Riddle and Grindelwald in 1945

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 109790

> Geoff:
> The flip side of that argument is that 09/01/42 looks like 9th 
> January 1942 from /our/ side of the pond which could confuse 
> people.....

Carol:
Exactly. which is why I think we should say "September 1" (or "1
September") rather than using numbers for dates so neither group will
be confused. :-)
> 
> Carol (earlier):
> > He [Tom] does say that he was in his fifth year when the basilisk
appeared and that he preserved his sixteen-year-old self in the diary,
> > beginning in June of the same year he framed Hagrid, which I take
to be 1943 since Harry finds the diary in 1993. So my assumption is 
> that he had turned 16 by June 1943, but there's no need for a date
as early as September 1 [1942]. In fact, most students would have
turned 16 by the end of their fifth year.  
> 
> 
> Geoff:
> All students will have turned 16 by the end of their Fifth Year -
see my comment in message 109294.

Carol:
Okay. I see what's confusing me about your post and maybe confusing
you about mine. I was considering the end of the fifth year to be the
end of classes before the summer holidays, not the beginning of the
sixth year. So we agree that *all* students are 16 by the time that
they begin their sixth year but some (like Harry) turn 16 over the
summer. Most would begin their *fifth* year at 15 and end it at 16.
That's the usual pattern, with only about 1/4 of the students turning
16 over the summer.

In Tom's case, we know that the basilisk was released in Tom's fifth
year and we know that he was 16 when he began the diary in June of
what must be that same school year (1942-43). So he would have had to
be 15, not 16, by September 1, 1942 and probably turned 16 some time
between that date and June 1943. I still say there's no need for him
to have been one of the older students. He seems, in fact, to fit the
usual pattern defined in my first paragraph.

Does that make sense? Or do we actually agree but are just having
trouble understanding each other?

And where's the aspirin bottle? All this math is giving me a headache.

Carol