{"id":5602,"date":"2004-05-02T12:05:36","date_gmt":"2004-05-02T17:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.hp-lexicon.org\/?p=5602"},"modified":"2020-08-02T15:29:39","modified_gmt":"2020-08-02T15:29:39","slug":"the-age-of-the-weasleys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hp-lexicon.org\/2004\/05\/02\/the-age-of-the-weasleys\/","title":{"rendered":"The Age of the Weasleys"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n

No, I don’t intend to predict the identities of the next several\u00a0Ministers for Magic, but rather to present and discuss the various evidence available in Harry Potter canon on the relative ages of the seven\u00a0Weasley\u00a0siblings.<\/p>\n

Since the original version of this discussion, Rowling has, on her website,\u00a0www.jkrowling.com, presented us not only with the actual birthdays of all the Weasley children (albeit not the years), but also with a correction to her statement in the World Book Day online chat<\/a>\u00a0[WBD], with respect to the relative ages of\u00a0Charlie\u00a0and\u00a0Percy Weasley.<\/p>\n

Throughout this essay I will use the\u00a0relative dating system suggested in the Lexicon. The year designation according to the commonly employed method, using\u00a0Nearly Headless Nick’s Deathday cake is given afterwards in parenthesis with a question mark to signify the uncertainty of that “guesstimate”\u2014see e.g. my essay [TFO-1<\/cite>] In order to distinguish between differences in actual age and differences in school years, I will further use “H” to designate a school year with\u00a0Harry\u00a0and\u00a0Ron’s year being “H0”. Someone born around the same time of the year as\u00a0Ron\u00a0and\u00a0Harry, but two years prior to the boys, will consequently have been born in\u00a0Y-2\u00a0and be in Hogwarts year H-2. This is done to avoid the confusion created for someone born in e.g. November who, if born in\u00a0Y0\u00a0will attend H1.<\/p>\n

The Evidence<\/h2>\n

There is a lot of evidence in the books regarding to the\u00a0Weasley\u00a0siblings\u2014not surprisingly given the prominence of that family in the books. Five of the\u00a0Weasley\u00a0siblings attend\u00a0Hogwarts\u00a0at some point while\u00a0Harry\u00a0is there, and even the two oldest,\u00a0Bill\u00a0and\u00a0Charlie, apparently left some marks on school history.<\/p>\n

Let us first focus on the easy part\u2014the school years of the five\u00a0Weasley\u00a0siblings who at some point attend\u00a0Hogwarts\u00a0together with\u00a0Harry. It is of course easiest to start with\u00a0Ron Weasley, who is in the same year as\u00a0Harry.<\/p>\n

Evidence scattered throughout the first books makes it plain that the five youngest Weasley siblings attend\u00a0Hogwarts\u00a0as summarized below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Percy<\/th>\nH-3<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Fred & George<\/td>\nH-1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ron<\/td>\nH1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ginny<\/td>\nH2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

That is, at the beginning of\u00a0Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets<\/i>,\u00a0Ginny\u00a0is starting her first year at\u00a0Hogwarts,\u00a0Ron\u00a0(obviously) his second,\u00a0Fred and George\u00a0their fourth and\u00a0Percyhis fifth.<\/p>\n

With respect to their birthdays, we finally know the date of the birthdays of all the\u00a0Weasley\u00a0children, and they are summarized below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
name<\/th>\nbirthday<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Ron<\/td>\nMarch 1st<\/sup><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fred & George<\/td>\nApril 1st<\/sup><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ginny<\/td>\nAugust 11th<\/sup><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Percy<\/td>\nAugust 22nd<\/sup><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bill<\/td>\nNovember 29th<\/sup><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Charlie<\/td>\nDecember 12th<\/sup><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most of these dates have been disclosed at Rowling’s website in the birthday calendar, which is recorded at Mugglenet [MN<\/a><\/cite>].\u00a0Ron’s birthday is known from the Comic Relief chat [CR<\/cite>] and the\u00a0twins’ birthday from Rowling’s “Extra stuff” section [JKR<\/a><\/cite>].<\/p>\n

Knowing the birthdays and the relative shool years allow us to determine the precise relation between the children, because we know also that they have to be eleven years old the day they start at\u00a0Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.<\/p>\n

When\u00a0Hermione\u00a0arrived at\u00a0Hogwarts, was she nearly eleven or nearly twelve? [also asked by vast numbers of people]<\/strong><\/p>\n

She was nearly twelve; you must be at least eleven to attend\u00a0Hogwarts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From Rowling’s website, the FAQ section [JKR<\/a><\/cite>].<\/p>\n

