Percy's B/day & new FLINT?

[carolynwhite2]

No: HPFGUIDX 111014

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Cathy Drolet" <cldrolet at s...> 
wrote:
Danielle
"Or in the summer of 1994 Percy turned 18, in order for him to have 
turned 17 in the 4th book he would have graduated school a year early 
and that means he entered in a year early, which we know not to be 
true and I don't think that Hogwarts allows people to graduate early 
no matter how many classes they take
in 1 year. 

DuffyPoo:
This is exactly what I was just going to post. The Aug 22 of GoF was 
Percy's 18th birthday. He'd waited until then to take the apparition 
test, as Danielle said, because it was only two weeks until the start 
of term at Hogwarts after he turned 17. 


Carolyn:
Ok, I accept the only way to make sense of the apparition business is 
that Percy is 18 in the summer of 1994 instead of 17, as I originally 
suggested in my post:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/110906


However, I still have little faith in JKR's maths. Would you agree 
that a fortnight has 14 days, for instance, even in the WW? 

The opening chapter of GOF Ch 2 opens on a Saturday morning, with 
Harry trying to remember his dream about Voldemort. It states quite 
clearly 'there was still a fortnight to go before he went back to 
school'. In Ch 3, Mrs Weasley invites him for 'the rest of the summer 
holidays', and at the opening of Ch 4, it is reiterated that he 
was 'counting the days down to September the first'. So this means 
that the action in Ch 2 starts on the 18th August? Erm, no...

The events that are then narrated only take up 9 days, and 
mysteriously omit to mention Percy's birthday, as follows:

Saturday 23rd
Harry wakes up remembering his dream, writes to Sirius, receives 
Weasley invite.
Sunday 24th
Harry is collected by Weasleys via fireplace
Monday/Tuesday 25th/26th
Harry goes with Weasleys to QWC
Wednesday 27th- Sunday 31st 
Trouble at Ministry - 'neither Mr Weasley or Percy was at home much
over the following week' (Ch 10); Mrs Weasley says 'Your father 
hasn't had to go into the office at weekends since the days of You-
Know-Who'.
Sunday 31st 
They are described as getting their things together 'the Sunday 
evening before they were due to return to Hogwarts'. 
Monday, 1st September
They leave for the Hogwarts Express

See what I mean? Harry doesn't have a fortnight to go before getting 
back to Hogwarts, in fact, it is only a week. If, on the other hand, 
you want to argue he stays at the Weasley's longer than that, you get 
stuck on the birthday issue. As far as I know, there are only 10 days 
between the date of Percy's supposed birthday on the 22nd August and 
31st August. 

If Harry had been with them a fortnight, they would have had to have 
mentioned celebrating Percy's birthday sometime between Harry joining 
them and leaving for school, wouldn't they? Too good an opportunity 
for Percy jokes to ignore, surely? One can only speculate hopefully 
on the present the twins might have given him for his 18th birthday.

As it is, we have to go along with the fact that Percy's birthday was 
apparently on the Friday before Harry joined them, and no one 
bothered to mention this fact, although there was time to have a joke 
about Percy passing his apparition test two weeks before.

Sorry, something's been fixed up here. Either a slip up in her 
elapsed time covering the time Harry was at the Weasleys, or a 
mistake about when you are allowed to take your apparition test, or a 
mistake over Percy's birthday/age. Take your pick.

Carolyn