[HPforGrownups] "Would" versus "Was" - long

[MeriLeslie26 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 27472

In a message dated 10/10/2001 12:52:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
prefectmarcus at yahoo.com writes:


> The recent discussion about CoS has brought to mind something that 
> has often bothered me.  It seems that many of us take the words of 
> the Sorting Hat, "...you [Harry] *would* have done well in 
> Slytherin." to mean that the Sorting Hat WAS going to put him there 
> but was stopped because Harry requested not to.  The belief seems to 
> be that Harry only missed getting placed there by his strong 
> opposition.

My Response:
Not that I disagree with you, but I just wanted to throw something out there. 
 Remember that in CoS, Dumbledore makes a point of saying that Harry is in 
Gryffindor because he chose not to be in Slytherin.  Don't have my copy in 
front of me, but I do remember that scene.  I thought it was such a good 
lesson of JKR's that it is our choices in life that set each of us apart.  It 
is even our choices in life, good or ill, that determine our destiny or even 
our eventual character.  

IMO, Harry chose not to be associated with a house that's main purpose is 
power above rules.  whether his choice is based on prejudice or not.  Are 
Slytherins all bad.  Of course not, no one is all bad.  Even, I dare say, 
Voldemort if he has any humanity left in him.  At his core, Voldy is a sad 
and lonely orphan... in some ways just like Harry.  Voldy chose a dark path 
for his life, and will thus face the consequences of those choices that led 
him these.  Hopefully, Harry will take a more dignified path, or a more 
righteous path (eventhough I think that word has been missed used and I don't 
use it in a strictly religious sense.)  

That day, whether he knew it or not, Harry took his destiny in his own hands.


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