Chronology of the Harry Potter stories

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The chronology is a general timeline of events derived from information provided in the series of Harry Potter novels written by J. K. Rowling, along with additional materials posted on her web site and published in various interviews. The timeline covers events referred to and occurring within the novels. It appears in other media, such as the DVD copies of the films produced by Warner Bros. She has now finished her last book which is the seventh of her books called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The timeline contains flaws, which Rowling has on occasion acknowledged, and sometimes contradicts itself or does not agree with real calendar days and dates for events being described.^[1]^[2] Nonetheless, it has become a generally accepted timeline for the events within the novels.^[2]

The dates provided in the timeline are derived from bits of information provided by Rowling, either directly in her books, on her website, during published interviews, or from other published materials. For example the Black Family Tree, first mentioned in the fifth book of the series The Order of the Phoenix was extended and donated for a charity auction.^[3] That extended version included birthdates and death years for several key characters.^[2]

Warner Bros. is the producer of the Harry Potter films, and holds the associated copyrights and trademarks related to Harry Potter media. DVD editions of the Harry Potter films Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire, contain the timeline of events, which take place over the course of the films and in the narrative of the novels. Warner Bros. originally developed the timeline as part of the special features package for the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) DVD. Rowling reviewed the timelines and made several changes before approving them as "official".^[2]

The timeline followed in the novels is not strictly enforced in the films. In the film series, the suburbs of Surrey and the city of London reflect a more modern, 21st century setting. This is demonstrated by the inclusion of recent British cars and certain other objects, such as the flat panel TV in the Dursley home. In addition, the use of Westminster Station in the fifth film is inconsistent, since it was completely changed for the Jubilee Line extension, which opened in 1998, three years after the event.

1 Timeline basis
2 Contradictions
3 Timeline of the Harry Potter series
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Timeline basis

The official timeline is rooted in a date cited in Rowling’s second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, set in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts. During the Halloween celebrations at the school, a long dead ghost called Nearly Headless Nick celebrates the anniversary of his death, which took place on a long ago 31 October, with a "five hundredth deathday" party. A central feature of this party is an "enormous grey cake in the shape of a tombstone", stating "Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington (the real name of Nearly Headless Nick) died 31st October 1492". Thus, Rowling sets the date on which the event takes place in the book as 31 October 1992.^[4] This means that Harry became a student at Hogwarts in 1991,^[5] and so must have been born in 1980, since his 11th birthday occurs at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone the summer before he becomes a Hogwarts student.^[6]^[7]

In using the life and death of Nearly Headless Nick to express the chronology of her novels, Rowling initially contradicted herself. In the original printing of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Nearly-Headless Nick claimed to Harry that "I haven't eaten for nearly four hundred years".^[8] Had Rowling left this statement unchanged, it would have created an inconsistency in her timeline. However, she corrected the statement in later editions to read, "I haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years"—making it consistent with what she had disclosed in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.^[2]

Rowling later gave further confirmation of this original timeline anchor when in early 2006, she donated a hand-drawn copy of the Black family tree to a charity auction for Book Aid International.^[3] In that document, she included the birth year of one of Harry's classmates, Draco Malfoy, as 1980.^[9] She had previously, in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, revealed Draco's birthday to be (like that of Harry) late in the school year and past January.^[10] By means of these two devices, she thus also clearly sets the birthdate of her main character as 31 July 1980, and thus, by extension, reinforced the original implication that the Sorting Ceremony that takes place on 1 September in her first book was envisioned by her as taking place in the chronological year 1991.^[2]

Harry's 1980 birth-year is confirmed in Rowling's Wizard of the Month entry for Harry at her web site.^[11]

Rowling's manuscript depiction of The Black Family Tree was shown as being similar to that which she had described in the form of a tapestry, appearing in Order of the Phoenix on the wall of the Black family home. In her manuscript copy, Rowling drew several lacunae (which had been explained by her in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix as burns in the Tapestry Tree featuring in the novel), which she noted as obscuring the names and birthdates of a number of disowned members of the Black family, including a major character of the novels, Sirius Black.^[12]^[9]

Black, Harry's parents James and Lily Potter, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew were all in the same Hogwarts school year (i.e. between September of one year and August of the next).^[13] Prior to the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, fans were able to use chronological references in the text to estimate that these characters were born between 1957 and 1960. Rowling reveals the exact birthdates of the Potters in Chapter 16 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, "Godric's Hollow", when Harry visits his parents' grave. The marble headstone lists James Potter's date of birth as 27 March 1960, and Lily Potter's as 30 January 1960. They and the other students in their year at school attended Hogwarts from 1971 to 1978, and their classmates must have been born between September 1959 and August 1960.

