Harry's Sorting (Was:Re: Blood and Artifice (was The Sorting Hat))

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 78570

> > Severus here:
> > 
> > the section of book you are talking about is quite misleading in 
my 
> > opinion.
<snip>
> 
> Donna says:
> 
> In SS, the hat does not bring up Slytherin until Harry says he 
> doesn't want to go there.
<snip>
> In CoS, the hat stands by what he said, but does not say he would 
> have definately placed Harry in Slytherin, just that he would have 
> done well there.  I also think that the hat is confirming the 
house 
> he did put Harry into.

Annemehr:
I agree with Donna.  Here is what the Hat actually says in CoS:

"You've been wondering whether I put you in the right House," said 
the hat smartly. "Yes...you were particularly difficult to place. 
But I stand by what I said before" -- Harry's heart leapt --
 "you /would/ have done well in Slytherin --"

It seems like many people read the last sentence as if it ended in a 
period instead of a dash (indeed, Harry himself seems to take it as 
a completed thought).  However, IMO, if Harry had let the hat 
finish, the whole sentence would have been "But I stand by what I 
said before -- you /would/ have done well in Slytherin, but I was 
right to put you in Gryffindor."  After all, not so long after the 
scene in DD's office, the hat will be bringing Harry Gryffindor's 
sword.

As for Harry's sorting, since Harry himself rules out Slytherin 
before the hat makes any indication at all where it might put him, 
we'll never know if it would have put him in Gryffindor all on its 
own.  The way I always read it, the hat saw Slytherin as one viable 
option, but it wouldn't necessarily have chosen it over Gryffindor.

I think it's quite clear from the books by now that many students 
have quite a mix of qualities, Harry included, of what suits a 
student for any of the houses.  Harry himself also carries 
some "Slytherinliness" that was transferred to him from LV.  
However, at heart Harry is all Gryffindor, and I believe the hat 
would have discerned that in the end anyway.

Of course, I'm perfectly aware that, as Harry seems to interrupt the 
hat at every crucial moment, the opinion that the hat really wanted 
to put Harry in Slytherin remains perfectly valid.

Annemehr
who continues to think, despite that last paragraph, that everything 
else points to Harry belonging in Gryffindor...