Number of students at Hogwarts

[Kirstini]

No: HPFGUIDX 69123

Ffred:> As one of the number crunching fraternity, I couldn't help 
noticing the reference in OoP to there being "over a hundred" desks 
in the Great Hall for the OWL exams - which presumably allows us to 
draw the conclusion that that's how many 5th years there are.> 

I stumbled over this when I read it too, but concluded that MWPP's 
year could very possibly be twice the size of Harry's. Their 
generation weren't conceived during a war in which children were 
being murdered indiscriminately. I'd imagine that Voldemort's 
atrocities would make a lot of people think twice about having 
children. I would expect that the OoP first-third years are a lot 
larger, for similar reasons. It does say that the Great Hall 
was "rearranged exactly as Harry had seen it in the Pensieve", but I 
don't really see how there could be so many pupils unheard of in 
Harry's year. Often at university, and a few times at school, I took 
exams with other classes and year groups in the same hall. I wonder 
if there could be a NEWT exam going on at the same time? Oh, why 
can't that woman learn to *count*!
Kirstini