Chapter 5-
At this revelation the whole started buzzing again, for his part Dumbledore only smiled before trying to calm them down.
"His middle name is Henry?" Remus asked. "That's bit odd, isn't it?"
Sirius shrugged, "It's a common enough name. I hope he is sorted into our house."
"He will be," James said confidently. "Every Potter that was ever a Potter was sorted into Gryffindor."
James smiled at her, preening in her attention. "You say the nicest things, Lils."
She rolled her eyes at him.
The Sorting Hat still slid over his eyes, and immediately started a debate.
"I'm tempted to sort you into Slytherin right away" said the hat
"And why's that?" asked Ricky
"Because you're planning on manipulating me." replied the hat
"So you can just read our minds?..." asked Ricky
"You don't even try to deny it! How peculiar..." said the Hat
"Do I even have to say anything, then? You should already know how this'll all play out, if that's the case." Ricky asked
"Unfortunately for everyone waiting out there, my abilities don't extend so far. I have an impression, of course, but putting it all into detail becomes harder the more complicated it gets. Now, I can tell you have much to say, so by all means go right ahead." stated the hat
"Well, alright then. I guess I'll start by saying, and in doing so I don't mean any offense to you, that I don't think this whole business of sorting is very useful or even valid for that matter.
I could go on about how determining a child's future in such an inflexible way is actively detrimental to both their education and overall personal development, but to prove that, I guess I'd have to start with explaining to you how the very process of determination is itself fundamentally flawed. And that all really starts with you." said Ricky
"And how do you figure that?" asked the hat
"You're just a subject, as individual and conscious as anyone else. This is clear in that here we are, sitting and having a conversation wherein you're learning more about me and I'm learning more about you.
But even if this wasn't the case, even if you were some sort of disembodied consciousness, it wouldn't make your determinations about me any less subjective, because interpreting any amalgamation of facts, whether individually or collectively, is itself a subjective enterprise by its being an interpretation at all. Take this very conversation, for example.
You could view it as an expression of my intellect, in that I'm taking the time to examine a system and point out its flaws in a well-reasoned and somewhat academic manner. If this is how you decide to view our discussion—and it would be a decision on your part—then it can serve to justify your sorting me in Ravenclaw, the supposed home of knowledge and wit.
But you can also take the very fact that this conversation is even happening as a show of courage, wherein I confront you, a figure of relative authority who will be determining a large part of my future in this institution, in an attempt to stand up against a process which I personally find unsatisfactory.
From that lens, it would make just as much sense to place me in Gryffindor. Then there's also the possibility, one just as valid as the others, that I'm attempting to expose this ceremony as unjust out of a sense of moral duty, one informed by the value I place in my fellow classmates, whom I believe deserve better than to be rigidly sorted into a system which can't possibly account for all their particular complexities, a reading of my argument which would allow my entrance into Hufflepuff.
And finally, just as you mentioned, I'm explaining all of this to you in an attempt to control our conversation so that it results in my desired outcome, a manipulative tactic which could easily earn me a place on Slytherin.
As you can see, it's necessary to understand how any amount of material content—this conversation, or myself as a whole being, or my fellow classmates—itself doesn't express any innate, true understanding, but is instead interpreted and justified on the basis of that interpretation's ability to satisfy the subjective observer.
It's possible to justifiably place me in any of the four houses, something which is likely true of every single student who ever participates in the sorting process, because the sorting itself can't be anything but your subjective opinion about whatever amount of personal information you can get your hands on, and so the process itself is really quite arbitrary." Ricky supplied
"Well, by that logic, any system which places individuals into particular categories is arbitrary by its very nature as a categorizing system. And yet we need categories with which to structure ourselves into any institution, because without them there is no institution at all.
I agree with your reasoning that the house system is arbitrary, but that doesn't make it useless. Even you must recognize how effective the competition generated by our house system is in motivating students to succeed both academically and extracurricularily.
