This Harry Potter Theory Explaining Why Harry's Class Was So Small Will Devastate You

Fan thinks they finally figured out why the class we follow in the books and movies is much smaller than the other ones at Hogwarts

By Jenna Mullins May 26, 2016 7:15 PMTags
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Hey, Harry Potter fans. Have you cried over the book series/movie franchise lately? If not, we're here to help! And by "help," we mean stab a dagger of feels right into the heart.

Tumblr user marauders4evr has finally figured out the reasoning behind a discrepancy among the Hogwarts classes that you probably never thought of today. According to J.K. Rowling herself, there are about 1,000 students at Hogwarts, and seven years. So, divided evenly, that means each year should have about 143 students. Yep, buckle up, kids. This theory involves MATH.

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There are four houses within Hogwarts, so if you divide the number of students per year, you get 35 little wizards in each house. But when Harry enters Hogwarts, he only has around 18 classmates in Gryffindor. What gives with the small class size?

The theory behind that will probably make you very sad and cry over Lily and James Potter all over again.

"What if there were less students in the Hogwarts Class of 1998 because the period when the other kids would have been conceived (1979-1981) was when Voldemort's reign of power was at its peak?" they write. "Between the dozens of adults who joined the Order, the dozens of civilians who were killed in Death Eater raids, and the dozens of adults that didn't want to bring a child into the world, just then…It's actually entirely possible that there was a baby drought for a few years in the wizarding world, leading to a smaller class size a decade later."

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So basically Voldemort ruining the world back in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s is the reason there weren't more wizards born to later attend Hogwarts. And who would have guessed that the small class born during that horrible time would eventually go on to be instrumental in defeating the Dark Lord for good? That's pretty cool.

This theory once again proves that you can never stop learning new things from the world of Harry Potter. And that fact in itself is pretty damn magical.

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Life Beyond Harry Potter