The Eggplant and Snape and I - Size

[Matt]

No: HPFGUIDX 139393

Here is the quote from Rowling's publication day interview that I
meant to append to my last post.  As I read it, she is confirming that
she envisioned exactly 40 students in Harry's year, although she
concedes that this does not really square with her idea about the
total number of students at Hogwarts (larger, aroung 600) or about the
size of the total British wizarding population (which she apparently
is estimating as approximately 3,000 school-age children, but as she
says "don't hold me to these figures, because that's not how I think").

-- Matt

"Here is the thing with Hogwarts. Way before I finished 'Philosopher's
Stone,' when I was just amassing stuff for seven years, between having
the idea and publishing the book, I sat down and I created 40 kids who
enter Harry's year. I'm delighted I did it, [because] it was so
useful. I got 40 pretty fleshed out characters. I never have to stop
and invent someone. I know who's in the year, I know who's in which
house, I know what their parentage is, and I have a few personal
details on all of them. So there were 40. I never consciously thought,
'That's it, that's all the people in his year,' but that's kind of how
it's worked out. 

Then I've been asked a few times how many people and because numbers
are not my strong point, one part of my brain knew 40, and another
part of my brain said, 'Oh, about 600 sounds right.' Then people
started working it out and saying, 'Where are the other kids
sleeping?' [Laughter.] We have a little bit of a dilemma there. I
mean, obviously magic is very rare. I wouldn't want to say a precise
ratio. But if you assume that all of the wizarding children are being
sent to Hogwarts, then that's very few wizard-to-Muggle population,
isn't it? There will be the odd kid whose parents don't want them to
go to Hogwarts, but 600 out of the whole of Britain is tiny.

Let's say three thousand [in Britain], actually, thinking about it,
and then think of all the magical creatures, some of which appear
human. So then you've got things like hags, trolls, ogres and so on,
so that's really bumping up your numbers. And then you've got the
world of sad people like Filch and Figg who are kind of part of the
world but are hangers on."

See http://tinyurl.com/c9u3c (about halfway down the page).