Prefects

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 156979

Lady Lawyer wrote:
> I don't know how the prefect system works but it's only two people 
> from each year, a girl and a boy, so 14 in all, plus head boy and 
> head girl.  That's not too many I don't think.
>
Carol responds:
With two Prefects (a boy and a girl) from each House for three years,
that's eight per year times three (or six per House times four),
totalling 24. Granted, that seems like a lot of Prefects for 280
students (if Harry's year is typical), but as others have indicated,
Hogwarts probably had many more students before VWI greatly reduced
the population, so the number was less disproportionate in earlier
generations. Also, the students have *no* adult supervision in their
common rooms or dormitories, so six per House (and about seventy
students per House) doesn't seem like too many to me, especially since
so many Prefects appear to be ineffectual--afraid that the Weasley
Twins and other mischievous students will hex them, I suppose. (About
the only effective Prefects we've seen are Percy and Hermione. Remus
Lupin was a failure, and Ron, much as I hate to say it, abuses his
Prefect privileges, as when he confiscates the Fanged Frisbee for his
own use.

Carol, noting that JKR is inconsistent regarding whether Prefects can
deduct House points--Percy does it in CoS (IIRC), but Ernie says that
they can't do it in OoP