Timelines (Was: Is Petunia older or younger than Lily?)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 118445


Lexicon Steve wrote:
> Thanks for pointing this out. We don't have exact dates for James, 
> Lily, etc. That's why there's a c. in front of the dates. In fact, 
> if you look at many of the dates, they appear twice or three times: 
> once as c. XXXX, noe as YX (XXXX), and then possibly as just XXXX. 
> That's because I wanted to be as accurate as possible. ONce is for 
> events which are approximate, one is for events which are relative 
> to other events, and one is for dates we are given specifically in 
> canon.
><snip>
> How do we know when James etc. were born? There are a number of 
> references, but the most clear is Jo's recent statement that Sirius 
> was "about 22 years old" when he was sent to Azkaban. That means 
> that James and Lily were also about 22 years old when they died. We 
> can't say for sure how long it was between their deaths and Sirius's 
> being sent to Azakaban, so none of these dates are exact, but we can 
> get pretty darned close.
> 
> Again, distrust the timelines all you like. Most of the errors have 
> been spotted and fixed, but there is always the possiblity of more 
> errors in something this complex. However, don't distrust it based 
> on a faulty understanding of how it's put together or where the 
> information comes from. 


Carol asks:
I thought Sharon's(?) question was why someone born circa 1959 would
go to Hogwarts circa 1971 rather than circa 1970. I share her
confusion in this regard. If the person, whether Lily or Severus or
Peter, was born between January 1 and August 31, 1959, he or she would
turn 11 between January 1 and August 31, 1970, and would logically
start school on September 1, 1970, rather than September 1, 1971. Only
a student born between September 1, 1959, and August 31, 1960, would
enter Hogwarts as a first-year in 1971.

Please correct me if my math or my logic is wrong. I did check the
dates in the Lexicon before asking this question.

Thanks,
Carol, who is not questioning your sources or distrusting the
timeline, only wondering about the math