Prefect system

[amberhillcrest]

No: HPFGUIDX 46174

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Darla" <talkative_alien_4000 at y...> wrote:
> Hello!
>    Have just been looking over the poll questions etc, and something 
> struck me as odd. One of the questions was 'which boy do you think 
> will be made prefect?' and i just realised it doesn't make sense. I 
> mean, only one boy and one girl can be made head boy/girl, but the 
> system i've always known is that quite a few people can be made 
> prefects in the same house etc, they just need to have a good 
> reputation. (remember mrs weasley telling the twins she'd noticed 
> that neither of them had been made prefects?) But a lot of people 
> talk about prefects as if only one boy/girl can be a prefect from 
> each house. help?
>   Darla.

I actually went to boarding school, but the prefect system was different.  I don't have much textual substantiation, but here's what I think.  When Harry first meets the Weasleys, Percy is in his fifth year which seems to be the year that people are  first elligible to be selected as prefects.  Since Mrs. Weasley scolds her sons for not being selected as prefects, that might imply that there are mutiple prefects selected from each house each year.  The selection seems to be made in the fifth year and once you become a prefect, you stay a prefect-- unless of course you are elected Head Boy.  

So, if selections are made in the fifth year, that means that there could be as many as 24 prefects in the school at any given time (6 per house (2 5th year, 2 6th year and 2 th year).  This would include the Head Boy and Head Girl.  

This would certainly explain the need for a prefects' bathroom in GoF but it seems like a large number for needing two compartments on the Hogwarts Express (SS). 

--Maureen