The Sorting Hat, Fawkes and the Governors of Hogwarts

[elfundeb at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 38021

AV said on Sorting:

> I'm wondering whether or not all or almost all Hogwarts 
> kids actually negotiate with the Sorting Hat to choose their House. 
> Wasn't Dumbledore's "it is our choices that determine who we are" 
> speech made in this context? Maybe Padma and Parvati felt more of a 
> need/desire to develop independently of each other than Fred and 
> George did. Maybe Hermione figured she already had the hard work, 
> cleverness, and ambition stuff down cold and that her courage was 
> what she needed most to _develop_. Kids are often more self-aware 
> than adults give them credit for, and I can believe Dumbledore would 
> want to get them used to making important choices as early as 
> possible. But most kids at that age might opt for the familiarity of 
> whatever House their family's culture most leans toward (the Muggle-
> born kids would pick the one that most appealed in some other way); 
> if the Sorting happened at, say, 15, I bet hardly *anybody* would be 
> in the same House as their parents were. 
> 
I'm really not enamored of the idea that the Sorting Hat allows students to 
choose or negotiate their Houses, even though that's what the Hat seems to do 
with Harry.  It seems to me like an abdication of the responsibility that the 
Founders gave the Hat ("The Founders put some brains in me so I could choose 
instead . . . I've never yet been wrong").  Rather, my view is that the 
Sorting Hat, if it sees evidence that a student might have characteristics 
prized by more than one of the Founders, engages in a sort of Ignatian 
discernment process in which the Hat projects the outcome of each 
possibility.  (Thanks to Eloise for putting this idea in my head when she 
applied this analogy to Snape's decision to leave the DEs awhile back.)   I 
think it would be pretty easy for the Sorting Hat to tell that despite 
Harry's willingness to set aside the rules to achieve his objectives, he 
would have been miserable in Slytherin.  And that Hermione will develop into 
a more well-rounded person in a House that prizes her inner bravery rather 
than the academic goals she outwardly
projects.  Maybe Parvati had always relied on Padma to do the thinking and 
Padma relied on Parvati to do the talking; both would develop better if 
forced to rely on themselves.  As for families choosing the same House, Draco 
and Ron were both sorted very quickly (one second or less), but their parents 
clearly raised them with the values of their own Houses; neither seems suited 
for any other house.

But what else does the Sorting Hat do?  It seems to me I remember that JKR 
said once (though I can't find it in the interview archives here) that the 
Sorting Hat has a lot more powers we haven't seen yet.  We did get a glimpse 
of something else when Harry was able to pull Godric Gryffindor's sword out 
of the hat after Fawkes brought it to him.  The following comment from 
Eloise, a week or so ago, got me thinking about this:


>  I believe 
> that Dumbledore is aware of a pre-ordained plan that is working itself out, 
> a 
> plan whose bones cannot be changed (something on the level of the Deep 
> Magic), but the final outcome of which depends on the actions of the 
> participants.
> 
Might the Sorting Hat be the agent of this plan?  The Founders invested the 
hat with their collective wisdom (and, I'll bet, a good chunk of their 
formidable magical powers).  The Sorting Hat has seen into the mind of every 
student, and knows what each is capable of.  By choosing Houses for students, 
it has great influence over their development. I have this idea, albeit with 
no more canon support than what I've just listed, that the Sorting Hat is 
somehow omniscient and makes House selections in furtherance of some master 
plan, and that Dumbledore, while not fully aware of the specifics of the 
plan, trusts in the Sorting Hat's (or more specifically, the Founders') 
ability to engineer the best possible outcome. 

Ali's observation on Pettigrew fits this theory pretty well:

I keep wondering about Pettigrew and the Sorting. Let us suppose that 
he was a Gryffindor. Perhaps he has not yet shown any bravery 
(although I also think that cutting off your hand is brave - or 
foolhardy). However, the Sorting Hat could probably see inherent and 
as yet untapped seams of bravery. Perhaps this aspect of Pettigrew's 
character will eventually outshine any other characteristic. I guess 
I'm thinking of the sacrifice I believe he will eventually make to 
save Harry. This act of bravery would then be a compelling reason for 
him to be put in Gryffindor, even if for the first 35 years of his 
life, most wizards would only see a coward.

And on a slightly different topic, Karen Peirson said regarding Fawkes:


> > I haven't done an achive search on this *sorry*, but when I heard 
> the third
> > book was to be called 'The Order of the Pheonix' it occured to me 
> that Harry
> > may be bestowed AD's pheonix, Fawkes - maybe after AD's death. No I 
> don't
> > have any specific cannon for this, but throughout GoF we are drawn 
> to the
> > fact that AD is looking old and tired, and Fawkes appears to have 
> formed an
> > attachment to Harry - lands on his lap in AD's office afer the 
> third task.
> >
This is an interesting thought that has been mentioned a couple of times over 
the past week, though I thought Fawkes landed on Harry's lap in GoF because 
he was injured -- physically and mentally -- and needed healing.  Harry has 
an obvious connection to Fawkes through his wand, and certainly Fawkes could 
be very valuable to Harry, but I have another, inconsistent thought, related 
to my wild Sorting Hat idea, which is that Fawkes does not belong to 
Dumbledore personally and cannot be bequeathed.  My idea is that Fawkes 
belonged to the Founders of Hogwarts and that Dumbledore has custody of 
Fawkes in his capacity as Headmaster in the same way that Dumbledore has 
custody of the Sorting Hat.  Under this theory, Fawkes' role is as guardian 
of Hogwarts, its Headmaster and the Sorting Hat.  I don't really have much 
canon support, except that phoenixes are regenerative, so it's not 
unreasonable to think Fawkes is that old (yes, Guy Fawkes is a more recent 
historical event, but his name may be of more recent vintage, or maybe the 
founders had divination powers and chose the name based on future events), 
and it was Fawkes who delivered the Sorting Hat to Harry in CoS with Godric 
Gryffindor's sword inside (the counterargument here is that Dumbledore says 
that nothing but loyalty to him could have called Fawkes to Harry, but it 
could have been loyalty to Dumbledore as the real Headmaster of Hogwarts).  
The fact that Fawkes has been referred to as Dumbledore's bird, both by Harry 
and by the authorial voice (which, of course, reflects Harry's POV), may 
condemn any notion that Fawkes doesn't belong to Dumbledore directly; 
however, I don't believe Dumbledore himself ever states that Fawkes is his.

Well, that was just an idea of mine.  I certainly wouldn't object if Harry 
inherited Fawkes.

But the relationship of the Founders, the Sorting Hat, Fawkes and Dumbledore 
raises another question: the governors of Hogwarts.  Do they really have the 
power to choose the headmaster?  This doesn't seem consistent with the 
Founders' intent.  If the Founders invested the Sorting Hat with the power to 
place students in Houses, surely they would have set up a mechanism for the 
selection of an appropriate headmaster.  And the board of governors doesn't 
seem like an 11th century concept.  So I'm wondering here if the governers 
were not instituted by the Ministry of Magic at a later date to give the MOM 
some oversight responsibility over Hogwarts, which it perceived to be in its 
bailiwick.

Thoughts?  Ideas?  Or is this a Highly Biased and Selective reading of canon?

Debbie


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