Thoughts on Ages of Bill, Marauders, and Lucius
Posted to
the Marauder’s Slash List
March 2004
First off,
I'm a canon!whore. Big-time. But I take what JKR says in
interviews to be
as close to canon as it comes (as opposed to movie
details, etc.) I
don't like writing fics that contain details that
could be
clarified later on... which is why I've never ever given
Remus a middle
name and I was bouncing up and down this morning when
I found it out
(I've never been in the camp that believed the J. was
James) Anyway,
with that being said, I still really like the concept
that Bill was in
school with the Marauders mainly because after
Sirius' death, I
ship a very awkward and hesitant Remus/Bill and
that common year
or years at school has been fun to explore... and
it makes them
closer in age for a good relationship.
I tend to believe
the calculations which are posted on the Lexicon
(bottom of the Weasley's page) based on all the other details given
in the books
(like Ginny commenting about Charlie getting his letter
to Hogwarts):
http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/weasley.html
and their years
at school as posted in the listing:
http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/wizards-v-z.html
So in the notes I
use when I write fanfics, I have:
Lucius
Malfoy Born-1954
Hogwarts-1965-72
Marauders/Snape
Born-1960
Hogwarts-1971-78
Bill
Weasley ? ?
Charlie
Weasley Born-1967
Hogwarts-1978-85
Lucius was in 7th
year when Snape/Marauders were in 1st.
Bill HAD to have
been in Hogwarts at least one year with the
Marauders since
he's older than Charlie.
Okay, so that's
what I write by.
Now, assuming
Bill is two years older than Charlie, that gives him 2
years of overlap
with the Marauders... which messes up a couple of
my fics (Grrr!) but I can rewrite them. It's not that crucial to
their plots. I
hate being anal about canon, but I like when fics
don't contradict
canon (I'm not a huge fan of AU's, though I suppose
a number of my
Sirius stories are now anyway). I like stories best
when they fit
within the universe... contradictions pull me out and
make me confused.
And I can't knowingly write them. So rather than
invent things
that could be later thrown out, I avoid them. That's
just me, though.
And I know she
said today that Charlie was only two years older than
Percy and all
that... but she didn't have her notebooks with her and
we all know she's
not the best at math (or maths, for that matter)
or remembering
details off the top of her head. So until I'm told in
canon what their
ages are, or see her read it straight out of her
notebook, I'm
just going to believe what I originally thought...
because, again, I
include their shared year(s) in my Bill/Remus
stories.
>In GoF, however, Molly comments that the Whomping
Willow (planted
>to keep Moony
at bay) was planted the year she was leaving school.
>A year before
or the same year the Marauders entered school.
As for GoF- I don't think she gave a time frame about the Whomping
Willow's
planting. *checks book* Okay, in the American hardback,
page 617: "Mrs.Weasley was intrigued by the Whomping
Willow, which
had been planted
after she had left school..."
So that's not a
year after... just any time after. All it explains
is that she
graduated before they arrived... could have been a year,
could have been
10.
Whoo, that was exciting... usually I just use the
audio versions for
canon-lookup.
It's nice to pull out the book again :-)
Just to throw
more in there... some people argue that just because
of the fact that
he should have been a 7th year doesn't mean
anything. It's
possible, based on the month his birthday falls in,
that he started
school early and thus JKR is right age-wise but he
wouldn't have
been in Hogwarts as a 7th year when Harry was a 1st
year. And that
could be. I don't have anything from canon to back
that up, though,
so I prefer the version I have above though I'll be
the first to
admit Ginny's comment could also just be a lapse in the
author's judgment
and not something to base a whole theory off of...
but, again, I
like canon :-)
Additionally... I sort of like the gap in ages of the
boys... it
makes sense to me
for Molly & Arthur to have waited a number of
years in between
Charlie and Percy. The war was just starting
up/gathering
speed. It's possible that Percy was a mistake... or
they had a change
of heart (not wanting to be intimidated, wanting
to have more
"good" brought into the world, etc. All the reasons I
give for the
Potters to have had a kid in the middle of the war)
Just gives me
more to think about if there is a gap. I like that. :-)
Just some
thoughts :-) Point is, I consider myself a slave to canon,
including
interviews, and even I'm not believing the age thing
right
now.