The Sorting Hat

[lindseyharrisst]

No: HPFGUIDX 87418

Hi! Have n't posted in a while so I thought I'd spend my vacation 
from college catching up on posts, lol.

I am inclined to agree with the comment put forward by Dumbledore in 
the books that it's our choices that make us what we are. Harry has 
characteristics of ambition and so forth that would make him a good 
slytherin according to the hat, but he did not want to let them 
become the dominant factors in his personality so they have n't - 
free will rightly reigns supreme!Can you honestly see him as a 
slytherin now? He can't interact with people like the pupils we know 
are in Slytherin. He needs genuine friendship too much in order to 
act. He has trained himself to look for approval of people he knows 
to be wise(Hermione) and morally reasonable(Ron) to do things and he 
can still be swayed by guilt (Lupin's comment in POA about letting 
down his parents memories by sneaking out).

As for the hat being influenced by Dumbledore, I am not certain that 
that could even theoretically happen since in GOF the "decision" of 
the goblet was unalterable by Dumbledore once it picked Harry as a 
forth champion. You might say, well it was altered by someone prior 
to it throwing out Harry's name, so what's unreasonable about 
Dumbledore altering the hat? But in answer to that, I think that 
where the decision is made by the hat in conjunction with the person 
who is the subject of the decision then it can it is almost like a 
contract and can only stand if the two parties (hat and person) 
agree. In the case of other people who state no preference,the hat 
takes it as meaning that they have given the hat an option on any of 
the choices. Sometimes contracts have a provision allowing one of 
the parties to chose how something will be done, a bilateral 
agreement that one party wil make a unilateral decision the other 
will accept. (Sorry if that sounds complicated. I just want to 
express it clearly so I don't get replies that miss the point, which 
would be my fault, lol). A third party could not, I don't think, 
just wander over and interfere, since it all works on consent (see 
Dumbledore's comment above). The hat is not a person, but is endowed 
with the personality of the founders and their reasoning, unlike the 
goblet, which is n't endowed with any capacity for thought, but is 
just like a lotto number picking machine, IMO. The hat, unlike the 
goblet would detect a breaking of it's own rules and object. It's 
not that the hat has free will completely, but that it ab;le to make 
choices within limited means, like a child computer can amke 
decisions but only if the programme allows it to consider the 
question because the programmer made it make sense to the programme. 
Hope that's clear!

To address the question of whether, assuming dumbledore can 
infulence that hat, he deliberatley did so in firstly, the marauders 
case and then Harry's: 
Let's take James's generation first - 
I see where previous posters are coming form saying thta Lupin 
needed James, sirius and pettigrew (at the time) to protect him. I 
think lupin is genuinely deserving of Gryffindor as he has been 
brave about his condition, rather than really belonging to 
Hufflepuff due to his follow-the-leader-tendencies, as has been 
suggested. Surius is brave for defying his family and turning out a 
difeerent way. True, he kept some of the hot-headedness of Slythein, 
but he just has that in his personality, like being blonde is 
soemthing one just IS, but he directs it towards the Gryffindor aims 
of bravery in the cause of right. James too, though we don't know 
much about him, we can assume he was like his son, we are told this 
often enough. As for Pettigrew - well, I am stuck here, I confess. 
Heaven knows why hye ended up in Gryffindor. I can come up with a 
*VERY* weak argument that perhaps he was just more obviously wrong 
for all the others at the time. He was n't clever. Though meek, he 
was n't loyal enough for Hufflepuff, he sheltered in the comany of 
the others and then went to LV to shelter under his stronger 
protection. Not sure why not slytherin though. Can anyone help?
The fact that 3 out of the 4 have good reasons for independently 
deserving to be put in Gryffindor adds weight to my point though.

Now consider Harry's generation - 
Hermione is cleverest but in line with my "consent theory" it is not 
the trait that she values most. No, it really is n't! I forget when 
(not having hte books to hand) but she does say something 
about "what good are books and cleverness if you can't be there for 
your friends" (paraphrasing). Ron is actualy brave. It's not that he 
does n't fear things, but that he does things anyway, which is 
actually the greatest type of bravery. We can all pick something 
that most of our friends are scared of and we're not and do it in 
front of them for the applause, but that's not what it's about. 
Neviile is brave in just coping with life as a virtual orphan who 
struggles so much. We are now seeing more outward signs of bravery, 
but he's just rising to the challenge as he really always has done. 

That's it! *phew*
Feedback would be much appreciated , lol
Merry Christmas to all list members, if paths don't cross nearer the 
time.
xxx
Snapesangel