Marauders' houses/Ravenclaw in general

[joeblackish]

No: HPFGUIDX 30824



I've been thinking about MWPP and I think I have a pseudo-theory, 
although I can't quite get it to work exactly. 

As there were four of them, and there are four houses, could it be 
possible that each of them represented a separate house?  This would 
partly explain  their ability to create the map, which I am assuming 
features all Houses common rooms (which could, BTW, explain Sirius's 
familiarity with the Gryffindor common room even if he wasn't in it).  

So here's what I'm going with so far - 

James - JRK has told us he was in Gryffindor; also, we could have 
guessed that much.

Peter - okay, he obviously was not in Gryffindor, one because he was 
not brave enough to stand up to Voldemort, and two because he is 
excluded from  there because James has taken that slot.  He also, as 
far as I believe, could not have been in Hufflepuff, because he 
exhibited absolutely no loyalty to his trusted friends in the 
Voldemort situation, and I could not imagine a Hufflepuff betraying 
their friends in this way. 

So he was either in Ravenclaw or Slytherin.  We know he was not in 
Ravenclaw, because it is made quite clear he was not particularly 
bright.  James and Sirius had to coach him with the animagus bit. 

So that leaves Slytherin.  Which makes sense.  Although he is a 
coward, he has enough of a sense of ambition to try to make the best 
for himself out of any situation.  Hence his turning over to 
Voldemort, not because he wanted to practice the dark arts, but as he 
says (when he was talking to Sirius and Remus in POA) Voldemort was 
taking over everywhere, and he thought there was simply no point in 
resisting.  Clearly the man thinks foremost of what is best for 
himself, and what will benefit him the most.


So now we're left with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and Sirius and Remus.  
Well, Remus has always struck me as the Hufflepuff type.  He's good, 
hardworking, and loyal, despite his terrible lot in life.  He does his 
best to get paid work, even though no one will trust him, because he 
does not want to sit around and feel sorry for himself.  He works damn 
hard as the DADA teacher, and is even willing to take extra time to 
give Harry independent lessons.  He is also, however, very selfless, 
and feels incredibly guilty for not telling Dumbledore about how his 
friends became animagi, and can only not tell him now because he is so 
humiliated at having betrayed his headmaster's trust.  He is also not 
reluctant to leave whatsoever, signifying that he cares more for his 
students than himself.  Although he desperately wants a job, he knows 
that he cannot run the risk of harming any of his students.  Loyal, 
good, hardworking - sounds like a Hufflepuff to me.

And then Sirius.  I have the least evidence about him.  He is 
obviously clever - he learned to be an animagus.  And its the only one 
left.  I guess he was able to escape from Azkaban, and has managed to 
stay in hiding for a long time.  Both those work.

Which brings me to another topic - does Ravenclaw seem extremely ill 
defined to anyone else?  Forget the fact that we see practically no 
Ravenclaw characters - it just seems that all the other houses have a 
personality characteristic that distinguishes them - bravery, 
ambition, loyalty.  But cleverness?  You can easily be extremely 
clever and also be any of those things.  I don't think that phrases it 
exactly properly, but does anyone see how cleverness seems more of an 
innate mental function while the others do seem to be more of 
something one chooses to value themselves?  I wish I could get more of 
a grip on Ravenclaw.  Right now, it honset