Growth

Misc notes on height

Any number of fan fiction authors will come up with some alternate description of what [Harry][] looks like. This may be because he had a better childhood, took a healing potion, participated in a healing ritual, or underwent some other form of magical transformation. The results will vary considerably, and no doubt reflect that, generally female, author's personal idea of what is attractive in a male. Many of these are fairly unrealistic, especially when they place [Harry][] at something over six feet tall somewhere in his teens.

[Harry]: </Harrypedia/people/Potter/Harry James/>/

Eventually this bugged me enough that I wanted to document the unrealistic nature of these descriptions, so I looked up a "growth chart."¹ This particular chart includes percentile information based on data partly specific to the UK, and partly generalised from WHO.² While the data is from 1990, so are our characters, so the time frame is even reasonably accurate. Looking at the chart, [Harry][] would have to be in roughly the 90th percentile to hit 6"1' by age 17, and unless I am crossing lines, as much as the 98th percentile to hit that by age 15. So while it is not impossible that the speculated healing ritual or potion has helped him to gain this height, in all likelihood both parents would have to be noticeably very tall people.³

Given that we hear over and over again that [Harry][] without extraordinary height looks just like James, this seems … unlikely. We ought to be reading that he "looks just like James, except shorter." Since we do not, my guess is that James was not exceptionally tall. While James is described as tall, and it is common for children to be taller than their parents, record breaking height is almost always commented on when describing someone. James would need to be truly exceptionally tall to produce this six foot [Harry][], not simply "tall." Notice for example how both Hagrid and Flitwick are described.

Interestingly, I have noted a similar issue with girls in at least one fan fiction.⁴ The key consideration is that girls' growth drastically slows in their 15th year and is essentially flat-lined by 16.⁵ Interestingly, for UK Girls, the 9th percentile of height at age 16 is approximtely 5'1".⁶ Depending on how short percentile-wise someone has to be before being generally described as "short," authors need to be really careful with their descriptions. On the other hand, a girl's waist size apparently increases every year through out her teen years.⁷ If the same is true of her bust size (which is awkward to google), then that may explain what the author was trying to convey in my one example.