Time Line: The End of PA

Time Line: The End of PA
Chronology of the evening of June 6, 1994

compiled and annotated by Hollydaze

Here is a time line of when things could have happened, underneath is an explanation of why I think things happened in this order:
I know people will argue with this but I have used the book the whole way, as well as comparing the events as they take place (twice) from each chapter. Just to make sure everything is as it should be.

I have now added the events in the Shrieking Shack to the timeline. Because the travelling times are only approximate, the times in the Shack are too, however the gaps between each event are correct according to reading the book (out loud) and allowing an appropriate amount of time for any actions that take place.

All times have been rounded to the nearest minute apart from the times in the Shrieking Shack, these have been rounded to the nearest 30 seconds as a lot happens very quickly.

[Events in blue are particularly noted as approximate.
Events in red are those for which specific times are given in the book. – MLW] 

Here is the explanation of why things seem to have happened this way. I have used the books to find all the events that took place and any mentions of the time (including the five that have been pointed out above.)

Everything starts at 8:55 (3 hours before the time turner), Harry, Ron and Hermione go down to Hagrid’s and Harry2 and Hermione2 follow them, it probably takes them 10 to get there because they are under the cloak and have to walk slowly (stated in the book). They stay for 20 minutes (Lupin tells us this in the shack later on-Book). In that time they talk and find Scabbers, then Hagrid stands up and sees the committee and Dumbledore coming down the steps, it probably only takes the committee about 5 minutes to walk to Hagrid’s hut as they don’t have to walk slowly and they are older (have longer legs) so walk quicker, Harry, Hermione and Ron leave as they committee arrive at Hagrid’s door (this is the end of their 20 minute stay, it is not an extra five minutes).

That takes us to 9:25, we have about 2 1/2 hours left.
Harry2 and Hermione2 see Harry, Ron and Hermione leave Hagrid’s. The committee come in at this time and we allow 1 minute for the committee to settle and for McNair to look out of the window, he then leaves to look at the form. Harry2 and Hermione2 probably then have about 2 minutes to get Beaky away. After this the committee come out and we have the thud of the axe and Hagrid’s wails, these are heard by Harry, Ron, and Hermione who are still on their way back up to the school. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are trying to speed up (to avoid hearing what happens) but are slowed down by Ron trying to control Scabbers. They are probably half way back up to the school when Scabbers escapes. Now we know that Harry2 and Hermione2 have already rescued Beaky when they see Ron dart after Scabbers, we also know that there has been some discussion between the committee about what happened to Beaky and then they went back into Hagrid’s hut. The combined time of the committee discovering that Beaky has gone (Wails, thud, and discussion) and then going back into Hagrid’s hut (for “tea” or “something stronger”) is probably about 2 minutes, so Scabbers probably ran for it about 2 minutes after Beaky is rescued.

This brings us to about 9:30.

So then, within the next minute, Harry and Hermione run after Ron – who has finally caught Scabbers – (with Harry2 and Hermione2 still watching) and Sirius turns up. It takes about 1 minute for Sirius to drag Ron (and Scabbers) under the tree and Harry and Hermione follow 2 minutes later.

So by 9:34 Sirius, Peter, Harry, Hermione, and Ron are in the Tunnel

Only a “matter of seconds” later Dumbledore and the committee members come out of Hagrid’s hut and go back up to the castle, this takes about the same amount of time as before, 5 minutes and a “few minutes later” Lupin appears. Let’s say 2 minutes after the committee disappeared through the doors. This brings us to 9:41.

Going by the Lexicon map, the film, and references in the book, we can presume that the Whomping Willow is about halfway between Hagrid’s hut and the school. If it takes 5 minutes to walk to Hagrid’s, it would take 2 1/2 minutes to get to the Willow. Lupin is “sprinting” down the steps, so we can presume it takes him less than 2 1/2 minutes to reach the Whomping Willow, let’s say 1 minute (rounding). A couple of seconds after that Hagrid appears from his hut and goes up to the castle. Being the size he is we can presume it take him maybe 3 minutes to get there. Then, “barely two minutes later” Snape appears, going by the same reasoning as with Lupin we can presume it only takes him about a minute to get to the Willow too.

This brings us to 9:48.

So now everyone is in place, Snape, Sirius, Peter, Lupin, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Crookshanks are in the Shrieking Shack/On their way (tunnel), Harry2 and Hermione 2 are waiting with Beaky by Hagrid’s hut and everyone else is up in the school, all by about 9:50.

INSIDE THE SHACK EXPLANATION. (this goes back to when Harry and Hermione and Crookshanks went into the tree)
I have read through all of the necessary bits of what happened in the Shack, out loud timing everything with a stopwatch. This includes speech and allowing an appropriate amount of time for any action that should have happened or for characters to notice something. However it does not include all descriptions, as characters would take these in, in a matter of seconds (and while they were speaking) rather than the amount of time it takes to read them out.

This bought me to a total of 32 minutes spent in the shack by Harry and Hermione. From the time they entered the tunnel to the time the left was 1 hour and 20 minutes, this is the same as 80 minutes, take 32 (time in the shack) from 80 and you get 48 minutes travelling time. We know that it took longer to get back than to get there, both because of the fact they were all running to get there and because they were delayed by Lupin and Ron being tied to Peter on the way back. Because of this I have divided the travelling time for Harry Hermione 1 on the way there to 20 minutes and the travelling time on the way back as 28 minutes. This seems to be a big enough difference although it could be slightly smaller. This then works out as Sirius having arrived with Ron and Peter maybe two minutes earlier than Harry and Hermione, their travelling time is also 20 minutes. Lupin arrives 6 minutes after Harry and Hermione. This means his travelling time is only 18 minutes but this could be because he is not dragging somebody (as Sirius in Dog form is) and is running faster than Harry and Hermione 1 would be. He also knows the route better having been down there every month for 7 years when he was at the school, plus he can probably run faster being only slightly older than they are. Snape arrives 6 minutes after Lupin (he also set off six minutes after Lupin so this fits with the time he entered the Willow) and his travelling time is also 18 minutes. This makes the 18-20 minute travelling time seem the more plausible as it fits quite well with everyone travelling there and taking about the same time. This number also gives them a slightly longer returning time, but not so long that it is a completely different time and totally ridiculous.

