Deathly Hallows, Chapter 33: The Prince's Tale, Part 1

[oneandthetruth]

Or, Severus Snape and the Doomed Love

“I am a Serpent, I am Love;

I have been an Adder of the Mountain;

I have been a Serpent in the River.”

Taliesin

“I was raised the Chinese way: I was taught to desire nothing, to swallow other people’s misery, and to eat my own bitterness.”

Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club

Author’s note: The sporkings for “The Prince’s

Comments

[hwyla]

Quote: ...Many people have criticized Severus for not following her into that house, but given the predatory behavior MWPP exhibited towards him, that’s a criticism at least as idiotic as saying Lily should have been in Slytherin. She could have chosen Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff; either of those houses would have allowed her to continue her friendship with Severus unmolested. Severus was determined to be in Slytherin, presumably for the potions training, and possibly the networking, but Lily clearly didn’t care which house she was in. It was therefore up to her to change houses if she wanted to preserve their friendship

[dorea_ysleen]

Lily might not have any idea that Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs might co-exist better with Slytherins.

Come to think of it, she's probably not even aware how the prejudices shown by James and Severus are shared by the general student population, at least/especially those in Gryffindor and Slytherin, and how divisive the house system is in general. (By OotP it "would be suspicious if too many people from different houses talked to each other" - I mean, really?!) Why would she expect problems with having friends in different houses before getting to know life at Hogwarts?

[oryx_leucoryx]

All she likely knew was that Slytherin was the House Severus wanted, and he thought it to be the House of the smart kids, and Gryffindor was the House James wanted, and it was for the 'brave at heart'. It is up to the reader to determine if she just decided to go along with whatever the Hat says, she valued bravery over smarts or she preferred James over Severus from the moment she saw James (whether she admitted to it to herself or not).

[terri_testing]

Also, I remind everyone that Lily was one of those sorted instantly. Not everyone was given the chance to talk with the Hat and put in a word for (or against) a specific house.

[jana_ch]

Exactly. Another point is that, as a muggleborn, Lily had not been planning (or having her family plan) for most of her life what House she would be in. She was pretty much coming to the process cold. She might have thought that the proper way to behave was to simply let the Hat do what it wanted. After all, Severus didn't tell her to ask for Slytherin; she probably didn't know that was an option. Sev could have said, "Now, you'll be going ahead of me, so be sure to tell the Hat you want Slytherin. I know you're plenty smart enough. Then I'll do the same when it's my turn, and we'll be together."

By the way, I am not one of those who believes there are no muggleborns in Slytherin. The defining characteristic is ambition, not purity of blood. If, as JKR has said, only one quarter of the wizarding world is pureblood, Slytherin would take them all if it insisted on blood purity, and there would be none left for the other Houses--which we know is not the case.

[malic_ba]

This is an important point. IIRC, we don't hear in canon that anyone other than Harry had a choice - we just assume that the Hat would have talked to others as it did to him. Importantly, again IIRC, there's nothing in the leadup to the sorting scene that suggests that anyone thinks it is possible to influence the Hat. Certainly those raised in the WW have preferences for where they want to go, but no-one says they're going to insist on it. James says 'I think I'd leave', not 'I'd refuse' to the idea of being put in Slytherin. In fact, I think that Harry's advice to Albus Severus in the epilogue may be the first time we ever see a student being told they can choose where to go