[HPforGrownups] Percy and Power + Hogwarts Population..?

[Becky]

No: HPFGUIDX 30225

--- Calypso8604 at aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 11/26/2001 9:14:38 PM Eastern
> Standard Time, 
> australiaquill at yahoo.com.au writes:
> 
> 
> > I personally think that our beloved Perce is in
> Gryffindor because 
> > all Ron's family is in Gryffindor
> 
> One of the biggest points stressed in the books is
> that *family does not 
> matter*. Hagrid's mother is a vicious giant but
> Hagrid's harmless enough 
> (despite his love for dangerous creatures...). Tom
> Riddle had a muggle father 
> but still made it into Slytherin. Barty Crouch
> despised the Dark Arts yet his 
> son was a follower of Voldemort. Hermione is
> muggle-born but the cleverest 
> witch of her age. Dumbledore has stated numerous
> times that family doesn't 
> matter, it's you yourself that counts. If Percy was
> placed in Gryffindor just 
> because his family was that would ruin one of the
> themes in the book

> ~ Calypso 

Yes. I agree with all those points. But I think
personal choice has a role in being Sorted. I think
Percy has definite Gryffindor qualities, but he might
be more suitable for one of the other houses. It's
possible he had a choice between Gryffindor and
another house and chose Gryffindor, based on the fact
that that was the house all the rest of his family
who'd been to Hogwarts were in, feeling that he would
be letting down his parents to go elsewhere. Ron shows
anxiety about this in PS/SS. Harry didn't want to be
in Slytherin because of the house's reputation. Having
your mum, dad, and two older brothers all in
Gryffindor is also a reputation that Percy might feel
pressure to uphold. In CoS he is angry with Ron for
going in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, afraid of how it
will look. 

I think reputation is something that Percy would care
about. While I don't think the hat just looked inside
his head and said, "Well, the rest of your family's
Gryffindor, better put you in too." It might have
given him a choice and because of the pressure he felt
to get in Gryffindor, he could have gone there without
bothering to think about the other houses.

So, in closing, I would say that while family does not
matter in some cases, the pressure felt to uphold the
family honor could be the deciding factor in some
situations. (It is my understanding that there are
Draco fans, who feel that the reason he was so hastily
dumped into Slytherin, was because of his overwhelming
need to keep the family tradition of being a
Slytherin.)

Becky

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