The Harry Potter films have included dates extrapolated from this dating system, such as the years on the gravestone seen in the fourth film.

[edit] Contradictions

There are several minor contradictions in the timeline, both internal and compared with the real-world timeline. For example, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone opens on Tuesday November 1, despite November 1, 1981 having been a Sunday.^[14]^[1] Rowling herself has admitted having difficulty with managing mathematics in the FAQ section of her website.^[15] Also in Philosopher's Stone Hermione states that Nicolas Flamel "celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year." The historic Flamel was born in 1330, placing the events of Philosopher's Stone during 1995/1996, while on the other hand, Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday Anniversary was celebrated in 1992 during Harry's second year, implying that his first year was in 1991.

The birthdates of Harry's parents are also somewhat inconsistent with other chronological references in the text. James Potter in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is referred to as being fifteen years old in the summer of his fifth year at Hogwarts. Yet, his birthdate in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is shown to be March, meaning he would have turned sixteen before the summer of his fifth year.^{[citation needed]}

At the beginning of the sixth book (set in 1996), the Muggle prime minister is visited by Cornelius Fudge. During their first conversation, Fudge says of the previous prime minister, 'He tried to throw me out of the window'. In 1996, the prime minister was John Major, and his predecessor was a woman, Margaret Thatcher.

At the beginning of the fourth book (set in 1994), judging from what the text says in early August (2 months after the discovery of Sirius's innocence, and after Harry's birthday), Harry writes to Sirius claiming that his cousin Dudley has thrown his PlayStation out of the window. However, the PlayStation was not released anywhere until December of 1994 and not until September of 1995 in Europe.

In the fourth book, Mrs Weasley states that the Gamekeeper at her time in Hogwarts was a man named Ogg, which is inconsistent with her time at Hogwarts, because Hagrid should have already been the Gamekeeper there. (Hagrid stayed on as an apprentice after he was expelled from Hogwarts in his third year. We should not assume that he took over as game keeper immediately after his expulsion. No wizard, no matter how gifted with magical creatures, would have been entrusted with the duties of Gamekeeper at only 13 years old. We can then safely assume that Hagrid filled various positions and served as an apprentice to Ogg.)

[edit] Timeline of the Harry Potter series

[edit] Events

382 BC

According to the entrance sign described in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Ollivander's – a family of magic wand producers – has been in business since this date.^[16]

AD 962

Rowling dated the first use of broomsticks for transport very precisely, dating it "as early as AD 962".^[17]

Late 900s

Although the precise date is unknown to those within the novels, Rowling envisioned (in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, set in 1992–1993) Hogwarts, the magical centrepiece of her novels, as having been built "over a thousand years ago" by the four 'Founders', two witches and two wizards (named Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin) whom she portrays as revered figures through the novels. According to Rowling, the education of magical children began at the school at the same time; although, following the standard pattern of creation myths, she depicts this endeavour as becoming lessened due to internal dissent: two of the founders, Slytherin and Gryffindor, quarrel over their creation (Slytherin demanding that they not teach magical students whose families are not magical), resulting in Slytherin rebelling and abandoning the endeavour. At the same time, before leaving, he builds the Chamber of Secrets, a hidden chamber containing a deadly basilisk.^[18]

1203

The all-female Quidditch team the Holyhead Harpies is organized.

1296

A Manticore savages a human and gets away with it, as everyone is too scared to approach the dangerous monster.

c. 1300

The Triwizard Tournament, a competition Rowling uses as a major feature in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is dated by her in that book (taking place in the year 1994–1995) as having been established "some seven hundred years ago". Rowling writes that, although a friendly competition, it was ended at an unknown point due to the mounting death toll. She noted, however, that there were several intervening centuries between the cancellation and the novel in which it becomes relevant, since "there have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament."^[19]

1362

The Wizarding Council bans playing Quidditch within 50 miles of Muggle towns.

1368

The ban is extended to 100 miles.

1473

Rowling considered this a particularly important date in the history of the major sport of her novels, Quidditch: not only does she envision it as the year of the first Quidditch World Cup (a major sporting event in her novels, as seen in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), but she also humorously stated in Quidditch Through the Ages that, of the 700 fouls she writes of as existing in the game, "all of them are known to have occurred during the final of the first ever World Cup" in this year.^[20]

1689

The International Statute of Secrecy was signed. This was a year after the Glorious Revolution in Britain.

1692

The International Confederation of Wizards met in this year, and made a number of important decisions, including establishing the right for wizards to carry wands at all times and deciding to begin hiding magical creatures from Muggles. This year, as confirmed in the seventh book, was the year when the wizarding world entirely split from the Muggle world. This is also the same year that the Salem witch trials took place.

