OOP:Houses

[M. J. Pascual]

No: HPFGUIDX 65944

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "eyen_paune" <eyenpaune at h...>
wrote:

> Just a quick question...Was it ever mentioned in any of the books 
> which house Tom Riddle belonged to? I know he was the heir of 
> Slytherin so it's quite natural to assume that he was sorted into 
> that house.
> 
> However, Slytherins only take in purebloods & we all know that Tom 
> Riddle is not a pure wizard.
> 
> So I ask again...which house does Tom Riddle really belong to???
Ü

I somewhat answered this question in a discussion speculating
about Percy being Sorted into Slytherin, but I'll repeat it here.
Unless you really want to look through the 4500 messages or so 
that have been posted here in the last 8 days. ;)

The Sorting Hat is the authority on what the Houses of Hogwarts
look for in a student.  The Sorting Hat takes into account various
factors: disposition, talent, background, bloodline, and makes the
best match given what the Founders would have done had they still
been alive.

As such, the exclusion of one particular trait that a House is 
known to espouse is not enough, by itself, to exclude a student.
Indeed, Tom Riddle was a half-blood, but in his ancestry was
the House's Founder himself.  Certainly this, if not his future
as the greatest terror in the late 20th century Wizarding World,
would have sealed it.

I glanced through CoS for any explicit passages, but couldn't find
any in the 5 minutes that I gave to this research.  There are other
implicit clues, beyond Tom's bragging to Harry about his lineage.
During Harry's sojourn into Tom's diary, Harry notes that on Tom's
robes, 'a silver prefect's badge was glittering on his chest'. 
(CoS, Chapter 13, "The Very Secret Diary")  House Slytherin's
colours are silver and emerald.

Anyways, there you have it!

--Mark