Marauder Era Timeline

[narcissa_malfoy]

As the new information about the Malfoy family has finally lured me to sign up to Pottermore my interest in Harry Potter has resurfaced again. I have long thought about making some sort of timeline for the generation that attended Hogwarts during the first war.

This is written mainly as a resource for those who write Marauder era fic, in which I try

Comments

[chthonya]

Interesting!

The last fic I wrote was set in 1965 and I spent a whole day putting names and dates into a spreadsheet so I could work out who was in what year. Only in my case I was more interested in the relationship between Lucius, Bellatrix, Molly and Arthur.

I tend to solve the conundrum differently each time I approach it, but generally I prefer to think of Bellatrix being two years above Lucius (Bellatrix born Autumn 1951, Lucius born Summer 1954) which means that Narcissa, if born Summer 1955, can come in one year below Lucius, which makes for better romantic possibilities IMO! This is a year too early for MWPPL and Snape to be first years with a Prefect Lucius if born in 1960, but works for 1959. (I wasn't considering MWPPL last time I analysed it).

Looking the other way, Arthur was born 6 February 1951 (I think this comes from JKR's website, which no longer seems to have the information posted). This makes him four school years above Lucius if Lucius is born in spring/summer 1954, or five years above if Lucius is born in the Autumn and has to wait til the next year. I prefer a four-year gap; even so, it's pretty remarkable that they developed such an enmity. Lucius must have started his descent into darkness early!

Molly's birthday is 30 October. I've seen the year quoted as 1949, which would put her a year above Arthur, but I prefer to think of her as 1950 so they can be the same year. I don't know where 1949 came from - the first time I went looking I only found the day and the month.

Regarding Sirius' comment about Snape hanging around with the future Death Eaters - ever since we found out the age difference between Severus and Lucius I've assumed they had some kind of mentor/mentee relationship going on. Sirius tells us that Snape knew some dark spells when he first arrived at school so I can see that catching Lucius' eye as something useful.

I put Rodolphus in Lucius' year - to provide a link with Bellatrix - I can see Bellatrix getting together with someone a little younger who is too in awe to stand up to her when she needs it. Then Rabastan can be close to Snape, and Sirius' 'the Lestranges' comment can hold up, the way you suggest.

I tend to see Lucius holding his cards close to his chest, and not openly identifying himself with the young death eaters, which would be another explanation for Sirius not mentioning him.

That said, I think we beat ourselves up a bit too much over all this. As long as the appropriate age order is maintained, I'm not going to get stressed over being a year out if it makes for a compelling story. And we know that JKR wasn't meticulous about this so a) we aren't letting her or canon down if we aren't meticulous either, b) especially when she's left us so many contradictions!

I'd love to read more pre-MWPP Hogwarts stories(or heck, just any Lucius-centric Hogwarts stories), if you know of any good ones!.

[narcissa_malfoy]

Heh, yes, it's not the easiest job, is it?

Which one was this? Surely there isn't one of yours that I haven't read? :)

This may be a bias on my part, perhaps an age difference kink, or now that I think about it I believe it is because that in every single fic I have ever read that has had Narcissa in the year under Lucius, she suddenly, Tada!, appears as if from nowhere in the common room in and he suddenly notices her for the very first time. I suppose I prefer them to have had some sort of relationship beforehand, even if it just a conversation about the way to the common rom *g*

Ooh, that's interesting information about Arthur and Molly. I only remembered that Molly talked of her school days when she visited Harry at Hogwarts in GoF. I'll see if I can incorporate it somehow. I prefer them in the same year too. JKR has removed a lot of information from her website. I finally managed to track down the where the information about Sirius age came from and that was from the website too and has since been removed.

Lucius does seem to have a knack for making enemies in an incredibly short time *g*

Mentor/mentee relationship - absolutely!

Rodophus in Lucius's year actually works incredibly well. There are all these layers and interconnectedness at once. I had not thought about the in awe bit, but it fits!

Again we are in complete agreement. Oh, God, the contradictions. Well, I suppose when one deals with a writer who prides herself on the fact that she does not reread her books when she is working on a series that is being written years apart... And that is precisely my point. There is no reason to let this hinder one's creativity in the first place. But if it creates some sort of writer's block or causes difficulty with the muse, well, the numbers can be tweaked canonically until they fit precisely the story you want to tell.

I'll see what I can find in my bookmarks :)

[chthonya]

Which one was this?

It's my entry for springtime_gen, here. I hadn't linked from my LJ because I made a massive error in it that I need to fix, and I hadn't fixed it because I was working flat out making glass for Ascendio. It's Lucius' first term at Hogwarts so doesn't feature Narcissa.

