Dumbledore from Gryffindor

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 155495

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Kellie and Lady J"
<pebbles104 at ...> wrote:
>
> Ok, one more post from me and I am done for today.
> 
> A friend and I were talking yesterday about the books.  She asked if
there 
> was any proof in cannon to support Dumbledore being in Gryffindor
when he 
> was a student at Hogwarts.  I honestly, can't say that I recall
anything, 
> though I may have missed something.  I am rereading the books now
and don't 
> remember anything that said wich house Dumbledore was from.  So I
wasn't 
> sure if it said, or did J. K. say in an interview that Dumbledore
was in 
> Gryffindor house?
> 
> He is brave and would fit in Gryffindor, but I can also see him
being a Ravenclaw.  He is very clever, quite intelectual.  An example
is, In the first book, he used the Mirror of Erised to conceal the
sorcerer's stone. He is very difficult to trick.  So, I just wondered
if anyone could tell me if what house he is from, is speculation or fact.
> 
> Kellie who is just curious.
>

Carol responds:
Not proof, exactly, but Hermione says in SS/PS that she's heard that
Dumbledore was in Gryffindor, one reason why she believes it's "by far
the best House." There's no reason to doubt Hermione here, since she's
almost certainly read it in a book, perhaps "Hogwarts: A History," and
JKR uses her to provide factual information (you can't Apparate on
Hogwarts grounds, for example).

Also, Dumbledore either owns or has charge of the Sword of Gryffindor,
which suggests that he's Gryffindor's spiritual heir, even if he's not
literally the Heir of Gryffindor; his Phoenix, Fawkes, is scarlet and
gold, the Gryffindor colors (and he tells Harry that "only a true
Gryffindor" could have pulled the sword out of the Sorting Hat,
suggesting that perhaps only a true Gryffindor could have put it in);
and he has a Gryffindor knocker, erm, a griffin door knocker, which I
believe is a JKR-Dumbledore-style pun. (I'm guessing that he owned the
house in Godric's Hollow that the Potters hid in, but I realize ther's
no canon evidence for that idea. I'm also guessing that he was the HoH
of Gryffindor, as well as Transfiguration teacher, before Mcgonagall
took over both posts.)

I can find the Hermione quote easily enough. It's in "The Journey from
Platform Nine and Three Quarters," IIRC, but it could also be in "the
Sorting Hat."

Carol, noting that most of JKR's favorite characters, including
Hagrid, were in Gryffindor, and it seems likely that Dumbledore would
be from her favorite House