Random ideas

[Grey Wolf <greywolf1@jazzfree.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51679

Tom Wall wrote:
> mysmacek writes:
> - it seems to me, that during POA, there has to be about 10 first
> years in each house - certainly less than 20. The canon for that is
> that for R&H to miss the sorting ceremony, it would have to be a
> really short one, since their calling off by McGonnagall does not seem
> like a long one - and don't forget that the ceremony did not start
> when they left.
> 
> Me:
> Scholastic's website has several JKR Q&A sessions online.  
> 
> Here's the URL for the following canon:
> http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/author/transcript2.htm
> 
> -----
> Q: How many students attend Hogwarts, and how many 
>    students per year per house? 
> A: There are about a thousand students at Hogwarts.
> -----
> 
> If we do the math, we get:
> 
> 1000/4 = 250 
> 250 /7 = ~35
> 
> So, about 35 students per year per house.
> 
> Of course, that's assuming that each year, 
> roughly the same number of students come
> to the school, and that out of that total,
> each house gets roughly the same number of 
> students.
>  
> So, apparently, we haven't even met half
> of 'em in Harry's year alone.
> 
> -Tom

That canon (if indeed interviews can be considered canon) doesn't wash 
at all. The subject of the number of people at Hogwarts has been 
discussed to death in the list several times, and it can be found in 
the apropiate FP some of the older theories, and all the contradicting 
canon. There have been some proposed theories that allow the numbers to 
match up, but they are all strained, since they are all based in 
Harry's inatentiveness.

For example, by your numbers there are 25 students in Gryffindor Harry 
hasn't ever seen, heard named or mentioned in the books - five boys 
(Harry, Ron, Neville, Dean & Seamus) and three girls (Hermione, 
Lavender and Parvati) are named, and two more girls get a chance 
against the Boggart in PoA. The other 25 have never been mentioned at 
all - not even in passing.

Then, most classes have about 20 objects - 20 earmuffs in mandragora 
lesson and 20 brroms in the first flying lesson. While bboy and I had 
an interesting discussion about how many 20 means in that context, 20 
cannot be stretched to 70 as you suggest no matter what.

But then there is Quidditch games, were there are 200 slytherin 
students, which are a fourth of the total number - getting some 800 
students in total. and there are enough carriages for 1000 students, 
and enough tables in the Yule Ball, IIRC (although, as I say, the 
relevant passages are in the FP).

My favourite theory to explain the widely oscillating numbers was 
proposed some time ago by Catlady, and it is called the multiple campus 
theory. The basis is that there are several different "Hogwarts" 
campus, created all over the place to prevent the muggles from noticing 
big concentration of students in one single place, and that those 
schools are run semi-independently from the Hogwarts were Harry is, but 
are still part of the "great" Hogwarts, so to speak. Those other 
students would be allowed to come for special ocations (Balls, 
quidditch matches, TriWizard Tournaments, etc), but the rest of the 
time they would be in their own places.

There are other theories (the most obvious, that there are indeed 25 
students in Gryffindor Harry has failed to notice until now, which I am 
skeptic about), but I don't quite remember them. A quick look in the 
archives should help - and this shouldn't be all to difficult to find 
(try "multiple campus" - that should work).

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf