Just how old are they?

sda15 · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:33 pm

PadfootsPup wrote:

So I had a strange thought today. My kids and I had just started re-reading the series and I saw Hagrid say that "young Sirius Black" lent him the flying motorcycle. It got me thinking, how old are all of the characters in the book? We know that Hagrid was at school, in his third year I believe, when the Chamber of Secrets was last opened, which was 50 years before the book CoS. Dumbledore was a professor back then. Sirius, James, Lupin, Pettigrew, Lily, and Snape are all roughly the same age. What about the other professors? Flitwick and McGonagall are the same age according to the info at Pottermore and Prof Sprout is two years different than them if I remember right.
I have always fallen into the trap of considering only two timeframes, the students and the adults, but I am really curious about this. What about the Weasleys? I would assume they are somewhat older than James, Lily, etc, given the ages of their children. Does Dumbledore have any living contemporaries? How old is he exactly? We know he was good friends with Elphias Doge and that he is older than Aberforth.
I'm sure there is more information out there. It would be really interesting to see a timeline of when each character entered into Hogwarts.
Any help would be appreciated.

I know that most of your questions have answered your questions, but here goes.
Well we know that Molly and Arthur have to be older than James/Lily/Sirius because in GoF, Harry shows Molly the whomping willow because apparently it was planted after she left Hogwarts so they have to be at least 7 years apart.

We know Sirius/Lily/James/Lupin have to be the same age since they were at Hogwarts together. Snape also has to be their same age so when he dies, I'd put him at 38ish.

As for Dumbledore, I always thought he was like 140 years old from somewhere.. Maybe Jo's website. I believe on Pottermore that it says McGonagall had Dumbledore for a teacher so she has to be significantly younger than Dumbledore. As for the other professors, no idea. I kinda assume that Trelawney was around the same age as Snape because they were suppose to interview for jobs but that doesn't mean that it was Trelawney's first job.

Do you think that Bill and Charlie could have been there when Lily and James were there? It's pretty plausible!

murf · **Posted:** Fri Apr 20, 2012 12:10 am

I know I always thought of Hagrid as being younger than the other Professors, but he was at Hogwarts during the first Chamber opening. So that makes him between 60 and 67 during Harry's first year.

adorkabled · **Posted:** Fri Apr 20, 2012 1:06 am

You know, I think Jo has said in one place that McGonagall's birth year is 1935, and another, 1925. I remember there being some discrepancy about her age. I always pictured her as younger, actually, but that could just be me. (Older than Snape, still, and roughly Flitwick's age, but maybe about 5 years younger than Sprout? It was never indicated which of the two witches were older, even though Pottermore says their school careers overlapped by 2 years.)

HermioneDanger · **Posted:** Sat Apr 21, 2012 12:39 am

Inigo Imago wrote:

Ok, all of the following information was found on the Harry Potter Wiki page. Assuming the events of the first chapter of SS/PS are taking place on November 1, 1981, you can calculate the ages using the following information:

Name - Birthday (Age as of Nov. 1, 1981)

Rubeus Hagrid - Born December 6, 1928 (52)
Albus Dumbledore - Born <Date Unknown>, 1881 (100)
Elphias Doge - Born <Date Unknown>, 1881 (100)
Aberforth Dumbledore - Born <Date Unknown>, 1884 (97)
Minerva McGonagall - Born October 4, 1935 (46)
Filius Flitwick - Born October 17, <Year Unknown> (Unknown)
Pomona Sprout - Born May 15, 1931 OR 1941 (50 or 40)
Molly Weasley - Born October 30, 1949 (32)
Arthur Weasley - Born February 6, 1950 (31)
James Potter - Born March 27, 1960 (21)
Lily Potter - Born January 30, 1960 (21)
Severus Snape - Born January 9, 1960 (21)
Remus Lupin - Born March 10, 1960 (21)
Sirius Black - Born <Date Unknown>, 1959 (22)
Peter Pettigrew - Born <Date Unknown>, 1960 (21)

That was the best I could gather quickly. Hope it helped!

Feel free to search any others at harrypotter.wikia.com

Wow, McGonagall at only 46 during the first book? I always thought she'd be older than Hagrid. That's so strange picturing McGonagall younger than my mom when I've been picturing her as 70-something Maggie Smith for years now! :lol:

PadfootsPup · **Posted:** Sat Apr 21, 2012 1:38 am

HermioneDanger wrote:

Wow, McGonagall at only 46 during the first book? I always thought she'd be older than Hagrid. That's so strange picturing McGonagall younger than my mom when I've been picturing her as 70-something Maggie Smith for years now! :lol:

Well this is when Harry is one so by the time he gets to school she would be 56.

adorkabled · **Posted:** Sat Apr 21, 2012 3:01 am

PadfootsPup wrote:

HermioneDanger wrote:

Wow, McGonagall at only 46 during the first book? I always thought she'd be older than Hagrid. That's so strange picturing McGonagall younger than my mom when I've been picturing her as 70-something Maggie Smith for years now! :lol:

Well this is when Harry is one so by the time he gets to school she would be 56.

True.

I did notice something with Sprout's dates, though--maybe someone who does math on a regular basis can help me out and check this. On Pottermore, it says that McGonagall's and Sprout's school days overlapped by 2 years--making one of them roughly 5 or 6 years older than the other. That would make Sprout's more likely birth year 1941, right? Is there a possible way for her to have been born in 1931, and have her and McGonagall's school days overlap by 2 years?

I just find it odd; I always pictured her as older than McGonagall.

HermioneDanger · **Posted:** Sun Apr 22, 2012 1:18 am

PadfootsPup wrote:

HermioneDanger wrote:

Wow, McGonagall at only 46 during the first book? I always thought she'd be older than Hagrid. That's so strange picturing McGonagall younger than my mom when I've been picturing her as 70-something Maggie Smith for years now! :lol:

Well this is when Harry is one so by the time he gets to school she would be 56.

True, but look at her in the first movie. She looks so much older than 46 and I thought Maggie Smith was perfectly cast so I obviously had the same vision for her as they did. So goes against my imagination, haha. It's jarring.

PhoenixFeather124 · **Joined:** Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:00 pm **Posts:** 1

I remember hearing somewhere that Dumbledore was 150 years old when he died, although this seems a little old, even for someone like Dumbledore. However, assuming this is true, he would be about 134 when he brings Harry to the Dursley's, and 144 when Harry is old enough to go to Hogwarts.

merrymarge · **Joined:** Thu Apr 19, 2012 5:53 pm **Posts:** 156

Jo had a hard time with math. When Dumbledore died, he was really 116, not 150 like she first stated. Prof. McGonagall was in her '70's in OoTP. Hagrid was about 3 years younger than Tom Riddle. Tom was born in 1925; he was in his early 70's when he died. I never thought Prof. Sprout was older than McGonagall. We have no idea how old Professor Binns was when he died, nor how long he had been a ghost before Harry started at Hogwarts.
Bathilda Bagshot could have been pretty old, way older than Dumbledore. She was the Great-Aunt of Grindlewald, and I thought she would be well over a hundred years old, but I have three sisters who are in their 50's and they are Great- Aunts to my grandson.

murf · **Posted:** Sun Apr 29, 2012 1:40 pm

Do you think using a time-turner adds to your age? Random, but a thought. I mean, Hermione uses a time turner all the time for almost a whole year. So by the end of PoA, is Hermione considered 15? Could that (or other magical devices that we don't know about) change how ages are calculated in their world?

Just how old are they?

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