Secondary Houses

[Iverian Gnash]

We all know those famous characters whose Hogwarts houses are highly debatable. It's clear which house they were sorted into, but some wonder if the sorting hat could have made a mistake. Some characters that come to mind are Severus Snape and Peter Pettigrew.

(If you need a bit more about these characters and reasons for questioning their houses, Wizarding World - formerly known as Pottermore - has published an article on it which can be found here!)

Every character, at one point or another, had personality traits that one might think of as belonging to a different house than they were part of. Are there any characters in the books that you think should have been in another house and if so, what house would they have been in? If there's a character you believe fits equally into more than one, share that as well!

Additionally, do you believe the sorting hat can make a mistake when it comes to deciding student's Hogwarts Houses or do you think it's decisions are always justified?

[February Fortescue]

Maybe it's just me, but out of all four Houses, I think Hufflepuff suits Severus Snape least of all.

No, personally I think all of the characters were sorted correctly. I see the Sorting Hat as looking at the qualities the student values most, and whether or not they have the potential to develop those qualities. The Sorting Hat then places the student in that House, surrounded by others who also value those same qualities, and usually the person does excel in those traits.

I think Peter Pettigrew wanted to be brave and placed a high value on that trait, but in the end he could not develop it in himself. Neville Longbottom valued bravery as well, and no one doubts his courage.

We, on the other hand tend to sort ourselves after age 11, and often by our personalities. I'm thinking, if we look at what we truly value, it might be easier. One of the first Sorting questions on Pottermore/Wizarding World is "What do you value most?" That's what it all comes down to.

Of course, this is all my own opinion.

[Emily Spencer]

The two characters that I feel got a rather wrong turn by the Sorting Hat are Neville and Hermione. If anyone ever belonged in Ravenclaw, it is Hermione Granger. She is the epitome of everything Ravenclaw, in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, she's brave enough to be a Gryffindor, but everything else about her screams Ravenclaw to me.

The same thing holds true with Neville Longbottom. Yes, yes, I know all about the different kinds of courage that Dumbledore expounded on, but I still think Neville's heart and willingness to unselfishly put himself out there for his friends is more Hufflepuff than Gryffindor. Neville himself never felt comfortable in Gryffindor, so that's saying something right there.

So yes, I do think the Sorting Hat can make mistakes, and has.

[Prof. Sky Alton]

I definitely think that pretty much everyone probably has some connection to a house other than the one they were sorted into. Humans are too complex to have their personality defined by such narrow parameters. It's especially true for children whose values and attitudes are likely to shift profoundly while there at school. So the house system is quite a blunt instrument in that regard. I think if there was more intahouse interaction outside of lessons, we could safely just say that your house is intended to give you a group of people who you have 'something' in common with as a foundation, after which you make your own friendships more broadly. With what the hat has said about the houses not being united as they were once meant to be, perhaps that was the founder's intention.

I've always wondered if the hat takes into account the current balance of personalities in all of the houses and puts people it can't decide on in the place where either they'll do most good or have most good done to them. Of course, that'd get complicated with people early on in the sorting when it doesn't know who else might come along. It Also makes me wonder as one has to assume that some effort has to be made to balance out the houses in terms of numbers; what if only 2 students who properly fit a houses characteristics came along one year?