The Profs and Which Houses They were In at Hogwarts+ Sorting +Patel/Patil Mystery

[psychodudeneo]

No: HPFGUIDX 44659

That would seem to be a valid argument. However, there are some good 
cases that could be made against it.

Neville Longbottom.

He doesn't seem to share any of Gryffindor's traits.  He avoids 
conflict, he sweet, and he's not particularly brave.

If your theory were true, and the Sorting Hat decided what House a 
student should go into is based entirely on his or her current 
personality and emotions . . .  well, Neville wouldn't be in 
Gryffindor, I'm sure.

Rather, I think the Sorting Hat not only reads the way a person is 
right at the time, but it may try to analyze the person's basic 
potential.  Heck, it may even be able to due some rudimentary 
divining.  We're never really explained quite WHAT the Sorting Hat 
is.  Is it a totally independed entity?  Does it draw on the spirits 
of the founders of Hogwarts?  We don't really know quite what goes on 
during a Sorting.  We know what the Hat says to Harry, but we don't 
really know how it's getting it's information.  It's assumed that it 
just reads minds, but it seems to do more than that.

Besides, I'm inclined to trust any item enchanted by 4 of history's 
greatest Wizards and Witches.

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "ronin_economist" <donotexist at a...> wrote:

> Every time the question of which houses the adults were in comes 
up, 
> I think of this objeciton, and now I think I'll finally post it.
> 
> The characters in question are adults, in some cases quite old 
> ones.  But the Sorting Hat sorts children, little 11-year-olds, in 
> fact.  Doesn't anyone thing that people's personalities and 
> tendencies ever change as they grow older?  Their values certainly 
> do (e.g. younger people tend to be more politically liberal, then 
> get more conservative as they age,) and there is evidense that the 
> Sorting Hat bases its choices on values held as much as personality.
> 
> Had I gone to Hogwarts at age 11, I would have certainly been 
sorted 
> into Gryffindor -- I was a brave little thing, inspired by 
adventure 
> books.  But now at twice that age, I am more ambitious and identify 
> more with Slytherins, just to give an example.
> 
> So I do not think it's a good idea to try determining the Houses of 
> the adults based on their adult behavior -- only their behavior as 
> children is acceptable evidence.
> 
> Peter Pettigrew is certainly not very Gryffindor-ish as an adult: 
> he's a traitor and abject coward, who prefers to run rather than 
> fight.  But it's possible that he WAS brave as a schoolboy, and 
> indeed we have canon evidence, such as his learning to become an 
> Animagus and hanging out with a potentially dangerous werewolf 
> during full moons.
> 
> Hope my bit of whining makes sense -- this is my first post, though 
> I've been reading for a few weeks. :)  
> 
> Reene