I can't do the math!

[Doug Pratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 128807

Yes, I actually am a rocket scientist...but I am having problems
getting my head around some of the dates in the HP canon.

Let me see if I have this right. Tom Riddle and Hagrid were in school
together, although not necessarily the same year. Hagrid gets expelled
and Dumbledore persuades Dippet to train him as gamekeeper. Malfoy,
Arthur Weasley and Molly Soon-to-be-Weasley were in school at around
the same time. Molly tells stories about Ogg, the gamekeeper before
Hagrid, to Harry when she visits him at school. Maybe Hagrid was Ogg's
assistant while Malfoy, the Weasleys and the Marauders were in school? 

Riddle graduated, disappeared for a while, and reappeared as
Voldemort. He was a serious threat to the MOM and the WW for eleven
years. That threat ended when Harry stopped him at GH, just before the
opening chapter of Book One. How old was Harry? Young enough to sleep
wrapped in a blanket on a doorstep, so I would think under 1 year,
based on my own experiences trying to get kids to sleep...

In between the time Riddle graduated and reappeared, Lucius, Arthur,
Molly and the Marauders get through school. Arthur gets a job with the
Ministry and the Weasleys get their family started. There is enough
time in between this and the events of Book One for two Weasleys to be
born, get through adolescence, graduate from Hogwarts, and get
jobs...and for four more Weasleys to be born. 

Has anyone tried to diagram this out or make a timeline? It's beyond
my poor little mind...

Doug Pratt