[HPforGrownups] Re: What's in the Box?

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 177019

From: Random832 <random832 at fastmail.us>
>> Bart:
>> First of all, while the canon is kind of self-contradictory on this, there 
>> APPEAR to be about 10 students in each house in each class (about 40 per 
>year,
>> about 280 students in the school).

Random832:
>Whoa, there. This is what happens when everyone's so obsessed with the 
>numbers - There are 10 students for each house in Harry's year *that JKR 
>has defined* - backgrounds, personalities, etc (even that haven't 
>appeared on her page, it's all presumably in her notes given the list 
>we've seen) - it's a sketch of the student body, a way for her to model 
>the reactions of the larger group. It's a microcosm.

Bart:
The estimate of the student body only made it more likely that they were roommates; it still is a reasonable assumption even assuming that JKR math is at its usual levels. 

Consider: Let's say that each potions course that Professor Snape teaches is (and this is a very conservative estimate), 4 hours per week. Assuming that Harry's case is typical, he teaches two houses, same year, in each class. If he teaches EVERYBODY from the same year at once (it is at least implied that Potions is always a required class), then that's 4 x 2 x 6 = 48 hours a week, plus his advanced class. OK, change the periods to 45 minute periods, and you get a teaching schedule closer to 40 hours a week. Now, did you get the impression that his classes had more than 20 students in them? Of course, it is a reasonable supposition that JKR never considered this. But that merely changes my supposition that the 4 were roommates from a near-certainty to a high probability.

Bart