Question about Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire?

Question

In order to put your name in the Goblet of Fire, you had to be over 17, right? I was just wondering how anyone could be older than 17...Hogwarts letters are received when you turn 11, and then you spend 7 years at Hogwarts, making everyone 17 in their last year at Hogwarts. Unless you've been held back, how could anyone be old enough to put their name in the Goblet? Sorry if this is a stupid question, I'm probably just doing my math wrong or something. lol

Answer 1

The issue here is the English school system, which can be confusing to non-English people. (Apparently. As an Englishman, I don't understand what's hard to grasp about it but I've heard non-English people have trouble.) (And I do mean non-English, not just people for whom English is not their first language.)



But it works like this - we have a School Year in the same way that there's a Calender Year. The School Year runs from September 1st to August 31st. At Hogwarts, you are 11 years old when you become a First Year. (Unless your birthday is on September 1st, in which cause you would be the oldest student in your year group.) By the end of their First Year they would be 12. What you have to keep in mind is that strictly speaking, they continue to be First Years until August 31st.



What makes this confusing for non-English HP readers is the fact that JKR wrote the books from the start of the summer before a school year. That means that although Harry turns 12 in Chamber of Secrets, at the time of his birthday he is still officially a First Year. Legally, he doesn't become a Second Year until September 1st.



So back to the issue in the question, with the above system students turn 17 during their 6th year, which means 6th and 7th years can enter the tournament. I think people probably get confused by this because Fred and George, who are 6th years during GoF, cannot enter. This is because their birthday is in April, so at the time of entry they're not yet 17.

(On a side note, this strikes me as a stupid idea; students who turn 17 during the course of the tournament should have been permitted to enter. With the rules as they are, 6th years whose birthday are in September or October can enter, but not those with birthdays at any other time of the year.)



You're right that everyone starts their Seventh Year at the age of 17, but they will all be 18 by the time they leave. (Except those whose birthday falls in July and August; they're 17 when they graduate but will be 18 by the end of the School Year on August 31st.)



This got a bit long-winded but I hope it answers your question thoroughly. :)

Answer 2

Correction, they had to be 17 or older. This would mean that no one but 7th years could have entered their names normally.



Harry was 11 during his first year because his birthday falls in July. We should assume that you cannot get your letters until you are 11. You could turn 11 in November of the previous year and not get your Hogwarts letter until July or August right before you would start. There are probably many 7th years who are 18 by the time the "graduate".

Answer 3

Let's say this

Hogwarts starts on the first day of September.

If you turned 11 on/after the first day of September, you will need to wait until the following year to get your letter to go to Hogwarts, which means you will be turning 12 in your first year at Hogwarts.

You are probably talking about Viktor Krum, he was already 18 when the Triwizard Tournament takes place. It is likely that his birthday is in September, either on the first day of September or after the first day of September, so he is already seventeen in his sixth year, and he was already eighteen when he put his name into the Goblet of Fire.

Answer 4

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) by J. K. Rowling to be just as exciting and entertaining as the previous books, if not more so. Rowlings is a great storyteller, and all her familiar trademarks are here: the colorful and eccentric characters, the humor, the playful use of words, the masterful cultivation of suspense. The book is over seven hundred pages long, but at the end you'll be wishing it were longer. There isn't a slow spot in it.







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Answer 5

It was 'no one under the age of 17'



And for example Harry is younger than Ron and Hermione and he turns 17 at the beginning of the Deathly Hallows, where he still has 1 year of school to go, but he chooses not to return for his 7th year.



So everyone in year 7 would be 17 or older

Answer 6

In the Harry Potter world, you are an adult at 17 so that's the age the ministry set for entering. You could enter if you were in 7th year or if your birthday was soon after school started and you were a 6th year.

Hope that helps :)

Answer 7

You don't HAVE to get your letter at age eleven! Harry nearly got his at age ten, but the letter just kept on getting intercepted. You get your letters the summer before you're expected to go, so some people in the seventh years, and maybe even sixth if they're ahead of their grade/stayed back, would be seventeen.

Answer 8

11+7=18

I think you had to be on your last year, your one of the older kids in your second to last. In school some kids are born one year of the fall and winter, and the others kids in the next year of summer and spring. In my school I am 14, one of the oldest, some kids are still thirteen. kids are born at different ages.