Hogwarts population - I have proof!

[Steve Vander Ark]

No: HPFGUIDX 12490


> 
> Well, Simon answered this very eloquently indeed.  Wanna do the 
Hogwarts
> FAQ instead of me Simon??!  <g>  Seriously, this topic has been 
debated
> quite a bit in the past, and there's plenty of inconsistent 
evidence all
> the way around.  Being one of those in the 300 students camp, I 
would
> say that the above incident can be discounted if one considers that
> there are likely alumni, Hogsmeade residents, parents and others who
> donned green to support Slytherin in the match.

And I again point out that each time Harry sees such large numbers 
it's when he's facing something frightening (okay, he's a Gryffindor, 
so it makes him nervous more than scared...). Since we observe the 
castle and the events in it through his point of view almost 
exclusively in the books, and since there are a number of other 
incidents where what is described is clearly exaggeration, I feel 
that those big numbers are inflated. Harry sees 200 Slytherin 
supporters before a big Quidditch match against Slytherin. He sees 
1200 seats at the Yule Ball just before he has to dance in front of 
all those people. I know this isn't proof of anything, but I see it 
as providing reasonable doubt.


> 
> > Yet, as Dai said earlier, Hogwarts will seem empty unless it has 
1000
> > people in it and may even seem quite empty with this number in 
it. It is described
> > as being massive and, as pointed out, it takes ages to get from 
one part of
> > the castle to another. The corridors are described as being busy 
and this
> > could only happen with a large number of people in a small space.
> >
> What if the castle (built by the founders during a completely 
different
> age) is too large for the current wizarding population?  I guess 
what I
> mean is: couldn't the wizarding population level have shrunk in the 
1000
> years since the school was founded?

Also, while the castle is large, the actual inhabited areas might be 
in a fairly compact area. Why locate classrooms far apart from each 
other, with the few exceptions of Divination and Potions? The rest 
seem to be along a couple of corridors on the second and third 
floors, near the top of the staircase. Most of the rest of the place 
is given over to who knows what, stuff to explore, trophy rooms and 
storage and hidden chambers and strange mirrors.

I agree that the Quidditch stadium would be pretty empty, no matter 
how big it is, with only 250 people there. Add a few supporters, 
maybe a hundred, and we're still talking a tiny crowd. And the field 
itself has to be huge to allow a game of that nature to take place. 
Maybe their stands are just in one place, along on long side of the 
pitch, or maybe there's a section on each side. 


> 
> > But I pity the poor people having to sit through the sorting. 
Taking
> > an average of one minute per student, which seems reasonable, and 
a
> > year size of 150 (about equal to 1000/7) gives a sorting of 2 and 
a
> > half hours. To get the sorting in at under 30 minutes would 
requires
> > each student to go from being lined up to having been sorted in 12
> > seconds, which would be one incredible feat.
> 
> Thanks to our resident statistician!  I agree that this also makes 
no
> sense in the context of a larger student body.  Along with a number 
of
> other things I might add!

And add to that the required size of each house table with 250 kids 
sitting at it. They'd never hear Dumbledore speak! There was no 
reference to his casting a Sonorus spell on himself. And Harry et al 
can certainly see the head table very well, so they can't be a 
hundred feet away.

Steve Vander Ark
The Harry Potter Lexicon
which has a page about this whole question
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon