sylvelle posted a comment on Saturday 7th March 2015 4:20pm for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

I think the smaller number of students is due to the first war with Tom. So many died, so very few births but if they did have 1000 students they would need more teachers.

Harold Clark posted a comment on Wednesday 1st October 2008 4:40am for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

Okay, I'm sorry about calling you out on the anti-union sentiments you expressed a few chaptrs ago. Though I still think you have the wrong end of the stick re: Unionism, you obviously are an equalitarian and believe that individuals should rise to each person's level of competence (or incompetence as the case may be). I just hope that you will see the truth in the solidarity issue of Unionism sometimes.

soloven posted a comment on Saturday 14th April 2007 5:58am for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

First of all Love the story.
As to your questions...
I think the biggest point to remember is that cannon is written entirely from Harry's point of view. Although I don't believe there are multiple teachers per subjects (There is a curse on the DADA positiion and only one new teacher for this subject per year) however that does not preclude more than one group per house, Cannon has never stated an exact schedule for the students They have only gone into Harry's schedule at any length, however from that we know that there is at least 2 classes before Lunch even if one of them is a double, they always have at least 1 free period sometime during the day(sometimes the have whole mornings or afternoons free), My personal conclusion to this is that there are 7 or 8 class periods a day(I perfer think 8 for simplicity),That means that each teacher could theoretically teach 5 classes per year group still giving the teacher 1 free period a day. so your theory of 2 groups for each house is possible if they only do a double Period for each group one out of every four weeks.
as for anyone who says the other students would have been mentioned at some point. I would like to point out the we still know nothing about the other 2 gryph girls that room with Granger, brown, and Patil.

On a side note something has to account for where all the other studets are, does Britan have anoher magic school. I mean come on we don't know much about the world outside hogwarts but we do know that Britian has 13 quidditch teams at the bare minimum of 11 players per team (7 for the actual team 4 reserves 1 for each position) thats 143 players. with a players career lasting about 14 years thats 10 students a year going professional. in other words there has to be significantly more students out there otherwise there would be obsolutly no worries at all about getting a job as the problem would be that there a not enough people to fill the amount of jobs out there.

kb0 posted a comment on Monday 9th April 2007 1:08pm for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

I just found this story and it is quite interesing. You're really taking your time getting H/G together, but oh well, sometimes the good stuff just takes the time it takes. :-) I guess the question is if H/G will get together before the end of this year, or if it will not be until next year when Ginny goes into the Palidin program. I think/hope it will be this year as H/G work on the new magical theory guide/spells. You're a good writer, you make the story very interesting -- kudos! I like "strong" and "take control" Harry stories. Hmm, I may have to go make myself read TGD; I prefer H/G stories, but a good H/Hr story is nice from time to time. :-)

It will also be interesting to see when Harry "can't take it anymore" and goes after Fudge to send him on is way to a new job; and the same thing with Umbridge.

In reference to you question, I've seen the 1000 number given by JKR, but I've also seen a later interview where she backs down from that and said it should be in the 400-700 range (I believe that was after someone pointed out the math problem, and she also said she was bad at math). Looking at cannon, I'll agree, there seems to be about 6-10 new students per house per year. Let's say 40 firsties to be sorted every year, times 7 years, and we get about 300 in round numbers. Assuming some of the upper classes are a bit bigger that takes you near her lower 400 number. Why are the upper classes bigger? Because now that Voldie has returned, more families are not sending their kids to Hogwarts for safety reasons. If the war were to go on long enough, I would predict the number of students at Hogwarts would drop to be around 100-150. There will always be some diehard parents who will send their children there no matter what. The question arises: How small will the population have to be before the Board of Gov. closes the school because it becomes too expensive to run it?

So no, I do not believe there are multiple dorm rooms for the same year in the same house. If required, the dorm rooms would expand. :-) Either the castle would take care of it, or the house-elves would.

I look forward to more of the story.

hptrump posted a comment on Friday 6th April 2007 2:27pm for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

Even more important, will Harry ever find love?
is not the question. It should be will Harry allow himself to love the one he knows he loves. He needs a mule to kick him up side the head. If he wants to be like Tom Riddle with not love he is heading there fast.

Bram posted a comment on Wednesday 4th April 2007 2:03pm for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

I would really honestly buy books written this well, with your own characters of course. This is incredibly well written, there is a hook at the beginning of each chapter, a cliffhanger at the end, and some thrilling movement in the middle of each chapter as well. Your stories flow well and are a joy to read. Thank you for sharing them with us.

