OOP: MWPP and their houses

[michelle.pagan at colorado.edu]

No: HPFGUIDX 65048



Putting James into Gryffindor (the only one we KNOW was in Gryffindor) Sirius 
in Slytherin, Remus in Ravenclaw, and Peter in Hufflepuff is the way I was 
imagining it too.  My biggest problem with that is Peter in Hufflepuff though, 
because I feel like JKR has gone through a lot of trouble to show us that 
though Hufflepuff never gets the spotlight, its a good, solid group of kids. 
I definitely dont consider them rejects.   I kind of like the idea that they 
all belonged to different houses for the same reason that the hat tells usin 
a way, until Peter broke rank, the houses then could be considered united.  
Just because Sirius became an outcast with his family, doesnt mean he wasnt 
like Draco when he first arrived at  Hogwarts.  So far, I think weve seen 
kids who are very much a product of the families they grew up with. At school, 
with the influence of friends and age, some have begun to change and grow.  

Magical Me wrote;
>1) Sirius hates his family, his house and all that goes with it. So at the 
sorting he 
>may have asked (like Harry) not to be sorted into Slytherin, or was 
>sorted into Gryffindor straight away. 2)Imagine Sirius being a 
>Slytherin and him and James being horrible to Snape. I bet Sirius 
>wouldn't survive one hur in the Slytherin common room or the 
>dormitory. There would have been constant fights. 3)IMHO opinion the 
>Marauders were all in the same house, just due to the fact, that they 
>noticed Lupin missing once a month - hence he wasn't in the dormitory 
>and second and more important reason: they fugured out how to be 
>animagi.

For #1, see my comments on Sirius when he first came to Hogwarts.  #2) I could 
see it being possible that by the 5th year, Sirius had changed enough to 
become friends with James and Sirius (perhaps not in his teen attitude, but 
towards muggles/purebloods etc., and therefore dislike Snape, even if he was 
in his house.  Though I know in the books JKR hasnt given us any examples of 
kids in the same house who despise each other (maybe because we have enough of 
that already) in real life that certainly wouldnt happen that everyone would 
get along.  I think the fights are a bit more problematic for me, because I 
definitely agree that Sirius would have been in fights all the time.  I put 
forth the theory though, that Sirius was the big man on campus and maybe his 
fellow Slytherins were somewhat afraid of him. Perhaps they didnt know the 
troubles going on in his family and were afraid of the other Blacks.  Maybe 
Sirius knew more curses/hexes, whatever than any of them (except for Snape) 
and therefore they kept their distance.  
#3) definitely gets tough but they figured out how to be animagi I thought 
solely to keep Lupin company.  If they were good friends I think they would 
have done that no matter if they were in separate houses.  And I kind of think 
of that group as an expanded group of Fred and Weasley. Ive always had the 
opinion that Fred and Weasley were rarely in their beds at night when they 
were supposed to.  I think those 4 would have met up somewhere (in a secret 
location in the school) to have fun practically every night, based on their 
characters.  Therefore, a night of the full moon, they would definitely miss 
Lupin.

Malini wrote: (about them all being in Slytherin)

>1. We know that at least Sirius and James were pure-blood.

That really doesnt mean they were in Slytherin though. After all, Ron is 
pureblood and is in Gryffindor.

>2. Their personality sounds more "slytherin" than "Gryffindor" to me 
(ambitious, showing-off, etc.) 

 I actually think only Sirius sounds kind of Slytherin to me, although I could 
be convinced that James did too had we not been told he was a Gryffindor.  I 
think both the Slytherins and Gryffindors are very similar in a lot of ways, 
and that the difference may be what the Slytherins are willing to do to 
achieve something that the Gryffs are not.  Cunningness.  As for Remus and 
Peter, neither one of them sound like a Slytherin truly to me despite Peters 
switchingI dont think it was cunning at all, but definitely because it was 
the easy way out and it doesnt show loyaltywhich shoots my Peter was 
Hufflepuff theory to hell

>3. After the OWLs exams, when all the students go out of the castle, Snape 
stays completely alone, while the Marauders immediately get together. Why 
would Snape not have a single friend to talk to (or to take his defense when 
bothered by James) from Slytherin if the other male slytherin students of his 
year were not MWPP? ( I don't know if you follow me... I'm sorry, English is 
not my mother tongue!) But if there are about 5 students in year who belong to 
the same house (as for Harry), then the five slytherin students could have 
been the marauders + Snape, and that would explain why Snape was spending his 
time alone, and spying his room-mates

I personally think Snape would be a loner in whatever house he was put it.  
Im almost positive he was a loner within his own family.  I think thats why 
he became a Death Eater, to have some sort of connection with people.  But I 
bet the other people in his house hated/were scared of Snape, much like a lot 
of the people were scared of Harry and left him alone when they thought he was 
a parseltongue.

