| |
| Author |
Message |
< The Library ~ Black/Malfoy timeline? |
| VelvetMouse |
 Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 3:37 pm |
 |
|
Joined: 09 May 2006
Posts: 69
Location: NYC
|
This is what I've put together, mostly from the info in the HP Lexicon:
Bella – born 1951; starts Hogwarts 1962, finished in 1969; sees sirius last time 1975; sent to azkaban early 1982
Andi – born 1953; starts Hogwarts 1964, finishes summer 1971 (no overlap with MWPP); marries Ted c. 1972; dora born 1973
Cissy – born 1955; stars Hogwarts 1966, finishes 1973 (6th & 7th w/MWPP)
Lucius – born 1954; starts Hogwarts 1965, finishes 1972 (7th w/MWPP)
So my question is this -
Given how quickly most people in the Wizarding world seem to have children (James & Lily had Harry within two years of finishing school; Andi & Ted had Nymphadora within the same).... did Narcissa and Lucius not get married right away (1974ish), or did they actually wait 5+ years before having Draco?
Is there any evidence one way or the other? |
|
|
| Back to top |
   
|
| Pennfana |
| Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 1:56 am |
|
|
Joined: 07 Dec 2004
Posts: 216
Location: Ontario, Canada
|
I'm not exactly an expert on the canon, but I've never really seen any evidence either way. Taking a look at the Lexicon, for example, we have no idea how long Molly and Arthur Weasley were married before Bill came along (though there's a note which states that their elopement might have been around 1968, while Bill was born in 1971). It's also fairly ambiguous for Neville Longbottom's parents and if you take a look at the Black family page over at the Lexicon, it appears that Walburga Black was about 34 by the time of Sirius' birth and about 36 by the time Regulus was born.
Just from looking at this, I'd guess that the birth of children is as random in the Wizarding world as it is in real life. About the Malfoy family in particular, though, I have no clue. |
_________________
Accio mind!  |
|
| Back to top |
|
| VelvetMouse |
| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 12:23 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 09 May 2006
Posts: 69
Location: NYC
|
Yeah, that's about what I thought. I realize we only have a very limited number of samples, so it's hard to draw any conclusions...
I was just struck by it when I was working out timelines for the Black sisters, and how they fit in with MWPP, and realized how little overlap there was between the two groups. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| LadyWhitehart |
| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 6:10 am |
|
|
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 193
Location: New Jersey, USA
|
I know it's canon because it came from the author, but that Black Family Tree gives me a headache because it doesn't work with what Sirius told Harry in GoF. According to Sirius, Snape hung around with "a gang of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be DE's." The Lestranges ("they're a married couple" can only be Bella and Rodolphus) were named in that group, indicating at the very least they were in 7th year when Snape/MWPP were in their 1st year. Now the glitch is that IF Bella was there for Snape's first year, and little sister Andi is 2 years behind her then Tonks would have been born while Andi was either still in school or right after she finished. Oops.
 THE FOLLOWING IS PURE SPECULATION
Now a possible explanation for the big gap between when L/N finished school and Draco was born: Draco may not have been their first child. There could have been other pregnancies before the one that produced Draco. A child that was stillborn may not have been recorded on the tapestry. Sad but possible.  |
_________________
Come be my friend! I need friends. http://ladywhitehart.livejournal.com/
Enjoy my fics at http://archive.sycophanthex.com/viewprofile.php?p=Lady%20Whitehart |
|
| Back to top |
 
|
| VelvetMouse |
| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 1:19 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 09 May 2006
Posts: 69
Location: NYC
|
Yeah, I know. It's a fair mess... I do think that the dates that HP Lexicon has for the Black sisters make the most sense all around - yes, it doesn't quite fit with what Sirius says, but it does mostly work. And yes, those dates do mean that Andi & Ted had Dora almost as quickly as James & Lily had Harry... which is part of what propted my question in the first place 
I'm inclined to explain away Sirius's ambiguous statement for the sake of my own sanity - I don't believe he ever actually specifies that all said Slytherins were still in school. I find it fully believeable to have that "gang of Slytherins" be comprised of both current students (like Snape) and former students (like Bella, and presumeably Lucius)... According to the HP Lex timeline, Lucius would have been there for Snape's 1st year, and Cissy for Snape's 1st & 2nd... to me, it's not such a stretch to think that Snape was brought into the fold by some older students, who in turn, were friends with even older ones... |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| LadyWhitehart |
| Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 1:06 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 193
Location: New Jersey, USA
|
Oh good, I'm not the only one who has been driven nuts with that stupid... er, I mean... delightful bit of canon.
