The Hat Sorts, The Wand Choses

[four4furies]

No: HPFGUIDX 32035

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Hollydaze" <hollydaze at b...> wrote:
> 
> I have to say I agree with teh "hat lets them choose" theory.
> 
> Hermione says quite plainly on the train that she want's to be a 
Gryffindor (she is). Malfoy says in Madam Malkins shop that he wants 
to be a Slytherin (he is). Ron in wanting to live up to his brothers 
is "desperate" to be in gryffindor and so (even if he doesn't say it 
outloud) you can presume he wants to be a gryffindor (he is). And as 
for Harry, he doesn't choose the house he wants to be in, but he does 
choose the house he DOESN'T want to be in.
> 
> Do we know of other examples?


People, people, people!  This is the world of magic.  What good is a 
Sorting Hat if the kids are the ones that do the sorting?  Let's not 
be so analytical that we read the fun out of the books, okay?

The fact that Malfoy, Granger and Weasley got what they wanted is not 
so much evidence of their power to choose than it is testimony to the 
Sorting Hats accuracy, and their respectively uncomplicated 
personalities.

Harry, OTOH, is complicated from one year old, thanks to his run-in 
with LV, and further complexities in his persona are developed as a 
result of his living in two worlds (muggle, then Wizarding) in such 
entirely different ways.  In the muggle world, he is a nobody.  In 
the Wizard world he is a prince.  He is the Prince and the Pauper at 
the same time.

In a prior post I posited that the Sorting Hat does for Wizards what 
MyersBriggs/Kiersey does for corporations, i.e., gives the tester a 
view into the personality preferences of the subject.  Both allow for 
variations within a general type (Brave, ambitious, clever, 
hardworking in wizarding, Idealist, Rational, Artisan and Guardian in 
human). 

The young wizards all have varying degrees of each attribute, the Hat 
exposes the primary attribute.  Harry was one of the rare, well 
balanced and complex Children, and the Hat had to choose based 
primarily on Harry's strong preference for "not Slytherin".  But it 
was still the Hat's choice, not Harry's.  THus the selection was 
pronounced as "[if not Slytherin]... better be Griffindor."


4FR (amazed at the Hat's good humor, considering how well it must 
know the minds of humans.)