[HPforGrownups] How many students at Hogwarts? (yes, again) (was: How do they know?)

[Sasha HP]

No: HPFGUIDX 48186

  Greetings!

> Ashfae wrote:

A> My problem is that we tend to use the number of male
A> students in Harry's year as a basis for further
A> estimation, but it's entirely possible that it's an
A> unusual number. Perhaps there were just less people
A> sorted into Gryffindor during that particular year;
A> where's the fuss? For all we know there were thirty boys
A> sorted into Gryffindor the previous year, or twenty
A> Ravenclaws and forty Hufflepuffs sorted into their
A> respective houses while only five boys were sorted into
A> Gryffindor. We don't have all the information, and an
A> estimation based on that one single fact is not likely to
A> be accurate.

  It's not a single fact.

  We know for sure that 5 boys were sorted into Gryffindor
in Harry's year.
  We know that there were 10 total Gryffindor students in
Harry's year (prof. Lupin's Boggart lesson).
  We know that there were 20 total Gryffindor and Slytherin
students in Harry's year (Flying lesson).
  We know that dining tables of all four Houses are of the
same size (well, it's not said in any of the books, but it's
a reasonable assumption, isn't it?).
  We know that there are about 12-13 teachers in Hogwarts,
no more (don't remember the actual number), which is enough
to teach 280 students, but not enough to teach the crowd of
1000 students.
  We also have an uncanonical evidence from the MTSNBN where
all four tables have equal empty space for first-years.
  Probably there are other clues as well, and new ones are
likely to come. But current evidence is that number of
students in Hogwarts is 280... er... no, now it's 279.

  And you are right, this subject has been raised not a
single time here. Just search the archives for it (IIRC last
time this topic even had the *same* subject).

Sincerely yours,
Alexander Lomski,
Gryffindor/Slytherin crossbreed,
always happy to throw weird ideas into community.

-----
  "Nice toffees", said Dudley and swung his tongue over the
  shoulder.