HOW many classmates?/ Are there an equal number of students in each house?

[Jim Ferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 91503

Ffred: I get the impression from the books that once JKR had said 
publicly that there are around 1000 students at Hogwarts, all the 
references to numbers (not only this one, which I hadn't noticed 
before, but also the Yule Ball, the exam scene, etc) are all written 
with that in mind. <<<

Melz:   For Harry's year, there should be 5 boys and 5 girls in his 
house... right? Logically, wouldn't that mean that there are 40 in 
each year, and around 280 students in the school...? "

The "number of students" argument is one of the oldest on this board 
and sometimes most contentious.  The Harry Potter Lexicon has a good 
précis of the arguments for all sides.  I am one of the principals of 
a middle number between 450 and 500.  The most numerous party is 
the "about 300" party. 

I think this is way too small for a viable wizarding society, and 
there are a number of canon hints for a larger number, but plenty of 
evidence for the smaller number, too. 

The notion I wanted to argue against is the "5 boys, 5 girls in each 
house/ each year" argument.  There is strong evidence against it and 
only assuming for it.

We're pretty sure there's five boys in Gryffindor in Harry's year.  
If there's more in another room, we haven't heard about them, and we 
should have.  We've only heard of three girls: Hermione, Lavender, 
and Parvati.  We don't know if there's all there is or if there's 
more, and ****we know nothing about other Houses or other years.**** 
I say we absolutely can't make any assumptions about any other House 
or year.

The Sorting Hat says that it will look in your head and "put you 
where you ought to be."  No allocation.  No quota. No ten per house 
per year.  The Hat puts students where they should go based on their 
personalities and traits, and lets the chips fall where they may.  
How could it do anything else?  We know a magical quill writes down 
the name of a magical child when he or she is born, and those 
children are invited to Hogwarts when they turn 11.  Over time the 
number will average out, but there's room for variation from year to 
year.

If you accept there's no quotas,  then a lot of things are possible.  
It seems intuitive that there are a lot more "ordinary" kids 
(Hufflepuffs) than brainy Ravenclaws, heroic Gryffindors, or  
ruthless Slytherins.  There's no evidence one way or the other. And 
you have to wonder why a mere 300 students study in that enormous 
castle.

There's really a problem with any number you can come up with.  Using 
usual parent/child proportions, I came up with a wizard population of 
only about 4,000 if there's only 300 students, not nearly enough to 
support a Quidditch league, Diagon Alley, Bertie Bott's, Gladrags, 
Flourish and Blott's,  the _Daily Prophet_, and so on and so on.

JKR's, shall we say, imprecisions are going to fuel this forever.

Jim Ferer