Prophecy timeline (was Re: My Theory On The Prophecy

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 153369

 
> Carol responds:
> 
> Speaking of conjecture relating to the first prophecy, I want to 
toss
> out a time-related theory here. Since the PoA prophecy occurs 
alsmost
> immediately (a few hours) before the events it refers to, I 
conjecture
> that the first prophecy was made either just before or just after 
the
> Prophecy boy(s) was(were) conceived--specifically, on October 31,
> 1979. Halloween, often if not always significant in the HP books,
> would have been exactly nine months before his birth (on July 31,
> 1980). IOW, though JKR is most unlikely to mention the fact in her
> books, Harry could well have been conceived on Halloween 1979, as
> could Neville. (Now I know perfectly well that the human gestation
> period is generally considered to be 38 weeks or 266 days, which is
> slightly less than nine calendar months, but it's very close and
> tradition regards it as nine months.) A Halloween date would also 
fit
> with the cold, rainy night and with Trelawney's statement that she 
had
> been teaching at Hogwarts *nearly* sixteen years at the beginning of
> Harry's fifth year, which suggests that she was not hired like the
> other teachers some time before September 1 (the first day of term)
> but a few months later. (McGonagall was hired in December, so such
> late hirings do occur at Hogwarts, probably on the death, or 
promotion
> to headmaster in this case, of the previous teacher.)
> 
> Any takers on Halloween 1979 as the Prophecy date?

Potioncat:
Getting an accurate timeline from a HP book is like getting a 
straight line out of a slinky-toy. Not that it's stopped us before. I 
want to post on what I've found so far.

First off, Carol, I really like this idea. 

>From OoP it seems that Trelawney started teaching after the fall term 
of 1979 began. She says clearly that it's been almost 16 years in her 
first interview with Umbridge. A few days/weeks later, she says her 
16 years of devoted service have passed unnoticed. It seems a real 
clue from JKR. McGonagall only mentions her time once. Snape only 
mentions his time once. ST says hers twice, and it's a different time.
Because DD hired her immediately after hearing the prophecy, she must 
have made it in the fall of 79. 

I don't think it was around Halloween (sorry, Carol) because November 
begins two chapters after ST says her 16 years have passed. (I'll 
work this out in more detail later.) 

What does this mean? It means Snape and DD hear the prophecy before 
the boys are conceived. Neither one knows who the parents will be, 
but I would think there would be a great pool of couples to choose 
from. 

I also think it's a real possibility that Snape was there for a job 
interview. I'm sure he didn't mean to get caught at the keyhole. I 
know ST doesn't seem like a reliable witness, but I'm going to assume 
that she knew a DADA position was open. It could have been. The 
position is open every year. He was only 20, but he  had a reputation 
for knowing the material and he may have thought DD would have no 
other choice. 

If he wasn't applying that year, I think he did apply in both 80 and 
81. He may have started working for DD even before 80, but I think at 
least by 80. Then in 81 DD brought him in.

Thoughts?