OOP: prefects & head boy

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 95098

Matt wrote (in June):
Keep in mind that at the end of OoP that Dumbledore states that he
chose Ron as Prefect and not Harry was because Harry had too much on
his mind.  So if Dumbledore chooses Prefects it stands to reason that
he (or whoever is the Headmaster) chooses the Head Boy and Head Girl.

Jason wrote: 
> The thread I'm responding to was posted last June and I could never 
> search all the posts since, but during yet another reread of PoA I 
> noticed something. In PoA Ch 4 pg 61 Scholastic it says,
> 
>     "At that moment Mrs. Weasley entered the bar, laden with 
> shopping bags and followed by the twins, Fred and George, who were 
> about to start their fifth year at Hogwarts; the newly elected Head 
> Boy, Percy; and the Weasleys' youngest child and only girl, Ginny."
> 
>     Newly Elected rather than newly appointed seems to imply popular 
> vote in my mind. Could easily explain the ever popular James getting 
> Head Boy over Prefect Remus.
> 

Carol:
Or the Head Boy and Head Girl could be elected by Dumbledore and his
staff from a suitable pool of candidates (the incoming seventh-year
prefects and other outstanding students). James's marks, IIRC, were
the highest in his year, which would make him a candidate despite his
never having been a prefect. And he could still be elected rather than
appointed if he were elected by a group of teachers rather than the
student body. It could even be as small a group as the heads of
houses, with Dumbledore voting in the case of a tie.

Carol