Dissection: SS/PS ~ Chapter 7 The Sorting Hat

Post by **A Gunslinger** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:35 am

McGonagall receives the first years from Hagrid at the front door and they are led to the start-of-term banquet. I find this passage to be actually one the most tedious in the early going. Harry sense of wonder and glee is somewhat muted. You'd expect that after years of cruety and abuse, he'd be peeing his pants with manic joy.

The Sorting ceremony takes place, featuring a magical Sorting Hat that sings and places students in one of the four houses (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw) based on the student’s disposition. Hermione and Ron are put into Gryffindor and so is Harry, although the hat did originally consider putting Harry in Slytherin. For my OWN part....Guns is a Ravenclaw!!!

At the Gryffindor table, Harry and Ron meet Nearly Headless Nick, Seamus, and Neville. But Harry is disturbed when his scar hurts upon his looking towards Quirrell and the other teachers at the High Table. Headmaster Dumbledore closes the feast by warning students to stay away from the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side. Percy leads the new first years back to the Gryffindor dormitories, and on the way they run into Peeves the Poltergeist. The chapter ends with Harry having a nightmare about Quirrell’s turban, Snape, and Malfoy. This is a thme that will reoccur. Harry's abilty (a form of latent occulmency perhaps?) ot dream the future or see into current events.

Rowling has said of the Sorting Hat: "The character you might be most surprised to see evolve is none other than the Sorting Hat... There is more to the Sorting Hat than what you have read about in the first three books... Readers will find out what the Sorting Hat becomes as they get into future books." (www.infoplease.com/spot/harrypotter1.html)

The real adventure is about to begin. In this chapter we get to see the newly formed, almost natural animosity betwenn Harry and Malfoy deepen as the Sorting Hat nearly places Harry with Malfoy. It would be interesting to see just how the mythos would have played out if Harry had been Sorted into Slytherin. Clearly Snape's work (protecting the son of Lily) would have been cut out for him!

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 4:16 am

Beautiful, Guns!

Post by **Zahir** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 6:23 am

Of course this is Harry's actual arrival at Hogwarts, and his first meeting with some vital folks. The one detail I loved most about when we first meet Dumbledore was when he said "Now, for a few words."

Heh heh heh.

Other details--despite Ron's hopes, Hermione is sorted to Griffindore (he was glad about that later). Harry's first glimpse of the most complex character in the whole series, Severus Snape.

Post by **Cameraman Jenn** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 6:38 am

I think we can thank both Ron and Malfoy for Harry's inclusion in Gryffindor more than simply Harry's own choice. Harry is reminded of the bullying nature of Dudley when meeting with Draco in the robe shop and hears of Slytherin then. On the train he is enamored of Ron's familial comfort and his family history of Gryffindor house, a family we know that Harry is envious of already. These influences more than anything make Harry wish to be where his new friend Ron claims is the coolest. This is what lands him in Gryffindor in my opinion. Ron. This is by far Ron's most important influence in the entire series in my opinion. Ron does alot but this is the major one. Yay Ron!

On sorting notes, of all the quizzes I have taken I land myself in Gryffindor with Ravenclaw almost tying for second except for one which put me in Ravenclaw with Gryffindor a very very close second.

Post by **Zahir** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 7:55 pm

You know, it is an interesting thought--What if Harry hadn't met Ron and Draco before being Sorted? Would he have ended up in Slytherin? How might that have changed the story? I suspect Harry ultimately would have found allies and friends in that House and caused a rift within them. Likewise, he'd've come to be a bridge between the Houses, maybe.

One wonders is something similar is in store for ASP.

Post by **Seafoam Understone** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 11:26 pm

Zahir wrote:You know, it is an interesting thought--What if Harry hadn't met Ron and Draco before being Sorted? Would he have ended up in Slytherin? How might that have changed the story? I suspect Harry ultimately would have found allies and friends in that House and caused a rift within them. Likewise, he'd've come to be a bridge between the Houses, maybe.

One wonders is something similar is in store for ASP.

Interesting question indeed. But Harry's own natural goodness would've still placed him in Gryffindor. The hat still would've had a difficult time placing him but it seems inevitable that Harry's sense of right and bravery would've placed him in the right house... after all has the hat ever been wrong?

