A theory... One variable that would change Harry for the worst....

[blpurdom]

No: HPFGUIDX 38679

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "aldrea279" <chetah27 at h...> wrote:
> Mike:
> Yes, I agree with this.  The Sorting Hat seems to be quite 
> tricky.  IF Harry had befriended Draco, and IF he hadn't been so 
> against Slytherin, do you think the Sorting Hat would have(perhaps 
> teasingly/cunningly) said You'd do great in Slytherin...?  I 
> don't.  I think it said that because it saw that Harry was rather 
> warry of Slytherin, so it asked him for his reaction.  I wish it'd 
> show what the Sorting Hat said to the others...

I think the Sorting Hat normally finds people a pretty easy read, 
but Harry has himself and some of Voldemort in him, and so the hat 
gave him something like a "test."  One of the attributes of a 
Slytherin is ambition--not evil in and of itself.  Harry clearly has 
a certain amount of ambition.  Whether he comes by this naturally 
(his mum and dad were Head Girl and Boy, after all) or because of 
Voldemort is debatable.  When the hat tells him he could be great in 
Slytherin, I think it is truly waiting to hear his reaction.  If he 
had said, "Really?  How great?  Would I eventually be greater than 
Dumbledore?" the hat would have seen that ambition was a very large 
part of his personality; Harry did not do that, however, and the hat 
knew that however much ambition Harry had, it was not overwhelming 
and he had attributes that required him to be elsewhere.

> Ethanol:
> I don't think the Hat puts you where you WANT to go, it puts you 
> where you belong.  Ooh...I just had a thought.  Perhaps the Hat 
> saw that Harry himself was slightly torn about his choices?
> (Gryffindor/Slytherin, good/evil, Harry doesn't seem to be that 
> great of a decision maker) I guess a question was in order to 
> figure it all out. I don't know, the Hat puts you into a house you 
> will be in for SEVEN years...I think it has to be a rather wise 
> hat, because people can change alot in seven years.  I guess it 
> saw the conflict that would occur between Draco and Harry...  I 
> wonder what all the hat looks at while it's on your head? It can 
> obviously read your thoughts, but perhaps it can look at memories 
> and such?  *shrugs* And perhaps the ONLY reason the hat even 
> considered putting Harry in Slytherin is because of that lil 
> streak of Voldemort that Harry has in him...   And I don't think 
> he'd have sailed into Slytherin, Harry just seems perfect for 
> Gryffindor, if you ask me.

I doubt the hat saw the conflict that WOULD occur between Draco and 
Harry.  After all, does the hat have the Sight or is it just good at 
doing a kind of personality test?  I doubt that the hat is able to 
see the future.  It would be the Divination teacher if that were 
true.<g> (Hey, a ghost teaches one of the classes, why not a hat?)

--Barb

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP_Psych
http://www.schnoogle.com/authorLinks/Barb