Various, inc. other uses for the Sorting Hat

[Aleks]

No: HPFGUIDX 24332

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Tabouli" <tabouli at u...> wrote:
attend the deathday party, after all.
> 
> > I'm still convinced that the Weasleys *are* nobility, albeit 
impoverished and struggling nobility.  They're an old wizarding 
family, after all.  I'm open to correction from British listmembers 
and other people who know more about this than me, but I've always 
thought that in Britain your "class" is based much more on your 
bloodline and land ownership than on how much actual money you have.  
In fact, those of noble blood would be greatly insulted to be lumped 
with those vulgar nouveaux riches (sp?  I never know with these 
French borrowings) peasants who've earned money through something as 
common as work.  My idea was that the Weasleys, after generations of 
dividing up the family estate among dozens of red-haired children and 
selling off property to support them, ended up reduced to the plot of 
land where The Burrow stands and having to work for a living.  OTOH, 
the Malfoys, through scrupulous years of one child families, still 
have a sweeping family estate and fortune.
> 
I'm a British listmember and I wanted to say you are completely right 
about this. I was reading a newspaper article yesterday about some 
member of the nobility who lives in a council house. I assumed the 
same as you did that the Weasley's are, if not actually nobility, 
then the next best thing to it. As for the Malfoy's, if you are rich 
enough it is perfectly possible to buy the ancestral home of some 
noble in financial difficulties. I think someone has already 
said, "ill gotten gains." Just because they have the estate and money 
doesn't  mean they have the bloodline to match.

> The other thing I've been musing on in none other than that ol' 
Sorting Hat.  "There's nothing hidden in your head the Sorting Hat 
can't see", eh?  Does this mean that you could get a complete rundown 
on a person's thoughts and intentions simply by slapping the Hat on 
them?  Is the Hat bound to a code of secrecy, or is it prepared to 
talk about what it sees in people's heads to other people, e.g. 
Dumbledore?  Hey, why bother with Veritaserum when he could just try 
the hat on every new DADA teacher that walks through the door?
> 
> "You may look just like Moody,
> But the Sorting Hat's no slouch:
> I see from what's inside your head    
> That you are Barty Crouch!
> 
> You're planning to kill Harry    
> Raise Lord Voldemort, and more,    
> Bad luck, my friend, I've caught you out    
> I'm telling Dumbledore!"
> 
> And so on.  Hey, sure beats the Myer-Briggs for sorting out job 
candidates...
> 
Just my humble opinion, but I think the hat doesn't see clear 
thoughts unless directed at it (ie/ Harry's dialogue). And perhaps it 
can only tell people about themselves - in the words of Aslan, 'I 
cannot tell anyone somebody else's story...' (paraphased, C.S.Lewis - 
The Horse and His Boy).

Aleks