number of students

[Jim Ferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 8290

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Maya Crabtree" <mayacrab at n...> 
wrote:
Again, I appologize for replying so late, to an issue that has 
probably already been resolved... :

The Orange Order and the IRA will be doing circle dances with 
Hezbollah and Ariel Sharon before this is resolved....


 
" Well, I always assumed (I am not sure what I am basing this on 
though) that there were 5 boys and 5 girls in Harry's year Gryffindor. 
Okay, we don't really hear of anyone but Lavender and Parvati, but it 
makes sense, and I am nearly sure it's mentioned SOMEWHERE that they 
are 10 in most of their classes."

It seems pretty clear there's five boys, but not everybody agrees on 
the number of girls.  We only have heard of three, but we really don't 
know the number.  It's true that around twenty is mentioned for many 
of the classes.


"I am also pretty sure there are no more boys. So I don't 
think that  Hufflpuff has more. It makes sense, in general that all 
houses be more or  less the same size, and like the example you just 
presented, tehre are several instances from which we can guess this. 
However, on the other hand,  it can't be that every house has the same 
number of people in it..."

There's less agreement here.  Some of us think it possible that 
Gryffindor and Slytherin may be smaller than the other houses.  I 
always found this idea appealing on the notion that there's always 
more people doing the work than getting the glory, but I don't have a 
shred of evidence for it.
 
"I mean, the sorting hat doesn't KNOW before someone wears it, how 
many are left to sort, and of course, it doesn'sort them acocrding to 
the desired equal numbers in house sizes... I also wouldn't say it 
MORE DIFFICULT to get into  the two more "prestegious" houses... I 
mean, you don't have to be special."

No doubt in my mind about this.  The Sorting Hat has said more than 
once it puts people where they ought to be, and, by inference, without 
considering quotas or number of students per house or anything else. 
If you belong in Ravenclaw, you go to Ravenclaw. Gryffindor, 
Gryffindor.  As for 'elitism', being a wizard is pretty special 
already. Gryffindors will always be elite, not matter what. "We honor 
the wise but elevate the brave."  Why hasn't Hufflepuff had [that] 
kind of glory in all those years? [GoF]  And if if wasn't for the 
Slytherins, where would Wall Street recruit and who would live in 
Greenwich Connecticut? [sorry, but I used to live there. 75% of the 
town is Slytherin, I swear]

Problem is, JKR has stated there are a thousand students. Hard to 
figure out.  Most of us were much lower, as low as 300 or so [Penny, a 
lot of others] 450-500 [me] and a few at 800-1000 [Rita].  But, since 
it's JKR's universe, we're kinda stuck with it.