[HPforGrownups] Hogwarts' Dorms

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 79512

On 1 Sep 2003 at 22:04, Robert Jones wrote:

> Also, if the school had to admit exactly five boys and five girls for 
> each class they would have to find them during the admission process 
> before the school year began, and so what would the Sorting Hat have to 
> do?  The students' houses would already have been determined before they 
> got to the Sorting Hat.  Also, it would odd to say "There is a muggle boy 
> in Cornwall who would be perfect for Gryffindor, but we have already 
> determined our five for this year, so we will have to skip him."

Not necessarily - though it's possible.

If *we* were trying to set up a school with a very specific balance of 
people, we would need to do what you describe and deal with it during 
the admissions process. But the world of Harry Potter has a wildcard 
that may make a difference - and that is the existence of magic. And 
possibly, of more significance, hereditary magic. And a world in which 
prophecy - the ability to predict the future - seems to be real, if 
unreliable. 

For all we know (and there is no real evidence for this - just no real 
evidence against it either that I can see) there may be some mystical 
reason that ensures there is a natural balance among young wizards 
entering Hogwarts - maybe the magic quill is enchanted to stop 
collecting names when certain quotas are filled. It's possible - it 
could happen and nobody knows about it.

I am not saying this happens - just there is the wildcard of magic in 
the Potterverse - and we do need to consider it in formulating any 
theories.

Oh - and incidentally, I went to a school with a House system - eight 
houses with 30 new boys entering each house each year. Exactly 30. And 
while they weren't quite as intent of getting precisely the right people 
into each house each year as Hogwarts seems to be, issues such as 
personality, relative talents, etc were considered - and they still 
managed to get people into them in the right numbers, with fairly good 
matches (mostly because a significant number of people had qualities 
that suited multiple houses close to equally well - which again, we see 
with Hermione (G/R) and Harry (G/S)).

Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
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