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

[hp_lexicon]

No: HPFGUIDX 118457


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:
> 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.

I understand your question, and I see the inconsistency. Although 
both are listed as approximate, and therefore both technically 
correct, it would be reasonable to approximate identically so 
it "worked out." To be honest, I always had James etc. born in circa 
1960 on the timeline. I did the last major rewrite just after 
Rowling's statement that Sirius was about 22 when he was sent to 
Azkaban, so I adjusted the birth date down by a year to better take 
that into account. I never thought about changing the Hogwarts start 
date as well. I think the easiest way to fix it is to move the birth 
year for James etc. back to 1960. And of course, all those dates are 
still approximate.


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

LOL 
You have every right to question both my sources and my timeline. 
And my math, obviously.

Steve
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