muggle baiting vs. muggle torture

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 155438

Triin:
> 
> I think the answer is given. I can't remember where, but I think we
> are told that almost everybody goes to the house where their parents
> and siblings went. This may be because most children already know
> where they _want_ to go, that being usually the house their parents
> have spoken approvingly about. And the hat takes their preference
into account very strongly. I guess it only puts the kids in another
house than that of their parents when a) they don't want to go there,
or b) they really really wouldn't fit in.  <snip>

Carol responds:
I don't think it's that simple, or the Hat would automatically have
placed Harry in Gryffindor, the House that both his parents had been
sorted into. Instead, it hesitates, pointing out that he has courage,
lots of talent, "not a bad mind," and a thirst to prove himself, and
then it asks *itself*, not Harry, "Where shall I put you?" Even when
Harry thinks, "Not Slytherin! Not Slytherin!" it argues that he would
do well ther. It's only when Harry makes it clear that he doesn't want
to go there that the Hat chooses what it appears to be the second-best
fit, Gryffindor.

I think the Hat really makes an effort to put the students where it
thinks they belong, giving equal weight to Slytherin and with no bias
against it (though it dislikes the idea of "quartering" in general and
later advocates unity among the Houses). I think it takes the
student's preference into account only when the student expresses it
strongly; otherwise, it examines the abilities and character traits it
sees (ambition, courage, wit, loyalty, etc.) and places the student
where he or she would fit best. Note the long hesitation in placing
Seamus, who does not automatically go into the same house as his
mother, and Neville, who does not automatically go into the same house
as his parents and Gran. (I'm guessing that Gran, at least, was a
Gryffindor, since McGonagall knew that she failed her Charms OWL and
she's loyal to Gryffindor. Courage seems to be a prized family trait,
so Frank was probably a Gryffindor, too. Yet Neville's placement in
Gryffindor is not automatic. Possibly, the Hat placed him there
because he begged it to do so even though it thought he was better
suited to Hufflepuff.)

Also, if families always go into the same House, how did Parvati and
Padma, identical twins who were sorted within minutes of each other,
end up in different Houses?

Carol, who thinks the Sorting Hat tries its best to do what the
Founders intended it to do and would rather see it retired (and given
a magical cleaning) than burned