Damn Sorting Hat

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 180143

"dillgravy wrote:
> >
> > Perhaps this has been discussed, please don't egg me, but I
can['t] seem to figure out how in the heck Peter Pettigrew was sorted
into Griffendor. I don't think he showed an ounce of bravery-
exemplifying cowardice in every situation he was in. If you go just by
his student life, it would seem even then he was a clear cut
Slytherin. Any thoughts on this? Anyone have any real objections to
some of the sorting that went on? I, personally, thought maybe Percy
and Luna may have been sorted incorrectly as well.

> Potioncat:
<snip>
> It used to be a fun topic try to determine House-type for adult
witches and wizards. Just seeing how much we disagreed show what a
difficult job the Hat has.
> 
> Now that Harry tells Sevvie, I mean Al, that he can pick---well, why
do they bother with the Sorting Hat at all!
> 
> As for Pettigrew. He doesn't have ambition, but he may be cunning,
can't say. He's most likely pureblood. He isn't hard working or
smart---yet he managed to brew a tricky potion and carried out some
complex dark magic. Bravery doesn't seem to enter in at all! Maybe he
asked for it?
>
Carol responds to both:

Do I detect a hint of cynicism from our cheerful Potioncat?

I don't think a child's choice is the only factor the hat considers,
especially since the Muggleborn kids wouldn't have a clue which House
they belonged in (unless, like Hermione, they did their research). I
think that the Hat really is looking for the characteristics that the
Founders would have wanted in their students and whether a kid would
fit in. If the kid really has a strong preference for, or aversion to,
a particular House, that might be the deciding factor, but in Harry's
case, it only meant "not Slytherin" despite the Slytherin traits the
Hat sensed in him (not all of which were necessarily the result of the
soul bit's presence). Family history would also play a role. (Why
Parvati and Padma ended up in different Houses, I have no idea. One of
them must have expressed a silent preference, or else, despite being
identical, they somehow had different personalities and abilities.)

I personally think that Percy ended up in Gryffindor because of family
history and because he simply *expected* to go there. He wasn't at
odds with his family at that point, he shows courage both at the QWC
and in the Battle of Hogwarts, so he wasn't out of place; and the
Twins in their own way are as ambitious as he is. Luna, I think, is
properly Sorted. She's very smart, just not as dependent on books (or
not the same books) as Hermione is. She's the one who figured out that
they should fly on Thestrals to the MoM, and she easily answered the
Ravenclaw common room's riddle. (She's also evidently artistically
gifted, but there's no House for that.) Many a genius has been
regarded, with reason, as eccentric if not "loony."

As for Pettigrew, I think he was the Muggle-born DE that JKR hinted at
in an interview (unless she was referring to Stan Shunpike). If that
were the case, he certainly wouldn't have been Sorted into Slytherin.
He may have overheard Sirius and James talking about Gryffindor and
wanted to be with them. Either that, or the Sorting Hat sensed a seed
of courage in the heart of the fattest and most timid Hob--erm,
Wizard. I think that Peter was both smarter and more talented than his
friends gave him credit for, but he was also lazy, if his Scabbers
persona is any indication, so he probably didn't want to work hard or
be an intellectual. He wasn't loyal, either, as he later proved. So if
he couldn't be Sorted into Slytherin despite being cunning (I see no
sign of ambition in him) because he was Muggleborn, and he wasn't
loyal or hard-working enough for Hufflepuff, the Hat would have had to
look either for preference or for a hint of courage or intellect and
made the best of a bad fit. Maybe Peter had already figured that James
and Sirius were about to become the biggest bullies on the playground,
known that James, at least, wanted to go to Gryffindor, and made his
choice based on that. (Lily, BTW, may have wanted to go into Slytherin
to be with Sev but been placed in Gryffindor because neither her
personality nor her Muggle-born status qualified her for that House.)

Carol, who thinks that the real reason those students got Sorted into
those Houses is that JKR wanted them there