Bellatrix's age (was: A Few More Twigs)

[Judy]

Neri said:
> The whole time issue in the tree is slightly fishy.
> 
> Draco's birth date is 1980. This confirms the official NHN deathday
> cake dating of the Potterverse, which is nice. However, Narcissa's
> birth date seems to be 1955, only one year younger than Lucius and 5
> years older than the Marauders (1960 if the Lexicon is correct). 
> This would make Bellatrix (the eldest of the three sisters 
> according > to HBP) at least 7 years older than the Marauders – she 
> could hardly  be in the same gang with Snape.
> The only way to resolve this would be 
> to make the Marauders, Snape and Lily two or three years older than 
> we thought they are, not impossible but it would contrdict some 
> things JKR said in the past. 

Amanda the Exslytherin replied:
> It does indeed make Bellatrix at least 2 ¡V 6 years older than 
> Lucius and anywhere from 7 ¡V 11 years older then the marauders and 
> Snape.  I would have to say she was not part of Sirius¡¦s gang of 
> Slytherins, she would have been well removed from Hogwarts by that 
> time.

Bellatrix's age was highly problematic even before the family tree 
came out.

We know that Bellatrix is the oldest of the three Black sisters.  
Tonks seems to be at least 20 at the beginning of OoTP, since Auror 
training seems to take a couple of years.  So, Tonk's mother, 
Andromeda, would presumably be at least 39 at the beginning of OoTP. 
(Assuming she married and got pregnant at 18 and gave birth at 19.)  
This would make Bellatrix at least 40 at the beginning of OoTP.  But, 
JKR said, at the time GoF came out, that Snape was 35 or 36.  Since 
Snape's birthday is in the winter, if he was 35 or 36 at the end of 
GoF, he'd still be 35 or 36 at the beginning of OoTP, giving him at 
least a four year age difference between Snape and Bellatrix.  This 
make sit hard to see how they could have been part of the same "gang" 
at Hogwarts, yet Sirius says (In "Padfoot Returns," GoF) that they 
were.  

Either Snape/Lily/the Maurauders are older than we think (perhaps JKR 
meant that Snape was 35 or 36 in the *first* book?), or it's more of 
JKR's innumeracy. 

-- Judy