James Potter Bio Facts

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 90111

> Carol:
There's also the apparent fact that both James and Sirius hate the
Dark Arts (associated with Slytherin) and are chiefly characterized by
a kind of reckless courage, a Gryffindor rather than a Slytherin
trait. So in the absence of other evidence, I'm inclined to trust that
image of James as a Gryffindor quidditch player. It's the closest
thing we have to solid evidence at the moment. (There's also Lupin's
support of Gryffindor in quidditch, somewhere in PoA.)

> Geoff:
> I spotted a little piece of canon just now which caught my attention 
> while looking for something else which seemed relevant to this 
> discussion.
<quote snipped>
> The fact that she [McGonagall] remembers James as a good player
suggests that he 
> was in her house because she probably wouldn't necesarily recall him 
> if he had been in a different house.
> 
> There's also a suggestion that she knew him and Lily sufficiently 
> well to use their first names....
<quote snipped>
> 
> McGonagall is rather old-fashioned and tends to use the pupil's 
> surname or first name plus surname. It is not very often that she 
> uses merely first names - even on ex-pupils. Perhaps this indicates a 
> closeness when they were seniors in her house? It's just a 
> speculative thought.

Carol again:
One additional bit of support for that idea. We know that Lily was in
Gryffindor. When someone asked JKR which house Lily was in, she
replied, "Gryffindor, naturally." Since McGonagall regards James and
Lily with equal affection and (as you say) uses first names for both
of them, it does seem likely that they were both in her house. Not
proof, I realize, but I still can't see JKR putting characters she
regards with real affection (Sirius and Remus as well as James) in any
house other than the one all her other favorites (Dumbledore,
McGonagall, Hagrid, Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys) belonged to.

Carol