Quote: I find it fully believeable to have that "gang of Slytherins" be comprised of both current students (like Snape) and former students (like Bella, and presumeably Lucius)...
The only time we know of (according to the books) when older students mingled with younger students was during the Tri-Wizard. But I suppose they could have met up on Hogsmeade weekends or something. I'm open for any other ideas. |
_________________
Come be my friend! I need friends. http://ladywhitehart.livejournal.com/
Enjoy my fics at http://archive.sycophanthex.com/viewprofile.php?p=Lady%20Whitehart |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Dreamy_Dragon |
| Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:28 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 07 Jun 2007
Posts: 1
|
It's good to know that other people are as confused by that timeline as I am.
Just my two knuts on how Snape and Lucius came to know each other:
The lexicon states that Snape was born in 1958 or 1959, so he would have started in Hogwarts in 1969 or 1970. So he would have been at school together with Lucius for two or even three years.
Speculation ahead : I had always assumed that Snape and Lucius knew each other since school. So, if Lucius had been a prefect he could have noticed and taken an interest in the younger wizard seeing that he was gifted, lonely and bullied by the Marauders. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Overhill |
| Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 9:34 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 263
Location: Central Oregon, near a wyer, but the dragons are downstairs....
|
| I can't remember where I read this (possibly at Mugglenet.com) that by the time that Severus was in his fifth year, it seemed that the gang of Slytherins were probably gone from school, as, during the prank, James wasn't concerned about anyone defending Severus, Peter acted like picking on him was a regular event, and no one (except Lily) came to his aid. |
_________________
What else is there in the Forbidden Forest? http://chaos.sycophanthex.com/viewstory.php?sid=2111
The Goblin King (Jareth) pays a visit at St. Mungo's, much to Goodfellow's dismay: http://chaos.sycophanthex.com/viewstory.php?sid=2287 |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Grace has Victory |
| Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:42 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 24 Dec 2005
Posts: 3
Location: A long way from home.
|
"Oh, dear, maths..." is JKR's own comment about her timelines. Some of her arithmetic mistakes are irreconciliable, which means it is fair game to attempt the reconciliation in whatever way suits you.
Regarding the Black family, I think you can ignore most of the dates on the tapestry. If you took them literally, several of the males would become fathers when they were only 13 or 14, including Cygnus, the father of Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa. The birthdates of 1951, 1953, 1955 for the Black sisters might be taken as an indication (though not proof) that their ages are close, but they don't work as the literal birthdates.
It's almost safe to claim that Sirius was born in 1958-9. (DH suggests the date 1959-60, but JKR probably copied this from the Lexicon, which had already admitted itself mistaken on this point.) Since he remembers being at school with B, a point about which he couldn't have been mistaken, she is a maximum of six years older than he is, i.e. born at earliest in 1952-3.
There are two ways we can harmonise Andromeda's age. It's possible that she was two calendar years younger than B, but only one school year behind (e.g., B could have been born in autumn 1952 and A in summer 1954). In that case A would have eloped with Ted as soon as she finished her NEWTs in summer 1972, in time to give birth to Dora a year later. Alternatively, it's possible that A belonged to the 1954-5 cohort, but that she didn't finish her NEWTs. Perhaps her home situation was so unbearable that she eloped with Ted at the end of sixth year, as soon as she was 17 and legally and adult; or even at the end of fifth year, when she was 16 (which would be illegal in the wizarding world and in Muggle England, but legal in Muggle Scotland).
As you have pointed out, Dora must have been born in the academic year of 1972-3 in order to qualify as an Auror in 1994, a year before we first meet her in 1995.
Once you have decided whether A is 3, 4 or 5 years older than Sirius (depending on which marriage scenario you prefer), you can decide whether B is 4, 5 or 6 years older than Sirius, and whether N is 3 years, 2 years or 1 year ahead, or even (just possibly) the same age.
I think it quite likely that N WAS married at age 18. Lucius Malfoy had the pure-blood ideology and the money, so becoming his trophy wife would have been a more attractive option than finding some way to work for a living. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
All times are GMT
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
|
