Crouch, Jr.

He was supposed to be around nineteen in 1981, when the Longbottoms 
were tortured, so he'd be born in 1962 or so, although it's really 
just Harry's estimate we're going on, so 1963 could be okay.

> 1968(?) Charlie

More likely 1966 or 1967 if he finished school in 1985.

> 1970(?) Bill (Possibly Tonks)

This is off.  Bill is older than Charlie.  More likely 1964 or 
1965.  If Tonks is new at being an Auror in OotP, perhaps with only 
a year or two of experience, and she took three years to train as an 
Auror (and started training right after Hogwarts) that would make 
her about 23 at the beginning of OotP, or most likely born in 1972.

> 1976    Percy *, Oliver *
> 1978    Fred * & George* , Lee *, Angelina, etc.
> 1980    Harry *, Ron *, Hermione *, Neville *, Draco, Dudley *, 
etc.
> 1981    Ginny, Luna, Colin, etc.
> 1983    Dennis Creevey

The rest of these seem to be okay except for Angelina, who we known 
turned 17 in October of 1994, thus qualifying for the Tournament, so 
she was born in 1977, and so was Cedric, since he also had his 17th 
birthday before Halloween in 1994.  We also don't know whether Draco 
was born in 1980 or the late autumn/early winter of 1979.  For that 
matter, we don't know whether the people mentioned in Ginny's and 
Dennis Creevey's years were born in 1981 and 1983 or late 1980 and 
late 1982 (although Ginny is most likely born in 1981, as Ron has a 
birthday of March 1, according to JKR).

When it all comes down to it, though, the only concrete ages we ever 
get in the actual books are for the people I've marked with a *, 
above.  The rest take into account a certain amount of guesswork and 
confusing input from JKR herself.

--Barb
 
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