House assumptions

[pacificlippert]

No: HPFGUIDX 45295

Peter the evil Gryffindor:
> That's the point.  Sirius *thought* he would be the loyal one, 
because he
> was a Hufflepuff and Hufflepuffs are supposed to be loyal.  But 
to who, hmm?
> He has, of recent times, been loyal to Voldemort.  One could 
say it was
> fear, I suppose, but it takes a lot to make a person lliterally cut 
off
> their own arm.  And he did return to him of his own free will.  A 
rat could
> easily have hidden away again.

It's a good argument, if we could assume that Sirius
thought Peter was loyal--but Sirius tells us what he
thought--he didn't pick Peter because he was loyal.  
Sirius says, (PoA, p. 369) "I thought it was the perfect plan...
a bluff...Voldemort would be sure to come after me, 
would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing
like you..."  
Another argument for Peter having been in Gryffindor,
and one I haven't seen yet, is that McGonagall speaks 
about Peter as if she knew him intimately--
"Hero-worshipped Black and Potter.  Never quite in
their league, talent-wise.  I was often rather sharp with
him.  You can imagine how I--how I regret that now..."
"Stupid boy...foolish boy...He was always hopeless at 
dueling." 

And, anyway, I still see Peter as brave.  Not honorable,
not moral, but certainly brave.  Elkins covered the
whole thing very well, and so I won't repeat, but I will
say that I actually don't think Peter cowering around
in the Shack was at the bottom all that cowardly, because
I think that Peter was taking the chance that if he cowered 
and gibbered, his old friends, his old _protectors_ would 
balk at killing him.  Peter knew them better than we do, 
and certainly during their years together they must have 
protected him--so it seems entirely possible that he was 
counting on their Gryffindor chivalry on several levels--they 
wouldn't kill an unarmed, pathetic man, right?  They 
wouldn't kill him if it wasn't his fault, if James wouldn't have
liked it...No, all in all, I'd have to say that even if (though)
Peter isn't a very strong wizard, his brains were working
quite well...

The Patronus scene:
> Consider this.  Lupin has been spending a *lot* of his limited 
free time
> training Harry to defend himself against the dementors.  
Harry's entire
> purpose was to defend himself if the dementors came to 
another Quidditch
> match. After all that, what's Lupin supposed to say?  "Have a 
good time,
> Harry, hope you lose."  Not likely.  Second, he was good friends 
with James
> Potter.  If James was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and 
Remus was a
> Ravenclaw, I don't think it's impossible that Remus could've 
been a bit
> pleased when James won.

It's a good argument if Lupin had said, "Well,
good luck in your match," or "Good luck, Harry," or
something similar, but he specifically wished
not Harry, but _Gryffindor_  a victory against 
Ravenclaw, with enthusiasm--
"Let's drink to a Gryffindor victory against Ravenclaw!  
Not that I'm supposed to take sides, as a teacher..." he 
added hastily.
Added hastily because he has clearly _taken_ 
Gryffindor's side, IMO.  

James and Sirius--like brothers:
> For the third time, the fact that she remarked on their 
insperableness at
> all WAS remarkable!!!  Once again, no one finds it unique that 
Harry and Ron
> are inseparable.  Or Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.  They're 
*supposed* to be
> inseparable because they're in the same house.

Professor M. only asked Madame Rosemerta if _she_ 
remembered who James's best friend was.  It was 
Madame Rosemerta and Professor Flitwick who 
remarked that they were always together.  Professor 
M. never indicated that she found their friendship in 
any way remarkable.

To me that whole scene seemed as if the friendship,
like HRH's, wasn't remarkable at the time, and it
was only in retrospect that they thought it odd--because,
of course, Sirius, the person James trusted "more than
any other" had betrayed him.

So, even though I can see traits from all of the houses
in each of the three we meet, I haven't yet seen anything
that really indicates that they were in separate houses.
Also, Peter as a Hufflepuff just seems like a left over 
choice, not one based on the houses as I've seen
them.

Karie