In this case I agree- the civil war would be high time for the purebloods to procreate. But there is the other side of the problem- Voldie war I was not a simple war; it was a civil war. More so, it was an ideological civil war. And when it comes to ideology sometimes, even family kills each other (as I think Sirius says in OotP). We know Harry is the last member of the official family. We know that Neville is last member of his family who is both member of the main branch and in the reproductive age. Heck, even Draco is the only member of the Malfoy family (by muggle standards) in the reproductive age group
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Oh, I don't think there's anything odd about Justin's parents sending him to Hogwarts instead of Eton. Wizards can control minds. And they don't want a kid accidentally doing magic in front of witnesses at one of the most prestigious schools in the country. Even if they don't break out the big magical mind-control guns, I think they could be very persuasive if Justin's parents had any hesitation.
But also, as Oryx says, Justin is in Harry's year. So if anything, he's an example of how there wasn't manipulation to lower the number of Muggle-borns that year. On the contrary, they probably made a strong effort to make sure he attended.
I don't know that Hermione's parents are anywhere near rich enough to afford a school on par with Eton (it couldn't be Eton regardless because Eton is boys only), and while I'm not fully versed in British class politics, I don't think dentists generally expect their children to go to such a prestigious school. They probably don't have generations of tradition of the family always going to whichever fancy
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Looking at 'Muggle' statistics, live births in the UK in 1947 were 1,000,000. Between 1947 and 1955, numbers fluctuated at around the 750,000 mark, and then rose from 1956 onwards, peaking in 1964 at 1,000,000. Numbers then declined again, and from 1974-1987 remained under 750,000. If we expect the number of Muggleborns to be a reasonably constant percentage of Muggle births, then there would be fewer in Harry's year than in the Severus/Marauder generation
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That sounds like a good reason for natural class size variation. Much simpler, and no complicated manipulation required.
Thank you for the school information! That's really helpful. (Five is a really small class. I think my smallest-ever number of fellow students in a classroom was 9, as long as you don't count short-term elective classes.) Would the Grangers be likely to be really emotionally attached to the idea of Hermione attending whichever school they'd picked out, because of family tradition or prestige or other reasons? I'm imagining that their child being suddenly shunted into a world they didn't know existed to study subjects they didn't know existed would be a shock for anyone, and they might be disappointed that their child wouldn't be following the career path they'd expected, but would there be something beyond that in the nature of "but I don't care if this Hogwarts is a fancy boarding school and the best of its kind in the world, it's not [school they chose for Hermione]!"
There is normally a tradition of sending children (sons of course in the past) to public school, and Vernon/Dudley/Smeltings is a parody of that. Other than that, I think it would be less a matter of loyalty to a school than concern over what is being studied and what the child's future will be. Hermione's parents to seem to be reasonably onboard with her going to Hogwarts, and, although she says she had no idea she was magical, perhaps her parents have observed things that then make sense to them
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They start Hermione's second year by witnessing a fistfight in a wizarding bookshop, with one of the parties being the father of one of Hermione's best friends. That would probably worry a lot of parents--just how suitable is this new crowd their daughter is attached to? Are they dangerous? And if Hermione writes them regularly (which we don't know she does, but she might initially because it's the correct thing to do), her letters must have suddenly stopped with no explanation when she was Petrified. They might be able to write to Dumbledore (Petunia managed it) to ask, but did they get a response? And what was it? ("Everything's fine, she's just busy, honest...")
And yet we seem to hear less about the Grangers after this unsettling year, not more. That's pretty weird unless they were already unusually emotionally detached from their daughter. Or are afraid of her and prefer the distance. But they might not be, at least not yet, since what we do hear is them organizing nice family vacations--France, skiing. Like they're trying to
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This was actually in Harry's year, Justin Finch Fletchley in Hufflepuff. We hear the story in COS, when the two work together in Herbology.
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But also, as Oryx says, Justin is in Harry's year. So if anything, he's an example of how there wasn't manipulation to lower the number of Muggle-borns that year. On the contrary, they probably made a strong effort to make sure he attended.
I don't know that Hermione's parents are anywhere near rich enough to afford a school on par with Eton (it couldn't be Eton regardless because Eton is boys only), and while I'm not fully versed in British class politics, I don't think dentists generally expect their children to go to such a prestigious school. They probably don't have generations of tradition of the family always going to whichever fancy ( ... )
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Thank you for the school information! That's really helpful. (Five is a really small class. I think my smallest-ever number of fellow students in a classroom was 9, as long as you don't count short-term elective classes.) Would the Grangers be likely to be really emotionally attached to the idea of Hermione attending whichever school they'd picked out, because of family tradition or prestige or other reasons? I'm imagining that their child being suddenly shunted into a world they didn't know existed to study subjects they didn't know existed would be a shock for anyone, and they might be disappointed that their child wouldn't be following the career path they'd expected, but would there be something beyond that in the nature of "but I don't care if this Hogwarts is a fancy boarding school and the best of its kind in the world, it's not [school they chose for Hermione]!"
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And yet we seem to hear less about the Grangers after this unsettling year, not more. That's pretty weird unless they were already unusually emotionally detached from their daughter. Or are afraid of her and prefer the distance. But they might not be, at least not yet, since what we do hear is them organizing nice family vacations--France, skiing. Like they're trying to ( ... )
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