Pureblood Pretenders and Sorting Hat Was (Re: Motivations for Joining DEs )

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 140991

"a_svirn" <a_svirn at y...> wrote:
 
> I'm not sure about that. She didn't want to be in Gryffindor 
because 
> she valued courage above anything else; she simply assumed that it 
was 
> the best house, because the present headmaster was its alumnus. And 
> naturally she wanted the best. Quite a Slytherin way of reasoning 
> actually. 
> 

zgirnius:
So do you think the Hat just basically rubber stamps the choices of 
the students? They tell it which house they want, and it obliges? 
(Or, it selects based on its stated criteria from among the houses a 
student considers acceptable, as in Harry's case, since he only 
specified "not Slytherin?)

I agree, Hermione often takes what I imagine to be a Slytherin 
approach to life. I find a lot of GoF and OotP, and how Harry reacts 
to situations vs. how Hermione reacts to them, to be sort of an 
exercise in contrasts between a "Gryffindor" and "Slytherin" style. 
(Roughly speaking...I'm not all that clear on what that means...)

They both have problems with Rita Skeeter in GoF. Harry confronts 
her, a highly ineffective tactic. Hermione finds dirt on her and 
blackmails her. In OotP they both have problems with Umbridge. Harry 
confronts her (more than once), a gutsy but highly ineffective 
tactic. Hermione, however, having established to her own satisfaction 
that Umbridge is a worthless teacher, backs down, but arranges to get 
herself (and lots of other interested students) taught by Harry. She 
also uses her contacts (Luna, Rita) to get Harry's story out.