Wait, I thought normal British schools start earlier in August?

 

It was always first week of September for me.

 

It varies between the last week of August or first week of September depending on the area/school.

 

I have never heard of any English school starting term before September 1st. August 31st is the age cut-off determining which year group you are in.

Also, a lot of schools start later than the first week of September. Mine changed every year but it was frequently around 8th or 9th September.

 

Week 2's thread can be found here.

 

In Northern Ireland, not England or Scotland, but there were a few years that we started on August 30th or 31st if it was a Monday.

 

Same in Canada, I guess I confused my British cousins.

 

First week of September is the usual for secondary schools, primary schools tend to start in the second.

 

Yes, there is even a famous early drawing made by Rowling of that scene that confirms the bathrobes, with Dean Thomas added in.

There was a previous Groundskeeper in Molly's days, who was called Ogg. Fun fact: Og is the name of the king of the giants in the Bible.

Yes you are forgetting. One of the plants for Polyjuice has to be picked by the full moon, and the ritual - for lack of a better word - to cure spattergroit has to be done under the full moon as well. But I think that in general Rowling put Astronomy in because it's traditionally important in mysticism. Seemed to be useful for the centaurs, as well.

 

That's not astronomy though, that's potions. Once again, you don't need to have extensively studied the stars to know to do certain stuff under the full moon. No need for a class if your potions or herbology book simply says "pick this plant when it's a full moon."

Dunno, very thin justification. Would have rather spent the time in charms with another house.
Sesc

I don't think there is any doubting that the Dursleys were abusive. Now, I don't think they have excessively beaten Harry or anything but abuse is not only physical. They did treat him badly. Maybe not nearly as badly as some fanfics would like to believe, but still.

Do we have any numbers for Wizarding Britain in general? And how many purebloods and stuff there are?

 

You can get rough numbers off of Hogwarts. There are two ways of going about it.

Book-only estimate:

5 boys and 5 girls per house per year = 40 students/year

That number is implied by the dorms and the 20 brooms for Slytherin and Gryffindor in their first flying lesson.

Conservative estimate for average wizarding lifespan = 130 years

That estimate being based on Dumbledore being somewhat sprightly at 120, as well as Madam Marchbanks being significantly older than Dumbledore and still working.

40 wizards/year * 130 years of people in the population = 5200 wizards

Interview based estimate:

1000 students in Hogwarts / 7 years = 142 students/year

This number is based on JKR in interview saying Hogwarts held around 1000 students.

Conservative estimate for average wizarding lifespan = 130 years

142 wizards/year * 130 years of people in the population = 18,460 wizards

The problem with the interview based number is that there is no evidence at all that Hogwarts contains those students. Not only are they never even alluded to, there also aren't anywhere near enough teachers for that number of students. So you have to pretend that there's a whole unmentioned body of staff and students. The students you could get away with. You might even be able to say they were day students rather than boarders and that's why they're never really mentioned. But the books seem completely incompatible with the idea that there are additional staff.

So I lean towards the lower estimate, which in any case I think I prefer for the sense of a small community it creates.

In both cases, you have to remember that the population of magical Britain consists not just of wizards but also goblins, vampires, werewolves, hags, etc.

Neither figure sits so well with the size of the wizarding world implied by the Quidditch World Cup final, but you can get around that by saying that the ease of international wizarding transportation via portkey combined with the popularity of the sport means that the World Cup final played host to a significant percentage of the world's total wizarding population.

(If the ratio of British wizards:global wizards is the same as British Muggles:Global Muggles then it's about 1:100, implying a global wizarding population of 520,000. That feels like a good number to me, but it does mean that over 20% of the world's wizards were at the Quidditch World Cup final.)

 

So not hugely text related: I was on holiday when this started so I've just started reading and I'll try to catch up before too too long. This is my first time reading the illustrated edition and it's just lovely. I'm definitely going to buy the second and it'll be a shame to switch back to plain text. I did find I particularly appreciated the introductions of the Dursleys, and I have noticed the simplicity of the language, in how markedly it's aimed at kids, how certain caricatures are put across in an almost Roald Dahl-ish way.

 

So it's pretty much accepted by most that they were say a bit neglectful (In that cupboard is no question awful but that he mostly got food) and mostly mentally abusive?
I always figure astronomy is one of those useless classes that used to be important like a hundred years ago but is still included just because (like say divination-type magic used to be a big fad and some new progressive haedmaster who believed in mystic magic added it in). Just like etiquette irl 1950's and well personally it was required to learn a bit about dining rules and such in family studies as a little kid.

 

Eh, I'd put them as significantly more than a bit neglectful. And don't underestimate what prolonged emotional abuse can do.

That said, the Dursleys are a Dahlian device in that while they did subject Harry to emotional abuse and perhaps physical abuse considering his living conditions with the cupboard and other factors (such as turning a blind eye whenever Dudley does his thing), it's largely played for humor in the series.

Fanfiction which takes the Dursleys seriously or plays up the abuse angle (specifically physical abuse, as it seems to be a favorite staple) is generally missing both the point of the role of the Dursleys in the story as well as the overall tone of Rowling's work.

(For what it's worth though, in reality, any guardian that actually locks up their ward in a cupboard, raises them in a cupboard, and does and says the things the Dursleys do on a regular basis would probably deserve to be locked up.)

 

So Dursley-Harry interaction should be played up but still kept up as neglectful/emotion abuse environment. Still dead curious about how they apparently called him by his name. Fanon has made me think of boy as Harry's second name.

 

Petunia does try to hit him with a frying pan, and Vernon will later attempt to strangle him.

 

The frying pan thing seems like she was trying on purpose to miss, an Vernon may have done that in anger but likely would've let go, no?
Those two examples are generally the exceptions right what with Harry himself thinking in story that they rarely hit him and by many in that time being hit upside the head every once in a while wouldn't be a big thing.
It isn't exactly a big thing right now either.