Help working out a problem with a crossover

[ShadowsPale]

I am trying to write a Supernatural / Harry Potter crossover and I have ran into a problem. Since the two timelines do not mesh, I placed it in the present. It is supposed to take place after Sam leaves college to join Dean permanently. Here is my issue(s), Harry is a Fae of my creation that has a ability I call Charming. It is a device used to draw in a mate, or in this case, mates, and keep them from leaving until the mate(s) have a chance to get to know the Fae and allow for a more natural attraction to form.

Here is my problem(s). I don't want the brothers too much older than Harry. I can't see either of them being in their mid to late twenties and not being able to resist the Charming. They would have been to hardened against something like that. Plus having a 26 year old Dean with a 17 year old Harry makes him seem too much like a pedophile for my tastes. In canon, Sam is at least 22 while in college, which would make Dean 26. However, if I make Dean a few years younger, it means Sam would be 19-20. Since he was finishing up his bachelor's degree, he would have had to go to college around the age of sixteen.

I know my saying this will make some people cringe but I have no problem mucking around with facts; I just need the changes to be plausible. Can anyone help me make this work? I would like to stick to the four year age difference between them if possible. Thanks

[ricotehemo]

If you're placing it in modern day, wouldn't Harry be older? I'm rusty on my HP history but I'm pretty sure he's 17 circa 1997.

[CloverReef]

Well I don't know about Harry potter. I just watched the first couple movies like a decade ago and haven't touched it since. But if your problem is their ages in comparison to each other... It's AU, isn't it? Technically, with the facts being changed and it being a crossover, it's AU, I think. So with that in mind, can't their ages be whatever you want them to be?

[ShadowsPale]

If you're placing it in modern day, wouldn't Harry be older? I'm rusty on my HP history but I'm pretty sure he's 17 circa 1997.

What I meant by placing it in the present is that on July 31, 2011, Harry turned 17, instead of it happening on July 31, 1997. Even though I am straying from Canon in many ways; with the characters, I am trying to stay as canon as possible. Yes I made Harry a creature but otherwise I am trying to keep him canon.

[ShadowsPale]

Well I don't know about Harry potter. I just watched the first couple movies like a decade ago and haven't touched it since. But if your problem is their ages in comparison to each other... It's AU, isn't it? Technically, with the facts being changed and it being a crossover, it's AU, I think. So with that in mind, can't their ages be whatever you want them to be?

Yes, I could do that and it would work well. The thing is that I am trying to stay as canon as I can. I won't be following the books or show after a point shortly before they meet; which is going to throw most things canon out the window. If I have too, I will change their ages but if I can find a way to work this without losing more canon facts, I would prefer it. I am not a stickler for canon, in fact I won't read anything that follows it too closely because if I wanted to read that much canon, I would read the books again.

On the other hand, I quickly abandon anything that strays so far from it the characters are really nothing but a shell bearing a familiar name. Your question as made me think however. If I am placing this in an AU setting, would I even need Sam to have gone to college? I am now wondering if it is plausible he has been taking online courses. If that was the case, maybe he could have graduated high school at a younger age which would place them in a closer age range. Of course , he would have never met Jessica...which opens an entirely new can of worms.