Snape&Lucius (was Re: Room for Debate)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 164743

va32h here:
> 
> If Snape's friends were younger (Regulus) and older (Lucius and his 
> gang) it would make sense for them not to be around Snape at these 
> times. How much older is Lucius than Snape? For some reason, I thought 
> quite a bit older. But if it's at least three years, Lucius & Co.
would have been out of school. 

Carol responds:
Lucius's age is given as 41 at some point in GoF (I can't remember
whether it's near the beginning or the end of the school year). JKR
gives Snape's age as "35 or 36" in GoF, presumably 35 at the beginning
of the school year and 36 after January 9. So Lucius is about five or
six years older, depending on when his birthday falls. He could have
been anywhere from a fifth year to a seventh year when Sevvie entered
Hogwarts, but he's definitely older.

The Lexicon gives approximate ages for all the characters, but I don't
quite trust it. I think that Snape was born in 1959, making him, like
Sirius Black, 22 at the time of Godric's Hollow (and twenty-one years
older than Harry).

Carol, noting that Bellatrix seems to be even older than Lucius
according to the snippet from the Black family tree, so she was
probably a seventh-year when Severus entered school