>4. James also said to Lily something like "but I have never called you a 
(mudblood)", after she insults him.  Why would he have said that if he was a 
Gryffindor?

Theres no proof the Ravenclaws care about pureblood as much as the Slytherins 
either..but I dont think its much proof that they dont either.  I think 
James said that on a personal level, and not on a Im a Gryffindor and hes 
not level.

Now for Kristinis comments:
>2.)Lupin was made "the prefect" in an effort to influence the others 
for the better. Only one fifth year boy is made prefect from each 
house, and the way this passage was worded (my boyfriend has a very 
tight grip on my copy at the moment, so I can't quote) made me 
assume that only one of MWPP could have been made "the" prefect .

As we saw in OoP, prefects  do have the power to punish, be responsible for, 
etc. students from any house.  I do agree out of MWPP that only Lupin in the 
5th year was prefect, but they still could have done that thinking he could 
keep control over his friends, even if they were in different houses.  
Obviously, James and Sirius at the time werent prefects, no matter which 
house they were in, and it could have been any other schoolmate in their class.

> could PP have achieved such popularity 
coming from a house which stood against their ideals? Would they be 
picking on someone from their own house to such an extent in a book 
where the concerns raised by Hermione and the Sorting Hat about 
inter-house rivalry dividing pupils were constructed as a central 
theme?

Well, Prongs was in Gryffindor, so he wouldnt have been picking on someone in 
his own house.  Sirius, if we go by the theory he indeed was in Slytherin, I 
think could be explain by what Ive said previously.  Havent we all seen (in 
life or the movies) the popular boy nobody wants to cross but people dont 
necessary like him, just want to get in with him?)

>4.) Bellatrix Black was a Slytherin, and in Sirius's year. We know 
this from his conversation about Snape with Harry in GoF: "He was 
part of a whole gang of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be 
Death Eaters...the Lestranges - they're a married couple" (GoF, 
Bloomsbury p461). Sirius doesn't know her that well - would this be 
likely if they had been in the same house all through school?

Im basing my theory on that Sirius was estranged from the beliefs of 
Slytherin by the time 5th year rolled around (and thats why he was such good 
friends with James and Remus at that point).  I could see Sirius being as much 
of a loner in Slytherin as Snape was (for totally different reasons) and as a 
result, he spent as little time as he could there.  So it might be likely that 
they didnt know each other that well thenbut based on what you said, dont 
you think its weird that Sirius said the Lestranges instead of my cousin?  
(or my cousin and her husband)thats how Id refer to them if they were my 
family.  But considering from whence he is speaking, I guess they arent 
family at that point.

>5.)Something about the tone of this quote - if the speaker was 
himself a Slytherin, why would he bother with the house distinction?

I agree with this, but also think its a possibility that by the time he 
graduated, he didnt even consider himself a Slytherin anymore, he hated the 
house so much.

>6.)In PoA, Lupin says "Well, let's drink to a Gryffindor victory 
against Ravenclaw!

I love this point! Good one!  Well, I really just think that Lupin was trying 
to gain Harrys confidence and also make him feel confident more than caring 
about who won the game.  I know that most teachers are partisan, but Lupin 
cares less about quidditch than any other teacher there. He really doesnt 
care about how he looks, what people think of himhes more about the students.

So truly, the biggest problem I have with my own theory is fitting Peter into 
Hufflepuff.  I could switch Remus with Peter (although we have nothing to tell 
us Peter was smart, but we dont have anything saying he wasnt, right?) and 
say that Hufflepuff would have been totally willing to take Lupin when none of 
the other houses wouldhmmthat might work

I just love the UNITED Hogwarts that comes around with thisand that it all 
fell to pieces when the unity broke with Peter Pettigrew.

If you have read this post, you are amazing.

-Polaris