[HPforGrownups] Re: Sorting Hat (was: muggle baiting vs. muggle torture)

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 155465

Triin:
What is it about Harry's personality that makes him so Slytherin that the
hat had to be begged not to put him there? He is such a *straightfoward*
person, with a "saving people thing", etc; to me he sounds like an epitome
of Gryffindor values.. 

Sherry now:

But the hat did not have to be begged not to put Harry in Slytherin.
There's nothing to indicate that the Hat wanted to put him there in the
beginning.  It is Harry who first says, "not Slytherin".  I felt like the
following discussion was the hat's almost taunting Harry, are you sure about
that?  Slytherin could be good for you.  That kind of thing.  I don't read
it as the Hat being convinced against its will to put Harry In Gryffindor.
At first, he's considering all the houses, which is obvious by how it runs
through all those characteristics.  I imagine everyone has qualities prized
in all the houses.  I think Harry was meant to be in Gryffindor, and that
unlike what so many seem to see in that scene, it was never the Hat's second
choice for Harry.

Sherry