If you look behind the normally locked door on JK's site, you will see a copy of a family tree that she wrote whilst making the TV programme A Year in the Life of....which was aired on UK TV last night.

Here it is and as you can see George is married to Freds ex, Angelina, Bill and Fleur have 3 children and Charlie remians un wed.

On the TV prgramme JK explained some of the finer details. Luna's children are twins, Ron and Hermione are godparents to James Sirius and Charlie is not gay, he just has more time for dragons than women!

She also explained the significance of the name Victoire, it means victory and she is named for the end of the war which was 2nd May, which was also the date of the beginning of the end of the 2nd world war.

What do other members make of this insite into the future of our most beloved characters?

Thank you so so much for this thread Elaine! I was seriously hoping to see something around since I read Darcy's post about this...

First off: yes it was May. Thanks so much for clearing up the exact date Elaine, I don't know why but I always had the idea that the battle was probably around the end of May, but now you mention it, it makes a lot more sense for it to be at the beginning of it. Sadly, living in this little country in the other side of the world, I couldn't see the programme, so your details make the family tree more understandable.

On DH, Chapter 26: Gringotts, U.S. Hardcover, page 522 it says,

My thoughts on this are that probably the day they assaulted Gringotts it was the 1st of May, so the battle took place on the 2nd of the same month.

But what really brings me here is the fact that I believe JKR made a mistake when she draw that family tree she just put on her website, and that mistake is Fred's dying date.

Because of DH we know Harry was born in 1980 (he was a 1 year old when his parents were murdered) and hence, he started school on September 1st, 1991 and finished his first year around June 1992, where book 2 takes off.

This makes me think that DH starts in 1997 and the May from the final battle is May 1998.

Probably JKR has a lot of things on her mind, but it is just my thoughts that maybe she made a mistake. Is it only me who thinks that?

Regarding the fate of our beloved characters, I'm not really complaining. Like Darcy said, it seems to me like she does like people to remember it's her world, so I guess I think she can make what she wants of them. What I don't really like about it, is that Charlie didn't marry, but I guess she has her reasons.

I also dislike the fact that all this random information is dropped to us fans in really tiny bits. What about the younger fans and the very old ones, or the ones who don't have access to the internet? They don't get to learn these details that might eventually come to brighten their days... That's just probably my biggest concern... I don't log onto her website everyday, and only found out because Darcy mentioned it! I know I'm not that big of a technology outcast, but I don't really like the information to not be available to all... Of course, that doesn't mean that I want her to write another HP book... I think what we've had is just the right amount of them.

I have moved this thread from the JK Rowling forum to the News Discussion since this is more of a Newsy item about Harry Potter. Also I have changed the title slightly to imclude the TV show A Year in the Life of...if anyone other than me saw it and she did the srawing of the family tree on that programme. Yes, I know it's technically about JKR but it is news too!

Anyway for those of you who haven't seen it, and those of you who have, here's a brief ok not so brief synopsis of the programme.....I'd be intersted in your views.

....It begins at The Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh where she is putting the finishing touches to the last chapter of DH, The date is 11th January. Once she finishes she makes the comments that some people will love it and others hate it, she also comments that it will be strange that people watching the TV show will have already read the book. She plays the song Smile by Lily Allen and you can tell she wants to be left alone to ball her eyes out!

JK takes a trip down memory lane with her sister Di. They look at old photos and talk about terrible haircuts and their mothers illness (MS) and death. She tells the interviewer that she hasn't had contact with her own father for quite a few years. She revisits the Forest of Dean which was her inspiration for the Forbidden Forest and pictures are shown of her childhood homes in Winterbourne and Tutshill. She goes back to the church, St. Lukes where she and her sister cleaned for £1 and looks for her name in the visitors book. She finds it, the entry says 'Joanne Rowling age 12' on an adjacent page she spots the name that she 'stole' for an unsavoury character in HP! She also discusses her disasterous first marriage and the birth of Jessica.She talks a little of her depression that follows this. Her depression was the inspiration for the dementors.

There is a bit about the build up to the launch of DH. In the car driving towards the museum, she tells the crew she mentioned to her husband that she wanted to have a cigarette. He asked if she had one to have and she told him that she couldn't just have one, she'd have to have 40!

Back at her house she is making her family tree. She mentions the significance of naming Bill and Fluers child Victoire. The battle ended on 2nd May...the anniversary of the fall of Berlin in the 2nd world war.The interviewer comments that as Charlie does not marry, is he gay? No, she says, he's just more interested in dragons than women. She also mentions that some may think it odd George marrying his brothers ex. But thought that they would be happy. As she write the names of Harry and Ginnys children, she says that Ron and Hermione are James Sirius's godparents but the one of most interest was Albus Severus. This is when the interviewer mentions her having enough material to write another book, but she does say that no, she will definitely not be writing another book.

The talk then gets to her wealth. When asked if she has 570 billion pounds ahe says that is (she swears)! Yes, she does have lot's of millions but not that many. She is shown shopping in Tiffany and for shoes...very nice shoes!

At the end, she revisits her flat in Leith, where she becomes the most emotional. This is the place where her life turned around, where she completed The Philosophers Stone. She wonders into the neat bedroom of the flat commenting on it's tidiness and spots a set of HP paperbacks, which she finds interesting.She explains why she chose to have Harry live by saying that in real life soldiers have to return from war and make adjustments to get on with their lives and as her hero, she wanted Harry to do the same.