Nial posted a comment on Saturday 31st March 2007 11:43am for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

None of JKR's numbers work. There's no point in trying to reconcile them, because they don't. I think she just picks numbers out of the air on the fly. How students in Hogwarts? Er...a thousand. Ish. How many in each bedroom? Five. Three. Six. How many Slytherins and Gryffindors doing potions together in Harry's year? 71? What?! no, about 15. How many magical people in the UK? Er...ten thousand. Twenty thousand. Er... None of the numbers fit, because really, I think she just isn't interested in stuff like this.

I'm enjoying the story a lot. As for the religious aspect - I'm not a Christian myself, but you'd have to be blind to miss the Christian influence on the canon story, both in the surface imagery and the underlying themes. Not surprising, since JKR is a practicing Christian herself. (And that's far more interesting than her apparent inability to divide 1000 by 14...) So if you want to make that aspect more explicit in your story, why not? I enjoy reading your response to JKR's work.

Yukatado posted a comment on Saturday 31st March 2007 3:27am for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

I absolutely love this story. What is going on with people claiming that Harry Potter is a secular story? When I first started reading it, I picked up on more blatantly and unmistakeably Christian symbolism in the first chapter than I've seen in almost any other book in a long time. Haven't any of them read a book called "Finding God in Harry Potter"? It outlines ALL of the Christian symbolism in the books (up to six, iirc).

Anyway, I think you are a very skilled writer, and I cannot wait to see more of this story. I love the Christianity incorperated into the story as well. It's good that the wiches and wizards of the Potter-verse are open to being saved. Afterall, if they have souls that can be ripped apart to make horcruxes, then I suppose that means that they have souls that can be, and subsequently need to be saved. That should have been fairly obvious to most people from the begining.

Anyway, you mentioned that there exists a scant few writers who encorperate Christian themes - do you think you can send me links to their stories? I'd love to read those too.

Anaknisatanas posted a comment on Thursday 29th March 2007 11:43am for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

Hm... well it could possibly work... but I don't know for sure what the class schedules were like in canon. Is there any time where a class schedule is completely listed for Harry? If so I could probably figure out a way to make it work if I had that information. Unfortunately I don't have any of the early books, only OotP and HPB. Even a partial class schedule from canon would help me figure out a way to make it work for a 1000 students spread over 7 years and all the teachers listed in canon subjects to be the only ones teaching their subject.

Also, for classes that Dumbledore mentioned that had to do with business and government, will you be having OC characters or bringing in some canon character to do some part-time teaching?

Sterling posted a comment on Sunday 25th March 2007 12:26pm for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

I just want to let you know that I like your writing...But I really feel that the two versions of the story are unnecessary. It is the same exact story with just a few paragraphs here and there traded out and even those paragraphs are remarkably similair except for the whole "shipping" business. It almost seems that you are plagarising yourself (Yes, I know this is technically impossible but it feels that way.) The fact that In your stories Harry has romantic feelings for two different girls should make the stories much less convergent. The whole "ripples in a pond" effect and all that.

With that said please note that I am quite enjoying reading the "Granger Defense". I do admire your quality of writing. So I will probably just continue with that one and pretend that "Great Scott..." doesn't exist :-)
Not for any shipping reason though. It just happens to be the one I started reading first.

Please don't take my negative comments as an insult. It is just my own opinion on the matter. Good day and good writing.

skinny_santa posted a comment on Sunday 25th March 2007 6:44am for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

The only thing that jumps to mind about the teaching situation is that classes are not every day, and that the later years probably only have one or two classes of each subject per year, as in the sixth year potions class.

Good luck.

Glurb posted a comment on Friday 23rd March 2007 6:26am for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

As for the question :

1. It's often mentioned that two houses attend the same subject at the same time (for instance, Potions is a Gryffindor-Slytherin course). Now I made some calculations :

let's say that each year, 30 students enter each house (That's 120 students in a year, and 840 students in the whole school, close enough to 1000 for what I mean). If every house in every year had separate courses, it would mean that a teacher like MacGonagall would have to work 28 hours a week at least, let's say 56 (two hours a week for one class). If two houses have the same timetable concerning Transfiguration, let's say Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw and Gryffindor-Slytherin, and that in each year, then McGonagall only has to teach 28 hours a week. That's quite a lot, but I know that it is actually the case for teachers in some countries.



2. Concerning other subjects, since they're optional, I think that only one professor is needed.


I don't know if I made myself clear (I'm French, and I happen to be tired right now too), but this message aimed at showing that the situation stated by JKR is possible.


As for the dormitories and the Common Room, I always thought of them as uqite large : don't we say "Gryffindor Tower" and "Slytherin Dungeons"? It implies quite a lot of space.