ONCE THEY LEAVE THE SHACK:

Now, we know that it is 11:10 when Snape comes to and takes everyone on stretchers to the school, from this quote and the fact that Dumbledore locked the door at 11:55.

“Together (Harry and Hermione) peered around the bush at the other bank. Snape had regained consciousness. He was conjuring stretchers and lifting the limp forms of Harry, Hermione, and Black onto them. A fourth stretcher no, doubt bearing Ron, was already floating at his side. Then, wand held out in front of him, he moved them away towards the castle.
‘Right, it’s nearly time,’ said Hermione tensely,looking at her watch. ‘We’ve got about forty-five minutes until Dumbledore locks the door to the hospital wing'”.

It takes a minute for them to walk the tiny amount they managed and then for Lupin to transform. Then he and Sirius fight for about four minutes, resulting in Lupin running for the Forest, Harry2 and Hermione2 and Beaky probably ran to Hagrid’s about one minutes before Lupin runs for the forest. That’s five minutes for all of the Lupin stuff to happen. Another 5 minutes for Sirius to go after Peter and then for Harry and Hermione 1 to find him and the Dementors. This divides up as about 1 minute for Sirius to chase after Peter (having also returned from seeing off Lupin) then two minutes while Harry and Hermione decide what to do, they then hear Sirius whimpering, another 2 minutes to find Sirius by the lake (equalling the five minutes mentioned above). By this time Harry2 is on the other side of the lake. A minute later Harry and Hermione try to cast their Patronus and say 1 minute later Harry2 casts his Patronus to save Harry and Hermione and Sirius on the other bank. Hermione2 dashes up to him and then they watch as about 1 min later Snape turns up, this gives a time-span of about 15 minutes for all of the stuff with the Dementors to happen. This means it was about 10:55 when they all came out of the WW (11:10 – 15 minutes).

This means that they were in the shack for between 1 hour and 20 minutes (80 minutes) and we now have 45 minutes for everything else to happen.

So Snape takes them all back up to the school, that takes about 3 minutes (they are already half way there and Snape is dragging them by magic). Then Harry, Hermione and Ron are taken to the hospital wing and Sirius is taken to Flitwick’s office.

This is where it gets difficult to work things out and so again we will have to work backwards:

Harry2 and Hermione2 turn up at the hospital wing door just as Dumbledore is about to lock it, so they must turn up at 11:55. They get from the West Tower (where they said goodbye to Sirius) to the hospital wing in 10 minutes (Hermione says they have 10 minutes to get there and they make it). At the bottom of the West Tower they meet Snape and Fudge who are walking straight past and don’t delay them much. They run down some more stairs and then meet Peeves and by the time Peeves has gone they have one minute left.

This means that they were at the top of the West Tower at 11:45 and they must have rescued Sirius about 2 minutes before that as it wouldn’t take that long to get him out and fly to the top of the West Tower, meaning they rescued Sirius at around 11:43.

They headed up to Flitwick’s window as soon as they had seen McNair rush off to get the Dementors. It wouldn’t take long to reach the window, perhaps a minute meaning they must have seen McNair about 1 minute before they were at Flitwick’s window, so that would make it 11:42.

This means that Dumbledore was probably talking to Sirius from about 11:20 (allow 2 minutes to get to Flitwick’s office) until about 11: 35 (give or take a min), that gives just under half an hour. This is probably enough time for Dumbledore to get all the info that he needs to know. Fudge and Snape were probably with him but left at some point (I have guessed at 11:20, the time that Dumbledore starts talking to Snape and five minutes after they arrived at the Hospital wing). I don’ t think they would have got McNair to go and get the Dementors yet (the time scale doesn’t work if they did). They were talking outside the hospital wing by 11:30 as it is at this time that Harry and Hermione wake up and argue with them about Sirius being innocent and they say they are confunded/ill. By 11:40 Dumbledore turns up (having talked to Sirius and taken about 5 minutes to get the Hospital wing) Snape and Fudge leave, and send McNair to get the Dementors, he takes a few minutes to get to the castle entrance and then Harry2 and Hermione2 wait a few minutes before going up to rescue Sirius. On their way down, Harry2 and Hermione2 see Snape and Fudge on their way to Flitwick’s office, having sent McNair off they are now going to wait for the Dementors to turn up.

THE PROBLEMS
There are two problems with this time line:

1. It takes Dumbledore five minutes to get from Flitwick’s office to the hospital wing, but it takes Fudge and Snape 10 minutes to return there. This may be explained by the fact that they had to go and find McNair first and may also have been walking slower because they were talking. Dumbledore may also have been walking faster because he knew how quickly he would have to work if Sirius was to escape.
2. I find a bit far fetched that Fudge would have waited to send for the Dementors rather than sending for them immediately, but he must have done or else Dumbledore would never have had time to talk to Sirius and Harry and Hermione 2 would have turned up when Dumbledore was still in the room.

© 2002 Hollydaze