[HPforGrownups] Re: Descendents of the Peverells, WAS: Question: Cadmus Peverell & Voldermort

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 174653

From: sonjaaiston <sonjaaiston at yahoo.com>
>If Marvolo Gaunt is descended from the Peverell's and Harry is
>descended from the Peverell's, that would make Voldemort and Harry
>distant relatives!  Or maybe I'm confused!

Bart:
I am somewhat loathe to do this, because I doubt that JKR had this in mind, but...

There are about 3-4 generations per century. Let's say, to be conservative, 3. Now, assuming no intermarriage between cousins, and 2 children per marriage, in 2000 years, you get about a billion people. Since there are far fewer than a billion people in the British WW, then a lot of intermarriage between, at most, distant cousins must have occurred. 

Or, to put it another way, if Harry and Voldemort were NOT related, THAT would be call for surprise.

Bart