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

[romulusmmcdougal]

No: HPFGUIDX 109403

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" 
<gbannister10 at a...> wrote:
Geoff:
> 
> What I do find tiresome is your refusal to even consider that there 
> are errors in the days. Every fact has to be distorted to fit
"your" 
> timeline. You have flown in the face of English grammatical usage
in 
> order to support your ideas about the Gringotts break-in despite 
> Harry's quite obvious remark about his birthday linking with the 
31st 
> July.

RMM:
I do not refuse to consider that there are errors in the dates as 
given by Jo Rowling.  In another post, I pointed out two dates that
do not fit the days in OotP.
However, the timeline consists of three different kinds of dates:
the first are important dates for us to remember and work from,
the second are ambiguous and play a lesser role, at least up to now, 
in the story; and the third type are dates that are just plain wrong 
and are red herrings, if you will, or oversights by Jo Rowling that
do not matter.
Secondly, I have pointed out that the July 31st date is ambiguous 
based on English grammar.  You have not countered with a grammatical 
argument that supercedes mine.  You say that the UK papers would 
"never" do this.  
And thirdly, maybe to most folks who read over the narrative see July 
31st as the birthday; however, I find it a logical sticking point 
because of Jo's use of Tuesday, and the day before that -- Monday,
and Sunday, and any other days she used in that week leading up to
Harry's birthday in PS/SS.
Fourthly, Jo has never plainly told us Harry's birthday.  Until she 
does, the text remains ambiguous as do a lot of other texts in the 
books that hide valuable clues.
As for this birthday's importance, it hold no major significance
other than the day of the week on which he was born - a Wednesday.  I 
find that coincidental.
And fifthly, Jo Rowling seems to place great importance on birthdays, 
although she has stated that she has not talked about them much up to 
now.  I say:  AND FOR GOOD REASON!!!  I believe they are critical.

> 
> Geoff:
> I think there is another mistake over the day here. I would indeed 
> take the memory of Hagrid over the weatherman for one glaringly 
> obvious fact....
> 
> Hagrid may be considered a bit of a buffoon by some folk but 
> Hallowe'en is a most important date in the Wizarding World calendar 
- 
> certainly in Hogwarts. Do you really think that he would so daft as 
> to mix up a date of Hallowe'en with an everyday date like 27th 
> October?

RMM:
Well for that year, yes I would say that there would be a huge mixup.
 
Consider the celebration going on that day!!  Voldemort was gone!  
Dumbledore's own words: "We've had precious little to celebrate these 
last eleven years."  Big celebrations happening 4 days before 
Halloween.  I say very easy to get them mixed up that year.
A ten year old memory could play tricks on the giant, whereas, Jo 
narrated a math word problem into the very day to help us identify
the 
exact time. [ Granted, she helped lots more when she gave us Nick's 
deathday. ] But why give all the narrative from the television?  She 
could have left out the bit about "Bonfire Night" or as it is also 
called "Guy Fawkes Day".  And that is a bit of odd coincidence as
well -- FAWKES happens to be the name of Dumbledore's phoenix.

And this is the other point.  Jo sees birthdays as very very 
important.  She tells us birthdays in her interviews ALL THE TIME.
EG) I have seen at least three different interviews where Hermione
Granger's birthday is given.

I rank birthdays in her stories as being in the first category above.
 
If there is a birthday mentioned, or deathday in one case, it is 
critical.  There are no mistakes in the books regarding birthdays, 
unless the July 31st crowd is correct.

Geoff:
> The Lexicon certainly supports these dates.

RMM:
I will grant you that. The lexicon and prevailing opinion are on your 
side. :-) I have only my inner "voices" to support me.
Perhaps a little more Electro Shock therapy is called for here, even 
though I just had my last round less than a week ago.

RMM
www.hermionegranger.us