What remains is to know the ages of\u00a0Bill\u00a0and\u00a0Charlie\u00a0relative to the other siblings.<\/p>\n

Rowling has addressed this at two occasions. The first was the direct cause for the first version of this essay, and was given in [WBD<\/cite>].<\/p>\n

Louisa: \u00a0How old are\u00a0Charlie\u00a0and\u00a0Bill Weasley\u00a0in relation to their other siblings?<\/p>\n

JK Rowling:\u00a0Oh dear, maths. Let me think.\u00a0Bill\u00a0is two years older than\u00a0Charlie, who is two years older than\u00a0Percy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This was, however, superceded by her later correction at [JKR<\/a>]<\/p>\n

You said recently that\u00a0Charlie\u00a0was two years older than\u00a0Percy. If that’s so, he would have been the\u00a0Seeker\u00a0in\u00a0Harry’s first year. Can you clarify his and\u00a0Bill’s ages for us?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I knew I’d messed up that question the moment I had answered it, but web chats move fast and I wanted to keep going to get through as many questions as I could.\u00a0Bill\u00a0is two years older than\u00a0Charlie, who is three years older than\u00a0Percy, who is two years older than\u00a0Fred and George, who are two years older than\u00a0Ron, who is a year older than\u00a0Ginny. Sorry. Maths is not my strong suit (though it’s better than my geography, as those who have found the most recent Easter Eggs might already know).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, at least she explicitly admits to having problems with maths …<\/p>\n

The Years of the Weasleys<\/h2>\n

Designating the birth-years of the youngest five\u00a0Weasley\u00a0children is unproblematic, since they were all born during the first eight months of the year, and thus have the same relation to\u00a0Ron’s year of birth,\u00a0Y0\u00a0(1980?) as to his Hogwarts year.<\/p>\n

The problem arises with the difference between\u00a0Percy\u00a0and\u00a0Charlie.\u00a0Percy\u00a0was born on the twenty-second of August\u00a0Y-4\u00a0(1976?), and going by Rowling’s three year difference, the immediate guess would be that\u00a0Charlie\u00a0was born on the twelfth of December\u00a0Y-7\u00a0(1973?), making him two years, eight months and ten days older than\u00a0Percy. This, however, would put him in H-5, meaning that he would be starting on his seventh year when\u00a0Harry\u00a0and\u00a0Ron\u00a0started their first.<\/p>\n

The solution is, naturally, to use the Hogwarts years:\u00a0Charlie\u00a0is three years ahead of\u00a0Percy\u00a0at\u00a0Hogwarts, which would mean that he was born December 12th<\/sup>\u00a0Y-8\u00a0(1972?).\u00a0Bill, then, being born in November, is as always two years older than\u00a0Charlie\u00a0at both\u00a0Hogwarts\u00a0and in calendar years. This allows me to create a table of the birthdays of the\u00a0Weasley\u00a0children:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
name<\/th>\nbirthday<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Bill<\/td>\nNovember 29th<\/sup>\u00a0Y-10\u00a0(1970?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Charlie<\/td>\nDecember 12th<\/sup>\u00a0Y-8\u00a0(1972?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Percy<\/td>\nAugust 22nd<\/sup>\u00a0Y-4\u00a0(1976?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fred & George<\/td>\nApril 1st<\/sup>\u00a0Y-2\u00a0(1978?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ron<\/td>\nMarch 1st<\/sup>\u00a0Y0\u00a0(1980?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ginny<\/td>\nAugust 11th<\/sup>\u00a0Y1\u00a0(1981?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Summary<\/h2>\n

I have summarized the findings from the previous sections in the table below in the hope of giving a better overview of the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Hogwarts Years of the Weasleys<\/strong>
\n and a few of their friends<\/strong><\/a>[1]\u00a0The students are counted as belonging to the Hogwarts year in which they attend their first year at school. For each student is listed her or his years at school from 1 through 7.<\/a>[2]\u00a0The years marked in this column are the years in which\u00a0Gryffindor house\u00a0is known\u00a0not\u00a0to have won the\u00a0Quidditch Cup. Those in parentheses are when the tournament is known to have been cancelled (book 2\u00a0and\u00a0book 4).<\/caption>\n
\n

