Chapter 5 / Evanesco / House System

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 187924


>Rick: 
> Certainly, pigeonholing students at such a young age, particularly the less than stellar also-rans--the Hufflepuffs--neither brave, sly nor clever, seems damaging to me and overly deterministic.  And JKR makes a point of showing how porous the boundaries could be.  Harry could have been either a G or an S, Hg could have been either a G or an R.  Certainly, until the end, Longbottom wasn't G material. 


Potioncat:
I love the house system. Well, not really. What I love is that each house would look different from the inside. A house doesn't lack the quality of another house, as much as it gives a higher value to a different quality.

I doubt that Professor Sprout thinks of herself as neither brave, sly nor clever. I imagine she thinks of herself as a hard-working, loyal individual. Hufflepuffs would (I think) see themselves as the backbone of the WW, who never quite get the respect they deserve. They would be glad not to as reckless as the Gryffindors, nor as book-bound as Ravenclaws, nor as so extremely success oriented as Slytherins. 

I disagree about Neville. He showed his courage the very first year. Not only did he stand up to the Trio, but he showed up for Potions day after day and put up with Snape's treatment. I don't think Harry would have been a Slytherin, but he could have been a Hufflepuff with his frequent display of loyalty to his friends. OK, I guess he did have a desire to prove himself, and he did bend the rules to succeed in Potions. So Yes to Slytherin.