Not to mention how it, by the distribution of points, encourages students to be on their best behavior, and thereby severely reduces undue bullying or mischief." replied the Hat
"Don't get me wrong, I fully understand the need for houses at this school. You're right that the system is effective as both a competitive and disciplinary enterprise. Although I'm sure there's still plenty of sloth and misconduct, I'm doubly sure that no system at all could truly narrow the possibility for such things into nonexistence, and all things considered I find this one to be effective enough for what it is." Said Ricky
"Then what is your contention?" asked the hat
"It's not the inherent need for houses that I argue against, but the way in which the system is applied. Let's think this through: Each house is defined by certain characteristics, ones which are supposedly seen or perhaps discovered deeply within each student who is sorted. Gryffindors are brave and reckless, Hufflepuffs fair and laborious, etc.
I've already discussed how objectively judging a student as one or the other is technically impossible, but my true contention is that, in light of your necessary subjective judgement, the system therefore serves to hinder the student's characterological development.
By assigning a student to a house, you effectively tell this student what kind of person he is from a position of perceived authority. This student will likely take your judgement as a fact, one which will go on to color his perception of himself and that of his classmates.
So you see, the Gryffindors will not truly be brave and reckless; they will only believe themselves to be so, and that unfounded belief will be amplified by the perception of the students in other houses who, themselves under the illusion of their own accurate position, will see the Gryffindors as necessarily belonging to their house regardless of how illusory this judgement might be. This all leads to a situation in which students merely perform the expected characteristics of their house as opposed to sincerely act in accordance to their own nature.
The student is effectively driven to hide the complexity of his true self under the simplifying mask of his house, a process made all the more psychologically damaging due to the fact that it begins at such a young age, when the effect of this illusion is more subtly integrated into his developing personality." stated Ricky
"But isn't it the case that all human beings inevitably create masks behind which to hide their true selves? And aren't these masks crafted in relation to their wider society, something which is by all accounts outside of the individual's control?" asked the hat
"We speak here of the persona, a psychological term coined by one Carl Jung, who I'm sure you as a magical talking hat in a world of wizard people don't know, but who should be properly credited regardless.
You're right that the persona is enshrined into one's personality one way or the other, as it's ultimately necessary to mask one's authentic 'self' in order to relate to other people. The 'self' is simply too complex, too contradictory, too differentiated to effectively build relations with another without some sort of funnel through which to communicate ideas and feelings.
Even if our masks weren't crafted by ourselves, others would craft them for us, as their very perceptions of us would inevitably lead to our simplification in their eyes. Again, my contention here isn't the necessity for such a thing to exist, but merely the way it's applied in this instance.
As it is now, this house system arbitrarily creates a student's persona when it should allow the student to create the persona for himself, using his own experience in the world as a foundation. The creation of one's persona, done in relation to society yet undertaken as an individual project, is crucial to one's psychological development.
Taking that process away from a student and doing it for him isn't only unhealthy, but actively infantilizing, as it steals the self-development of that student under the pretense of efficiency. And anyway, house assignment also affects interpersonal relations in the student body. Say you're in Slytherin.
You believe yourself to be ambitious and cunning, because that's what you've been told your place in that house represents. You also believe that all your housemates are ambitious and cunning too, at least more than they are anything else, and with that comes the equally unfounded belief that the students in other houses are not ambitious or cunning at all.
You are therefore now in a situation wherein the people whom you're encouraged to spend the most time with are all allegedly like you, and the people whom you don't spend hardly any time with are definitively unlike you.
How could this possibly lead to something even remotely like unity between the houses? It jumps over mere competition and dives straight into tribal warfare. It's your perceived authority, hat, which is the real problem.
As a quasi-omniscient figure, one who can supposedly read into the inner truth of a person, you become someone who gains unquestioned ability to judge students, and thereby advocate for the students to judge themselves and others under your own arbitrary standards. They believe their house placement, as well as the house placement of everyone else, so completely that it becomes a fact as opposed to a mere suggestion." stated Ricky.
"Hm… These points of yours are rather disturbing and in some ways incendiary, though I can't say they aren't well-reasoned. Very well, what do you then propose as a solution?" Again asked the hat
"It's all very simple: cast off this perception of authority. Sort people randomly.
Openly randomly. It will be just as arbitrary as the current system is, but that arbitrariness will be made explicit rather than implicit, and therefore no student will truly believe himself as belonging to any one house at the expense of some other house.
