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

[Amanda]

> 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

Now me:
Not that I trust anything that comes out of Sirius¡¦s mouth is reliable ;-) 
but if he is serious about Bella and Snape running together, the 
¡¥gang¡¦ that he referred to could not have been a school gang but 
something outside of Hogwarts.  That way it could include older teens 
and 20 something¡¦s.

But then when exactly did that ¡¥gang¡¦ become the legitimate army 
called the Death Eaters?  We know that the DE existed way back when 
Voldemort approached DD for the DADA job for DD mentioned them by 
name - something that pisses Riddle off, so one much suppose it was 
still underground at that point.  So, if at the time of Bellatrix the Death 
Eaters excised as a recognized Dark Army was the ¡¥gang¡¦ a sort of 
an unofficial Hitler Youth that fed into it? 

Off topic - but as far as the ages go it makes no sense what-so-ever 
that Rickman who turns 60 this year is playing a ¡¥36¡¦ year old, both 
Thewlis and Oldman are in their mid-40s. Not that they do a bad job, 
they don¡¦t, but Warner Bros., have just cast an 39/40 year old actress 
to play Bellatrix. Wha..!!   The only actor who actually plays his age is 
Jason Issacs. They really should have waited until the canon was 
finished before making those films. *Rolls eyes* 

Mandy