Sorting hat/houses

[sbursztynski]

No: HPFGUIDX 175086

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "CK Campbell" <ckc at ...> wrote:
>
> I've been wondering about the sorting hat and Dumbledore's comment 
to Snape
> that perhaps they sort too soon.  I *think* what Dumbledore was 
saying was
> that Snape might have made a good Gryffindor as well -- just as 
the sorting
> hat thought that Harry would make a decent Slytherin but took his 
preference
> and put him in Gryffindor.
>  
> Surely, there are many children sorted into one house when they 
could have
> done a fine job in other houses.  What if they just don't work out 
in that
> house?  Is it possible, do you think, for the student to change 
houses?  Or
> are you stuck where the sorting hat has put you?  I'd like to 
think that
> Dumbledore would recognize that people change, and that despite 
the hat's
> initial reading of that student, another house might be more 
suitable.
>  
> And what of parental influence?  What if Draco had been placed in
> Hufflepuff?  Would his parents have been able to get him shifted 
over to
> Slytherin?
>  
> And here's another question -- and because I can't find my first 
book I
> can't check this out for myself and have only the memory from that 
other
> medium -- does the sorting hat speak aloud?  or does it speak only 
in the
> minds of the students who wear it?
>  
> Carolyn

Sue here:

Very good post, Carolyn. I have just re-read the first book, and the 
sorting hat does take children's preferences into account. If you re-
read the early scenes, Hermione says she's heard Gryffindor is the 
best one to be in and hopes that will be her house, though she 
wouldn't object to Ravenclaw as next best. Draco assumes he'll be in 
Slytherin and doesn't even consider any other house. And so on. It 
isn't just Harry. When we get to the last book, the young Snape, on 
the train to Hogwarts, is automatically assuming he'll be in 
Slytherin and hoping Lily will be sorted into the same house so they 
can be together. It never even occurs to him he might be in 
Gryffindor, though, as Dumbledore implies, he might have made a good 
one. (For that matter, Slughorn says several times in HBP that Lily 
would have made a good Slytherin due to her streak of mischief). We 
aren't told if anyone ever changed houses, but I suspect not, 
because they were put where they wanted to be. No doubt Sirius's 
parents were furious when he was in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin, 
but it was his preferences that counted, not theirs. :-)

Cjeers!
Sue
>