Why I do not think the Potters on the Black Family Tree Were James' Parents

[heidi]

Basically, if Potter-child who's blocked on the page turns out to be James, then I'll just spit, because last summer, the woman said:

James's parents were elderly, were getting on a little when he was born, which explains the only child, very pampered, had-him-late-in-life-so-he's-an-extra-treasure, as often happens, I think. They were old in wizarding terms, and they died.

No way is 40 considered old to have a baby (JKR had Mackenzie at what, 38? 39?), and 57 is very much NOT old for passing away in Muggle terms, much less wizarding, (also see: discussion on _lore's LJ. So I personally don't think they're James' parents, or she screwed up last summer. Oops, ew, maths, and all that.

Comments

[straussmonster.livejournal.com]

That '1s' could be James, or it could be James' father. Given ickiness with dates...eh, who knows.

[magic-at-mungos.livejournal.com]

The time on the familt tree doesn't fir for it being James's grandparents does it? If it does then everything is hunkydory.

If not, there's two semi logical reasons
a) JK can't do maths
b) One of his parents were significantly older than the other. A second marriage perhaps?

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I know! But *weeps* she did say they.

Glarphle!

[magic-at-mungos.livejournal.com]

I know. *pats* I'm trying to ignore that part. Maths really isn't her strong point.

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

I don't think the Potter and Longbottom lines shown are the direct antecedents (is that the right word?) of Harry and Neville.

I think Charlus and Harfang were the siblings of those in the direct line to Harry and Neville - i.e. Charlus' brother was James' father and Harfang's brother was married to Neville's Gran. They're still related by marriage - like the Weasleys as Harry noted - but not directly by blood - at least in that generation. (Who knows who else further back in the family tree intermingled. Because if the tapestry really starts with Phineas and siblings as shown on the paper, it's not very Ancient, is it? *g* )

The thing is, only those who married into the Black family are listed, not their families. We don't know if Charlus and Harfang had siblings, but it makes more sense if they do/did than to think that there were all of these generations of single child families.

As for "where are they now?", well, she did say that a lot of witches and wizards were killed between 1970 and 1981. Just because James fought against Voldemort doesn't mean that his Uncle Charlus and Auntie Dorea and their son didn't side with Voldemort. Maybe Charlus, Jr was a Death Eater as well. Or maybe they died fighting against Voldemort or didn't choose sides at all and just got caught in the middle.

It wasn't only the Bones' and the Prewitts who lost a lot of family members.

[marie-j-granger.livejournal.com]

I think this makes a lot of sense. Also, if this really is the Black Family tapestry as described in OOP, there's no way James and his parents would be on there. They took Sirius in, after all, so Mrs. Black would definitely have blasted them off of there.

Then again, if it's a full family tree, not the tapestry, all bets are off, but I still don't think Harry and Neville are that closely related to the Blacks since their parents defied Voldemort so often. (Then again, if they were closely related to sympathisers like the Blacks, Voldemort might have tried to recruit them, leading to their first defiances.)

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

She has some of the names burnt off in her picture (one of Phineas' siblings in fact) so I think it's supposed to represent a section of the tapestry at least. As for the recruiting potential sympathizers of pureblood descent, I'd think Voldemort felt all purebloods should side with him regardless of family ties. And if Dorea was James' mom or even grandmother... I can't see James having that type of conflict with his parents, and the only known 'rebel' Blacks we know of by name were Alphard, Andromeda and Sirius (and potentially Regulus). I'd think that if James' mother or grandmother was a 'rebel' Black, Sirius would have mentioned it - it's kind of an important detail to ignore, especially when they were looking right at the tapestry and Sirius told him what the holes meant.

[in-a-tizzy.livejournal.com]

It seems like Charlus must be an uncle or some kind of cousin of James. Even if was James parents. Forget maths why aren't James Potter's parents burnt off?

[lisarene.livejournal.com]

I agree with redtizzy. When Sirius left his family at 16, he sought refuge at James' house. If Dorea and Charlus were James' parents, they would certainly be burnt off.

[moony]

I think she screwed up. All the wizards we can see in that family tree died in their late '50s to mid '80s. That's not old.

[prettyveela.livejournal.com]

*confused* Did she say or hint that they were James parents? Cause I'm failing to see why everyone is ready to fry JKR over a spit if she hasn't confirmed that they are in fact his parents.

Maybe I need to go read the article again, I admit that I only skimmed it.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

She hasn't. And I'm not ready to fry her. I'm just making a guess that they're not his 'rents. Uncle and Aunt, I'd guess, actually.

[aome.livejournal.com]

This is the second LJ post I've seen about HP geneology today, and I have no idea what they're talking about. Where is this article people are talking about?

[hedwig-snowy.livejournal.com]

The Leaky Cauldron has a post about JKR donating a hand-written Black Family Tree for charity.

[aome.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[goldie-black.livejournal.com]

Looking at that, I can say JKR should never have bothered with the Black Family Tree. Considering the birth and death years for Dorea, she'd have to be James' mother. Right? Okay, maybe not.

Oy, it's making my head hurt.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

The age-at-death doesn't really work if they're meant to be James's parents, but I think forty was old to have a baby, especially a first baby, in the late fifties/early sixties. Not necessarily old in wizarding terms, but certainly in Muggle.

...mostly I'm thinking she was working fast, and we'll no doubt see an apologetic entry on her website soon enough.

[story645.livejournal.com]

Icon love. Gackable?
[I'll give her credit though for not making her science all wonky. (Was reconciling modern and ancient magic theory in my head today, and it's actually consistent and works in a scientific framework.) Most people who can't do math tend to be atrocious with science too. Though JK needs to relearn genetics.)