The Houses, Finally

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 184616

Alla wrote:
> 
> I think we are starting our annual Sirius v Severus contest tee hee.
I mean, we obviously have different opinions about Sirius' motivations
in the train scene, but actually regardless of his motivations, his
action to me is definitely an example of moral courage.
> 
> Meaning that I disagree of course that the reason of his rejection
of  Slytherin is that he liked James and disliked Severus.  I guess I
 should say I disagree that it was the only reason. I am sure it
played a part, but even if it was, to reject what his parents stood
for, even if he does it solely for a friend ( and I do not buy for a
second that he does, I believe that he thought about it and decided
that he does not like Slytherin values, or at least some of them), to
me it is an example of moral courage.

Carol responds:

Wed don't know what the Sorting Hat said to Sirius, or whether he was
even given a choice. Maybe it saw that, despite his family history and
pure blood, he didn't belong there. Maybe it sensed not only his
desire to be with James, who hadn't been Sorted yet but wanted and
expected to be in Gryffindor along with his innate reckless courage
and simply placed him there as quickly as it later placed Lily there
even though she must have wanted at that point, not knowing what
Slytherin was really like any more than he did, to be in Slytherin
with Severus. (I'm guessing that the Sorting Hat thought that
Slytherin would help Severus to become great, which he definitely
wanted, but, of course, it couldn't do the same for Muggle-born Lily,
who was placed where the Hat thought she belonged rather than where
she mistakenly wanted to go.)

Anyway, Sirius doesn't seem to me to be rejecting his family. He seems
to have expected to be Sorted there until James turned up his nose at
it just as Draco later turns up his at Hufflepuff. But quite possibly,
the friendship with James had nothing to do with his Sorting and he
would have been surprised, even shocked, to find himself in Gryffindor
based on the traits that the Hat found in his head rather than his
expectations. (I'll bet that the Patil Twins were surprised to find
themselves in different Houses.) IOW, if a student is equally
qualified for two Houses, as Harry was for Gryffindor (his natural
home) and Slytherin (because of the soul bit) or Hermione was for
Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, the Sorting Hat will choose the House that
the student wants. But if the student wants an unsuitable House (Lily
wanting Slytherin), the Hat would reject the student's wishes and go
with the House that he or she is best suited for. (Just how Wormtail
got into Gryffindor if my theory is true, I don't know. Maybe he
wasn't suited for any House: a not-very-bright, not loyal or
hardworking, cowardly Muggle-born who was placed in Gryffindor by
default because he admired people like James.)

Sirius did show moral courage later when he openly rejected his
parents' values replaced them with those of Gryffindor (a poster of
*Muggle* girls on his wall, for example, which must have been placed
there when he was at least fourteen, not eleven), and I'm quite sure
that the Sorting Hat saw the potential for reckless courage and a love
of risk-taking in his head. (If the kid were a Muggle, he'd probably
be an extreme skateboarder or another Evel Knievel [sp].) But I don't
think that his Sorting was in itself an act of moral courage. If he
wanted to be in Gryffindor because he'd met James on the train, it was
only to be with his new friend, who thought that Gryffindor was cool
and Slytherin was for rejects. (James wasn't going to change *his*
mind to be with Sirius; if Sirius had chosen Slytherin, or been Sorted
into it because he belonged there, that would have been the end of the
friendship.)

Carol, who thinks we're underestimating the role of the Hat itself in
the Sorting