Wizard ages

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 149284

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Jazmyn Concolor <jazmyn at ...> wrote:
>
> 
> Edis wrote:
> 
> >Just a small niggle that I havent seen covered as yet...
> >
> >It seems to be Canon that wizards have longer lifespans than Muggles. 
> >
> >But on her Website Jo celebrates the Wizard of the Month ... and the 
> >WsOTM as listed dont have really longer lifespans than expected of 
> >Muggles...
> >
> >So just a sliver of flint or what???

Jazmyn:
> I think we only assume they live longer because of Nicholas Flammel and
> due to Dumbledore's age.  But remember, up till the destruction of the
> stone, Dumbledore was friends with Flammel and might have been sharing
> that longevity potion, which might explain why after only 4-5 years,
> Dumbledore slipped so much as to become too old to handle the fight
> anymore and one too many dealings with cursed items put him to the
> point where he knew he was dying and had to try and do as much as he
> could before the end, where Snape only ended his suffering for him....

Geoff:
Two points. 
First, you cannot make any sort of benchmark judgment using Flamel and his wife. they 
had been taking the elixir for centuries before Dumbledore became involved,

Secondly, posters in the past have on more then one occasion pointed to Griselda 
Marchbanks as an example of a very elderly witch:

'"Now, I haven't heard from Dumbledore lately!" she added, peering around the Hall as 
though hpoeful he might suddenly emerge from a broom cupboard. "No idea where he is, I 
suppose?"
"None at all," said Umbridge, shooting a malevolent look at Harry, Ron and Hermione, who 
were now dawdling around the foot of the stairs as Ron pretended to do up his shoelace. 
"But I daresay the Ministry of Magic will track him down soon enough."
"I doubt it,"shouted tiny Professor Marchbanks, "not if Dumbledore doesn't want to be 
found! Is hould know... examined him personally in Transfiguration and Charms when he 
did NEWTs... did things with a wand I'd never seen before."'
(OOTP "OWLs" pp.626-27 UK edition)

There is another little piece in the same chapter which is interesting:

'Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy had found a different way to induce panic.
"Of course, it's not what you know," he was heard to tell Crabbe and Goyle loudly outside 
Potions a few days before the exams were to start, "it's who you know. Now, Father's been 
friendly with the head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority for years - old Griselda 
Marchbanks - we've had her round for dinner and everything..."
"Do you thikn that's true?" Hermione whispered in alarm to Harry and Ron.
"Nothing we can do about it if it is," said Ron gloomily.
"I don't think it's true," said Neville quietly from behind them, "Because Griselda  
Marchbanks is a friend of my gran's and she's never mentioned the Malfoys."
(ibid. p.623)

I feel inclined to think that these two ladies are contemporaries - in the way that 
schoolfriends sometimes stay in touch in later years which could suggest that Neville's 
gran is equally old.

That, as Steve would say, is just a thought.