I prefer them to have had some sort of relationship beforehand.
I think they would have had a relationship beforehand, whatever year they were in - they would undoubtedly have encountered each other at pureblood social gatherings. My personal headcanon has some tension between the families though, so Narcissa has to do a little work to persuade Lucius that she's not insane or rebellious like her sisters, and Lucius has to... well, I've not got that far yet, but I rather enjoyed writing 1st-year Lucius so I might return to it at some point.

JKR has removed a lot of information from her website
And removed the fun interface, from what I could see, which is such a shame. I wish she'd left it as a historical record; I have good memories of playing with magic paperclips and trying to get through The Door!

[narcissa_malfoy]

That would explain it! What a wonderful story. I am glad I got to read it now. I wouldn't worry about the error. Just post about it in a footnote and nobody will worry about it.

Yes, I quite agree, it is mostly the way people who choose this option has dealt with it that has soured me on the idea. But I would be quite happy to be proven wrong. *nudges* *g* I see tension there, too. Makes it all the more interesting, no?

Yes, I just went there and saw that you are right. I will miss it too, it was very well done. She really doesn't seem to know when she should just let well enough be, does she? Le sigh.

[chthonya]

Well, some people will worry. ;) I felt bad because Bellatrix was a favourite character of the person I wrote for (it was a pinch hit so I had to go with the inspiration I had). Glad you liked it, anyhow!

I think JKR shot herself in the foot somewhat by using her name as the domain name for the website in the first place - made sense back in 2004 or whenever she started it when she was immersed in HP, but now she is working on other things I can see that she would want her personal website to look a little more 'grown-up'.

[narcissa_malfoy]

That was a pinch hit? That makes it even more impressive! I forgot to say on the review that I left on the fic itself that including Arthur's younger brother Bilius as the original point of contention between them was a stroke of genius.

All right, now I'm confused! I assumed that the error was placing Andromeda in Ravenclaw? Was there another, more-directly-related-to-Bellatrix problem that I missed?

Yes, but I suppose she could still have "hidden" the old design behind the Harry Potter link. And wasn't it much later than 2004? It felt like it was after the heyday of fandom. Maybe I'm confusing it with when Pottermore opened.

[chthonya]

It was a pinch hit, though it took me a little over a week to write. I'm just not able to churn words out quickly.

Thanks for your endorsement of Bilius! He seemed like a good way to make the two aware of each other. From Arthur's point of view I think it was the risk to Molly involved him more personally.

And yes, the error was placing Andromeda in Ravenclaw. I'd always assumed she was, for some reason - I though that's how she freed herself enough to get together with Ted. But Slughorn does say at the start of HBP that all the Blacks were in Slytherin. Somehow I missed the implications of that.

I suppose she could still have "hidden" the old design behind the Harry Potter link
Agreed.

And wasn't it much later than 2004?
I think it was late 2004 - I remember the door opening to give a clue to the HBP title, and HBP came out in 2005. Also, the fan site awards were a while back; she fell out with the Lexicon 2007-2008 so the award she made must have been a year or two before that. (Just checked the Lexicon and it said that the door was first opened in June 2004)

I started this journal in 2004; before then I hung out at FictionAlley but it seemed that people were more and more moving over here, so I guess at that point it did feel a bit like fandom was changing quite a bit - I find LJ more fragmented (though better for getting to know people).

[narcissa_malfoy]

I find LJ more fragmented, too. I used too hang out in the fanfiction.net messaging boards until they were taken down. After that I felt a bit lost, fandom-wise. I think I spent some time on mailing lists, but they were hopeless to get to know people. I have my very own were-insulted-by-friend-of-Cassie-Claire-as-wee-newbie story *g*

I remember the heyday of fandom as before the publication of OotP, and checking the dates I see that that was in 2003, so that might explain it *g* I actuw9ally think that I got my LJ around 2004, too. By then too I had migrated toward Fiction Alley, and as I recall I got too many people I wanted to follow so that it was easier to just create a journal with a friends list rather than having them in my bookmarks and checking them manually each day as I had been doing.

It is especially impressive as a pinch hit. The plot must have taken some time to work out, especially as it is created to cater to somebody else's wishes, and it is so well done. Some people write fast, and some people write slower, what is important is that they write well. And when something is so layered ask it is here, it is more difficult to write fast is my experience.

I have to admit that I did not grasp the importance of that either. Like you, I thought about Sirius's ancestors, not his cousins (did we even know about them at thus point in OotP?) Most people place Andromeda in a different house than Slytherin, so at least we are not the only ones. Bellatrix is one of my favourite characters as well, and it did not ruin the story one little bit for me. However, if you want any help with fixing it with as little alteration to the text as possible, let me know.

I will say it again: Bilius Weasley? Stroke. Of. Brilliance. Poor Arthur. He has always somewhat inexplicably been in love with Molly. At least she widened her horisont towards someone blond and fashionable with Lockhart ;)