Sorting Hat

[Tammy]

No: HPFGUIDX 115666


Kethryn wrote:
 
> If the Slytherins love purebloods so much and you can't hide
anything from the Sorting Hat, why oh why do halfbreeds end up in
Slytherin?  One would think that, since ancestry is what caused
Salazar to split from Hogwarts, the Hat would know better (or be
bewitched) than to put people into Slytherin that aren't pureblood. 
Of course, the Hat does take it upon itself to occasionally teach
object lessons...
 

Well, the supply of purebloods is probably getting a little thin,
there's a reference to that in SS/PS. 

But more importantly perhaps the Hat has taken it upon itself to look
more at attitude than actual blood. For example Millicent Bullstrode
is a halfblood (at least according to that book that JKR showed on
TV), but if Millicent doesn't know it, and the family doesn't
acknowledge it, then perhaps it doesn't matter much to the hat. Tom
Riddle was a halfblood and was a Slytherin. Not just because he was
the heir, but he had the attitude of a Slytherin, that wizards are
better than muggles. He hated muggles, and perhaps that's more
important to the hat?