Interpretation (was Re: Dumbledore's "“peaceful express...

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 142012

> Sherrie here:
>  
> According to the tables I just checked, sunset in mid- to late June
of 1996  
> was just after 10:00 PM (approximately 10:07, if you want to be
precise).   If 
> the "earliest light of day" is around 2:00 AM (which makes some
sense, since  
> sunrise is listed around 4:32 AM), that leaves a total of around
four hours 
> for  the full sequence of events, from the trip into the woods to
the return to 
>  Dumbledore's office (and, IIRC, at least some portion of the
conversation  
> between Harry & Dumbledore).
>  

Neri:
First, the trip to the woods was *before* sunset, and thus adding to
your above four hours. Sunset is when Harry & Co. take off on
thestrals from the woods, as canon notes more than once in the
beginning of chapter 34.

Secondly, you are mixing numbers from two different tables. The 2:00
start of civil daylight is taken from a source that doesn't use
Daylight Saving Time, according to which sunset was slightly after
9:00pm. Your source apparently does use DST, which is why you get
sunset at 10:00pm, and thus first civil daylight in your table should
be 3:00am, not 2:00am (otherwise you get 2.5 hours from begin civil
daylight to your sunrise at 4:32am, which sounds very unlikely). So
any way you look at it you still get at least five hours.

> Sherrie:
> Into that time frame, we squeeze the trip into the forest, the
"discussion"  
> with the centaurs, the flight on the thestrals, the trip down to the
DoM,  
> exploration of the Brain Room, the Veil Chamber & the Time Room, 
searching the 
> Prophecy Room, the running battle with the Death Eaters, the  escape
from the 
> DoM, Dumbledore's duel with Voldemort, the arrival of Fudge  & Co.
in the 
> lobby, and Dumbledore's discussion with Fudge while Harry  trashed
his office.  (I 
> don't have my books with me, so again it's IIRC,  but I don't think
Harry 
> noticed the light in the sky until Dumbledore  had already
returned.)  Pretty busy 
> four hours.

Neri:
As I noted above, you indeed squeeze too much actions into too short a
time. Also, Harry noticed "a cool line of pale green along the
horizon: Dawn was approaching" in the second paragraph of chapter 37,
immediately after he was sent to Dumbledore's office before Dumbledore
also returned.  

Considerable work and thought was invested by several people to
reconstruct the timeline of that night, and analyze what could or
should Snape have done. If anybody is really interested, I'd suggest
you first read chapters 32-37 in OotP again carefully, paying
attention to the times and order of events. Then I'd recommend reading
some of:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/107919
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/107951
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/108016
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/108018
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/108037
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/108055
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/108146
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/108223
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/108227
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/108308


Neri