Sirius's house (was Re: More emotional baggage for Snape)

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 41465

Richelle: 

> 
> Where is this at?  About Sirius having friends in Slytherin?  Is 
there
> anywhere where it is stated point blank what house Sirius himself 
was in?


I think the original post was referring to Snape having Slytherin 
friends, so being happy at school. This also is a strike against the 
Maruaders being Slytherin, since Snape ran with a Slytherin gang and 
hated the Marauders.


> And James Potter and Lupin for that matter.  I have been operating 
under the
> general impression that they were all in Gryffindor.  But now that 
I am
> rereading, haven't found that through SS/Ps and parts of CoS and am
> wondering if I just picked it up from the movie (gasp!) when the 
Quidditch
> plaque with James' name was shown.  Which isn't in the book.  Did I 
read
> that they were in Gryffindor or did I make it up?  The whole gang 
of them
> seemed to personify the Sorting Hat's description of 
Slytherins, "cunning
> folk who'll use any means to achieve their ends."
> 


I think JKR has said James was in Gryffindor (and Lily too) and the 
assumption is that all of the time it takes for them to learn 
Animagus spells strongly suggests they were in the same house. At the 
time they were students -- timeline says they learned the spells in 
fourth or fifth year -- the first rise of V-Mort had taken place and 
I would bet Slytherin-Gryffindor relations were strained, to say the 
least. That indicates friendships across the houses, to the level of 
roaming around in the forest together, did not take place.

The argument against is Hagrid's "not a wizard went bad who wasn't in 
Slytherin" which would seem to put Sirius Black in there. However, 
there was a summary paragraph in a later book (maybe GoF) that has 
Harry pondering the fact that: Slytherin has produced more dark 
wizards than any other house.

That softens it up some.

Given Hagrid's penchant for overgeneralization, I'd say you can't 
reject Sirius from Gryffindor based on what he says.

So, to recap: 

James and Lily in Gryffindor, based on JKR.

Sirius, Lupin and Pettigrew, given tenor of time, probably in same 
house as James, but this is an assumption.

Snape's hatred of them indicates they weren't Slytherin.

We are strongly led to believe they are all Gryffindors, which of 
course means they might not be. :) 

And in general, the lines between the houses are not clear. Bravery 
and ambition are certainly not counter to each other, and in fact, 
one can serve the other. 

In fact, the Marauders learning of Animagic shows: 

Bravery, for their bold attempts at doing this and keeping it from D-
Dore
Hard work, for their diligence
Intelligence, for the fact that they learned it
Ambition, for the fact that they wanted to.

There's more to the houses than those four characteristics, OR ELSE --
 Darrin's pet theory coming on board -- the hat is wrong from time to 
time and people get mis-housed.

And if the mis-housing is so severe, can switching of houses take 
place? I say yes.

Darrin
-- My pet theory needs food and water and its litter box changed from 
time to time.