Is Hermione Older or Younger than Harry?

[Ali]

No: HPFGUIDX 92541

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at m...> 
wrote:

 Potioncat here:
>>> I'm a very vague person when it comes to numbers.  I'm 
constantly getting my children's ages wrong. (And I call myself 
their mother, I get names wrong too.)  So these age problems with 
the Weasleys and Hermione do not bother me.  After all, look at the 
amazing details in the clues that do matter to the story.<<<

Ali:

I agree - in part. For me, the relevance of the Weasley ages was not 
so much because they didn't add up, but that it made a "missing 
Weasley" much more unlikely - or certainly between Percy and Charlie.

I just find the Flints frustrating. There is such a wealth of detail 
available, it's such a wonderful fantasy world, I just want it all 
to fit together cogently. The numbers aren't vital at all, but they 
are barriers to truly understanding what the Wizarding World is 
like. Perhaps, when we think about the size of Hogwarts for 
instance, we'll just have to view it like the Flying Ford Anglia, it 
expands to fir the needs of the moment. 
 
>>> I think though, that Hermione would not have gone out of her way 
to let the others know she was younger, given the hard time she had 
 fitting in and fighting her "Miss Know It All" reputation that 
 followed  her, I think into CoS. For all we know, she finished 
grade school early (Or is that allowed in England?) or, she was 
advanced enough that she simply left school early to go into 
Hogwarts.>>>

I think this is where my interpretation of Hermione really does 
differ from you. The Hermione I see at the begining of PS *would* 
have said that she was young. She earned her "Miss Know it All" 
reputation. She told everyone about how she had learned all the 
books off by heart. She drew attention to herself in class all the 
time. She did indeed have a hard time fitting in, but to me, that 
was because she almost thrust her knowledge down people's throats. 
She was in many ways an exhibitionist because she didn't have the 
sense *not* to put her hand up and answer questions at every 
available opportunity. From my perspective, Hermione would have made 
her age known.

Going up to Secondary school a year early is very uncommon in 
Britain, though not unheard of. Normally, if people do go to 
secondary school early, it's because they started primary school 
early and are simply following on with their adopted year group. 
Some education authorities do allow this, although, I think most do 
not. It is more common in the private sector. It is certainly 
sufficiently rare for it to be "noticed" and remarked upon.

Ali