Number of Students at Hogwarts

[Doriane]

No: HPFGUIDX 69035

James" wrote:

> We din't know numbers for all the houses.  Logically there would be
> more people in some houses than others, if the Sorting hat sorts for
> ability and not 'make it even'ness.

Especially according to the last Sorting Hat's song : Slytherin, 
Ravenclaw and Gryffyndor are "choosy", but Hufflepuff takes all the 
rest.

> I think we need to refer back to Harry again.  We see the WW through
> him and so notice what he does.  When he looks along the staff table
> he only 'sees' the people he knows,

I seem to remember that at least once or twice, we get a full account 
of all the teachers at the staff table. And there are only those we 
know. Which now that I think of it is weird, since it doesn't leave 
any teacher for Muggles studies for example. I'd have to re-read 
that, but still I'm pretty sure we are given a full description of 
the whole table at least once or twice.
And then of course, maybe you have many loners like Trelawney, who 
don't come and eat with the others...

> and this must be true with the students.  The boys in his dormitory 
> feature heavily, others barely mentioned.

Yes, but still ! At the beginning of the year, the door to his 
dormitory always bear a sign saying "x year". And that dormitory is 
described as containing only 5 beds. So if there were other boys in 
Gryffyndor in Harry's year, how would they know who was supposed to 
go in which dormitory ? The sign should have been more precise, 
especially in 1st year : "1st years, L-Z", for example, or a list of 
names. But it just said "1st years", and it contains only 5 beds, and 
no other boys are ever mentioned in his year and House, so it's 
pretty clear that there are only 5 boys in Gryffyndor in Harry's 
year. And if that's any indication of the total number of students, 
then there's no way there can be 1000 students in the school.

HOWEVER : the school can very much have been conceived with that 
number (1000) in mind. We have to remember that Harry and Co were 
born at the end of the 1st LV War. Which means that for years, most 
wizard families didn't have many kids (the Weasleys being the 
exception :-), because people tend to delay having kids while at war. 
But once the war ended, there was most probably a baby boom. So, 
between the Muggle-born children whose number never decreased since 
their parents weren't concerned with the LV War, and the baby boom, I 
guess the years after Harry might be much more crowded.

Del