Harry, Draco, and House - (was:Re:Scrimgeour/WerewolfBites/Legilimency/Secrecy..

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 179732

--- "Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)" <catlady at ...> wrote:
>

> Steve bboyminn wrote in
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPfrGrownups/message/179624>:
> 
> << If Harry hadn't met Ron right away, I suspect they still 
> would have been friends because they did share a room for 7
> years. Further, I don't think it would have taken Harry very
> long to understand Draco, what with Draco's harassment of 
> Neville, general arrogance, and sense of entitlement. All that
> was quickly evident in their first meeting. >>
> 

> Catlady:
>
> Suppose, as a hypothetical, that no one had come to share 
> that compartment with first-year Harry, until Draco, Crabbe,
> and Goyle came there .... Draco wouldn't have insulted Ron 
> because Ron wasn't there. So Harry would have shaken Draco's
> hand and allowed them to sit in his compartment. Then Draco,
> trying to... make a good impression on Harry. Perhaps he 
> would have refrained from saying anything rude about 
> Muggleborns ... Then Harry might have taken his offer to 
> introduce him to the wizarding world as kindly. Then Harry
> might wanted to be Sorted into Slytherin to be with his new
> friend. Then Harry and Ron wouldn't have been in the same 
> dorm.
> 

bboyminn:

It's going to take a lot more supposition than that to make
this  scenario work. First off, Harry has already met Draco,
and he wasn't favorably impressed. It would also require
Harry to not meet Hagrid, and hear Hagrid's favorable 
impression of Gryffindor, and it would have required the 
same of Hermione, to not meet and to not hear her impression. 
Though I can't specifically remember it, Hagrid may have
told Harry before the Sorting that his own parents were
Gryffindors. 

Then it would have required an arrogant self-centered git 
like Draco to restrain his true feelings, which he had
previously reveal, for many many consecutive hours. A tall
task indeed. 

I think more likely Harry would have politely accepted Draco's
offer of a hand, and may have even politely tolerated Draco's
company of the train ride, but I don't see him feeling real
comfortable with it.

Lastly, in my view, the Sorting Hat only pushed for Slytherin
because Harry rejected it. It was the Sorting Hat's way of
probing deeper into Harry's motivations and inclinations. 
We don't really know if the Sorting Hat truly wanted to put
Harry in Slytherin, or if Harry and the Hat were merely 
evaluating the options. 

Even if we eliminate Hagrid, Hermione, and Ron's influence
from the equation, and just left it to Harry and the Sorting
Hat, I don't see Harry in Slytherin because I don't see him as
being comfortable in that environment. He understands being 
the underdog, and is therefore bravely determined to stand up
for any underdog he might meets which explains his friendship 
with Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Luna. 

No, I see Harry in Gryffindor regardless of the events leading
up to the Sorting.

Just one man's opinion.

steve/bboyminn