Harry and Hermione being siblings...

[Julie Holmes]

No: HPFGUIDX 53514

<----- Original Message ----- From: Taryn Kimel >

<Actually, don't females have a few months after a birth when they can't
become pregnant? Unless Diana Gabaldon has led me astray in her novels! ;)
Correct me if I'm wrong, though.>

Not wrong per se, but all women are different. Breastfeeding often supresses
a woman's fertility (i.e. supresses the menses); however, in countries like
the U.S. where breastfeeding a baby has hugely strayed from the ecological
norm (the average age of weaning a child- worldwide - is four years;
American infants are lucky if they get 6 months of breastfeeding) you will
find womens' fertility returning much earlier after they have given birth.
Even *exclusively* breastfeeding a baby through their infancy and continuing
into toddlerhood is not a guarantee against pregnancy. Supressed fertility
is nature's way of making sure a woman doesn't have too many children in too
quick a succession. So, to answer your question, yes, it's possible to
become pregnant again within weeks of giving birth, but many things factor
into a woman's fertility.

Although I don't subscribe to this theory myself, it would be possible for
Harry and Hermione to be siblings. Some of the Weasley children are close in
age- Ron and Ginny, specifically, seem to be around 12 to 18 months apart,
seeing as they are only a year apart in school. And what about Bill and
Charlie? We don't know exactly how far apart they are. There seems to be two
years between Percy and the twins, and then between the twins and Ron.

Yes, it is physically possible to bear two children within one year's time,
and depending when birthdays fall, they can end up in the same year at
school throughout their lives.

<chuckle>I learned this the hard way- my children are 13 months apart! 0_0
And, due to my daughter having medical issues that caused her to miss *a
lot* of school this year, they will be in the same year of school together
even though there is a year's age difference between them. We are opting to
have my daughter repeat Kindergarten, and she will be in the same class as
her brother. One of my good friends is only 10 months older than her sister
(they did end up in the same
grade in school). Also, I remember a set of siblings I took care of when I
worked in childcare during my college years, who were 8 months apart. Yes,
you read that correctly. Not only were they 8 months apart, but it was to
the DAY. One was born on February 8, the other October 8...of the same
calendar year. The second was, obviously, premature, but there they were!

:) Julie