1749

The Statute of Secrecy was breached. ^[21]

1762

The very dangerous, often fatal, game of Creaothceann is banned by the Wizarding Council.

1792

A Hippogriff is executed for attacking a human. A rampaging Cockatrice injures the heads of the schools Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, during yet another failed attempt to reinstate the Triwizard Tournament.

1881

The birth of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore to Kendra and Percival Dumbledore

1918

Rowling cites this year as that in which Newt Scamander (who, within the context of her novels, is the "real" author of her book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) was asked to write a compendium of magical beasts – which, she explains, eventually became the book she herself wrote for Comic Relief.^[22]

Late 1925

Rowling used this as an important year in the plot development of her sixth novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: she depicts this year as seeing the marriage of Tom Riddle Sr. and Merope Gaunt, the parents of Lord Voldemort (the main antagonist of the novels), and the conception of Voldemort himself, facilitated. Rowling depicts the events leading to this facilitation in flashbacks in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: an attack by the family of Merope Gaunt (Voldemort's eventual mother) on Tom Riddle Sr. (Voldemort's eventual father) leads to Gaunt's family being arrested and imprisoned. As Rowling describes it (via the narrative of Albus Dumbledore), Gaunt reacts to her family's imprisonment by enchanting Riddle (with whom she has fallen in love) into loving her; and the two, again according to Rowling by means of Dumbledore's explanation, were married roughly a year before the birth of their child.^[23] 4 October, Minerva McGonagall is born.

1926

December 31: The birth of Tom Marvolo Riddle, who, the author has already demonstrated (in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) will eventually become "Lord Voldemort". She records this in expository dialogue in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, also noting that the baby's father had abandoned his wife, Merope Gaunt, some months before the birth; Gaunt herself dies an hour after the birth of her son, leaving the young Riddle entirely alone and unloved, to grow up in an orphanage, where – Rowling makes clear – he will gradually become the monstrous and terrifying figure who stalks through her novels.^[23] ^[24]

1927

The fictional publication year of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – which, in reality, was written and published by Rowling herself in 2001.^[22]

1928

December 6, Rubeus Hagrid is born.

1935

Jocunda Sykes flies over the Atlantic Ocean on her broom - the first such transoceanic crossing by magical means.

September 1938

This year saw Tom Riddle beginning his education at Hogwarts.^[23]^[24]

September 1940

Rubeus Hagrid starts at Hogwarts.^[25]^[26]

July-August 1942

Rowling uses this point to mark a milestone in the transformation of Tom Riddle into Lord Voldemort: as told in retrospect in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Riddle, aged 15 ("In the summer of his sixteenth year" - the 16th year immediately follows the 15th birthday), visits his estranged family, and murders his father and paternal grandparents, then frames his uncle Morfin Gaunt for the crimes.^[27]

June 1943

As Rowling relates in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, precisely 50 years before the events of that book, Riddle secretly opened the Chamber of Secrets (introduced by Rowling in this book, a legendary hidden chamber under the castle, built by the rebellious founder Slytherin), and released the monstrous serpent (a basilisk) hidden within. As a result, a young student, Myrtle, was killed. Riddle – who, like Harry, is depicted as hating his home in the mundane world, and enjoying life in the school – being shown by Rowling to fear that the school will be closed because of his actions, is then shown to frame Rubeus Hagrid (who, Rowling has already shown in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, will later become Harry's friend) for the crime. As a result, Hagrid is expelled, and Riddle – whose culpability in the matter is unknown – is rewarded; although Rowling also ensures that the matter is reversed by the end of the same novel.^[25]^[26]^[28]

1945

Albus Dumbledore defeats a Dark Wizard named Grindelwald in this year, and takes the Elder Wand from him.^[29] Historically, it was the year in which the Second World War ended, with the defeat of Nazi Germany in May, and the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan in August. These two facts, according to Rowling, are not a coincidence.^[30]

The same year has also been shown by Rowling as being Tom Riddle's final year at Hogwarts. As she revealed in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, he requested of the headmaster, Armando Dippet, that he be employed by the school as a teacher; significantly to the plot of the novels, this request was refused, and Rowling notes that Riddle instead found work in Borgin and Burkes, shown in the novels to be a purveyor of cursed and Dark objects.^[31]^[32]

c.1945-1947

Around these years, Rowling notes in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Tom Riddle – having discovered in the course of his work at Borgin and Burkes two treasures, formerly the property of Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff (that of Slytherin, Rowling is careful to note, was a hereditary possession of Riddle's maternal family) – facilitates the murder of the objects' legal owner, and disappears. This marks the final chronological stage in the novels when he appears as Tom Riddle; when he next appears, he has become in appearance and nature "Lord Voldemort".^[31]

c. 1948

Harry Potter's used copy of Advanced Potion-Making, marked with This Book is the Property of the Half-Blood Prince, is dated as published in this time frame - being "nearly fifty years old" during Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts.^[33] The textbook previously belonged to Severus Snape, and his mother Eileen Prince before him.^[34]

