[HPforGrownups] Re: extra! extra! "Sorting Hat, never wrong" (wasRe: Sorting Hat as Horcrux?

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 143382

> Saturniia:
> Okay, so we have it from the horse's... er... the author's mouth
> that the Sorting Hat is never wrong.  However, we do know the
> Sorting Hat's first decision can be vetoed.  Our canon proof?
>
> Harry Potter himself!
>
> Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Sorting Hat may never be wrong, but
> that little voice the characters hear when the hat's on their head
> can be swayed by personal opinion.  It might not put little Posey
> Parkinson in Slytherin with her big sister when the girl is much
> more suited for Hufflepuff, but if one is equally suited to two or
> more houses, like Harry, one can make a suggestion like "Ravenclaw,
> please", or the canon "Not Slytherin. Anything but Slytherin".


Magpie:

We don't really know how much it's swayed by personal opinion exactly. 
Harry doesn't really veto anything.  Iirc, Harry is the one who brings up 
Slytherin, saying, "Not Slytherin" when he sits down--he doesn't know any of 
the other houses well enough to know which one he wants.  The hat then 
reacts to that by saying he'd do well in Slytherin, but it's not like the 
hat says he's putting him in Slytherin and Harry says no, pick again.  If 
Harry had said, "Not Hufflepuff," the hat might have pointed out all the 
reasons Harry would do well in Hufflepuff before giving him Gryffindor.

Harry does seem to have a definitely connection to Slytherin, but if we use 
that first Sorting as the model it's more because Harry denies that part of 
himself and so gives it a sort of forbidden power.

Actually, I think that the Gryff/Slyth rivalry might be getting more 
damaging by causing people in both those houses to reject the qualities 
associated with it so it goes beyond just being different.  Harry had to 
access his "Slytherin side" in HBP, and it was interesting seeing him do it. 
I think one could read a bit of Draco having to consider reaching for some 
Gryffindor qualities throughout the year as well.  If everybody could accept 
all parts of themselves in all the four houses as a positive thing, all the 
houses might benefit, imo.  There's a difference, for instance, between a 
Slytherin not putting courage above everything else like a Gryffindor and a 
Slytherin being proud about not being courageous, if that makes sense.

-m