Which House were James, Sirius, and Remus in?

[Robert Jones]

No: HPFGUIDX 88514

We know from OOTP (ch 9, p. 170 US ed.) that James, Sirius, and 
Remus were all in the same house and that Remus was made Prefect.  
And most of us have assumed that House was Gryffindor (since we 
think at least James must have been in there).  But what is the 
evidence?  There is no direct evidence in the books.

JKR in an interview (over at Scholastic Press) did say that Hagrid 
and Lily were in Gryffindor ("naturally").  But when asked whether 
James was the Gryffindor Seeker, she simply said he was a Chaser, 
leaving the House part unaddressed.  (And I think it's safe to say 
that if she is planning a little surprise for Harry in the later 
books, she is not going to voluntarily raise the issue in an 
interview and give it away.)

Second, in the Pensieve scene in OOTP 28 Harry sees James and later 
(ch 31, p. 704) when the trio are out under the same tree as in the 
Penseive scene, he thinks that Ron reminds him of an earlier 
Gryffindor Quidditch player — naming, James.  So Harry thinks James 
is in Gryffindor.

But has Harry simply assumed it the way we have?  In the books 
(unlike in the movies), there are no private school uniforms — just 
ordinary black robes over regular teenage clothing.  So there is 
nothing to identify James by appearance as Gryffindor.  (In COS 12 
in the Polyjuice scene, Hermione gets two bigger black robes for 
Harry and Ron, but there is nothing said about the robes being 
specifically "Slytherin" robes.  Also, Harry and Ron mistake a girl 
(Penelope Clearwater) for a Slytherin — if anything on her robe or 
anything else identified which house she was in, they would have 
known without asking that she was Ravenclaw.)

Two major incidents from their school days suggest that James and 
the boys were in Slytherin.  First, the conduct of James and Sirius 
in the Pensieve scene (OOTP 28) certainly is not the paradigm of 
Gryffindor behavior, to put it mildly.  Looking for something to do, 
Sirius points out Snape, and out of boredom James tortures and 
humiliates Snape in front of other students and Lily.  When Lily 
asks what Snape had done to him, James says it is more like the mere 
fact that Snape exists rather than anything he had done (p. 647).  I 
can't see Harry or Ron doing anything remotely like that.  But it 
does sound like something a powerful Slytherin would do.  (Malfoy 
would probably like to do it, but he, unlike James and Sirius, is 
not the best in his class.)

Second, in POA 18, pp. 356-57, we learned that Sirius sent werewolf 
Remus off to kill Snape as an "amusing" "trick."  How could Sirius 
send his friend off like that?  It certainly does not show the 
bravery of a Gryffindor.  Again, I have trouble seeing Harry or Ron 
or any Gryffindor sending a friend who was a werewolf off to kill 
someone.  James intervenes "at great risk to his own life" to 
prevent a murder and to prevent his friend Remus from becoming a 
murderer.  But that doesn't change the significance of Sirius' 
behavior.  You don't have to be in Gryffindor not to want someone 
murdered or your friend to be a murderer.  James's actions did show 
bravery, but they were in countering Sirius's cowardly acts — and so 
this part of the episode doesn't point to one House or the other.  
(If James was in Slytherin, this episode might be what changed his 
character.)

There are a couple of other points that may be relevant.  First, 
note that in the Pensieve scene, James and Lily refer to each other 
by their last names.  Within Gryffindor, this is only done by 
members of the Quidditch team.  (Was Lily on the Quidditch team?)  
Otherwise this is a strange thing for members of the same House to 
do after they have been there for 5 years — especially since James 
is trying to get Lily to go out with him.  But if they were in 
different houses, then that appears to be normal — like Harry, Ron, 
and Hermione referring to Draco as "Malfoy" and vice versa.

Second, everyone wonders how Wormtail could possibly have gotten 
into Gryffindor.  His ambition (attaching himself to the best 
students in school and then to LV) strongly Slytherin, and none of 
his choices or abilities suggest any of the other three Houses.  But 
this problem is premised on the idea that James and the boys were in 
Gryffindor and wouldn't include in their group of Marauders someone 
in Slytherin or any other House.  But if they were all in Slytherin, 
there is no problem.  (And they could still despise Snape even if 
his is in the same House.)

The chief argument against this theory is that Snape would have 
known James was in Slytherin and would have been gleefully taunting 
Harry with the news all along.  And Draco too would probably know, 
but he hasn't said anything.  And LV too.  And why hasn't Dumbledore 
told Harry?  I don't have any answers for this, but James and 
Sirius's acts discussed above still are a pretty powerful argument 
for Slytherin.

So James and the boys may well have been in Gryffindor, but it 
definitely not certain.  I like to think Harry's father was in 
Gryffindor.  The HP Lexicon says there is a 99% chance that James 
was in Gryffindor (and so the same is true for Sirius and Remus), 
but that was true before OOTP.  Still, it is really interesting that 
JKR has never actually said it.  She may be planning yet another 
shock for poor Harry.