Harry's B-day Re: Riddle and Grindelwald in 1945

[Cathy Drolet]

No: HPFGUIDX 109139

Geoff:
> I take your point. Examples of weak spots like the day of the
> week of Harry's 11th birthday spring to mind.....


RMM
"Speaking of Harry's birthday, there is a matchup datewise and daywise 
if you look at the "proof".
There is only one place in SS that gives the illusion that Harry's 
b-day is July 31st.
However, due to adverb prepositions versus adjective prepositions,
the sentence implying Harry's b-day is 31 July is now changed to mean 
that the investigation into the break-in at Gringotts was continuing 
on 31 July. "

DuffyPoo:

"Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, ..."   "Hagrid!" said Harry, "That Gringotts break-in happend on my birthday!"  I don't think Harry can mistake when his own birthday is.  July 31st.  I think that has been confirmed by JKR by posting his birthday on her calendar last week, as July 31st.  Whether the investigation is continuing on July 31st or the break-in took place on July 31st isn't important.  HP is saying his birthday *is* July 31st. 

I can't, for the life of me, read 'break-in at Gringotts on 31 July' to mean anything other than the break-in was *on* 31 July.  "When I failed to steal the stone from Gringotts..." [Quirrell speaking] "Quirrell's voice tailed away.  Harry was remembering his trip to Diagon Alley -- how could he have been so stupid?  He'd seen Quirrell  there that very day, shaken hands with him in the leaky Cauldron."  Harry and Hagrid had quite a conversation about Gringotts the morning before they left for Diagon Alley." 'Goblins?' 'Yeah -- so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell ye that.  Never mess with goblins, Harry.  Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe...'"  This is the 31st of July that they are having the conversation.  HP had watched Dudley's watch until he turned 11.  Then Hagrid showed up, and this is the morning of the same day, after they'd had some sleep. Harry acknowledges he'd been in Diagon Alley on his birthday.  No mention of a break-in, or attempted break-in, just that you'd be mad ter try an' rob it.

I think the problem Geoff is referring to is about the specific reference to the day of the week of Harry's birthday, not the date.  PS indicates that HP's 11th birthday is on a Tuesday, and somehow this just doesn't jive with what we know from the beginning of the story, that it started on a Tuesday, one day after HP's 15 month birthday.  Geoff, or someone, is going to have to jump in here to explain it exactly.  I am no good with math and worse with dates.  I remember reading about it when I first joined this list, and marvelled at how clever these people were to figure it out.


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