The Sorting Hat doesn't sort

[happybean98]

No: HPFGUIDX 106092

HunterGreen:

Then why wasn't she put in Ravenclaw? I see nothing to indicate that
pre-Hogwarts Hermione was particularily interested in anything other
than books and cleverness. I can't see why a house known specifically
for bravery would interest her that much. 

happpybean98:

(stealing quote from Cathy)
In the PS6, Hermione says: "Do either of you know what house you'll be
in? I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds 
by far the
best, I hear Dumbledore himself was one..."

Del continues:

This is precisely why the
hat works better than the kids choosing their own house. Being put in
Gryffindor forced Hermione to become friends with other Gryffindors
and thus opened that part of herself that *was* brave. Had she been
put in Ravenclaw she would have been friends with other studious
students like herself, and that part of her may have remained dormant-
-and completely unused. She fits in the house, but it wasn't obvious
to her or anyone else at the time.

happybean98:

Well, according to what we know about Hermione, it would seem 
Ravenclaw would have been the obvious choice. But can we assume we 
know everything about Hermione from what we've read so far?  

"The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at 
leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be 
perused by any invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing, 
Potter..." OoP p. 530  Snape says this, but I agree with him.  

If even a skilled legilimans could not "read" Hermione's mind, how 
can we presume to know everything about her just be reading about 
her? It's possible Hermione posseses intelligence, but values courage 
more. (see quote from PS/SS above)

I understand what you are saying, that maybe the hat is not only 
identifying their existing qualilties, but also trying to help them 
grow in new directions. But if "Hat knows best" all the time, even 
better than the students themselves, why has no one yet been 
dissatisfied with the house they've been placed in? I mean, what if 
it had sorted Malfoy into Hufflepuff because it thought he needed to 
be taken down a notch or two?  (I know I wouldn't have been able to 
resist the temptation). 

Rebecca:
Before the hat the four founders decided themselves which students
they wanted to teach, they didn't leave it up to students to decide.
Why would they want just any kid who happened to "like" their house
(or think they like it), to be sorted there? The point of the hat is
to reflect what the founders would do if they were still around, its
not just a way to quarter all the students.

happybean98:
Well, lets assume that what you're saying about the founders is true 
and that they charmed the hat to think as they would, and magically 
enabled it to appraise each students qualities and then sort them 
strictly according to their qualities. I'll put the burden of proof 
on you. 
1. Why was Neville Longbottom put in Gryffindor?
2. Why was Hermione Granger put in Gryffindor?
3. Why does the hat put Harry in Gryffindor?  (Harry's words), "It 
only put me in Gryffindor," said Harry in a defeated voice, "because 
I asked not to go in Slytherin..." "Exactly," said Dumbledore, 
beaming once more."Which makes you very different from Tom Riddle. It 
is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our 
abilities."  CoS p.333 This tells me that the hat gives more weight 
to what the student chooses than to thier existing qualities.

Cathy:
In the PS6, Hermione says: "Do either of you know what house you'll be
in? I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds 
by far the best, I hear Dumbledore himself was one..." She, for once, 
never mentioned Hogwarts, A History, but that she had just 
been 'asking around.' I'm sure she would have read about the 
different houses in the book, and perhaps the different 
qualities/abilites each house was looking for (maybe or may not be in
the book), but her 'asking around' made her want to go to 
Gryffindor. .

happybean98:
Exactly! Thanks for the quote, Cathy, I overlooked that one. It shows 
that Hermione WANTS to be in Gryffindor, which is why she ended up 
there, and not in Ravenclaw.

Halli:
So this (Hat's song) is the equivalent of a leaflet about all the
houses, and I heard somewhere that desisions you've made quickly
relflect what you feel, or your instinct, so what they think so soon
after hearing about them all would be less tainted by other peoples
opinions, because no one would be there thinking for them, or even
helping them decide...so i guess I agree with the people who say the
kid really chooses, because isn't that what DD says? So the hat
would reflect that, as it does alot of DDs other ideals.

happybean98:
Absolutely, I agree with what you've said. I think the hat is acting 
similar to the way the Mirror of Erised acts according to who is 
looking inside it. 

And now, I'll go further to say that not only does the hat have a 
legilimancy charm on it, but Rowling actually gives us a clue as to 
how the hat works in OoP when Hermione considers Fred and George's 
invisibility hats. "How do those hats work, then? "said 
Hermione, ..."I mean, obviously it's some kind of Invisibility Spell, 
but it's rather clever to have extended the field of invisibility 
beyond the boundaries of the charmed object..." OoP p.540 Just 
replace 'invisibility spell' with 'legilimancy spell' and you have 
the explanation as to how a charmed object, such as the Sorting Hat 
extends it's field of legilimancy to include the student's head as 
well.

-happybean98