>I guess I should have answered yes to that "Have you ever disagreed with 
>Rowling based on evidence from the books" question... That'll bring me up to 
>a 84% :D

I have my own theory on this. Could it be that perhaps there -are-, as JKR says, 1,000 students, she just doesn't make mentions of all of them? Yes, we know how many people are in the bedroom, but is that really the only one in the whole tower? The castle is huge, I think there are alot more students in each year that just aren't mentioned. I think Dean, Neville, and the others are mentioned and have 'speaking parts' and identities(even if they are limited at this time) because they do share the same bedroom quarters, even though they don't spend the majority of their time there.  
Also, when the dining hall is described time after time, it's described in such a way that I have a hard time imagining there only being around 200 students +staff. 
I could be wrong though, of course. I never claim to know everything :)
~Echo

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