Is Petunia older or younger than Lily?

[Sharon]

No: HPFGUIDX 118402


Two birds with one stone here, because I am silly and did not make it 
three.

> Jen: 
Since Lily married right after leaving 
> Hogwarts and had Harry approximately a year later (according to 
> Lexicon), that would leave a younger Petunia still finishing 
school. 
> So if Petunia *is* younger, she left school to marry and have 
> Dudley. She just doesn't seem the type to be impulsive that way. 
> 

So, according to the Lexicon's timeline, Lily was born in 1959.  But 
she starts Hogwarts in 1971 - which, depending on how you look at it, 
doesn't make a lot of sense.  Shouldn't she be starting in 1970, when 
she's actually turning 11 years old?

(See, this is why I don't entirely trust the timelines on the 
Lexicon, which is otherwise really good.)

But we'll go with that for the moment.

So Lily finishes Hogwarts in June 1978.  Harry is born two years 
later, not one, in July 1980.

If Petunia is a year younger than Lily, she would not have had to 
drop out of school in order to have him.  (Especially as the timeline 
says that Dudders was born on June 22 - does anybody know where that 
came from? - Petunia would have finished school in June 1979, one 
full year before Dudley would have been born.


>Snow:
>I am more apt to go with the first child syndrome, the children that
don't like sharing their parent's affection and sees this affection
toward their younger sibling as dislike towards themselves. Petunia,
although she rants about the magical ability of her sister, seems to
be more resentful of her parent's appreciation for Lily but blames
her magic ability as the cause of this adoration. 
>


Yes, but speaking as the eldest child of my family, I don't feel 
resentful toward my younger brother in the least.  (And both my 
parents were the youngest of their siblings, and likely would have 
been more likely to favor him.)  My husband, likewise, doesn't feel 
resentful toward his younger brother either.

(And there's a bit of a range of difference - I'm a year and a half 
older than my brother; my husband is 4 years older than his brother.)

Actually, truth be told, my brother was always more resentful of me 
than the other way around!

So I'm inclined to think that Petunia's resentment isn't necessarily 
indicative that she is the older child - she could easily be any 
sibling, resenting that her sister has received these things, but she 
was denied.

--azriona