Hogwarts: A tight schedule

[lupinesque]

No: HPFGUIDX 43533

Olivia wrote:

> > My question is, who's to say that the students only go to 
> > school five days a week? I can't remember offhand, so I'll read 
> > into it and maybe some people can inform me on the thread that 
> > I'm wrong. But I can't seem to recall any evidence that there were 
> > only five school days. That would certainly give the teachers 
> > more time to spend teaching even more classes. 

Good thought.  We have to work out the timetable based on scattered 
clues, and though there is no statement anywhere that there are no 
classes on weekends, there are various canon indications that lead to 
that conclusion.  Grey Wolf has pointed out the Saturday Quidditch 
matches and visits to Hagrid; Saturday is also the day of Hogsmeade 
visits (the first one in PoA seems to be on a Sunday: 
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/calendar_pa.html); Sundays we see 
in detail seem to be lesson-free (cf GF 28).  

Grey Wolf wrote:

> Olivia, we KNOW for sure that he didn't go over the maths: she has 
said 
> so herself any number of times in interviews. 

I recall *our* saying so any number of times <g> but can't find an 
interview where she admits it.  I searched The Goat Pen using "maths," 
"math," and "numbers" with no relevant results--can you give a 
reference?

> Sinistra is a woman in my translated edition, if that helps. 

Sorry, would that it did, but to the purist mind it resolves nothing. 
 Translators have to make their best guess, same as we do, and 
AFAWK have no secret information from JKR.

> Other people have suggested that the teachers we know of are only 
heads 
> of departments and that the classes are given out by lesser teachers 
so 
> they can find time. However, this clashes directly with the fact 
that 
> Harry has NEVER been teached by any other teacher than the ones 
> attending the parties and ceremonies. 

Well, the clash isn't as direct as all that.  The only teachers 
*mentioned* in the descriptions of dinners, etc. are the ones who have 
taught Harry.  This doesn't mean there are no other teachers, any more 
than Pansy's "gang of Slytherin girls" must consist of only Millicent 
Bulstrode just because she's the only Slytherin girl in that year we 
know by name (setting aside the androgynous Blaise Zabini).  

Also, we know for a fact that not all teachers get a mention.  
Professor Vector was never mentioned until PoA, when one of the Trio 
had her for a class; ditto Trelawney; Professor Kettleburn was 
probably at the head table for the first two years, without JKR seeing 
fit to tell us about him; the Muggle Studies and Ancient Runes 
professors have never been mentioned, though they presumably exist. 

Amy Z

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"This is the weirdest thing we've ever done," Harry said fervently.
                                --HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban      
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