In my opinion the woman has big issues, she says she is the happiest she has been in her life, yet I think that her distant relationship with her father is still a constant in her mind, I was very moved by the programme and felt that it was more suited to a later scheduling than at peak viewing where kids like my Issie could have watched it. It was too deep for that. Overall I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

I saw that documentary film too, i think it`s cool,but i think the same.not everybody has acces to those informations and that's to bad.I would love,not another book,just some more details you, some more official details about what happened to other characters to,or how the characters life actually developped.But this we`re interesting facts too,George giving Fred's name to his son...And I agree with you Kaitlyn,Fred definitly died in 1998.But who could blame her for making that mistake?
Draco's choice is interesting to, for his son's name:Scorpius Hyperion,for anyone who follows the astronomy references in hp:

"Hyperion is the sixteenth of Saturn's known satellites. Hyperion's rotation is chaotic, i.e. its axis of rotation wobbles so much that its orientation in space is completely unpredictable. Hyperion is unique in that it is very irregularly shaped and it has a highly eccentric orbit."

By the way:the documentary still can be seen online.

I'd be interested to know where since all the links I have found turned out to be broken due to copyright laws. Perhaps the one you speak of is now broken too. Although I can't say I am surprised.

I am really glad that you posted about this family tree, and it does bring up some interesting questions and answers.

First off, I am really glad that Draco did not marry pansy parkinson, she is my least favorite character, so I am really happy with that. Also, We know what happens to Luna, but I really wish she would have told us about Neville. It seems like he was just as imprtant of a friend as Luna, and in the books way more.. I don't know I would just like to know what happened to him.

well according to J.K. Rowling, Neville married Hannah Abbott??

is it just me or did no1 else even read about the to having a coversation, let alone being friends, let alone more then friends.

i think Luna and Neville should of gotten together.

I watched the programme on the 30th, and I thought it was really great. It must have been difficult for Jo anyway to be writing the 7th book with all the pressure from the fans, but I had no idea she'd had cameras following her around too!

I loved the part when she was with Di, and they were reminiscing about their childhood - the haircuts! They made me laugh! And about her father ... I had no idea about that! He doesn't seem like a nice man, and he must be kicking himself right now for not giving Jo some extra TLC! I knew her mam had died of MS before she started the Potter books though ... it's such a shame she couldn't see her daughter achieving so much! JK must have felt terrible!

It was nice when she read the visitors book and found her name - then she said there was someone in there who she'd named a character after who she didn't like ... I wonder who that is ... ? I thought it might have been Lockhart, but then again, Gilderoy or Lockhart aren't common names! He could've been called Roy I suppose ...

I thought it was very heartfelt that she got depressed, then she created the dementors out of this. She shows that even she has had very low times, but she found the best out ofthis by using it to enhance her books, which was, in my opinion, wuite brave of her to face things like that!

I like how Victoire was born on the anniversary that the war ended. It was good how she called her 'Victory', I thought this was very fitting! It was also nice to find out about the other children. I know she isn't writing another book - which is a shame - but it's still good of her to come out with this information, which we have been wanting since the release of DH! Aww I wish Ron and Hermione had more kids ... it would have been nice for them to have three or four, as I see them as being great parents, especially Ron!!

Overall, I thought it was a brilliant documentary, and I completely respect Jo for everything she has been through in her life. I only wish she would write and eighth book!

~Amy <3

This is worth a try....see if this link to the tv show. Sorry if it doesn't! I am surprised actually that not more people watched it since it was aired during peak viewing times on one of the main terrestrial channels in the UK. I thought it gave a wonderful insight into Jo's world where she dreamt up these beloved characters.

EDit: The link takes you to a registration page, but it's easy to register and then it starts straight away with the programme. I don't know if it's availbale to watch outside the UK though.

I wish I could have seen that documentary! It sounds very interesting. I'll find a way to watch it, I'm sure.

That family tree is also very interesting! It's probably really lame of me that I never thought of George and Angelina together.

I was just reading your post, Amy, and saw the thing about Victoire. That's really sweet to name her 'Victory'.

Oh, now I desperately want to watch it! Jo has had such an interesting life. It's been full of a rollercoaster of hardships and good times. If anyone was going to be a billionaire author adored by many all over the world, I'm glad it's someone like her. She's very deserving.

The documentary was truly amazing. The figure that we see so much about in the media actually doing a series of interviews etc was heart warming. You saw a lot of the characters in her (or her in the characters, whichever way you want to think about it!). It showed, in many ways, that she's incredibly normal, whilst living a whirlwind of a lifestyle. Well done JK!


I really like the family tree. Great idea. I like how most of the characters branched from Molly and Arthur too! However, the confirmation that Ron and Hermione did name their children the two possibly stupidest names in the world did bite at me. I hated the names in the book (compared to the meaningful names Harry and Ginny chose) , and i still thoroughly dislike them.

I sort of liked the name Rose. It's just sort of pretty. Completely random, but pretty. The name Hugo, though. Oh dear. That made me want to reach through the pages of the book and bop them on their heads for giving that child such a horrible name.

I agree. I think Rose is a reasonable name, but Hugo? It's not a name I had thought that Ron and Hermione would name their child!! But, hey, whatever, if they're happy..

Exactly.


I must be having a strike of good luck, because I just found out that the documentary will be airing on CBC tonight. I have to remember to watch it. It looks so interesting. I can't wait!

I like the name Rose. it was my great-grandma's name and it is my mom's middle name so I guess I'm a little biased. As for the name Hugo i like it. It's different, and i like different names, I also read somewhere that its meaning has something to do with intelligence and a good sense of humor, equaling Ron and Hermione.So I guess that it kind of makes sense.

actually i really like how hermione and ron named their children......rose is a pretty name although sort of common and hugo is some kind a unique....and i also find it cute that they named their children starting with R and H.....lol