Students will be able to freely interact with those of other houses without the perception of some intrinsic difference, and they will still be able to compete with each other due to the name of their house rather than the character of it.
This accomplishes both goals at once; the student is allowed maximum freedom to craft his identity without the detriment of unnecessary preconceived notions from everyone else, and due to him still being placed in a house at all, he gains a core group in which to gain a sense of teamwork and community." said Ricky
"Well… This has been enlightening, and I'm sure we could discuss this for quite a while longer, but I'm afraid we should cut this short for the sake of those outside who must by now be thoroughly incensed at the long wait. I will certainly think on all this." replied the hat
"Alright. Have you decided on a house for me, then?" asked ricky
"Oh yes, and I'm sure you've figured out which it is by now, else you wouldn't have gone through so much effort." said the hat while chuckling.
"Of course. But if I may ask, what about me made the decision?"
"Above all that you've said, and above how you said it, the most startling thing about it isn't your argument itself, but how much fun you had making it. You enjoyed yourself quite a lot, by my estimation. Just out of curiosity, what was this 'desired outcome' of yours anyways?" asked the hat
"Very simple. My one demand is this Not Gryffindor. I can already see professor Mcgonagall asking me to toe James and his buddies in, and as fun as it would be I'd rather be the spectator"
"Ha! Well, nothing to be worried about then, you in Griffindor would be disaster. As a parslemouth I cannot in good conscience put you there, so the only real option for you is..."
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Thanks, Mimir I appreciate that. I'll buy you some leather softener later" said Ricky while grinning.
"Shush before I change my mind and send you into Slytherin, you sly snake in a raven's nest! besides I fear what you'd do if I left you amongst those poor little snakes." huffed the hat with humor.
There was a heartbeat of silence and There was applause, a bit more enthusiastically by the Ravenclaws and some of the students from the Slytherin table. The Hufflepuff's were clapping half-heartedly.
Ricky walked straight to his new table, where he was met with pats and cheers and laughs. He made sure to sit as close to the head table as possible.
James sank down on the bench seat as the people around him jeered. Lily's self satisfied smirk in seeing James being far from correct was embarrassing, to put it mildly.
"Cheer up, Prongs, it could be worse, he could have actually been sorted into Slytherin, Sirius said with a smile, even he was enjoying James's obvious discomfort
"A Potter," James said weakly, "in Ravenclaw."
Wormtail grinned, "He's a Potterclaw."
James winced.
"He might look like James," someone from the Ravenclaw said loudly, "but he obviously isn't lacking a brain."
Ricky was relieved with his sorting, although he was disappointed with the reaction of the other students. Not that the whispers or jeering bothered him all that much, he was used to that, he was just a bit sad that his new housemates were less than welcoming because of it.
Ricky sat down across from a boy with blonde hair and his tawny eyes were bright and kind. He held out his hand.
Ricky took that hand as the boy said, "Hi, I'm Terrance Greengrass but you can call me Terry, welcome to Ravenclaw."
Ricky smiled, "Thanks, Rickard Potter but you can call me Ricky." maybe he was Daphne and Astoria Greengrass dad? well the Greengrass family weren't bad and they were someone Ricky was more than willing to make friends with.
They started talking and getting to know each other, he told him about his past. And like everyone else he did ask in depth questions, but he did ask some funny ones.
Seeing this other students jumped in and started asking they're own.
"Are you anything like James?" one of the older students asked.
Ricky shrugged, "I can't say I know him well enough to answer that question."
"If he was like his brother, cousin, whatever, he would be in Gryffindor," a girl declared, giving Ricky a shrewd look.
"Here's hoping you can compete against him on the Quidditch pitch," the first boy said.
"Don't listen to them, Ricky," Terry said warmly, "You'll find your place here. Just be yourself and the school will be on to the next rumour before you can say Wingardium Leviosa thrice."
Ricky felt a slight pang in his heart. He knew it was the Harry side again, because as happy as he was to have a chance at experiencing Hogwarts.
Harry for his part was remembering his friends, and it wasn't be the same without Ronald weasley and Hermione Granger.
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