Hogwarts
\nYear[1]<\/sup><\/p>\n<\/th>\n

\n

Calendar year the Hogwarts year\u00a0begins<\/em><\/p>\n<\/th>\n

Ginny<\/th>\nHarry
\n&\u00a0Ron<\/th>\n		Fred &
\nGeorge<\/th>\n		Percy\u00a0&
\nOliver Wood<\/th>\n		Cup[2]<\/sup><\/th>\nCharlie<\/th>\nBill<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
H-8<\/td>\nY2\u00a0(1982?)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H-7<\/td>\nY3\u00a0(1983?)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H-6<\/td>\nY4\u00a0(1984?)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H-5<\/td>\nY5\u00a0(1985?)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nWIN!<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H-4<\/td>\nY6\u00a0(1986?)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H-3<\/td>\nY7\u00a0(1987?)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H-2<\/td>\nY8\u00a0(1988?)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H-1<\/td>\nY9\u00a0(1989?)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H0<\/td>\nY10\u00a0(1990?)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n7<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H1<\/td>\nY11\u00a0(1991?)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H2<\/td>\nY12\u00a0(1992?)<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n(7)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H3<\/td>\nY13\u00a0(1993?)<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n7<\/td>\nWIN!<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H4<\/td>\nY14\u00a0(1994?)<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n<\/td>\n(*)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H5<\/td>\nY15\u00a0(1995?)<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n7<\/td>\n<\/td>\nWIN!<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H6<\/td>\nY16\u00a0(1996?)<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H7<\/td>\nY17\u00a0(1997?)<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n7<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
H8<\/td>\nY18\u00a0(1998?)<\/td>\n7<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Consistency<\/h2>\n

Now, all of the above seems quite clear-cut. With the available information everything fits nicely together and we can infer the age of every Weasley kid. But how well does this fit with what else is known about them: are the conclusions consistent with other evidence from the books?<\/p>\n

Since there has never been any real question about the ages of the younger five siblings, the consistency data all pertains to the two older;\u00a0Charlie\u00a0and\u00a0Bill.<\/p>\n

Charlie and Quidditch<\/h3>\n

With respect\u00a0Charlie, the best we know much about his age from the books ccomes from books 1 and 3 and refers to the time when he played Quidditch for Gryffindor. We learned already in\u00a0PS6<\/a>\u00a0The Journey From Platform Nine and Three-quarters<\/i>\u00a0that “Charlie\u00a0was captain of Quidditch,<\/q>” but nothing is said at that point about\u00a0when<\/em>\u00a0he was the Gryffindor Quidditch captain.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0PS9<\/a>\u00a0The Midnight Duel<\/i>\u00a0we get the first real indication of\u00a0Charlie’s Quidditch abilities.<\/p>\n

‘He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive,’\u00a0Professor McGonagall\u00a0told\u00a0Wood. ‘Didn’t even scratch himself.\u00a0Charlie Weasley\u00a0couldn’t have done it.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This implies that\u00a0McGonagall\u00a0expects\u00a0Wood\u00a0to know of\u00a0Charlie’s extraordinary skills as a\u00a0Seeker, and\u00a0Wood’s reaction (he “was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once<\/q>“) confirms that her description indeed is meaningful to him. I cannot, however, be sure that this is because he has actually seen\u00a0Charlie\u00a0in action or if it is because of\u00a0Charlie’s legendary status, which we hear about in\u00a0book 3. In the early typewritten draft of the chapter available as one of the rewards at\u00a0www.jkrowling.co.uk<\/a>, she describes\u00a0Wood’s reaction to\u00a0Harry’s abilities. “After a couple of weeks he’d stopped calling him the ‘new\u00a0Charlie Weasley’\u00a0and started telling people ‘I’ve got a\u00a0Seeker\u00a0even\u00a0better<\/u>\u00a0then\u00a0Charlie Weasley.'” Later in the same chapter we see the\u00a0twins’ reaction to\u00a0Harry\u00a0becoming the new Gryffindor\u00a0Seeker.<\/p>\n

‘I tell you, we’re going to win that\u00a0Quidditch Cup\u00a0for sure this year,’ said\u00a0Fred. ‘We haven’t won since\u00a0Charlie\u00a0left, but this year’s team is going to be brilliant. You must be good,\u00a0Harry,\u00a0Wood\u00a0was almost skipping when he told us.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One has to ask oneself, “since\u00a0Charlie\u00a0left\u00a0what<\/em>?” Is this to be read as “since\u00a0Charlie\u00a0left\u00a0Hogwarts” or “since\u00a0Charlie\u00a0left the\u00a0Gryffindor Quidditch side?” Of course this doesn’t necessarily mean that\u00a0Gryffindor\u00a0actually won the\u00a0Quidditch Cup\u00a0the year\u00a0Charlie\u00a0left (assuming that he left either\u00a0Hogwarts\u00a0or the\u00a0Quidditch team\u00a0at the end of an academic year). Another thing I note here is that\u00a0Fred and George\u00a0don’t mention any kind of dispensation for\u00a0Charlie, which in the context would have seemed natural if\u00a0Charlie\u00a0had indeed played in his first year.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0PA12<\/a>\u00a0The Patronus<\/i>\u00a0when McGonagall returns\u00a0Harry’s new Firebolt to him after it has been checked for curses and jinxes.<\/p>\n

