Is Hermione Older or Younger than Harry?

[Ali]

No: HPFGUIDX 92534

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "snapesmate" <snapesmate at h...> 
wrote:

>> Yes, JKR actually stated hermione was 10 when she started at 
Hogwarts during an interview.  Of course, I now cannot find the 
confounded thing.  I have researched so many over the last 2 days 
that for the life of me I cannot remember where I read the 
transcript of the chat.  I do remember it was a webchat though!  I 
will keep looking for it because I know we all like "proof" in the 
way of dates and "locations" of chats and interviews, LOL!  Not 
proof as in we do not believe each other, but as in we like to 
reference it for ourselves...>>>

I think a lot of people would be grateful if you could find that 
interview - largely to shut me up about Hermione's age. Until the 
timeline was published on the CoS DVD, I was aware of no *proof* of 
Hermione's age. I could be wrong, but I don't think that it had ever 
been said. Certainly, the Lexicon had placed Hermione's birthday as 
after Harry's, but that was not cast in stone - at least, not until 
JKR confirmed the timeline.

I only reopened this argument up at the weekend, in post 92319. For 
what it's worth, I now think that JKR would probably make Hermione 
younger than Harry, because it would be easier to make up some 
rationale for the Hogwarts school year being different to the 
English school year or more probably that Hermione was a special 
case, than it would be to admit that she didn't think the age thing 
through.

People have often asked my why Hermione's age matters? Well, out of 
all the unanswered questions and conflicting data, it hardly ranks 
as very important. But, I suppose for me it riles because it should 
have been such an easy thing to have got right from the start. There 
could have been one sentence from Hermione in which she had said 
that of course she should really have been in the next year, or some 
such statement, and I would never have questioned it. I just don't 
think that the Hermione of PS would have kept her young age a 
secret. I also think it's harder than ever to argue that Hogwarts 
runs on different terms to English schools when prior to Hogwarts, 
the kids were either educated at home, or in Muggle primary schools.

Ali