Mrs. Figg, Petunia, Dumbledore, Houses

[sephora063]

No: HPFGUIDX 73871

Moony was Gryffindor. Wormtail was Hufflepuff, Padfoot was Slytherin, 
and Prongs was Ravenclaw.

I believe it's in the 1st book where the kids run up to the Trophy 
Room and see that James was a Gryffindor quidditch player. 
Personally, I can't see him being anywhere else...even though Lupin 
states that he and Sirius were the best students in their year or 
something near there in OotP. I also think that the rest of the 
Marauders were in Gryffindor also. Lupin prefers Gryffindor when 
there's a game when he's a professor there. Scary idea: how did 
Wormtail get sorted into Gryffindor, if in fact he was? Not only does 
he seem to be a coward, he's a traitor. Hmm, I'm not exactly 
sure 'how' the Sorting Hat decides where to place students. When I 
read about Harry's experience, I felt that one decides what house to 
go into. For example, the hat considers putting Harry in Slytherin, 
but he asks it not to. I think that Hermione also had a similar 
experience with the hat and Ravenclaw (OotP). It's interesting that 
though she is the best example of a excellent student, she's in 
Gryffindor and not Ravenclaw. Even Neville seemed scared of his 
shadow in the first books, but he's also in Gryffindor (by the way, 
I'm very proud of the way he's grown). Anyway, does the hat sort 
on 'command'? Like these two seemed to choose Gryffindor and it 
happens, but what about the other students? And/or does it sort by 
character? I think you're right about Slytherins not being evil at 
the age of evil (despite some misgivings)...but Malfoy seems to come 
pretty close to that. 
-Sephora