Snape Timeline....

[bboyminn]

No: HPFGUIDX 188607



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "zanooda2" <zanooda2 at ...> wrote:
>
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "bboyminn" <bboyminn@> wrote:
> 
> 
> > The thing we don't know is the month in which Dumbledore
> > talked to Trelawney. Likely it was certainly before the
> > beginning of the next school year. ...
> 
> 
> zanooda:
> 
> I still say (checked it in the Lexicon this time :-)) that Trelawney was hired in the middle of the school year,...
> 
> The interview must have taken place at the end of 1979 or at the very beginning of 1980, IMO. The Lexicon seems to think it's the beginning of 1980, ...I would say they met no later than February-March 1996.
>

bboyminn:

Well, that's the thing, and I even considered that. We can
reasonably assume it was before Harry's birthday, but how
much before? 

Most assume it was early in the same summer of Harry's birth
year. But it could have been anytime during the previous
school year. Likely at the beginning of that previous school
year, the existing Divinations teach told Dumbledore he/she
would quit at the end of the current school year. So,
Dumbledore had some advance notice and plenty of time to 
advertise for a new teacher. 

But I do think it was after the school year started that 
Dumbledore met with Trelawney. 

Now, I'm personally inclined to think the meeting was in
the same calender year as Harry's birth. But exactly when
is very unclear. I suspect somewhere around March through
June. But I really don't think we have enough clues to 
determine. But we need to give Voldemort some time to 
work out who the Prophecy refers to, and while I don't see
that as a lot of time, it is certainly some time.

I suspect that the meeting between Snape and Dumbledore in
which Snape asks Dumbledore to protect Lily, judging from
the weather, was probably late fall. So, late October to 
early November. Then roughly a year later, James and Lily
are killed. 

I'm not sure how much weight we can give to the 'sixteen
years'/'nearly sixteen years' statements. People in fiction, 
and real life, do not always speak with absolute precision.
In context, they are both saying 'roughly sixteen years'. We
also know math and numbers are not JKR's strong suit. I think
even in her own mind, it was never more that Trelawney being
there /roughly sixteen years/.

Just a few random thoughts.

Steve/bboyminn