1956

Rowling revealed in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that Minerva McGonagall, the firm but fair Deputy Headmistress who plays a major role in the novels, had in the autumn term of that novel (and thus the chronological year of 1995) been teaching "Thirty-nine years this December": thus, since the December of 1956.^[35] She probably replaced Dumbledore as the school's Transfiguration professor.

The year in which Albus Dumbledore became Headmaster is not certain. However, Rowling's plot exposition in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince made it clear that he became Headmaster around 10 years after Rowling implies Riddle disappeared - and thus, somewhere between 1955 and 1957.^[31]^[36]

It is also implied in the same novel that, shortly after Dumbledore became Headmaster, Riddle returned to Britain – fully in the name and disguise now of "Lord Voldemort" – and requested the Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching position. When refused this by Dumbledore, Rowling explains, Voldemort – who had already recruited followers, including Rosier, Nott, Mulciber, and Dolohov, 'jinxed' the post he had requested – an explanation given by Rowling for the regular change on the school staff to that position each year in the novels.^[31] It is also said in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that Voldemort hid the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw in the Room of Requirement on the night that he asked for the position.

1960

Lily Evans, mother of Harry Potter, is born on 30 January; her future husband, James Potter, is born on 27 March. This information is taken from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, on the tombstone of Harry's parents in the wizarding community of Godric's Hollow. As revealed on J. K. Rowling's official site, Severus Snape was born on January 9, and Remus Lupin on March 10. Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew were born around this year.

c. 1966

As noted by Rowling, through a comment of the 'Minister for Magic' in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (in the chronological year 1996), Voldemort, becoming more powerful, is supposed to have begun his campaign of fear against the Wizarding World around this time.^[37]

c. 1968-1970

Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett, the parents of Ron Weasley (the best friend of Harry Potter), who are known to have eloped, are presumed to have done so around this period.^[38]

1970

Beginning of the first war against Lord Voldemort. As stated by Albus Dumbledore in the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - "We have had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."

Autumn, 1971

As noted above, the six notable characters (James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Severus Snape) of the generation prior to that of the children who feature in Rowling's novels began school at Hogwarts at this time. (See above).^[39]^[40]

June, 1976

Severus Snape is tormented and humiliated by James Potter and Sirius Black, and Lily Evans saves Snape (both currently best friends), but this infuriates Snape once everyone starts taunting him about Lily saving him. Snape says he does not need help from a Mudblood. This ends Lily and Snape's friendship, and it devastated Snape. Snape looks at this moment as the worst moment of his life.^[13]

c. 1978-1979

Rowling has not made clear when James Potter and Lily Evans – the parents of the main character – were married. Accordingly, no firm date exists; since it is known, through various pieces of information given by Rowling, that they were married by the time Harry was conceived, the range of marriage possibilities is thus from around 1978 to Autumn 1979, when Rowling has made clear Harry was conceived.^[41]

1979

The year in which Regulus Black, the brother of Sirius Black, is shown as having died on the Black Family Tree. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it is discovered that he was, in fact, killed by the Inferi guarding Slytherin's locket. Before he died, however, he entrusted the locket to his house-elf, Kreacher.

c. late 1979 - early 1980

Rowling explained in first Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and then Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that Sybill Trelawney, the semi-competent Seer of the novels, made her first real Prophecy at some point in the year before the birth of Harry and Neville Longbottom in late July: both of whom were referenced by the Prophecy in relating a substantial issue of the novels, the issue of who is 'destined' to destroy Lord Voldemort. This successful prophecy earned Trelawney a position at Hogwarts, teaching Divination, which allows Rowling to use her in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to make another real Prophecy.^[42]^[43]^[44]. Hermione Granger is born on September 19.

1980

Ron Weasley is born on March 1 to Arthur Weasley and Molly Weasley. Neville Longbottom born on July 30 to Frank and Alice Longbottom. Harry Potter is born on July 31 to James and Lily Potter.

Severus Snape comes to Dumbledore and warns him that Voldemort is hunting Lily Potter and her son in order to make sure the prophecy does not come to pass. Snape vows to Dumbledore that he will do anything he asks if he would protect her.

