The Sorting Hat

[Barry Arrowsmith]

No: HPFGUIDX 87319

Interesting artifact, that Sorting Hat.
It turns up in a post occasionally, usually as a source of quotes or 
explication, but no-one so far as I can recall has  ever questioned the 
veracity of the words attributed to it.

But, as you  may  have guessed, I've a very suspicious nature and I 
have a theory that it may have been got at.

OK, what are the characteristics of the members of the various Houses 
at Hogwarts?

Gryffindor - Brave, courageous

Slytherin -  Ambitious, and not overly scrupulous about achieving their 
ambitions

Ravenclaw - clever, clever, clever

Hufflepuffs - loyal and apparently not too bright; could even be the 
remedial class

By my reckoning Hermione should be in Ravenclaw and I'm not the only 
one. She's questioned in canon about  why she's not  in Ravenclaw, but 
it all  gets glossed over with a throw-away remark. (Is there such a 
thing from JKR?). She's obviously one of the star pupils; so why is she 
in Gryffindor?
Neville is a Hufflepuff to the bone; poor scholar, not naturally 
adventurous, basically good and modest. And he sticks with his friends.
Harry would be in Slytherin if the Hat  had had its way, and why didn't 
the Hat have it's way? Is it in the  habit of taking seriously the 
uninformed wishes of eleven year olds? Hardly likely; that'd be a 
recipe for chaos.
The only typical Gryffindor of the four friends is Ron - a bit  rash, 
getting into  scrapes at home as well as at  school, but willing to 
stick with Harry in his escapades even when he has severe misgivings or 
even fear (remember Aragog and his offspring?). What better definition 
of bravery is there?

Remember the sorting in PS/SS?
Long pause with Harry and Neville before allocation, none or very 
little with Ron or Hermione.

I reckon the sorting was fixed. Either the Hat, or more likely 
Dumbledore, wanted  all four of them together in the same House - and 
it had to be Gryffindor; it's the only House who's attributes are 
flexible enough to accept all of them without questions being asked.
Dumbledore (or  the Hat) was planning ahead. The four of them form a 
little gang that is,  in effect, all four Houses in one. A combining, a 
cooperation, just as the Hat advises in OoP. And so far it seems to 
have worked as an alliance against the baddies.

A more interesting question is, has it been tried before? In the 
previous generation that grew up during the first rise of Voldemort?

A reading of the characters and their attitudes might  give us:

James - Gryffindor.  Up for anything;  rash; needed reining in.

Sirius -  Slytherin. Brought up as a Black. Say no more.

Remus -  Ravenclaw. Clever enough to become Professor Lupin.

Peter - Hufflepuff. The slow one. Always lagging behind the others.

The closeness of their friendship makes one suspect that they were all 
in  the same House. It's intriguing that confirmation is so hard to 
find - why? But if they were all in the same House the alliance  didn't 
survive into adulthood. It all fell apart with betrayal and rash 
actions.

Is history in the process of repeating itself?
Is this a portend of things to come?

Kneasy