UPDATE: currently working 2 jobs, so will not be posting anything that IS written until it meets muster.

On a side note: In Harry Potter fanfictions, I've read everything from 10,000 magicals in Great Britain, all the way up to several millions. I figure there's a few simple factors that play a part, that get ignored on a regular basis.

1) Hogwarts has an average of 1,000 students according to J.K. Rowling.

2) Hogwarts is emphatically and repeatedly touted as "the best school of witchcraft and wizardry in the country". This DOES NOT preclude the, frankly probable, existence of other "lesser" schools of magical instruction.

3) In both books and movies, the Ministry of Magic is described as large. By basic extrapolation of visual cues from the movies, and literary perspectives in the books, there are at LEAST several hundred (600 being the bare minimum) employees of the ministry. The implication is that there are far more, more likely thousands working there in shifts.

4) Presuming that inbreeding is not rampant and endemic to a sickening extent (outside of the "noble houses" of the purebloods,) There would have to be a sufficient population to avoid intermarriage for at least a number of generations. Studies done on isolated population groups through census bureaus, and some of the larger universities I've visited, seem to indicate that a generative population of at least 40,000 is indicated, to avoid intermarriage closer than 4th cousins(and even that is a bit icky, imo.)

But the above assumptions do not answer for the existence of several wizarding shopping districts, of which Diagon Alley is only one, and not even the whole thing at that. There's Knocktern Alley, and several other cross-streets implied in book, and visible on-screen. Assuming only one or two employees per establishment that's still several hundred, and not counting people that work with supplying raw materials and sourcing parts, and subcomponents for more complex magical objects.

Consider each potions ingredient on offer at Slug and Jiggers. Given that the theme of the Wizarding world seems to be that almost everything runs in families, each potion ingredient being the province of a single family seems not unrealistic. Barring obvious exceptions for dragon-based ingredients, unicorn products, and those items that are considered "illegal" or "restricted" and thus probably a product of poaching rather than production...

Say a family, small family at that, of only husband, wife, and a child or two, that's 4x1000 (from 1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi), not counting however many (implied is hundreds) of popular and widely-used animal products (hypothetically 3x700), and then assuming that some products take a lot more than that (dragonhide, anyone?) And there are dozens of references of that magnitude. So roughest guess, (drag 7 wands to subdue, 2 to process, 2 to finish, and 1 each to market, ship, distribute, handle the accounts, and at least a dozen to ensure security for the whole expensive process) That's 25 wands right there. So 25x24.

6700 just supplying raw materials. Not counting eating establishments, grocers, clothiers, home furnishings, jewelry, enchanted items like sneakoscopes, publishing houses, writers... The list goes on and on and encompasses hundreds of explicitly-referenced items, jobs, and professions through 8 books of the original series.

40,000 witches and wizards (including children possessing magic) in fact seems ludicrously few, given how much work is done, and all the services provided by the Wizarding World of Great Britain.

I'd peg it at closer to 600,000, honestly. And given that many witches and wizards are NOT taught at Hogwarts, then it is entirely plausible that a band of only a couple hundred Death Eaters would in fact pose an enormous threat to that society as a whole. Realistically, even accounting that wizards and witches CAN live longer than us non-magical folk, most don't. Due to accident, illness, crime, and two magical conflicts in less than 50 years, let's say that roughly an eighth died before hitting 50. Aurors, healers, political figures, and targets of the terrorists in question would probably suffer the most in that instance.

So add 12.5% to the figure of 600,000, and possibly as much as 30% given that a great number of families are considered "extinct" at the time of the first book alone. So probably about 720,000 magicals possessing wands, as of Book 1.

And all of this is conjecture, that takes into account a movie series that is inherently inaccurate. People forget, that due to financial and legal limitations, they could only account for so many regular, full-time performers for the set of Hogwarts. So the movies could be considered to be to scale, rather than literal or proportional to the premises of the books.

Anywho, It's a thing. Figured I'd jot this down so my brain will stop yelling at me about it.

Oh goodness. I promised myself I wouldn't do this. But here I am, doing it anyways.

I love chocolate, pizza, good Italian, Japanese, Korean, and most any cuisine that DOESN'T use cilantro.

I love music, classical and baroque influenced culture, art, and furniture... Especially the furniture. I'm a fan of Bela Lugosi, so sue me.

My loves are fine food, hand-crafted furniture, semi-precious carved items, and all the fun things that happen behind closed doors, and out-of-doors.

I dislike trolls, preferring to be the only troll in the room. Spelling and usage is important to me, however I may mangle the syntax more than a bit. That depends on my moods and energy levels.

UPDATE: As of 2/16/2014, I will be working on adopting the story [url=/s/10064541/1/Rhododendrons]"Rhododendrons"[/url] from the awesome [url=/u/2589862/black-k-kat]black-k-kat[/url]

Please be patient, as this wonderful story deserves lots of work, care, and the time to keep up the standard established.

And since I work a day-job that starts at 5 am every day, writing time is scheduled as I'm able.