focus on Hermione

[huntergreen_3]

No: HPFGUIDX 110099

[quote from an online essay]
<< If you remember her second prophecy, which occurred in The
Prisoner of Azkaban, that prophecy was fulfilled less than 12 hours
later. If this is any indicator as far as prophecies go, then it may
imply that the one approaching will be born in a very short time.>>

Ravenclaw Bookworm wrote:
>>As you said, it *may imply* that it does. Then again, it may not.
Using one example to predict another isn't a reliable indicator.
We know nothing about how prophecies work.<<

HunterGreen:
Also, why would he be interviewing a teacher in *September*? I don't 
see how a time limit on the prophecy makes any sense here, that's 
pointing a finger at Harry and Neville more than Hermione.

I don't see how Hermione being born in 1979 proves the prophecy, if 
anything it *disproves* it. If she was born in 1979, then she would 
have already been 8-10months old at the time the prophecy was made 
(since it was made a little before Harry was born, 16 years before 
the events in the DoM). The prophecy says that "the one with the 
power to vanquish the dark lord *approaches*" (emphasis mine). By a 
fair interpretation, that would mean that 'the one' is not born yet. 
So, if you want to make a case for a different month being 
the 'seventh month', or a different year, 'the one' would still need 
to be born in June/July 1980 or later.

<< Traditionally, or "in the old days", when referring to a non-
gender specific noun, the personal pronoun "him" was employed to
make that non-gender specific reference.>>

Ravenclaw Bookworm:
>>We aren't in the "old days", fortunately. JKR has said
she (and Trelawney) worded the prophecy very carefully. IMO, if she
were trying to hide the gender of the One she would have written
something like: "but [the One] will have power the Dark Lord
knows not ..." She didn't – she specifically said
"he". More importantly, if Hermione is the One, why are the
books about Harry?<<

HunterGreen:
And all dates aside, that would be a HUGE secret about Hermione's 
parents if they turned out to have defied Voldemort three times 
(according to an interview, JKR said we wouldn't be hearing any more 
about them either). This is what happens when people get so focused 
on *dates*, they forget that there are OTHER parts of the prophecy.

HOWEVER, since the subject of Hermione's age has been brought up once 
again, while I was looking up something in GoF, a thought occured to 
me. I always assumed that the cutoff date was the end of the year, 
but then I came across this quote:
" A tall black girl who played Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch 
team, Angelina came over to them, sat down, and said, 'Well, I've 
done it! Just put my name in!'
'You're kidding!' said Ron, looking impressed.
'Are you seventeen, then?' asked Harry.
'Course she is, can't see a beard, can you?' said Ron.
'I had my birthday last week,' said Angelina. "
[GoF chpt 16, pg 261, US ed]

Now, Angelina is in her sixth year at this point. Unless she was held 
back (which I doubt very much), that means the cutoff date is no 
later than October 28th (since this happened right around Halloween, 
and October 30th was the beginning of a new week in 1994, so if her 
birthday was Saturday the 29th, she *could* call it 'last week'). I'm 
guessing the cutoff date is either Sept 1st, or Oct 1st. If it is 
October, then it means that Hermione barely missed it.