1981

In Rowling's novels, the period from September-November 1981 is very important. The September sees Severus Snape – Harry's classroom enemy – hired as Potions teacher at Hogwarts.^[35] Shortly after this, on 31 October 1981, comes the beginning of the first novel, and a seminal moment in Rowling's work: Voldemort, the enemy of Harry Potter, kills Lily and James Potter, but when attempting to kill the young Harry, is prevented from doing so by Lily, whose sacrifice to save Harry instils an inborn protection in her son. Harry, left with the scar he is distinctive for throughout the novels, is then sent to live with his maternal relatives, the Dursleys.^[14]^[45]

Rowling allocates to the next day, 1 November, the back story of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Sirius Black, the misjudged villain of that novel, is arrested for the murder of Peter Pettigrew; Pettigrew, in fact, is not dead, but has fled into hiding, as will prove significant in Prisoner of Azkaban.^[46]^[47]

Snape vows to Dumbledore to always protect Harry and swears his loyalty to Dumbledore, both almost solely because that is what Lily died for.

Ginny Weasley was born on 11 August to Arthur Weasley and Molly Weasley

1991

The chronological year in which most of the first novel, 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, takes place, Rowling writes July as being the month in which Harry Potter receives his invitation to attend Hogwarts. He, and the two characters whom Rowling places constantly at his side throughout the novels (Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger), begin attending the school in what Rowling demonstrates to be the September of that year.^[7]^[29]

1992

In the course of the first novel, the June of this year sees Harry defeat Lord Voldemort for a second time (although the first time shown to the readers by Rowling).^[7] ^[48]

The same chronological year, although the second novel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, is also set-up by Rowling as seeing the beginning of the main plot of the second novel, when the Chamber of Secrets is re-opened.^[4]

1993

The ending of the second novel and the beginning of the third: Rowling places the climax of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – in which Harry destroys an incarnate memory of Tom Riddle (a.k.a. Lord Voldemort), rescues Ginny Weasley (who, it emerges, was indirectly responsible for the previous events) and, crucially to the plot of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, destroys a Horcrux of Lord Voldemort – in the June of 1993. The event which begins the next novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, comes shortly after, when the major character of that novel – Sirius Black – escapes from Azkaban.^[28]^[49]

1994

Professor Trelawney gives her second prophecy to Harry Potter, regarding the return of the Dark Lord to power.^[44]

6 June - Harry learns of Sirius' innocence regarding the betrayal of his parents. Peter Pettigrew, guilt now established, flees and rejoins Voldemort.^[50]

Lord Voldemort murders Bertha Jorkins.^[51]

Voldemort murders Frank Bryce.^[51]

Summer - Ireland wins the 422nd Quidditch World Cup (but Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker, gets the Snitch).^[52]

Autumn - Hogwarts hosts the Triwizard Tournament for the first time in over a century^[19]

Saturday October 31 - The names of the champions for the Triwizard Tournament are revealed to the students. (This is controversial because October 31 is on a Monday in 1994)^[53]

November 24 - The first task of the Triwizard Tournament - Viktor Krum and Harry Potter tie for the lead with 40 points each.^[54]

1995

February 24 - The second task of the Triwizard Tournament is held - Harry and Cedric Diggory end up tied for the lead.^[55]

June 24 - The third task of the Triwizard Tournament is held.^[56]

June 24 - Peter Pettigrew murders Cedric Diggory in Harry's presence, on Lord Voldemort's orders, and using the Dark Lord's wand. Voldemort is restored to full power.^[57]

June 25 - The Order of the Phoenix is re-established by Albus Dumbledore.^[58]^[59]

August 2 - Harry saves his cousin Dudley from two Dementors sent by Dolores Umbridge in Little Whinging.^[60]^[61]

August 12 - Harry put on trial for breach of underage wizardry act and secrecy act.

October 5 - In Hogsmeade, at the Hog's Head, Dumbledore's Army is created by Hermione Granger and Harry Potter.^[62]

1996

There is a mass breakout of ten Death Eaters from Azkaban.

Voldemort fails to recover the Prophecy from the Department of Mysteries, due to the efforts of Harry and company. Harry learns of Professor Trelawney's first prediction and the wizarding world is finally alerted to Voldemort's return. Sirius Black dies in The Death Chamber of the Department of Mysteries. Lucius Malfoy and other Death Eaters are arrested and taken to Azkaban.^[63]^[42]^[64]

After leaving Hogwarts, Fred and George Weasley open in Diagon Alley Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, a joke and gag shop. ^[65]^[66]

Rufus Scrimgeour replaces Cornelius Fudge as Minister for Magic.^[37]

