It’s been seven years since the final instalment of J.K Rowling’s book-turned-film was released. Seven years since us millennials took their probably hungover-self to the cinema to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the big screen. If that doesn’t make you feel old, please remove yourself from this article. I’m kidding, obviously you can continue.
What you may not have noticed as your wide-eyes feasted on the wonder that is Harry Potter, was that the final scene is very, very significant to 2017. Cinema Blend reminded us all that the final epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which is set 19 years after the battle of Hogwarts – you know the one where we all realised we had a crush on Neville Longbottom after he took on the dark lord – is actually set in 2017. THAT’S NOW.
Let us dig deeper to explain this, as before I took 20 minutes to read about it, I had no clue how this happened. None of us really know when the books are set, it’s never disclosed, but there are some clues lying around. In Chamber of Secrets, Nearly Headless Nick has his 500th birthday party, and his cake reads that he died in October 1492. So according to Cinema Blend (because my maths is shit), the Chamber of Secrets is set between 1992 and 1993.
This then means that the before mentioned Battle of Hogwarts is set in 1998, as it’s in Harry’s final seventh year of school. Add 19 to 1998 and what do you get... Did you just use a calculator? I did, no judgement here. The answer is 2017.
If Harry Potter were real, we imagine Harry, Ron and Hermione would be sending their kids off to Hogwarts this very second. Ron would forget his daughter’s owl, all hell would break loose and Harry and Gin would cry as they say goodbye to the little ones. Yes, we know the school term starts in September and it's currently January... but that's magic for you. If you feel like telling your boss you need to leave work early to run on down to Kings Cross to scope it out, we support that decision.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.