‘Seriously,’ said Professor McGonagall, and she was actually smiling. ‘I daresay you’ll need to get the feel of it before Saturday’s match, won’t you? And Potter\u2014do<\/i>\u00a0try and win, won’t you? Or we’ll be out of the running for the eighth year in a row, as Professor Snape was kind enough to remind me only last night …’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And in\u00a0PA15<\/a>\u00a0The Quidditch Final<\/i>, there is another specific statement:<\/p>\n

The whole of Gryffindor House was obsessed with the coming match. Gryffindor hadn’t won the Quidditch Cup since the legendary\u00a0Charlie\u00a0Weasley (Ron’s second-oldest brother) had been Seeker.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The last two quotations finally provide some specific information. We now know that prior to\u00a0Gryffindor\u00a0winning the\u00a0Quidditch Cup\u00a0in book 3 (the finals taking place in\u00a0Y13) there had been seven years in which\u00a0Gryffindor\u00a0had not won, and that last time they did win,\u00a0Charlie\u00a0Weasley played on the team. This victory was eight years before book 3, which means that the finals were in\u00a0Y5\u00a0at the end of the academic year that started in\u00a0Y4. As first year students aren’t allowed to play (or even bring their own\u00a0brooms<\/a>) to\u00a0Hogwarts,\u00a0Charlie\u00a0must have been at least in his second year at that point, meaning that he must have attended H-7, as shown in the summary table above.<\/p>\n

The various quotations about\u00a0Charlie’s Quidditch career for\u00a0Gryffindor\u00a0gives me the distinct impression that\u00a0Gryffindor\u00a0enjoyed a winning streak while\u00a0Charlie\u00a0played; not just a single victory of the\u00a0Quidditch Cup\u00a0followed by years of coming in an honourable second, but several years of winning the\u00a0Cup. Unfortunately that interpretation of statements in the books is evidently impossible, but I can’t help feeling a bit disappointed there: based on the statements in the books, I had imagined a long and glorious carreer for\u00a0Charlie, winning the\u00a0Quidditch Cup\u00a0again and again.<\/p>\n

Bill<\/h3>\n

The last of the\u00a0Weasley\u00a0siblings\u2014Bill.<\/p>\n

The evidence pertaining to his age is particularly scarce, but that only makes it more interesting.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0CS17<\/a>\u00a0The Heir of Slytherin<\/i>\u00a0Ginny\u00a0is deeply unhappy because of what she has done while possessed by Tom riddle:<\/p>\n

‘I’m going to be expelled!’\u00a0Ginny\u00a0wept, as\u00a0Harry\u00a0helped her awkwardly to her feet. ‘I’ve looked forward to coming to\u00a0Hogwarts\u00a0ever since B-Bill\u00a0came and n-now I’ll have to leave and –\u00a0w-what’ll Mum and Dad say<\/i>?’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Once more I feel like crying out loud, “came where, and from where?” Unfortunately Rowling didn’t choose to expand on this, so I have to get by with what I’ve got. First of all it is clear that\u00a0Ginny\u00a0under no circumstances would be able to remember when\u00a0Bill\u00a0started at\u00a0Hogwarts\u2014she was about one year old at the time. She could, however, easily remember his leaving\u00a0Hogwarts, or even the time when he was made a Prefect (when she would have been six years old).<\/p>\n

Other evidence giving us some small clues to\u00a0Bill’s age is\u00a0Harry’s description of\u00a0Bill\u00a0as being cool with earring and ponytail (GF5<\/a>) as well as his relationship to\u00a0Fleur Delacour\u00a0(OP4<\/a>). This does, IMO, fit nicely with\u00a0Bill\u00a0being almost ten years older than\u00a0Harry, and seven years older than\u00a0Fleur\u00a0(assuming that she also left school at eighteen), which might seem a large age difference, but not entirely unrealistic.<\/p>\n

In book 4, after the appearance of the\u00a0Dark Mark, it is\u00a0Bill\u00a0who explains about the\u00a0Death Eaters. This, IMO, points to him being old enough to remember the first war, though not necessarily as an active combatant. Recalling that\u00a0Voldemort’s attack on the\u00a0Potters\u00a0occurred in\u00a0Y1, this makes it before\u00a0Bill\u00a0started at\u00a0Hogwarts. If\u00a0Bill\u00a0remembers much about the war, he would have had to be rather a precocious child, though he may, of course, have been relating information he heard later on.<\/p>\n

