Number of Students

[Amy Winters]

No: HPFGUIDX 8093

I'm in the middle of re-reading SS/PS and I noticed that when JKR is 
describing the Stadium seats, she says that there are "a couple 
hundred seats...".  I'm thinking that this contradicts what's said 
later about the 200 Slytherin watching...multiply that by 4 and even 
if the the other houses don't have quite as many students, you're 
still talking between 600 and 800 students...that's a little bit more 
than "a couple hundred".  Of course, when the 200 Slytherin were 
there, they didn't all *have* to be in seats...some of them could be 
standing elsewhere I guess.

Also...have you all discussed whether a certain number of students 
are accepted each year or if that number is flexible?  I would 
imagine that the Knight Bus driver wouldn't have necessarily have 
gone to Hogwarts.  I've always gotten the impression that Hogwarts is 
pretty much like a "private" school - admission is by invitation only.

If the number of students accepted each year is a flexible number, 
then the number of students at Hogwarts could be vastly different 
from year to year.  Say you've got 200 students accepted in one 
year...they're now 7th year students.  The following year, only 50 
new ones come in (it was a slow year for Wizards and Witches 
births<G>)...you've just dropped your attendance by 150.

Amy