[HPforGrownups] Will Seamus be the traitor?

[yr awen]

No: HPFGUIDX 42777

btk6y said:

Hey, thought I'd bring up something I'd been mulling over for a 
while.  There's obviously a lot of theories about whether Ron will 
betray Harry or not.  What if Seamus becomes the traitor?<<<<<<

I honestly don't think so, unless there's a *lot* of development in Seamus' character through the next three books. We simply don't know much about him at all, other than that he's a rabid Irish National fan in GoF and manages to blow things up in PS/SS. Also, the Hat does take its time figuring out where to put Harry, who also has the option of going into Slytherin, and Rowlings clarifies that the Hat decides with some people right away, while it seems to take a long time with others.

My thought is that the Hat has a very difficult task, having to weed through a lot of potentially contradictory information with a lot of students. People like Draco and Ron seem to be fairly easy, especially if they have a long family history in a particular House or have very pronounced characteristics. It may be difficult with some students, such as Neville or Seamus, for the Hat to figure out where they truly belong. Neville, as you said, ostensibly belongs in Hufflepuff, but he displays his courage in standing up against his own friends (and even routinely suffering through the hell of persecution in Potions might be enough to qualify one for being brave at heart.) Some students might fit into a couple different houses, at least on the surface -- for example, Hermione strikes me as being far more likely to be a Ravenclaw, until she displays her penchant for daring and rule-breaking -- and the Hat has to dig around and eventually make a judgment call.

Additionally, I'm not entirely sure why there *has* to be a traitor in the first place. It provides symmetry, I suppose, with Pettigrew's betrayal of the Potters, but still... maybe we're all a bit too wrapped up in our suspicion-slash-Judas complex and our 'need' to have someone be the token turncoat. Given the story so far, there's no clear traitor in Harry's midst, at least among the Gryffindors, only our febrile speculation as to possible motivation and opportunity, much of which has a considerable amount of contradictory evidence (esp. in the case of Ron.) Further, it may be possible that any 'betrayal' might be completely inadvertent or be forced, eg. someone being placed under Imperius, being blackmailed, or maybe accidentally leaving a piece of crucial information out in the open, not deliberate, as it apparently was with Pettigrew.

HF.
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