Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Timeline

Note on dates
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets gives us one concrete date: Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington (aka Nearly Headless Nick) celebrates the 500th anniversary of his deathday, which occurred 31 October 1492. Working from this, we can date nearly every event mentioned in the books.

The author has evidently decided to adhere to this timeline. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, we see the gravestone of Harry's parents, and learn, as we had already surmised, that they died on 31 October 1981. We also learn that they were born in 1960.

The author has said that Sirius was about 22 when he went to Azkaban, which was mere days after Harry's parents were killed. From this, we can determine that Harry's parents, who were in the same year as Sirius, would have been born around 1959, which is consistent with our assumptions above.

There is one leap of faith: In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Very Secret Diary is mentioned as being "fifty years old", as is Tom Riddle's citation for "services to the school". While it is likely that Lucius Malfoy would have thought it a rare joke to send Riddle's diary to Hogwarts on its fiftieth anniversary, it is possible that "fifty years" in this case means "about fifty years". However, in order to clarify sequence, we have assumed that "fifty years" means exactly that. All dates based on that, however, have an uncertainty of about five years either way – this includes all dates for things occurring in the early life of Tom Riddle.

At least one fan site has placed the death of Tom Riddle's father in 1942, and Moaning Myrtle's death as occurring much later than this, about 1945. Evidence in the books only somewhat supports this theory; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets does state that Myrtle's death occurred in the latter half of Tom Riddle's fifth year at Hogwarts, which would have been the spring of 1943, give or take about five years, and Harry says in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that Tom Riddle visited the Riddle Manor and killed his father, then returned to the school and asked Professor Slughorn about Horcruxes. When he talked to Slughorn, he was a prefect, so that must have been his fifth or sixth year; not his seventh year, because he was then Head Boy. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire does state that Frank Bryce, at the time of his death in what we assume was August 1994, was nearing seventy-seven years old, which places his birth in 1917; it also says he is a veteran of the War, which would have to be the Second World War. Based on this, we have assumed Frank was invalided out of the Army quite early in the War, and tentatively placed the death of the Muggle Tom Riddle in the summer of 1942, followed by the death of Moaning Myrtle in the spring of 1943.

Hallowe'en
It is interesting to see how many things seem to happen on Hallowe'en. Before the series starts, we have Nearly Headless Nick's death day. Harry's parents are murdered on Hallowe'en, and the troll is let into the school on Hallowe'en in Harry's first year. In Harry's second year, Mrs. Norris is Petrified on Hallowe'en. It is Hallowe'en again when Sirius Black first tries to break into Gryffindor tower in Harry's third year, and when Harry's name comes out of the Goblet of Fire in Harry's fourth year. It is curious, then, that given this long string of Hallowe'en events, that nothing of note seems to happen on Hallowe'en in Harry's fifth, sixth, or seventh years.

Series Timeline
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Prior to Harry's Birth

 * 31 October 1492 - Nearly Headless Nick is nearly beheaded and dies.
 * December 31, 1926 - Tom Marvolo Riddle born. Merope Gaunt Riddle, his mother, dies.
 * September 1935 - Tom Riddle enters Hogwarts, is Sorted into Slytherin house.
 * June 1941 - Death of Moaning Myrtle
 * 13 June 1941 - Tom Marvolo Riddle engineers Hagrid's expulsion from Hogwarts near the end of his third year, for "opening the Chamber of Secrets"
 * Probably around 1945: Death of Tom Riddle (senior) and his parents
 * Probably around 1957: James Potter, Lily Evans born
 * Probably around September 1968: "Marauders" (James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew), Lily Evans, and Severus Snape enter Hogwarts
 * Probably around June 1975: "Marauders", Lily Evans, and Severus Snape graduate from Hogwarts

Young Harry Potter
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 * July 30 1980 - Neville Longbottom is born.
 * July 31 1980 - Harry Potter is born.
 * October 31 1981 - James and Lily Potter are murdered by Lord Voldemort; one-year old Harry gets left with his horrible aunt and uncle.
 * Probably around February 1982: Bellatrix Lestrange, Barty Crouch Jr., and others torture Alice and Frank Longbottom (Neville's parents) in hopes of finding Lord Voldemort.
 * Probably around March 1982: Bellatrix Lestrange, Barty Crouch Jr., and others convicted and sent to Azkaban.
 * Barty Crouch Jr. removed from prison by Barty Crouch Sr.
 * Barty Crouch Sr.'s wife dies in Azkaban.
 * July 31 1991 - Harry finds out he's a wizard when Hagrid gives him the letter that shows he has been admitted to Hogwarts.