By the way, I don't know if I already reacted, but that last chapter was unsurprisingly as good as the former ones, even better maybe (I like magical politics).

Jack-A-Roe posted a comment on Thursday 22nd March 2007 10:44am for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

I just read all 14 chapters of the story and thought I should give my thoughts.

First of all, I'd like to give high marks to you and your beta's for writing a story that has only a couple of errors in the actual writing.

I also want to commend you on the task you set for writing two parallel stories. I think it will become much more difficult the farther you go and I wish you luck.

Your plot seems very original and I liked the battle around Mrs. Figgs house.

You've got a good & bad thing going with all the detail you put into the history of the story. While it gives us a firm backround into the story it also slows it down, sometimes painfully. You are attempting to do what JKR could not do. The good is that we have a deeper understanding of things the bad is that it makes the story seem out of focus. I doubt you will ever be able to have a healthy mixture and some will criticize no matter which way you go.

The most awkward part of the story was finding out how much Harry had learned while being trapped at home. It seemed to spring up out of no where. And yes I realize that you did mention it, but I don't think it was emphasized enough for the reader to be taken by surprise. The flashbacks help but I still think it felt awkward (for lack of a better term).

The religious viewpoints are a non-issue as long as they have a reason. Without a reason they will be as out of place as the fanfic writers who explain Harry going to the toilet. So if we see it helping Harry calm down, etc. no one has a reason to complain.

Best of luck with your writing!

anonymous5 posted a comment on Tuesday 20th March 2007 1:36pm for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

re: your special request.... I humbly present that JKR is simply a vastly better writer than she is a mathematical logistician, and leave it at that. :)

Thank you so much for another beautiful story. I would take issue with Harry's "Great day in the morning" exclamation - the only time and place I have ever heard it used in unironic fashion was from a young South Carolinian of exceedingly rural upbringing, which I would place at odds with Harry's suburban British background. It broke the spell, as it were, that you wove so creatively with the entire rest of the chapter. That aside, it was your typically brilliant style & prose. Thanks for posting; I'm really looking forward to the next installment!

Brad Crawford posted a comment on Monday 19th March 2007 9:24am for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

an excellent chapter i love the explanation of the wisengamont! and the other details and the dead death morons! keep up the awesome writing!

Wolf550e posted a comment on Monday 19th March 2007 9:07am for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

regarding your question on scheduling difficulties in Hogwarts: the simple answer is that JKR suffers from acalculia, as has been demonstrated time and time again. There are roughly 10*4*7=280 students at the school, and only the staff that have been mentioned.
The same answer applies to questions regarding students staying past their 7th year, the ages of the Weasley children, the size of Hogwarts' Quidditch pitch, calendar mismatches and the size of the magical population of Britain.

Tanydwr posted a comment on Monday 19th March 2007 2:49am for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

