James's parents' generation ( Was: someone else being right / James's parents)

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 182525

 
> Carol responds:
> 
> I agree with the last paragraph in particular, but I still think 
that
> the deaths of both sets of parents are a rather irritating little
> authorial convenience. 

Potioncat:
Well, yes. But would this have seemed different if we had no contact 
with JKR? We know she has detailed backstories for characters we 
hardly ever see, so we perhaps expect something more for Harry's 
grandparents. But if the main character is an orphan, the older 
generations have to be quick about dying.


 Carol:
> To return to JKR's killing off of Harry's grandparents' generation,
> Walburga Black and her husband, Orion, weren't really all that old 
if
> the Black family tapestry is accurate (sixty and fifty respectively 
at
> their deaths, and neither were James's parents if they were Charlus
> and Dorea (Black) Potter (she died at 57; he was probably about the
> same age--Sirius wouldn't have been able to spend much time with 
them
> since Mrs. P. died in 1977), but, oh, well. 

Potioncat:
I don't think Dorea Black is James's mother. For one thing, you'd 
think Sirius would have revealed that relationship when he informed 
Harry how closely he was connected to the Weasleys.

(And I consider 57 rather young to die.)

I would like to know more about Snape's family. I suspect it's ever 
so much more interesting than the Potters.



Carol:
 At any rate,
> I find the connections more intriguing than the dates, which are
> probably, erm, in need of revision.

Potioncat:
I agree! I thought the family tree was intriguing, and was very 
disappointed that nothing came of it. 


>Carol: 
> However, what I really want to know (to return to the original topic
> of the Potters and Evanses) is how the Muggle Evanses, Petunia and
> all, got onto Platform 9 3/4 in Severus Snape's memory of himself 
and
> Lily at age eleven ("The Prince's Tale").


Potioncat:
I know we aren't told how it's done, but I don't see why it would be 
a problem. Wands aren't needed to go through the wall. Maybe Muggle 
relatives just need to go through with their children, or maybe 
they're sent an enchanted ticket that allows them to pass through the 
gate.
> 
> Carol, noting that Orion Black died in 1979, the same year as his
> younger son, Regulus, and wondering whether he died of grief (and 
BTW,
> shouldn't the year of Reggie's death be 1980 if it's "some fifteen
> years before" Harry looks at the tapestry in August 1995 in OoP?)

Potioncat:
It's maths and JKR. As a group we've spent many hours basing facts on 
maths that were completely inaccurate--from the ages of the Weasleys 
to the dates of events to the length of time it took to send messages.

Sure has been fun though!
>