Comments | terri_testing: The Corruption of the House System

terri_testing

The Corruption of the House System

Nov 04, 2009 18:05

A funny thing happened on the way to Harry’s sorting. The reputations of the houses got terminally messed with, and even those of us who eventually prided ourselves on objecting to the distortion never fingered either the culprit or the timing of the crime.

( That a )

harry potter meta, dumbledore, house system, slytherin, hogwarts

Leave a comment

Back to all threads

overreading terri_testing November 5 2009, 17:51:28 UTC

Oh, certainly I am. But I'm having fun with it ( ... )

Re: overreading oryx_leucoryx November 5 2009, 20:54:16 UTC

(And indeed, what was oh-so-fair Minerva doing, not docking house points for that egregious display of appalling manners?)

The excuse I have seen was that the twins' hissing (not booing) was only heard at the Gryffindor table. Just like we don't know what comments are made at other tables during Sorting nobody outside Gryffindor knew about the twins' behavior.

Re: overreading terri_testing November 6 2009, 06:43:07 UTC

Thank you!

Proving once more one shouldn't make comments without checking canon (at least not with nice canon-sharks like you and lynn circling....)

Yes, Fred and George did hiss, not boo, Mr. Braddock. Equally rude, but Minerva and the headmaster quite possibly might not have heard it over the ambient noise. So it would have fallen to the prefects to correct them, or their housemates. Who mostly, alas, would have agreed.

Thanks for the correction.

Re: overreading lynn_waterfall November 5 2009, 22:11:34 UTC

All the stuff about the Chamber of Secrets housing a monster to purge the castle was LEGEND that was embroidered later.

(grin) We don't actually know when the Chamber was built and the basilisk put there, too. If magic was used, the presence of the castle above wouldn't've been such an impediment. It could have been built a few generations after Salazaar's.

Re: overreading oryx_leucoryx November 5 2009, 22:19:37 UTC

Yes, it could have been done by a Slytherin plumber who converted Hogwarts to indoor plumbing.

Re: overreading lynn_waterfall November 5 2009, 22:24:04 UTC

Yeah, we have to account for the hook-up to a modern sink somehow...

Hogwarts plumbing terri_testing November 9 2009, 06:57:51 UTC

Hey! Don't insert Harry's prejudices into canon ( ... )

Re: Hogwarts plumbing oryx_leucoryx November 9 2009, 07:14:37 UTC

So you are saying there was no plumbing when Myrtle was hiding in the toilets and Tom released the monster? And who carved the snake figure into the tap?

Re: Hogwarts plumbing lynn_waterfall November 9 2009, 08:20:52 UTC

Myrtle is one of the few Ravenclaw characters we get to know in any detail, isn't she. JKR only said that in an interview though, so we don't have to count it.

I mean... look. She's a Ravenclaw because she isn't cool enough to be Gryffindor, we're refusing to consider the possibility of any Muggle-borns in Slytherin, and... well, she's ugly and no one likes her. Doesn't that make her more likely to be a Ravenclaw geek than not?

Does anyone have any better reasons for why she would be a Ravenclaw?

I admit, aside from Myrtle, Ravenclaw was there to provide brief romances as much as anything, so it isn't as though ugly friendless Ravenclaws were a trend. Still, getting killed charging out to yell at someone who shouldn't've been there makes her sound reasonably Gryffindor to me. And she likes attention.

Surely plumbing is a watery, Slytherin activity? Or are the metal pipes suitably earthy?

Re: Hogwarts plumbing terri_testing November 10 2009, 06:22:10 UTC

Okay, I got a bit carried away. My levity comes back to haunt me ( ... )

Re: Hogwarts plumbing oryx_leucoryx November 10 2009, 08:22:47 UTC

Well, Phineas was headmaster probably sometime in the late 19th century possibly until his death in 1925, and was a teacher prior to becoming headmaster. Albus was a student from 1892 to 1899. We do not know when he started teaching but he was there in 1938. Slughorn was younger than Albus, but they started teaching around the same time, if we are to believe Molly who is reporting this from an unknown source. Merrythought taught from 1895 to 1945 (if Phineas taught DADA then she arrived to replace him when he became headmaster). I'm guessing Dippet was headmaster from 1925 to December 1956 and probably, though not necessarily, a teacher earlier. We do not know when Kettleburn started teaching Care of Magical Creatures. There was also a Herbert Beery who taught Herbology according to Beadle the Bard. We do not know when Binns was still alive and more capable of interacting with physical objects. We do not know when Pringle, Filch's predecessor, started working at Hogwarts - he may have been magical ( ... )

Back to all threads