Moaning Myrtle's house and Houses Mystery

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 44703

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "hickengruendler" 
<hickengruendler at y...> wrote:

> I'm still not sure about it. First of all, the first movie had some 
> differences from the book, like James being seeker instead of 
chaser.  So I really don't think that a green tie in the movie is 
really a  proove, that she was a Slytherin. I don't believe this
until 
it is  mention either by JK Rowling in an interview or in the books.

Of course. We're just using the movie as a jumping off point. 

>  
> Second, I cannot imagine, that a Muggle-born was in Slytherin. 
After  all, Salazar Slytherin never wanted them in Hogwarts, so 
why should  they be sent in his house. <<

That's not exactly what Binns says. He says that Slytherin 
disliked taking Muggle borns as students. But if Slytherin was 
absolutely opposed to it from the beginning, it seems unlikely 
that he would have ever formed a partnership with the other three 
Founders at all. More likely his position hardened as he got 
older. His earlier thinking was preserved in The Sorting Hat, in 
the same way that Voldemort's sixteen year old mind was 
preserved by the Diary.

I have a new theory about the Hat. Its task is "to educate young 
sorcerers."  I think  it initially offers each student  the House 
where he/she will learn the most magic. The Hat never promises 
that it will put you in the House where you'll be happiest, or even 
where you'll find your friends. It only says, "perhaps."

 The information about personality is offered to the student, who, 
if he or she has other priorities than learning as much magic as 
possible,  can then use it to contest the Hat's choice.

So Harry is offered Slytherin  as the House where he would learn 
most, but has the option of rejecting it. 

 Neville would no doubt have learned more magic in Hufflepuff 
(probably even Snape understands that you have to be patient 
with the Huffles) but it seems Neville wanted to be a Gryffindor, 
based on his family's expectations, and the Hat puts him there, 
evidently with some reluctance. 

Hermione, who has a gift for independent study and likes to help 
others, will likely learn more magic as a somewhat solitary 
Gryffindor than she would as one of  a crowd of Ravenclaws. So 
the Hat promptly gives  her Gryffindor.

Students who come to Hogwarts already keen on the Dark Arts 
get sorted into Slytherin because that's the only House where 
they can study them.  (The knowledge must be passed on as 
lore from student to student since the subject is not formally 
taught.) Therefore, Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy  (and probably 
Snape) got sorted into Slytherin at once. 

As for Myrtle, with her sly and controlling nature (tears and 
tantrums are a method of control,  though seldom effective 
 for anyone over the age of two) and that "certain disregard 
for rules" it seems as if Slytherin were made for her.

She might have been happier in Hufflepuff, but she probably 
learned more magic in Slytherin. She seems pretty 
accomplished. She even has some power over material objects, 
such as the water in her toilet, which none of the other ghosts 
display.

>>But we know, that Myrtle had to die because she 
> saw Tom Riddle with the Basilisk in her bathroom. She was a 
witness and, from Tom's point of view, had to be killed off.   <<

But she *didn't* see Tom, and killing her off wouldn't have helped 
if she had. Ghost!Myrtle  could still have told everyone what she'd  
seen. No, I believe Tom was telling the truth when he gave his 
version of how Myrtle's death came about, except that it was his 
pet that did the killing, not Hagrid's. I'll bet Myrtle thought Tom 
was her friend, just the way Ginny did. 

In fact, if Myrtle was a Slytherin, it makes it easier to understand 
why most people came to believe that the whole Chamber of 
Secrets/Heir of Slytherin business was a hoax. Tom says he 
can't understand how anyone could have believed that Hagrid 
was the Heir of Slytherin, but probably most people didn't believe 
that there really was an Heir of Slytherin in the first place, and 
thought that Hagrid was hoaxing.

Pippin