Albus Dumbledore destroys another of Voldemort's Horcruxes, formerly encased in Marvolo Gaunt's ring.^[67] Albus Dumbledore is cursed in the process; with the help of Severus Snape this curse is trapped in his right hand. He is told by Snape he has around a year to live. It is also at this time he asks Snape to kill him within the year.^[68]

Harry, Ron, and Hermione start their sixth year at Hogwarts. Draco Malfoy sneaks off to Knockturn Alley to go to Borgin and Burkes to reserve a vanishing cabinet to get the Death Eaters into Hogwarts.^[66]^[69]

1997

June - Albus Dumbledore is killed by Severus Snape. Harry Potter decides upon his quest to destroy the remaining four Horcruxes in which Lord Voldemort has sealed fragments of his soul.^[70]^[34]

July 27 - Harry Potter leaves Privet Drive for the last time, accompanied by six fake Harry Potters and a crew of Order of the Phoenix members; group narrowly escapes the Death Eaters. Alastor Moody and Harry's pet owl Hedwig are killed during this flight. ^[71]^[72]

July 31 - Harry turns 17 and becomes of age in the wizarding world.

August 1 - The wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour.^[73]^[74]

August 1 - Voldemort overpowers the ministry, kills Rufus Scrimgeour and places a henchmen as New Minister for Magic, starting a regime of terror. ^[74]

Late August - Severus Snape appointed Headmaster of Hogwarts under Voldemort's orders, replacing Minerva McGonagall^[75]

September - Hermione Granger obtains Slytherin's locket, a Horcrux, from Dolores Umbridge.^[76]

24 December - Harry Potter and Hermione Granger visit James and Lily Potter's grave at Godric's Hollow. There, they meet Bathilda Bagshot, who is in fact possessed by Voldemort's snake. Hermione accidentally breaks Harry's wand as they are escaping.^[77]

26 December - Ron Weasley destroys Slytherin's locket with Gryffindor's sword. ^[78]

28 December - Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger visit Xenophilius Lovegood and learn about the Deathly Hallows.

1998

7 March - Harry, Ron, and Hermione are captured and taken to Malfoy Manor but they are saved by Dobby who dies in the fray via Bellatrix Lestrange's knife.

2 May- the Battle of Hogwarts, at which the four remaining Horcruxes (Ravenclaw's diadem, Hufflepuff's cup, Harry Potter, and Nagini) are destroyed. Professor Minerva McGonagall ousts Severus Snape and leads Hogwarts and Order of the Phoenix forces against Voldemort and the Death Eaters; however, Harry discovers Snape's true allegiance shortly after Snape's death, with the help of his memories. Many characters die in this battle including Lupin, Tonks, Colin Creevey, Fred Weasley and many others. After the Horcrux inside him is destroyed, Harry kills Voldemort by being the master of the Elder Wand, with which Voldemort tries to kill him.

Sometime before his eighteenth birthday, Harry joined the Auror department as does Ron.

2007

Harry is appointed Head of the Auror Department at the Ministry of Magic.

2017

September - Neville Longbottom is the Herbology professor at Hogwarts; Ginny and Harry drop off their two sons, James and Albus, at the Hogwarts Express while their daughter, Lily, watches; Hermione and Ron drop off one of their children, Rose, while Hugo watches; Draco and his wife drop off their son, named Scorpius. Remus and Tonks' son Teddy goes to see Fleur and Bill's daughter, Victoire, off to Hogwarts, the two having just been caught kissing by James. ^[79]

The Defence Against the Dark Arts position is no longer jinxed, due to Voldemort's death. Kingsley Shacklebolt is the Minister of Magic. ^[80]

[edit] Births

(Note: Many of the approximate dates in the twentieth century are because Hogwarts accepts students aged eleven as of August 31, so it is possible for any of the students whose birth-month is not given to have been born sometime in the last third of the previous year.)

1325

Nicolas Flamel^[81]

1332

Perenelle Flamel^[81]

1847

Phineas Nigellus Black

c. 1881

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore to Percival and Kendra Dumbledore^[82]

c.1884

Aberforth Dumbledore to Percival and Kendra Dumbledore.

c.1885

Ariana Dumbledore to Percival and Kendra Dumbledore.

c. 1907

Merope Gaunt to Marvolo Gaunt and an unnamed witch.^[23]

c. 1925

October 4 - Minerva McGonagall.^[82]

1925

Lucretia Black to Arcturus Black and Melania Macmillan

Walburga Black to Pollux Black and Irma Crabbe

1926

December 31 - Tom Marvolo Riddle (Lord Voldemort) to Muggle Tom Riddle Sr. and witch Merope Gaunt^[23] ^[24]

