Houses was Mrs. Figg, Petunia, Dumbledore, Houses

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 73904

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Doriane" 
<delwynmarch at y...> wrote:
 And I can't help thinking about 
> what so many people said about Slytherin and Dark wizards, 
especially  Hagrid, that most dark wizards came out of Slytherin : 
what about  Sirius Black, then ? Argh, argh, argh !


I think it's amazing that so many people can analyze the same 
data and come out with different results.

I am a recent convert to the Four House theory for MWPP. What 
changed my mind was the Mirror that Sirius gave Harry. He says 
they used it when they had separate detentions. Sounds 
plausible...except that in five years, Harry's had only one 
detention where he wasn't being closely supervised by a 
teacher. I think even Lockhart would have raised an artfully 
shaped eyebrow if Harry had pulled out a mirror and started 
talking into it!

Judging by Harry's experience it seems that the times when 
James and Sirius had separate detentions *and* weren't being 
supervised would be rather rare, hardly worth working up a 
special piece of magic. On the other hand, if you needed to 
communicate regularly with people in different Houses, the 
mirrors would be ideal.

I think James was indeed a Gryffindor, Sirius was in Slytherin, 
Lupin was in Ravenclaw (in the Pensieve, he's the only one who 
wants to study) and Peter was Hufflepuff. I think that in their time 
the Sorting Hat also begged the Houses to unite, and I think 
these four originally tried to do that. But their idealism faded in 
the face of the difficulty of their task (as Hermione's plans to free
 
House Elves seem to peter out in each book). So instead of 
uniting their houses, MWPP formed a "little gang" of their own, as 
McGonagall calls it, and spent their energies hedonistically in 
ways that brought out the worst traits of the four houses: 
Slytherin paranoia (in the Prank), Gryffindor recklessness ( the 
werewolf rambles), Ravenclaw lawlessness ( the only house 
without a moral philosophy) and Hufflepuff sycophancy and/or 
underachievement.  

For this alienation and failure, MWPP will all, as I see it, pay the 
price. Sirius may indeed have become so alienated from 
Slytherin that he transferred to Gryffindor, if that's possible. I
find it a bit suspicious that JKR has hinted it's possible without 
letting us know for a fact whether it is or not. I think all the
others remained with their original Houses but  became 
alienated from them too. It could be as a symptom of that 
alienation that James calls Lily by her surname though they are 
(apparently) in the same House. Anyway, the awareness of this 
failure could be why the older generation is reluctant to reveal to 
Harry which Houses they were in. 

As for the current generation, the Sorting Hat didn't take any time 
with Ron, but hesitated over Hermione, Harry and Neville. Ron is 
therefore the quintessential Gryffndor, while Harry would have 
done well in Slytherin, Nevillle in Hufflepuff and Hermione in 
Ravenclaw. I think the Hat deliberately put them together in 
Gryffindor, trying once again to unite the Houses against the 
threat of Voldemort.

Pippin