Post by **A Gunslinger** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:34 am

Seafoam Understone wrote:
Zahir wrote:You know, it is an interesting thought--What if Harry hadn't met Ron and Draco before being Sorted? Would he have ended up in Slytherin? How might that have changed the story? I suspect Harry ultimately would have found allies and friends in that House and caused a rift within them. Likewise, he'd've come to be a bridge between the Houses, maybe.

One wonders is something similar is in store for ASP.
Interesting question indeed. But Harry's own natural goodness would've still placed him in Gryffindor. The hat still would've had a difficult time placing him but it seems inevitable that Harry's sense of right and bravery would've placed him in the right house... after all has the hat ever been wrong?

I ma not so sure, SU. Had Harry not met neither Draco nor Ron/Hermione...he may well have just ridden along until the SH deposited him into Slytherin. Not all the kids in that house were iherently bad or evil you know.

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 2:16 am

And I still question why Peter Pettigrew was a Gryffindor...

Post by **Zahir** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:11 am

My guess is--he was different at eleven than he was at twenty.

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:38 am

*slowly shaking head*

Spoiler

...not from the few glimpses we get of him at Hogwarts from the scenes Harry sees in the pensieve...

Post by **A Gunslinger** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 2:55 pm

Zahir wrote:My guess is--he was different at eleven than he was at twenty.

Tghink of the things that define Gryffindor...loyalty...Pettgrew certainly was THAT, right?

YouTube · Post by **Menolly** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:09 pm

A Gunslinger wrote:
Zahir wrote:My guess is--he was different at eleven than he was at twenty.
Tghink of the things that define Gryffindor...loyalty...Pettgrew certainly was THAT, right?

...I dunno...

Spoiler

He definitely wasn't loyal in the long run to the Marauders, nor the Potters in particular. And I believe his loyalty to Voldemort was born of fear, not true loyalty.

I think the Marauders all being in Gryffindor were an experiment to attempt to unite those who should have been in other Houses, just like Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville (notice it is the same four who go together to the Midnight Duel?) all could have each easily been in four different Houses.

...but that's just a private theory I've never been able to back up...

Post by **Zahir** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 10:56 pm

Actually, the defining characteristic of Gryffindores is courage. And Peter Pettigrew did demonstrate a kind of erratic wild courage at times. How many times, for example, did he cut off one of his own body parts?

Post by **Stubby Boardman** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 2:23 am

I wondered the samething about Pettigrew but then I remember Dumbledore saying to Harry in one of the books (sorry I can't remember which one)...that he felt like they sort too early at Hogwarts.

How someone is at 11 doesn't mean they will be the same way at 17, 12,etc.

Ok now I remember he said it to Snape in DH. I think a good argument would be that Snape could of been in Gryffindor.

Cameraman Jenn...I can agree with you on that. Ron has a BIG influence on him. It was Ron who taught him most of what he knew about the magical world. He was the first person he met and is the closest thing to a brother that Harry has.

Post by **A Gunslinger** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 5:04 am

I love Snape.

Post by **Fuzzy_Logic** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:20 pm

Actually, I'm currently writing a Slytherin!Harry AU fic. That's part of why I came to this forum. Once I've read through these dissections, I'l post a plot outline for you all to rip apart...

And remember that Gryffindor /= Good. Pettigrew was a Gryffindor. Black was a Gryffindor. I'm almost certain Lockheart was a Gryffindor.

Meanwhile, Slughorn is a Slytherin.

Post by **duchess of malfi** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 9:41 pm

I think that under usual circumstances, people in Slytherin would not be seen as evil so much as...ambitious and driven. Willing to bend some rules to get ahead. That would be the House that would produce economic and political leaders. People willing to put in the huge effort to start a successful business. Bank presidents. High level officials in the Ministry of Magic.

It would be the magical world's equivalent of the Harvard or University of Michigan Business Schools. Turning out bright and driven people who are willing and prepared to take "big jobs".

These are not normal times, however.

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

Dissection: SS/PS ~ Chapter 7 The Sorting Hat

Dissection: SS/PS ~ Chapter 7 The Sorting Hat