1928

December 6 - Rubeus Hagrid to the giantess Fridwulfa and Mr Hagrid (first name unknown)^[83]

1929

Orion Black to Arcturus Black and Melania Macmillan

Cygnus Black to Pollux Black and Irma Crabbe

1949

October 30 - Molly Weasley

1950

February 6 - Arthur Weasley

1951

Rita Skeeter^[84]

Bellatrix Black to Cygnus Black and Druella Rosier

c. 1953

Andromeda Black to Cygnus Black and Druella Rosier

c. 1954

Lucius Malfoy to Abraxas Malfoy and an unknown witch

1955

Narcissa Black to Cygnus Black and Druella Rosier

c.1954-56

Bertha Jorkins^[85]

1960

January 9 - Severus Snape to Tobias Snape and Eileen Prince^[40]

January 30 - Lily Evans^[86]

March 10 - Remus Lupin^[87]

March 27 - James Potter^[41]

Sirius Black to second cousins Orion Black and Walburga Black^[88]

Peter Pettigrew^[89]

1961

Regulus Arcturus Black to second cousins Orion Black and Walburga Black

1962

Bartemius Crouch Jr to Bartemius Crouch Sr and his wife^[90]

1970

November 29 - Bill Weasley to Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett^[91]

1972

December 12 - Charlie Weasley to Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett^[92]

c. 1972/3

Nymphadora Tonks to Ted Tonks and Andromeda Black^[93]

c. 1975

Stan Shunpike^[94]

1976

August 22 - Percy Ignatius Weasley to Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett^[95]

c. 1976

c. - Viktor Krum^[96]

Oliver Wood ^[97]

1977

Cedric Diggory to Amos Diggory and his wife^[98]

c. - Fleur Delacour to Monsieur Delacour and Apolline Delacour (a half-Veela)^[99]^[100]

1978

April 1 - Fred and George Weasley to Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett^[101]

c. - Katie Bell^[102]

1979

c. - Cho Chang^[103]

September 19 - Hermione Jean Granger to Mr and Mrs Granger, Muggle dentists^[104]

1980

March 1 - Ronald Bilius Weasley to Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett^[105]

June 5 - Draco Malfoy to Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black

June 22 - Dudley Dursley to Vernon Dursley and Petunia Evans^[106]

July 30 - Neville Longbottom to Frank and Alice Longbottom^[107]

July 31 - Harry James Potter to James Potter and Lily Evans^[108]

1981

c. - Colin Creevey^[109]

c. - Luna Lovegood to Xenophilius Lovegood, editor of The Quibbler and his wife^[110]

August 11 - Ginevra Molly Weasley to Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett^[111]

c. 1983

Dennis Creevey^[109]

c. 1986

Gabrielle Delacour to Monsieur Delacour and Apolline Delacour (a half-Veela)^[55]^[100]

1998

April - Ted Remus Lupin to Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks. ^[112]

2000

May 2 - Victoire Weasley to Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour

c. 2005

James Sirius Potter to Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley

c. 2006

Albus Severus Potter to Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley

Rose Weasley to Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger

Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy to Draco Malfoy and Asteria Greengrass

c. 2008

Lily Luna Potter to Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley

Hugo Weasley to Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger

After c. 2008 (exact time unknown)

Lorcan and Lysander Scamander to Rolf Scamander and Luna Lovegood

[edit] Deaths

c. 1000

Helena Ravenclaw (the Grey Lady) murdered by the Bloody Baron.

The Bloody Baron commits suicide by stabbing, in remorse for murdering Helena, accounting for the silver blood in which he is covered.

1492

October 31 - Nearly Headless Nick, by being partially decapitated.^[4]

1925

Phineas Nigellus Black

1926

December 31 - Merope Gaunt, shortly after childbirth; possibly by loss of the will to live.^[24]

1942

(Summer) - Tom Riddle Sr., father of Tom Marvolo Riddle and his paternal grandparents, murdered by Lord Voldemort/Tom Marvolo Riddle.

Kendra Dumbledore dies in the summer because of a magical accident caused by her daughter Ariana.

Ariana Dumbledore is accidentally killed in a three way fight between Albus Dumbledore, Aberforth Dumbledore, and Gellert Grindelwald, shortly before the beginning of the autumn term, two months after the death of her mother.

The deaths of Kendra and Ariana could not have happened in 1942. According to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Kendra Dumbledore died shortly before Albus was to go on a world tour, which was to take place directly following his graduation from Hogwarts, which would have been in 1898 or 1899 roughly. His sister was then accidentally killed within the next year, making it, at the very latest, sometime around 1900.

