Percy and Power + Hogwarts Population..?

[australiaquill at yahoo.com.au]

No: HPFGUIDX 30149

> > Furthermore, in the upcoming books there might be instances in 
> which Percy 
> > will display his nerve, daring, and bravery. 

Percy is a Gryffindor, 
> and there has to be a reason for it.

::immense reluctance to mention infallibility of JKR::
I personally think that our beloved Perce is in Gryffindor because 
all Ron's family is in Gryffindor and that was the cause of Ron's 
anxiety on the train in Book 1.  Percy's character is not much 
developed in the books, particularly in book 1, and even in book 4 
he's fairly 2D.  The fanon Perce we all know and love is great, but I 
think the canon Perce is a foil to Ron, Fred and George, or at least 
started that way and is only now beginning to develop further as JKR 
finds more use for his character.

::new topic::
Apologies if this has been discussed, but what is the approximate 
number of Hogwarts students?  70 in each house seems widely accepted 
(5 boys, 5 girls per year)  but this doesn't mesh with my 
understanding of the way things work at Hoggies.  I was under the 
impression that students were chosen based on magical ability, which 
surely wouldn't work out quite so neatly.  There's also a rumour that 
did the rounds a while back about a book and a quill that writes down 
the names of prospective students at their birth, and again, that 
surely couldn't be quite so neat as to know which five girls and boys 
to write down before they were born.  I don't think this quill could 
know the future, since as Trelawney secured a job at Hogwarts based 
on her limited skill as a Diviner, telling the future as a talent 
must be incredibly rare.  And one more point - in the third book, 
there's a paragraph - I don't know the exact wording, but they're at 
a Quidditch match.  "Three-quarters of the crowd wore scarlet 
rosettes, but behind the Slytherin goal-posts 200 people were in 
green."  Doing the maths, doesn't that mean a pop. of about 800, inc. 
staff?  If anyone has heard anything else, I'd love to know.

Oh, yes, I should introduce myself.  I'm seventeen, Australian, I've 
just finished high school and am heartily sick of the thirteen-year-
olds who seem to have taken over the HP fandom, so I joined this 
group.  I go by Weaver.

Hugs + Kisses:
Weaver