Percy Weasley and his ambitions

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 30497

One thing to keep in mind about Percy W. is that ambition is not an
exclusive property of Slytherins---and that probably almost everybody at
Hogwarts would fit into more than one House.

The Sorting Hat can see all of your personality (cue pic from most recent
_MAD_ magazine...Sorting Hat on Alfred E. Neuman's head, visualizing a
toilet) but can only put you into _one_ house.  I wrote once at some
considerable length (in a fic) about how Hermione would have fit very well
into all the Houses.  She has great bravery, of course, which is what made
her a Gryffindor...but she's as book-smart as any of the Ravenclaws, has
work-ethic enough to make most of the Hufflepuffs look like lazy louts, and
has ambition enough (to be the BEST witch she can be) to make the Slytherins
we've met look rather lackadasial and laid-back.  Remember how the Hat told
Harry that he'd do well in Slytherin?  Harry is, to us, the archetypical
Gryffindor, and we see Gryffindor and Slytherin as total, Manichaean
opposites, but Harry would, according to an acknowledged expert, have
thrived in Slytherin.

I'd imagine that within Gryffindor House, there are quite a few people who
are _not_ totally Brave.  Percy might have been a rather Slytherin-ish
Gryffindor...brave, but with a burning ambition to better himself.  Hermione
is a very Ravenclaw-ish Gryffindor.  Neville Longbottom strikes me as a
rather Hufflepuff-ish Gryffindor.  Similarly, within Slytherin House, you
could have people who share a lot of characteristics with other Houses...a
Slytherin who is, admittedly, ambitious, but who sees sheer hard work as the
way to succeed, and so works very hard, a Slytherin who is ambitious but
also regularly faces fear and overcomes it, or a Slytherin who is
ambitious---to be the wizard that makes new discoveries in the world of
magic, and who hits the books day and night, trying to soak up all the
knowledge he or she can.

I would bet that there were Death Eaters from all the houses, as
well...otherwise investigation would have been much easier; just go after
all the Slytherin alumni and investigate them.  (I can see a wizarding
version of Senator Joe McCarthy yelling "Are you now, or have you ever
been...a SLYTHERIN?")

Comments?  Flames?  Anything?