An acronym, why can't JKR count, etc.

[bowlwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 57788

"Ersatz Harry" <ersatzharry at y...> wrote:
> (4) With the exception of the Weasleys and the Creevys, I can't 
think
> of any instances where siblings of current Hogwarts students are
> named, though there is a reference to Dumbledore's brother and of
> course we know about Lily's sister.  Is there a particular tendency
> for wizard families to have only children?

now bowlwoman:

We've seen a few other families with multiple children mentioned:

The Patil sisters (twins, Parvati is in Gryffindor and Padma is in 
Ravenclaw)

The Delacour sisters (Gabrielle is Fleur's little sister, but I don't 
know if she has wizarding abilities or not as she's only 8)

Molly Weasley's squib second cousin (we can extrapolate from canon 
that one of Molly Weasley's grandparents must have had a sibling in 
order for Molly to have a second cousin)

Neville's great-uncle Algie and great-aunt Enid (probably either 
brother or sister of Neville's grandmother)

Otto Bagman (Ludo's brother; Mr. Weasley helped him out with a 
lawnmower)

Olive Hornby and her brother (Olive was the student who teased 
Moaning Myrtle.  Myrtle then went on to haunt Olive later on and 
Myrtle haunted the brother's wedding)

Bertha Jorkin's second cousin (see explanation above with Molly 
Weasley's second cousin)


So, not a whole lot of sibilings out there, at least that we've seen 
in canon.  It could very well be customary in the WW to only have 1 
child for whatever reason (financial, genetics [the more kids, the 
more likely to get a squib], tradition, etc).  

It could also be very possible that JKR doesn't want to create a 
family tree for each and every student, so she's only mentioning 
family when it makes sense in the story.  We assumed that Draco had a 
mother (and I believe she was mentioned briefly before GoF), but we 
never get her name until the QWC match.

bowlwoman