Hogwarts, Year Two, 1992-1993

 * 31 July:
 * Harry's birthday
 * Dobby warns Harry not to come to Hogwarts. Harry still plans to come
 * 1 August: Harry locked into his room
 * About 4 August: Ron, Fred, and George rescue Harry
 * About 10 August: Hogwarts letters arrive at The Burrow
 * About 12 August:
 * Harry, Weasleys, Hermione visit Diagon Alley
 * At Flourish and Blotts with Gilderoy Lockhart
 * 1 September: Harry and Ron can't get through the barrier at Platform 9-3/4 since Dobby had blocked it. They travel to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by flying Ron's dad's flying car.
 * About 5 September:
 * First Quidditch practice
 * Detention with Lockhart; Harry first hears voice of the monster
 * About 10 October:
 * Harry in trouble with Filch for "fouling the castle"
 * Destruction of Vanishing Cabinet by Peeves
 * Harry invited to Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday party
 * 31 October:
 * Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday party
 * Harry hears voice again
 * Petrification of Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat.
 * The Haloween feast takes place.
 * About 4 November: Harry hears that he is thought to be the Heir
 * About 13 November: Hermione takes Moste Potente Potions out of the library
 * About 14 November: Quidditch, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin
 * Rogue bludger breaks Harry's arm
 * Lockhart de-bones Harry's arm
 * Harry visited in infirmary by Dobby
 * Colin Creevey Petrified
 * Ron, Hermione start making Polyjuice Potion.
 * About 10 December: Hermione steals remaining Polyjuice Potion ingredients from Snape's office
 * About 17 December: Duelling Club.
 * About 18 December: Petrification of Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick
 * 25 December: Christmas Feast
 * Ron and Harry use Polyjuice Potion to pretend to be Crabbe and Goyle; interrogate Malfoy about the Heir
 * Hermione gets fur and whiskers
 * About 10 January: T. M. Riddle's diary found in Moaning Myrtle's washroom
 * About 3 February: Hermione leaves hospital wing, cured
 * 14 February: Harry talks to the diary of T. M. Riddle
 * Tom Riddle shows Harry the betrayal of Hagrid for "opening the Chamber of Secrets"
 * Probably early May: Riddle's diary stolen from Harry's dorm room
 * Next day:
 * Harry hears the voice again
 * Hermione and Penelope Clearwater are Petrified
 * Hagrid arrested
 * Dumbledore suspended as headmaster
 * Probably late May: Harry and Ron meet Aragog
 * Four days later (about May 28):
 * Mandrakes reported ready for cutting
 * Harry and Ron find out the nature of the Monster, and guess the location of the entrance to the Chamber
 * Ginny Weasley taken into the Chamber
 * Harry, Ron, Professor Lockhart enter the Chamber
 * Professor Lockhart's memory removed
 * Harry fights Tom Riddle's Basilisk
 * Ginny rescued
 * Professor Dumbledore re-instated as Headmaster
 * Dobby freed
 * Hermione and others revived
 * Hagrid released from Azkaban

Events at the Shrieking Shack, June 1994
Internal evidence suggests that these events, filling more than five of the book's twenty-two chapters, occurred between about 8:30 PM on the last day of exams, and 12:30 AM the following morning, in Harry's third year at Hogwarts. The constraints of the timeline generator require that we assign actual times. We do not intend these times to be taken as in any way being canon, except for 9PM and midnight which are specifically given in the text; all other times are guides only.