Correction and advancing the theory. WAS Any guesses ? - Re: Petunia's birthday

[M.Clifford]

No: HPFGUIDX 125370


> Karen produced the brilliant theory:
>> This is going out on a limb, I know: I think Petunia's birthday is
>>February 29th, and that she'll be receiving a Hogwart's letter when
>>she reaches her eleventh birthday - which will occur when she is 44
>>years old.
> 
> Valky then did the math (Sloppily):
> 
> >Lily was probably 22 at the oldest when she dies, (am I correct,
> >that is the accepted age by all accounts who have done the 
> >counting?)
> >So that would make her 38 in HBP, 

Valky (Back again with a brighter mind):
Ooops Harry was 1 when Lily was 22, and I counted from zero, so darn 
it now I have to do it again.
In HBP, Lily's age will have been: 37 
That is assuming that she was 22 when she died. 


> I (Valky) said before:
> > assuming that there is 5 years or less between the girls since 
> > Petunia does seem to have been a young
> > girl when Lily got her letter that would mean that Petunia will 
> > be no older than 43 in HBP.
> >

Valky now:
Ok NOW its a bit more complex than that... 
To assume as I did above I would have to reckon Petunia to be 6 
years older than Lily, making her about 17 when Lily receives her 
letter. This isn't too inconcievable really, Petunia is still young 
enough to get ridiculously jealous for her parent's affections.
That would make Petunia 43 in HBP and 44 in Book seven.

Now I would like to add some more fruit to the mix and consider the 
official Harry Potter Timeline.

One the official Time Line the only leap year is 1996. This is the 
year of HBP. So if this theory is at all to become possible, Petunia 
must turn 44 in 1996.

For that to be a possibility then Lily's age would need to have been 
fairly close to 5 years younger or less in HBP. Five years younger 
is 39. Which doesn't fit with the Lily was 22 timeline... But its 
fairly close. So either we have to slide Lily's age up, or we need 
to assume a larger gap between Petunia and Lily than 5-6 years.

Now considering that I have probably just done more math on this one 
point than JKR was keen to do on the entire series (lol I don't mind 
lets leave JKR's blurry maths exactly as it is) then it is entirely 
plausible that Petunia and Lily were imagined to have "erm.. about 
five to seven years between them" and thats all the information we 
need to confirm this theory floats and HBP will bring more OWLS to 
Privet Drive.. lol I could leave it at that but I am TENACIOUS!! ;D

OTOH lets just say for arguments sake that JKR did consider a 29th 
of Feb birthday for Petunia decided to be extremely accurate with 
the dates that proved it, and lets look at the options in that 
regard.

1. GH!Lily is older than 22.
Well by all accounts this is as good as impossible. Based on Sirius' 
and Snape's ages the Marauders generation were all born close to a 
zero marker of Jan 1960.
Lily in 1981 could not possibly be older than 22, and thats the end 
of that story.

2. Widen the Gap between Petunia and Lily.
This is more plausible, but not directly supportive of the theory. 
The gap needs to be widened to 7 years which would make Petunia 18 
or thereabouts when Lily recieves her Hogwarts letter. It's hard to 
imagine Petunia as having been older than 18 then, considering her 
speech in PS.

Some further microsurgery..
*If* Petunia was born on Feb 29 1952 then she *was* born in a leap 
year. This *is* seven years earlier than the best possible birthdate 
for a 22 year old GH!Lily, which would be in late 1959.
Break this down into months and we find that Petunia is 7 years and 
7+ months older than Lily. Therefore 18 going on 19 when Lily gets 
her Hogwarts letter. Is this too old ? 

I'll leave that up to you...


Here's two interesting things to take with you while you ponder that.

On 29th Feb 1996 person born on 29th Feb 1952 will be..... 

prrrrrr
rrr
rrrr
rrrr
(drum roll) 

FORTY-FOUR!!

IF Petunia *is* a witch born on 29th of February 1952 The she got 
her Hogwarts letter....
 
Prrrrrr
rrrrr
rrr
rrrr
rrr




*****during OOTP!!!!!!******


Valky