James and Snape. Was. Re: Snape and Harry again.

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 113430

> > > Pippin:
> > > 
> > > Sirius might not have meant that 'when I was your age' so 
> > > literally--he could have meant that he last saw Bella when he 
> > > was a sixth year--which would make sense since he was sixteen 
> > > when  he ran away from home. 
> > 
> > I can buy that.
> >  
> 
> Valky:
> Hi everyone,
> I note that Pippin might be getting annoyed with my repeated 
> objections, *sigh* But I have another one (sheepish) Sorry..
> 
> I don't Buy it.
> JKR knew we were doing timelines here in Fandom, one was included 
in 
> the COS movie for our reference and she even admits to using the 
> lexicons timeline (wow I love that!!) as her own reference 
> occassionally.
> I am a subscriber to the theory that JK was thinking of us when she 
> wrote the Noble House of Black chapter. I think it was almost like 
a 
> nod of the head to us to go ahead and put the peices together.
> Therefore I personally would not be so quick to dismiss this little 
> gem as on offhand err by Sirius. JK wouldn't do that to us would 
> she......? am I deluded?

Neri:

I don't think you are.

Since I did a bit timelining myself, I'm quite aware that the 
characters are not always speaking accurately, and that JKR might not 
always have the math right. Saying that, I think that considering the 
volume and complexity of the HP saga, JKR is generally very accurate 
about times and dates. The very few time flints she had until now are 
not relevant for the central plots. In this specific case I'm not 
sure that Bella's age is important to the plot, but I would be 
willing to bet that IF it is important, JKR had it right and Sirius 
saw Bella the last time when he was 15, Harry's age in the beginning 
of OotP, And NOT  when he ran away from home at 16.

Also, I don't have the book with me, but it is in the very same scene 
(don't remember if it's a bit before or a bit after) that Sirius 
tells Harry that he ran away from home at 16. Harry had just turned 
15 at this point, and not Sirius nor JKR are likely to forget that. 
Therefore it is very unlikely that there's a mistake here. The 
probable conclusion must be that Bellatrix is at least 2 years older 
than Sirius, perhaps more. He saw her last when she was in her 
seventh year at Hogwarts and he was in his fifth (or forth) year. It 
is also possible she's even 4 or 5 years older, and in this case he 
saw her last after she had already left Hogwarts, probably at the 
Black house.

It therefore seems that the "Slytherin gang" included members from 
several years, with Bella (and Rudolphus?) the oldest and Snape 
probably the youngest.

Neri