[HPforGrownups] And back to... How Old Are Snape//James/Lily & co?

[Kathryn Cawte]

No: HPFGUIDX 76069

 Lama says:
 
Think about it... if Snape, James, Lupin and Sirius were, say, 35 in 
mid 1994 when GoF started and 36 in mid 1995 when it finished, they 
would have been born in 1959, and would all have been about 21 at 
the time Harry was born. So in the three scant years between 
leaving school in mid-1977 at around 18, and Harry's birth in mid-
1980, James and Lily had found time to undertake the necessary 
training for and establish themselves in a demanding and challenging 
career, which they had also pursued for long enough to accumulate a 
large pile of money due to the special and arguably dangerous nature 
of their work (from memory, this was alluded to by JKR in one 
interview when asked about the reason why Harry had been left so 
financially well off); become active members of the original OOP in 
their spare time; and in their extra spare time, get married (by age 
20) and produce Harry - not to mention that Lily would probably have 
had to take a few months out from active duty due to pregnancy. It 
all seems a bit hyperactive to me.

<snipped similar arguments for Snape>

Me -

Firstly - I think JKR said James had inherited his money actually.

Anyway - yes it is a fairly hectic schedule *for peacetime*, but they weren
t growing up in a time of peace, they were growing up during a war.

I imagine Tonks wasn't admitted to the Order until she became a fully
qualified Auror, several years of training involved there then. Similar to
the amount of training to be a tornado pilot in the RAF today.

Whereas James and Lily joined (apparently) as soon as they left school and
were probably given some hasty on the job style training by people like
Moody and then thrown into the middle of things, possibly by the time school
started again the year after they graduated, with James and Lily taking a
few days off over the summer to get married - compare this to the way a WWI
fighter pilot would be trained. As soon as they were old enough they joined
up got a few weeks of training and after the barest amount of solo hours
(enough to remember that this makes it go up, this makes it go down, turn
here and fire by pushing this button) were sent straight to France and into
combat.

This would also account for the short life expectancy of Order members. They
were children practically, fighting an adult's war, because they had to,
because *someone* had to do it and the Order (and the Ministry) needed all
the help it could get. I see Albus as creaming of the best few students from
each year for the Order with the others taking up other careers involved to
a greater or lesser extent with the war but not necessarily as high risk as
the Order.

K