House Qualities (Was: Re: Slytherin Purebloods?)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 88224

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "drjuliehoward"
<drjuliehoward at y...> wrote:
> > Geoff:
> > Yes, but this is an echo of the schools in the UK. It is very 
> common, 
> > in both public and state schools, for there to be a house system 
> of 
> > some sort which is used as a basis for competitions (usually 
> > sporting) within the organisation. It may carry more weight in a 
> > residential situation but it is still used almost universally to 
> > promote healthy rivalry.
> > <snip>
> 
> Julie:
> Is it in canon or just assumed that the heads of the houses were 
> once sorted into those houses as students?  What about the 
> possibility of a teacher who went to another wizarding school?  
> Would they qualify to be the head of a house?


Carol:
Ron says that he's heard that *Dumbledore* was in Gryffindor (SS 106)
and Sirius says in OoP that Snape was part of a gang of Slytherins.
Other than that, all we have that I know of is the loyalty of the two
Heads of Houses we know best (Snape and McGonagall) to their
respective quidditch teams (McGonagall couldn't look Snape in the eye
for weeks after his team beat hers, etc.). We don't see quite the same
attitude with Flitwick (the head of Ravenclaw) or Sprout, the head of
Hufflepuff, but their characteristics certainly seem to fit their
respective houses. The Lexicon shows that McGonagall *attended*
Hogwarts and even gives the years (based IIRC on McG's age as given by
JKR in an interview), but I don't know if her attendance is
speculation or not. Certainly her loyalty to Gryffindor indicates that
she was a Gryffindor in her childhood and youth, but that's the only
actual evidence I'm aware of.

Carol