Number at Hogwarts

[animagi_raven]

No: HPFGUIDX 42599

I am new to the books (only read them once so far) but I thought that 
I would throw this into the mix:

I myself think that the number of student must be around 300 with 
a maximum of about 600.  I get this by:
5 boys per dorm room
*2 for the girls
*4 houses
*7 years
but it does not say that there is *only* one dorm room per year.  
(Well I seem to remember implication in several place with 'the boys 
_-year dorm'.)  But say that there could be 2 rooms per sex per year 
and you can get up to 600.  The description of the common rooms also 
preclude a much larger population (would be bigger, noisier).

I don't have access to the exact quote by JKR but what if 1000 is the 
approximate number of beings (students, teachers, ghosts, creatures 
in the Forbidden Forest, etc?) at Hogwarts?  Mull that over for a 
while.  Maybe that will satisfy enough people that we can move onto 
the important things like:
How do owls (and tropical birds, too) find the people that they are 
looking to deliver mail to?
Does the Ford Anglia need gas now?
Where is Hagrid storing Sirius's motorcycle?
What happened to James and Lily's wands?
How does the Marauder's Map know your name?
Why would *anyone* sell blood-flavored candy?

Personally, I think she just picked that number during an interview 
and hadn't really thought about it before.  The way we put everything 
under a microscope, I bet she really avoids the press in the future.

"animagi raven"
----------
Look for a problem and you will find one.
Look for a solution and you will find one.
Look for your car keys and they are nowhere to be found...