Number of students

[Jim Ferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 7999

Steve:"Here's an interesting point, though. When I first read SS/PS, I 
imagined a large student body, maybe 700-1000 kids. I have no idea 
what gave me that impression."

I've always felt the sheer size of the castle argues for more 
students.  Even 1000 is none too many for that large a building.  300 
would look totally lost. [My daughters' elementary school has 366 
students in six years. It's none too big.]  There's plenty of room for 
teacher apartments, among other things.  I'll bet there's large areas 
of Hogwarts we haven't seen or heard anything about.

As for the Quidditch stands, that's the one area that can be explained 
away, at least a little.  There's likely to be plenty of alumni, 
locals, and general school Quidditch fans in the stands at a game.  
The seating for 1200 at the Yule Ball is more persuasive to me.

Steve:"But then there HAS to be more teachers. Take Snape for example. 
Suppose he's teaching Potions to every level, double classes. That 
means that he teaches two first year, two second year, etc. for a 
total of fourteen classes a week. Because they're long--an hour and 
a half--that would fill the week with time for a few lab classes with 
upper level kids who are specializing in Potions."

Exactly. We've got to remember that these books are about Harry, not 
Hogwarts, and JKR has to leave out more than she puts in. [There's 
obviously going to be an 'Annotated Harry Potter' some day, just like 
my 'Annotated Sherlock Holmes.'] So there may be lots of people at 
Hogwarts who just aren't characters in the books.  If Snape is the 
Potions MASTER, then are there mere instructors?  The instructors 
can't all be using Time Turners.