Families in HP (WAS: An acronym, why can't JKR count, etc.)

[bowlwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 57809

<snip Patil sisters> 
 
bowlwoman wrote:

> > 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.

Ersatz Harry wrote:

> I can certainly buy this argument, but given how many years students
> go to Hogwarts, there is a very good chance that they would overlap
> with any siblings, and you'd think they'd come up in conversation 
once
> in a while.  I was certainly well aware of my school friends'
> siblings, though perhaps only the ones who were very close in age 
got
> discussed with any regularity. 

bowlwoman responded:

I see your point about at least mentioning siblings to your school 
friends.  All of my friends' siblings were actually friends with my 
little sister, so we were all one big happy family.  :) (I grew up in 
a VERY small town.)

Although, we have to factor in that we're looking at the Hogwarts 
students through Harry's eyes and he doesn't know all the students in 
Hogwarts that well.  Everyone there pretty much knows who he is (I 
mean c'mon..he's Harry Potter!), but that doesn't mean he knows them 
well enough to engage in a personal conversation about family members.

He is, of course, in close contact with the Weasleys, and Pavarti is 
in his own house (not to mention her twin went to to the Yule Ball 
with Ron).  We know Hermione is an only child (and we assume Neville 
is as well), but we haven't heard anything about Lavendar Brown, Dean 
Thomas or Seamus Finnigan.  These would be the students with which 
Harry would have the most intimate contact, so the fact that we don't 
know about their familial status is intriguing indeed.

Ersatz Harry also wrote:

>Is JKR an only child?

I know she has a sister, it's mentioned in her bio on the Bloomsbury 
website:

http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/wizard/section/rowling.asp

I read somewhere that her sister's name is Di, but it's not mentioned 
in this bio.

bowlwoman