[HPforGrownups] The number of students at Hogwarts, was Re: Questions about Prefects & Head Boy/Girl

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 100204

On 6 Jun 2004 at 19:49, Alina wrote:

> I think there are about 800 students at Hogwarts. I have just finished
> rereading a scene in PoA which describes that Gryffindor vs Slytherin
> Quidditch match. It described 3/4s of the school supporting Gryffindor and
> 200 Slytherins wearing green cloaks. If we assume that each house as roughly
> the same amount, then there'd be around 800 students. Even if the houses
> don't, surely it can't be 200 Slytherins vs 70 others? Let me type up the
> exact words from the Canadian edition, chapters called "The Quidditch
> Final":

The problem, Alina, is that there is conflicting evidence in the 
text. There's some statements, such as the one you've found, that 
support a large school with somewhere around 800-1000 students. 
There's other statements that support a small school with around 
270 students - so it depends what weight you give to the different 
statements.

Personally, I favour the smaller number - I can quite easily 
believe that on certain occasions, large numbers of former students 
turn up to support their house in sports, and maybe even parents as 
well. It certainly happened at my school on occasion - and in our 
case, it was a lot harder for many to get there than just 
apparating to the nearest village.

But the issue really comes down to their being conflicting evidence 
- and it's something that gets debated over and over again.


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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