Finally\u00a0Ron\u00a0remembering\u00a0Bill\u00a0wearing the\u00a0Head Boy\u00a0badge in\u00a0PS12<\/a>\u00a0The Mirror of Erised<\/i>\u00a0is hardly surprising.\u00a0Ron\u00a0would have been 8 years old when\u00a0Bill\u00a0started his last year at\u00a0Hogwarts, and would certainly remember it well when he started himself just three years later.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

Looking only at the evidence available before 2004, I would without hesitation have proposed a scenario for\u00a0Charlie\u00a0and\u00a0Bill\u00a0that made them some two or three years older than Rowling’s information. I would, of course, have noted the upper and lower limits, and have given the arguments for choosing a mid-range estimate. Such a scenario would fit all the evidence in the books nicely and without straining any of it overmuch. Having\u00a0Charlie\u00a0win his last\u00a0Quidditch\u00a0victory in his fourth or fifth year might seem a little early, but on the other hand making them older would strain the credibility of\u00a0Bill’s age relative to\u00a0Ginny\u00a0and\u00a0Fleur. Assuming that\u00a0Gryffindor\u00a0won the\u00a0Quidditch Cup\u00a0every year from\u00a0Charlie\u00a0started playing (presumably in his second year) and until his fourth or fifth year would give them a winning streak of three or four years, which would seem enough to justify\u00a0Charlie’s legendary status in the house. This status seems less credible when he has only been instrumental in winning the\u00a0Cup\u00a0once (Harry\u00a0is a different matter as he was both legendary before joining the\u00a0Quidditch side, and was the youngest player on a\u00a0house team\u00a0for a century: something which was presumably allowed because of\u00a0Gryffindor’s desperate need of a\u00a0Seeker). All in all the mid-range estimate seems the most likely by far when looking only at the evidence available at New Year 2004.<\/p>\n

The information in\u00a0WBD, and later on Rowling’s website, obviously changes this situation somewhat. As can be seen from the summary this places\u00a0Charlie\u00a0in H-6, which significantly diminishes\u00a0Charlie’s possible achievements for the\u00a0Gryffindor Quidditch side.<\/p>\n

Given what we have seen with respect to Rowling’s use of numbers in the books, it is not unlikely that her statement that\u00a0Charlie\u00a0“is two years older than\u00a0Percy<\/q>” should be interpreted a bit loosely; as a statement of range rather than a precise number. That she, in other words, meant that\u00a0Charlie\u00a0is a couple of years older, in the loosest possible interpretation of “a couple of”. I.e. somewhere between one and four or five, which would, in broad terms, make it fit with my mid estimate.<\/p>\n

I do have to admit that I don’t particularly like this information. When the only available information was\u00a0WBD, I rejected that and proposed a scenario that made\u00a0Charlie\u00a0a bit older, but given the correction at Rowling’s website, I don’t think that option is open any longer, and one must accept that\u00a0Charlie\u00a0left\u00a0Hogwarts\u00a0a few months before\u00a0Harry\u00a0and\u00a0Ron\u00a0started.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, we should probably be very careful about requiring\u2014or even expecting\u2014scientific consistency in the\u00a0Harry Potter books. Rowling herself admits that maths and physics aren’t her strong suits, and there are other issues where the evidence isn’t mathematically consistent (e.g. the\u00a0number of students at Hogwarts).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction No, I don’t intend to predict the identities of the next several\u00a0Ministers for Magic, but rather to present and discuss the various evidence available in Harry Potter canon on the relative ages of the seven\u00a0Weasley\u00a0siblings. Since the original version of this discussion, Rowling has, on her website,\u00a0www.jkrowling.com, presented us not only with the actual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":28808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[303,1985],"tags":[1264,2473,2406],"coauthors":[2456],"class_list":["post-5602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canon-discussion","category-essays","tag-birthdays","tag-days-and-dates","tag-timelines","icon-birthday","icon-essays","icon-wizards"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Age of the Weasleys – Harry Potter Lexicon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hp-lexicon.org\/2004\/05\/02\/the-age-of-the-weasleys\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Age of the Weasleys – Harry Potter Lexicon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Introduction No, I don’t intend to predict the identities of the next several\u00a0Ministers for Magic, but rather to present and discuss the various evidence available in Harry Potter canon on the relative ages of the seven\u00a0Weasley\u00a0siblings. 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