Which House were James, Sirius, and Remus in?

[Robert Jones]

No: HPFGUIDX 88616

drjuliehoward mentions the JKR interview I mentioned in my first 
post on this topic.  I discussed it there and don't have anything to 
add.

But here are a bunch of other possible objections to the theory that 
can be easily refuted.

(1) How could Harry be the Heir of Gryffindor is James was in 
Slytherin?  Simple: one's ancestry does not determine which House 
you go in — one's choices do.  So a father can be in one House and 
the child in another, and both still be descended from the same 
person.  (Also remember that the Sorting Hat told Harry that he 
would do very well in Slytherin (PS/SS 7).  Probably James had the 
same dispositions at age 11.  Maybe the Hat said the same to James 
and he said "Fine.")

(2) We learn throughout OOTP that Sirius' mother considered him 
a "blood traitor."  Being sorted into Gryffindor would certainly 
upset the Black family (which I assume has always been in Slytherin, 
considering all the snake emblems around their house at Grimmauld) 
and might be enough to label him a "blood traitor."  He might be an 
automatic Slytherin (like Malfoy just touching the Hat in PS/SS 7) — 
would Sirius even have time to argue and choose Gryffindor like 
Harry did?  The basic question is when did he go bad (or 
go "good")?  At age 11 or before?  Wouldn't it be more likely that 
he would rebel against his family as a teenager?  At age 11 when he 
was sorted, he may well have still been under his family's 
influence.  Harry would be ad exception — he would gladly have 
rebelled against the Dursleys at 11, but he was mistreated all his 
life.

(3) Remus was a werewolf and Slytherin only takes in "purebloods."  
Well, Remus was bitten as a child and that does not affect his "pure 
blood" ancestry — if he had one.  Also remember that not all 
Slytherins are "pure bloods" — LV being the chief example.  (LV was 
in Slytherin, wasn't he?) A werewolf in Slytherin doesn't seem odd 
to me.

(4) James and the boys were not bad and so couldn't be in 
Slytherin.  Well, no one is saying James and the others were "bad" 
(i.e., followers of LV), but only that their cunning and ambition, 
not bravery, were defining their character at age 11 when they were 
sorted.  So too James could hate the dark arts and still be in 
Slytherin — the dark arts are not what define a Slytherin.

(5) Throughout the books there are passages stating that Harry sees 
a boy whom he doesn't know by name but knows is in Hufflepuff or 
that he sees a group of Slytherins.  How could he know that if he 
cannot tell their House by appearance (and so could see which House 
James was in in the Pensieve scene)?  Simple: he has been having 
breakfast, lunch, and dinner with these people for years.  He can 
see which House table they have been sitting at.  So even if he 
doesn't know their names or anything else, he knows which House they 
are in.  Also not that in these passages JKR does not say that Harry 
sees someone in a Hufflepuff robe or anything like that — just that 
he knows which House they are in.

(6) How in POA 8 could Sirius know where the Gryffindor Common Room 
was if he hadn't been in Gryfinndor in school?  Simple: he had the 
Marauder's Map while in school.  He probably knew where all the 
Common Rooms were.  (That James and the boys would even create a map 
for marauding might seem like more evidence of Slytherin activity — 
but Fred and George, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione all happily use 
it.)

Bobby