Krum the transfer student?

[nobodysrib]

No: HPFGUIDX 53860

jack wrote:
> > Krum ... enjoyed staying at Hogwarts.  I think ... Krum will 
transfer
> >  to Hogwarts....  
 
> bboy_mn wrote:
> 
> Krum probably was in his last year at Drumstrang. But there was no
> headmaster at the end of the year, perhaps there was no one to 
certify
> his completion. Or maybe Krum felt the education at Drumstrang 
wasn't
> up to par, so he decided to ask Dumbledore's permission to repeat 
his
> last year. Maybe he will come as a graduate student with the intent 
of
> specializing in a particular area of magical study, studying under 
one
>  of the Hogwart's teachers because they are very highly regarded in
> this area; Flintwick-charms, McGonnagall-Tranfiguation, Snape-
potions.
> Then again, he may just offer to join Dumbledore's fight against
> Voldemort. 
> 
> The main point here is that there are some reasonable and logical
> circumstance under which he might return.

Something else to consider: "'Every guest in this hall,' Dumbledore 
said, and his eyes lingered upon the Durmstrang students, 'will be 
welcomed back here at any time, should they wish to come,'" GoF US 
Hardcover, page 723.

This makes me think that Krum doesn't need a specific student or 
staff status in order to visit Hogwarts, and I could even see him 
visiting so much that he might as well be living there or even 
working something out with Dumbledore so that he actually lives 
there.  His reasons for visiting could be V-related (hiding out or 
spying), education, Hermione, escaping the professional Quidditch 
world...  but I *definitely* think it would be interesting for him to 
be back.  

(This idea also keeps him from being sorted into a specific house - 
which keeps him a bit more mysterious.  Is he good?  Is he evil?  
Being sorted into either Slytherin or Gryffindor would give us - and 
the WW - clues to help answer this question.)


Semi-related thought:  I have some minor issues with the promoted 
house-loyatly.  

Themes in the books so often dwell on people being more important 
than blood/status, etc., and that a person's choices are the true 
proof of their character.  With that in mind, what should be made of 
the sorting hat?  Yes, it looks deep within a person and chooses a 
house, but can a person not make choices that change who they are and 
what they will become?  (Could a meek hufflepuff, after some tragic 
experience, decide that nice guys finish last and become unbearably 
ambitious?)  I suppose it could be noted that the sorting hat may 
have an awareness of this change, and would sort the person 
accordingly... but it still feels too close to predestination for my 
tastes.

More related to my initial point, Dumbledore also notes that the WW/ 
students at the feast are "as strong as we are united, as weak as we 
are divided," (GoF US Hardcover, page 723), an idea which, to me, 
goes against the entire concept of having different houses.  The 
students within the house are united (within that house), but the 
fierce competition between Gryffindor and Slytherin now feels 
foreshadowingly problematic.

- Nobody's Rib