QUESTIONABLE MATHS

[sudeeel]

No: HPFGUIDX 174785

> Betsy Hp wrote:  [W]hile interviews can be interesting, if JKR says
something that either isn't in or is contradicted by the books, it
doesn't count <snip>.

> Carol wrote: JKR . . . is utterly hopeless at math. <massive snip;
not even the same post> (Sidenote: If Grindelwald is 156, how old must
Gregorovitch be?)

sudeeel responds: Don't even ask!

In the Scholastic interview on 16 October 2000, JKR said, "Dumbledore
is a hundred and fifty, and Professor McGonagall is a sprightly seventy."
http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/1000-scholastic-chat.htm

But at Bill & Fleur's wedding, Auntie Muriel says, (DH Am. ed., p.
153) "'Give me your chair, I'm a hundred and seven.'"

So she's definitely 107.

And a few paragraphs later she says, "'Before he became so respected
and respectable and all that tosh, there were some mighty funny rumors
about Albus!'"

To me, that implies that she was alive and gossiping when Ariana died.

On the next page she says to "Barry"/Harry (DH Am. ed., p. 154) "It
all happened years and years before you were even thought of, dear,
and the truth is that those of us who were alive then never knew what
really happened."

So, indeed, she *was* alive and probably not much younger than Albus,
though possibly older, perhaps even considerably older, which means DD
isn't anywhere near 150. Nor is Grindelwald.

And we are, again the victims of Q.U.E.S.T.I.O.N.A.B.L.E. M.A.T.H.S.
(Quotes unfortunately evince squishy totals; ignore our nervous
author's battle; lamentably, expect miscalculated ages, times, hours.
Sigh!)

          --sudeeel