Hey Lexicon Steve! was: Protection for EVERYONE at Hogwarts

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 89940

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Erin" <erinellii at y...> wrote:
> Carol wrote:
> See the Timelines at the Lexicon:
>  
>  http://www.hp-lexicon.org/timelines/timeline_main2.html#1900-2000
> 
>  Minerva McGonagall, as far as we can determine from information JKR 
> has provided on their respective ages, would have entered Hogwarts in 
> September 1931 and left it in June 1938; she did not return as a 
> teacher until 1956. Tom Riddle entered the school in September 1938, 
> three months after McGonagall left it, murdered Myrtle in 1943 and 
> his father and grandparents in the summer of 1944, and left Hogwarts 
> in 1945. He did not reappear until the 1970s, when he began gathering 
> supporters, few of whom connected Lord Voldemort with
> Tom Riddle, model Head Boy at Hogwarts.
>  
> There is no place in this time frame for a romantic relationship with 
> McGonagall.
> 
> 
> Erin:
>  I think that's a little harsh. 

Carol:
Come on, Erin. I could say that you're being "harsh" with me. Maybe
you mean a bit too strong? (As I said, I have a tendency to state my
points and conclusions a little too definitively. I'm working on it.
Bear with me a little bit, okay?)

 This is the interview the Lexicon 
> gives as the source for McGonagall's timeline.
> 
> http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/quickquotes/articles/2000/1000-
> scholastic-chat.htm
> 
> and here is the exact quote from that interview:
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Q:  How old is old in the wizarding world, and how old are Professors 
> Dumbledore and McGonagall?
> 
> A:  Dumbledore is a hundred and fifty, and Professor McGonagall is a 
> sprightly seventy. Wizards have a much longer life expectancy than 
> Muggles. (Harry hasn't found out about that yet.)
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> This interview takes place in October 2000, after GoF was published.  
> Going by the Lexicon timeline, where GoF ends in June 1995, that 
> would make McGonagall born in 1925, not starting Hogwarts until 
> around 1936.  However, the Lexicon seems to have interpreted JKR's 
> words as meaning McGonagall was 70 at the start of Harry's first 
> year.  Unless I'm missing an interview, I don't really know why 
> they've decided to do that. 
> 
> The Lexicon even acknowledges the uncertainty of their McGonagall 
> birthdate by putting a little c., standing for circa, or "about" 
> before both the 1920 birthdate and the 1931 entering Hogwarts date.
> 
> In other words, the Lexicon timeline is not set in stone, and there's 
> no reason that McGonagall couldn't have been as little as two years 
> ahead of Tom Riddle.  Maybe liking slightly older girls is one of 
> the "strange likenesses" Tom and Harry have in common. :-)

Carol:
I think, though I can't go into detail because I should be doing
something else, that there's at the least a five-year gap in their
ages. I think a two-year gap is pushing it. And I think that the
chances of McGonagall as much as kissing a much younger Slytherin boy
are slim to none. And since JKR has said that she's not going to have
Hermione becoming a teenage unwed mother, I think we can assume that
premarital sex between characters fifty or so years before the current
events isn't part of the backstory.
>
Erin: 
> As you pointed out, as yet there's no canon basis for Tom showing an 
> interest in girls at all.  Of course, there are quite a lot of facts 
> missing from Tom's background as it stands, so I don't think there's 
> room to rule it out, either.

Carol:
But without canon, all we have is speculation based on what we know of
the characters. And in this case, it doesn't fit.

> 
> Carol wrote:
>  In fact, JKR seems to have arranged the time frame so that
> > McGonagall would have no contact with Tom Riddle either as a fellow
> > student or a teacher. 
> 
> Erin:
> That is a matter of opinion.  When I saw the interview, my first 
> thought was that JKR had purposely arranged it so that McGonagall, 
> Hagrid, and Dumbledore all knew Riddle from his school days.
> 


Carol:
Not to be rude, but of course it's a matter of opinion. That's why I
said "seems." (Blame the English language for the expression "in
fact," which seems to be used to introduce opinion. I'll try to avoid
it in future.) At any rate, we do know that Dumbledore taught Tom
Riddle and Hagrid was his near-contemporary, but it doesn't appear (to
me) as if any other characters actually knew him at school. Molly and
Arthur Weasley are (apparently) too old; Lucius Malfoy and the Des
were too young. In my opinion, part of Tom's mystery is that nobody
(except the also mysterious Dumbledore) really knows him.

Carol