Before a man had settled down and made something of himself, he would go through a very unstable period. They called that period "freedom."
Fate was elusive to them. Anything could happen. Perhaps one moment they were penniless, and the next they struck it rich. Marrying a woman so early—who knew whether they might meet someone better the next moment?
Socrates had his students enter a wheat field and pick the largest ear of wheat. They could only move forward, never backtrack, and they could only pick once. Yet large ears of wheat were everywhere. Which one was the largest?
Some kept hesitating and ultimately returned empty-handed. Others picked one, only to discover an even bigger one later, so they planned to throw theirs away and secretly replace it while the teacher was not looking.
That was marriage. There was surely one largest ear of wheat in the field, but the students might not encounter it. Even if they did, they might not make the right choice.
Aging would force women out of the "marriage market," leaving them no longer as ears of wheat waiting to be picked. But if the person who picked her refused to leave the market and remained ready to make a move on fresh ears of wheat, then the ear that had been picked became pitiful.
If possible, Pomona hoped she could be like a human woman. That way, the human boy who had once been younger than her would not come to look older than her.
Severus had never had much confidence in his appearance, and he had even told her not to look for handsome young men.
If Pomona grew old, what young and handsome man would still fall for her? Unless he was like Voldemort, courting that pink cake Hepzibah Smith only