The Virtues of Hufflepuff House and Cedric Diggory (Was: Snape and . . .cour

[huntergreen_3]

No: HPFGUIDX 106624

Valky wrote:
>> I agree with Jen that JKR probably intends for us to look beyond
Harry and his POV to see thing as they are.
An example that comes to mind is Ravenclaw.
[snip]
Ravenclaw was before Luna, to me, a place where logic and rational
process ruled where the power of the *left brain* was all important,
leaving me to wonder why Hermione was never sorted there.

Luna and even Cho and Marietta have rewritten Ravenclaw for me in
OOtP. Luna is *wise* and THINKS *way too much*, Cho also thinks!
thinks! thinks! this is apparent by her constant nostalgia about
Cedric, and even Marietta when she turns on the DA is probably
projecting thought herself which causes her to fear the
consequences, there wasn't really any other reason for her to tell
was there? <<

HunterGreen:
You know, I always assumed Ravenclaw was a house of logic as well, 
and while reading OotP, Luna confused me briefly in that regard, but 
I pushed it aside. Your interpretation fits quite well though. She's 
often thinking so much that she gets lost in her own little world. 
And thinking too much easily leads to either that or obsessing, which 
fits perfectly with Cho and Marietta. Actually it fits with Hermione 
too, which is a strong reason for the hat to consider putting her 
there.

Valky:
>> Just an extra bit of rambling food for thought...
All candidates have virtues that would fit more than one house. By a
process of elimination I ruled myself out of Hufflepuff just now. <<

HunterGreen:
I think most people would fit into more than one house. (I started 
all these ruminations on Hufflepuff after wondering which house *I* 
would be in because I find loyalty and fair play more important than 
the other values the houses put up...but I'm also a natural over-
thinker). I got to thinking about Voldemort, and oddly enough since 
Slytherin is supposed to be the opposite of it, he has a few 
Hufflepuff-ish qualities.
-Loyalty: He certainly values that very much. Its loyalty or death as 
far as his DE's go, and he's quite pleased with those who were loyal 
to him (very few, but that's what he gets for picking so many people 
from Slytherin).
-Hard Work: It would be hard to accuse the guy of being lazy. All of 
his rather odd 'transformations' he went through while learning in 
the dark arts aside, in the beginning of GoF, we see him determined 
to use Harry Potter for his re-birthing spell, despite HOW much more 
complicated it makes things. Peter even suggests they use someone 
else, but he wants Harry, who was of course the best choice.
-Fair play: Now here's where the snag is. Voldemort is just about the 
clear-cut opposite of being a person who values or cares about fair 
play. I very much doubt the hat even considered Hufflepuff (even if 
he wasn't the heir of Slytherin), because of this stark difference in 
values. However, though, since others in the series have been shaped 
and changed by the house they were in (Neville, Hermione, and Sirius, 
come to mind), I wonder if being in Hufflepuff would have had a 
difference on Voldemort's personality? (probably not, but its fun to 
speculate).

As for the other houses, I don't think he fits. Ravenclaw doesn't 
work, because Voldemort tends not to think things out very well. Upon 
hearing Lily ask him to take her instead, he doesn't stop to think 
that might be a trap, or why on earth she'd would be stupid enough to 
think that'd work. He doesn't consider the ancient magic, simply 
because he doesn't like it, certainly not the best thinking skills. 
He does this again in the graveyard, letting his arrogance take over, 
rather than just killing Harry. An obsessed enough mind would think 
of a hundred things that could go wrong in that situation. The only 
time this really fits is in OotP, when his main goal is to get the 
prophecy. But, you know, everyone gets obsessed sometimes.

I don't really see him as a Gryffindor either. Not only is he 
seriously afraid of death, he was always too afraid to attack 
Hogwarts, and was always afraid of Dumbledore as well. I'm not saying 
that Gryffindor's don't have fear, but conquering fear is a part of 
being courageous. (Emotionally) Voldemort hasn't really conquered 
anything. The things he acheived were not things he had to risk 
anything to achieve. They took hard work, yes, but not facing fear. 
Harry has done this on numerous occasions, so have Ron and Hermione 
and Neville. (or the twins continuing to do their experiments even 
after their mother--a person all the Weasleys fear--told them not to, 
or Percy standing up for his beliefs to his family). Voldemort is 
sort of a coward really, even his fight with Harry in GoF was 
structured so that if Harry somehow managed to win (by hitting 
Voldemort with a stupify for example), there were plenty of DE's 
around to finish the job for him. He has to trick Harry into getting 
the prophecy because he doesn't want to risk getting it for himself, 
and he appears away from where the aurors are, and then resorts to 
possesing Harry during his battle with Voldemort. He's not the least 
bit courageous.