Awesome chapter. I love political!Harry (although I don't think I've ever seen that particular tag).
Personally, I think it depends when JKR's thinking about. It would make sense for there to be fewer students in the older years because of the war - people were less likely to have children with a war on (unless they're a Weasley), not to mention that many parents and pureblood families were killed. We see the Bones, Crouch, Black, Prewett and McKinnon lines all ended during one or other war. (Which leads me to wonder. Molly was a Prewett. They were a pureblood line - what happened to their vote - if they had one? Did it cede to the Weasleys, and then get ceded somewhere else because they couldn't vote? Or do the Weasleys have a bunch of votes that are in stasis since no one else can actually take them over? Did the Umbridge family nick their votes - that being why there were so many of them?)
In any case, with the war and everything - including killing any young Muggle-borns - the years from probably about Percy's year to Ginny's (Ginny being born the August before Harry won) are going to be smaller. It seems likely, however, that the years after Ginny's would be bigger - the students who were safe in Hogwarts during the war grow up and have kids, and there may well have been a baby-boom after Voldemort was defeated (though obviously not as dramatic as those after the World Wars). On the other hand there's textual evidence for at least one other girl in Gryffindor (the Boggart scene in PoA - two unnamed girls, one's Lavender, but we don't know who the other is). It's highly possible that there are at least a few more students in the year that we've scene. Not to mention the fact that some houses may be bigger than others. If Hufflepuff is generally non-exclusive, it's possible that it will have the greatest numbers. Slytherin may well have fewer, due to the modern pureblood prejudices - the Sorting Hat may try to protect those not 'pure' enough from modern discrimination. Ravenclaw and Gryffindor - well, bravery and intelligence are relative terms. It's possible to be part of all the houses, and get placed in one for the need to balance up, or hidden qualities. Harry was easily a candidate for all three (I think the talent comment could easily fit Hufflepuff).
Whew, long talk there!
I also suspect that there are more teachers than it seems. After all, the elective teachers must have free time. Is it possible they teach other classes to the first and second-years - Harry and co. just happened to get the main core teachers? Perhaps they get in specialists for the upper years. Although we do know that some classes are combined - such as the NEWT-classes, not to mention Potions, Flying and Herbology. And you've mentioned the short courses and such - might not the teachers in question teacher the lower years certain classes as well, and it's the luck of the year as to whether you get general teachers or specialists? (E.g. All my science teachers taught all three to the Year 7s and 8s - that's HP first and second-year in Britain - JKR uses the old-fashioned term, likely in use when she was at school - but each science teacher had their own speciality they taught the upper years, e.g. my biology teacher taught 'Balanced Sciences' to the lower years, and Biology to the upper years.) It's possible that something similar occurs in HP, though hard, since the subjects *are* so different to 'Muggle' ones. But it's the same way that General Studies is taught by various other teachers at A-Level - it doesn't have a specific teacher - owing to the General nature. (No pun intended.) Similarly, Business Studies was taught by teachers who also taught ICT. History teachers doubled up as Religious Education teachers - or RE teachers also taught PSE (Personal Social Education). That happened to me my first year. We had RE before lunch and PSE after - quite a phenomenon, according to our teacher. We were lovely before lunch, and terrors afterwards!
And of course, there's always the horrific substitute teacher. Although again, where Snape found the time to sub for Lupin when he was also supposed to be teaching potions... Alan Rickman didn't look well in the film though - maybe he *was* using a time-turner. Or, of course, we could risk chalking it up to the fallibility of the author!
In any case, hopefully I've been vaguely useful. Very long, but when I enjoy something, and you ask me questions, I often end up having lots to say!
Lol, Tanydwr

Cliff Bryner posted a comment on Monday 19th March 2007 1:53am for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

Again. I couldn't put it down. Simply marvelous. You make me want to read more history. You are as pedantic as Charles Dickens, but I can't resist yours or his. Thank you so very much.

CootiePatootie posted a comment on Monday 19th March 2007 1:28am for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

ASV,

Thanks for the heads up as I had not realized 14 posted along with 13. Woohoo! Two updates at once!

Chapter comments: great job, as usual. Loved the nod to Makers of Fine Wands which is a fantastic story - and is actually when I came to be a constant reader (c) of yours! Harry & the reality of the Wiz was interesting and really, really showed up how prejudiced and stupid some of the older people are. I am very very interested to see what happens with the whole thing.

Mr. Smith's explanation of why "Zacky" hates Harry seems, I don't know, unfinished or something. At the very least, it does not fit with his description of Zack as the ultimate 'Puff. Maybe some more about that in the "private conversation"?

Harry's takedown of the de's was brilliantly done. Quick and to the point. Looking forward to the fallout from that. The auror's reaction to the attack was a bit unclear, that's another thing the "private conversation" can address.

on to more general things: (1) I just wanted to let you know the reason you gave Ginny (I think in the last chapter) for choosing her as his partner in Spell Mongering instead of Hermione is the reason that I think this story works out a bit better than the Granger Defense. In all seriousness, I can't see Hermione overcoming her reliance on all things book/authority based. Every step would be a battle or at least a confrontation. Just my 2 cents.

As for Hoggy Hoggy Hogwarts, I am following another story right now that had a great explanation that (almost) accounted for the capacity mentioned by JKR and the seeming incongruence of 6 - 10 people per dorm per year, max. It's called Altered Destinies and is found here http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3155057/1/

In this fic, Harry has gone 50 years back in time, and Hogwarts is much more populated. He surmised that more than half the wizarding world was lost between the fight with Hitler/Grindelwald and the first war with Voldemort. That is something to think about, perhaps Harry could find references to several professors of transfig/DADA/charms, etc., similar to what will be happening to him, and approach Prof. Dumbledore about it. Then Dumbledore can explain to him the great cost of (pick one) the drive to defeat Grindelwald or the first reigh of TMR.

Oh well, just food for thought.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers,

CP

Gardengirl posted a comment on Monday 19th March 2007 12:57am for Chapter Fourteen - Harry and the Wizengamot

I enjoyed this long, meaty chapter immensely! I'm glad Harry has found a mentor and ally, and I look forward to his locking horns with Fudge and Umbridge. I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to see him somehow restore the Weasley votes from that horrid old toad :D