When Does AAAA Wizardry Take Place?

[Bad Alias]

On her timeline, Priscellie says:

Somewhere between May of 9 ASF and the Summer of 10 ASF: AAAA Wizardry, the short story included in The Dresden Files RPG: Our World.

https://www.paranetonline.com/index.php/topic,1592.0.html

In the foreword to the Brief Cases edition of AAAA Wizardry, Jim says:

This next story is set just after the events, I believe, of Proven Guilty, where Harry Dresden has become impressed with the need to instruct the younger wizards around him.

Why does Priscellie have the story take place three to four years later than when Jim says he "believes" the story to have taken place? I assume she has reasons and those reasons make sense. The end of Jim's quote makes me think that Jim is referring to the class taking place just after Proven Guilty; not the story within the story. That would mean that Jim isn't referring to the inner story and Priscellie is referring to the outer story, which might solve the discrepancy.

I'm trying to setup my digital library so that I can just re-read all the stories, short and otherwise, in in-universe chronological order without having to constantly check which or whether a short story is next because, having already read them, I'm not worried about spoilers.

[Mr. Death]

I'd have to check the RPG book, but I think the notes around that peg it as a "recent" file. The RPG book is written to take place between Small Favor and Turn Coat, and came out a decade ago, so Priscellie was presumably going off that information, since Brief Cases only came out in the last couple months.

Edit: Scratch that, there's no reference to when it was written in the in-character notes, only that Billy found it in the back of Harry's filing cabinet.

But that's still my best guess -- that Priscellie thought it was from then because of when the RPG books take place.

[Snark Knight]

I remember thinking one of the shorts referenced a main novel later than the ones Jim had placed it between in the foreword.

That was the one where Harry was telling the Warden cadets a story, right?  I'd guess the earlier timeline is when the events actually happened, and the latter is when Harry was narrating them.

[Mr. Death]

Thinking about it, AAAA Wizardry has to take place after White Night -- Harry is only sent out to the house explicitly on a tip from the Paranet.

[Arjan]

According to Brief Cases it is just after Proven Guilty. But even Jim is not quite sure so why should we?

[Bad Alias]

Thinking about it, AAAA Wizardry has to take place after White Night -- Harry is only sent out to the house explicitly on a tip from the Paranet.

I remembered that in the shower, where all the clearest thinking occurs, this morning.

Thanks for the help guys. When I get to reading it again, I'll put my thoughts on when I think it takes place here.

[Bad Alias]

From the story in the story:

For the past year, I and others like me had been working hard to teach [the Paranet] how to defend themselves.

So the story in the story took place no earlier than somewhere around a year after White Night occurred. Let's say 10-14 months. Assuming the accuracy of the rest of the timeline, that would place the story between It's My Birthday, Too (February 14, 8 ASF) and Heorot (October, 8 ASF). Wild Card takes place a "few months" after It's My Birthday, Too. So I'd say it takes place between March 1 and June 31 of 8 ASF, at the earliest.

Part of the problem is people usually don't mean 365 days or even 12 months when they say things like "for the past year." Another part of the problem is I can't even guess how long it took between the idea for the paranet and Harry and others like him going out to teach the paranetters. With those two sources of vagueness, we can only guess at the start of the time frame.

The only timing clues I can pick up on in the story encompassing a story are ones that place it after Proven Guilty. There is also a description of Harry's burned hand that may be useful.

t was a mass of old scars, and not the pretty kind. It had been burned, and badly, several years before. Wizards heal up better than regular folks, over the long term. I could move it again, and I had feeling back in parts of all the fingers.

I recall that Harry was given hope that his hand would work again in Dead Beat, but I don't recall the progress.

The class takes place between the about a year and a few months after White Night and a few months before whenever Billy finds Dresden's write up of the class and includes it in the RPG write up (somewhere between Small Favor and Turn Coat).

The bogart story probably takes place before Small Favor, and the class probably takes place shortly after Small Favor.