Discussion: Aging in the Wizarding World

[hpgoldenage_mod]

Time for our first discussion post. :)

What does canon tell us about aging in the wizarding world and what is your own head canon on the topic? Feel free to cite canon examples as well as reference fanworks, perhaps a favorite fic that matches your head canon or made you see aging in a whole new way.

Comments

[squibstress.livejournal.com]

I've often wondered about the "sprightly seventy" years attributed to McGonagall. Until the dawn of Pottermore, the only thing we had to go on was Harry's first impressions of her, which included her black hair. How many 70-year-olds of Harry's acquaintance had hair that wasn't gray? And of course, once Pottermore came along, we learned that she wasn't 70 at all, she was only in her mid-fifties. What would have led Harry to estimate her at 70? Did McGonagall perhaps expose her Celtic skin to too much sun as a girl? Or was that just the odd perception of an 11-year-old boy?

I also wonder if the relatively short lifespans of members of the Black family (and possibly the Potters) could be related to homozygosity. Recessive magical diseases, anyone?

[torino10154]

I find Minerva a bit confusing now that her age is apparently different than I believed before. Granted, Harry's 11 and frankly, hardly knows anyone besides the Dursleys, a few neighbors, and whomever was at the primary school.

I do like the idea of there being inbreeding or something effecting purebloods and making it so they don't actually get as old as they might.

We really only have the tip of the iceberg with wizard longevity--it exists. There's so much more to discover (or write about).