website SPOILERS . Who goes to Hogwarts

[kjirstem]

No: HPFGUIDX 119823



> 
> Alla wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > I did not see anybody commenting on this piece of info on JKR 
> website 
> > yet. 
> 
> Lexicon Steve wrote: 
>
> What I immediately noticed is that she only half-way answered the 
> question. So did Stan Shunpike go to Hogwarts? How common is it for 
> people NOT to go? All this tells us is that the invitation goes out. 
> What percentage of people say yes? If almost everyone says yes, then 
> the total number of school age Wizarding children in Britain is 
> frightfully small -- at most a thousand, as per Jo's comment. That's 
> the size of a small high school in the United States, and most 
> communities have a number of such high schools. 
> 
> If, on the other hand, most families turn down the position in favor 
> of having the kids go into a trade, then the Wizarding World is a 
> bit more reasonable size. 
> 
> I should have rephrased the question...and I spent a month writing 
> those questions, hoping to avoid this sort of thing!
> 

kjirstem: 

IMO there was another variable left open by the phrasing of JKR's
answer, which was kids who show magic ability *after* the age of 11. 
She says, "Everyone who shows magical ability before their eleventh
birthday will automatically gain a place at Hogwarts;..."

I vaguely recall JKR saying something about magical ability usually
showing up in young kids, but surely there are some kids whose ability
isn't shown until after their eleventh birthday.  What happens to
them?  Neville only showed his ability under pretty extreme conditions
IMO.  I wonder what would have happened if his family hadn't been so
bent on testing him to destruction.