1943

June 13 - Myrtle (surname unknown), a female Hogwarts student, who will become known as Moaning Myrtle, was killed by the Basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets under the influence of Tom Riddle.^[26]

1979

Regulus Black, dragged by Inferi into the cave lake after stealing the locket Horcrux and giving it to Kreacher.

Orion Black

1981

October 31 - James and Lily Potter, from an attack by Lord Voldemort.^[14]

c. 1982

Barty Crouch Junior's mother, in Azkaban, transformed by the Polyjuice Potion into the physical form of her son.^[113]

1985

Walburga Black

c. 1990

Luna Lovegood's mother, in an accident when her experimental spell backfires.^[64]

1991

Arcturus Black

1992

June 4 - Quirinus Quirrell (as a result of Lord Voldemort abandoning him).^[45]

Nicolas Flamel and wife Perenelle die of old age after the Philosopher's Stone is destroyed.^[45]

Lucretia Black

Cygnus Black

1994

Summer - Bertha Jorkins, murdered by Voldemort after he extracted information on the approaching Triwizard Tournament from her.^[51]

August - Frank Bryce, Muggle, murdered by Voldemort for overhearing Voldemort and Pettigrew's plot to kill Harry Potter.^[51]

1995

May - Barty Crouch Senior, by his son posing as Mad-Eye Moody after his attempt to inform Dumbledore of his son's escape.^[56]

June 24 - Cedric Diggory, murdered by Peter Pettigrew on Voldemort's orders.^[57]

1996

January - Broderick Bode, strangled by Devil's Snare in St Mungo's Hospital of Magical Maladies and Injuries.

June - Sirius Black, from falling through the veil in the Death Chamber in the Department of Mysteries.^[114]

Summer - Amelia Bones, murdered in the first days of the Second War, probably by Lord Voldemort himself.^[37]

Summer - Emmeline Vance, murdered by Death Eaters in the first days of the war, on information from Snape, in the vicinity of 10 Downing Street.^[37]

Summer - Igor Karkaroff murdered by Death Eaters because he abandoned them^[66]

After Summer - Hannah Abbott's mother^[94]

1997

20 April - Aragog, due to old age after Hagrid makes a valiant attempt to preserve his life.^[10]

June - Albus Dumbledore, killed by Snape's Killing Curse on top of the Astronomy Tower after being previously weakened in an attempt to seize a Horcrux.^[70]

29 June - Gibbon the Death Eater, hit accidentally with an Avada Kedavra curse by one of his own allies, in the corridor leading up to the astronomy tower.^[115]

26 July - Charity Burbage, Professor of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts, killed by Voldemort at Malfoy Manor, after which her body was fed to Nagini.^[116]

27 July- Hedwig, hit by a stray Killing Curse as Harry and Hagrid escape Privet Drive.^[71]

27 July - Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, as The Order of The Phoenix escape Privet Drive. Mad-Eye Moody is killed by Voldemort himself, after Mundungus Fletcher Disapparates away.^[72]

1 August - Rufus Scrimgeour, killed to complete the fall of the Ministry into Voldemort's hands, possibly after being tortured for information as to Harry's whereabouts, which he did not reveal.^[74]

2 September - Gregorovitch the wandmaker, murdered by Voldemort in his quest to locate the Elder Wand.^[75]

Bathilda Bagshot, murdered (presumably by Voldemort).

1998

March - Gellert Grindelwald, murdered by Voldemort in his quest to locate the Elder Wand.^[75]

5 March - Dirk Cresswell and Ted Tonks, captured on the run from the ministry and killed by Death Eaters. ^[117]

7 March - Peter Pettigrew, strangled to death by the silver hand Voldemort had given him, after showing Harry a brief second of remorse.^[118]

7 March - Dobby, the Free Elf, killed by a knife thrown by Bellatrix Lestrange.^[118]

1 May - Vincent Crabbe, consumed by the fiendfyre he conjured in the Room of Requirement, while in its "hidden objects" state.^[119]

2 May - Fred Weasley, killed during the battle of Hogwarts.

2 May - Severus Snape, bitten by the snake Nagini in the Shrieking Shack at the command of Voldemort, in the false belief that it would transfer the power of the Elder Wand to him.^[120]

2 May - Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, killed during the battle by Antonin Dolohov and Bellatrix Lestrange, respectively^[121]^[68]

2 May - Colin Creevey, killed during the battle. Unknown cause.^[68]

2 May - Nagini, decapitated with the sword of Godric Gryffindor, wielded by Neville Longbottom.

2 May - Fifty unnamed dead out of those who fought at Hogwarts.

2 May - Bellatrix Lestrange is defeated by Molly Weasley.

2 May - Lord Voldemort himself, killed by his own rebounded Avada Kedavra curse.^[122]