Conversations with a hat
Harry entered the headmaster's office and looked around. Here, all the paintings were sleeping, the instruments were silent, and someone had put the Sorting Hat back on the headmaster's desk.
He still couldn't really believe what had happened in the last 24 hours. They had won. They had defeated Voldemort and the Death Eaters. He had fulfilled his promise to Dumbledore.
And he couldn't sleep.
So, he decided to sneak out and wandered across the school until he had wandered into the headmaster's office.
As he paced the room, he passed the Sorting Hat, and the hat furled itself into its usual eyes and mouth shape, indicating that it was awake.
"Well, Mr. Potter, from your presence here I may assume that you were victorious? What brings you here at this hour?"
"Just thinking I guess."
"If I may be so bold as to inquire, what currently occupies your mind?"
As he had been walking around Hogwarts, he had been thinking about a lot. About Voldemort, about Malfoy, about his friends, about the future. But he also had some questions which the Sorting Hat might be able to answer.
"Why keep Slytherin House if it produces so many Dark Lords?"
The Sorting Hat didn't seem fazed by this question. In fact, it looked sort of worn out, as if internally sighing at the inquiry.
"Ah yes, this age-old question. Well then, Potter, remind me of the traits championed by each House?"
The question surprised Harry, but he decided to humor the Hat. Besides, it was an easy enough question.
"Well, Griffindor is courage, Hufflepuff is loyalty, Ravenclaw is wisdom, and Slytherin is ambition right?"
"Correct, now Mr. Potter, is there anything wrong with ambition?"
"Well, no, but-"
"Mr. Potter, when creating his House, Salazar Slytherin decided to focus his on ambition and purity of blood, and for good reason. Tell me Potter, what are the characteristics of a pureblood?"
Now the Hat seemed to be going nowhere with its questions.
"Umm, both parents are wizards…and that's it I guess. How is this relevant?"
The Sorting Hat shook its head at the response.
"Potter, you have yet to see the true meaning behind a pureblood that Salazar Slytherin was looking for. Think of the many long-running wizard names; what are the similarities between the Malfoys, the Bones, and even your own family name?"
Harry thought about that. Well, the only thing he could see in common was…he remembered his own family vaults in Greengotts, filled to the ceiling with coins, and also recalled the extravagance of Malfoy's home. Could he buy something similar with his vault?
"Well, they're rich." He hazarded.
"Exactly! Pureblood usually signifies old money, family connections. Slytherin House was intended to be a place for the ambitious to develop networks to further their future careers. I believe that Professor Slughorn is a fine example of this philosophy."
That sort of did make sense. It did explain why Slughorn was a Slytherin and put a new dimension to his Slug Club group that the professor loved to build on. But it didn't really answer Harry's original question.
"Then why do so many dark wizards come from Slytherin?"
"Mr. Potter, you disappoint me. You would judge a House based on the actions of individuals. If memory serves me correct, there are plenty of dark wizards or those who have barely tread on that path from Houses other than Slytherin."
Harry was surprised at the Hat's knowledge. Was it referring to Peter Pettigrew, a Griffindor who had betrayed his friends? Or was it referring to Dumbledore, who had nearly joined Grindlewald's question for domination for the "Greater Good"?
"Mr. Potter, Hogwarts exists to teach great wizards and witches. The Houses exist to make each student a better person. However, all to often it seems that either each House member is stereotyped by their own House's trait or the House members decide to define themselves only by their House."
Harry almost looked down ashamedly at that remark. After all, he had sometimes made that error in judgment throughout his time at Hogwarts, and he knew that many of his classmates were guilty as well. After all, there were many examples of people who refused to be defined by their House as well. He recalled Cedric Diggory, a Hufflepuff who did not possess the timid nature usually associated with his House, and Hermione, who could have easily soared ahead of her peers had she been in Ravenclaw.
"A great wizard," the Hat continued, "has a balance of the traits from all four Houses. The purpose of joining a House is for the student to build on that trait or to gain it. Potter, you possess traits from all four Houses as well."
"Really?" Harry could see how some applied to him, but all four?
"I have courage, and I always stick with my friends. But I don't see how I'm wise or ambitious."
"You have a different sort of wisdom, that of quick thinking and decisiveness. The wisdom of leadership. As for ambition, do you remember your Sorting? I still stand by what I proposed."
Somehow, that grated on his nerves. "Yeah, and I still think you're crazy for thinking that I could do well in Slytherin."
"Hah," the Hat sighed and shook its head. "Mr. Potter, what are your ambi… let me rephrase this. Why did you choose to stay and fight Lord Voldemort? You could have left the country any time; Voldemort would not have risked a full-scale invasion outside of Britain, not after Grindlewald."
"Well, if I didn't, then he would have killed my friends. He would have killed scores of innocents…" Somehow, his reasons seemed to be sounding weak as he actually spoke them out loud.
"Do not falter Potter, you seek to protect both the innocent and those precious to you. It is a very noble ambition, and I believe that Slytherin House would have improved with it."
"What?" Okay, this was completely unexpected. He had expected the Hat's reasoning to be his ability to speak Parseltongue, or the fragment of Voldemort's soul in him, or his potential to be a dark wizard. But this?
"Sometimes, Mr. Potter, it is not the student that needs the House, but the House that needs the student."
"You still haven't really answered my question about Slytherin and Dark Lords, you know." It was almost infuriating, how the Hat seemed to dance around the answer.
"Hah, fine then. Just as each House's quality are parts of a great wizard, each trait in excess can be detrimental. Courage without foresight becomes recklessness."
Harry somehow felt that those words could have come out of Snape's mouth.
"Loyalty without self-consciousness becomes servitude."
Okay, that he could see. It was why so many people looked down on Hufflepuff House.
"Wisdom without companionship becomes solitude."
He remembered Hermione in their first year. She had read all the books ahead of time and was flourishing in her classes. But before he and Ron had saved her from the troll, her intellect was practically pushing everyone away from her.
"And ambition without morality becomes domination. So, Mr. Potter, there is your answer."
"Thank you." As he was about to turn and continue his walk, the Hat called him back.
"Or perhaps… Mr. Potter, have you ever wondered how each student chose to be in their House?
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is: have you ever wondered if you were the only one who rejected my suggestion of Slytherin House because of its reputation for dark lords? Or perhaps the opposite? I respect each student's personal choice Mr. Potter, as much as I respected yours."
Harry mulled over the Hat's words before coming to a tentative conclusion.
"So…you mean that Slytherin House became a gathering place for wannabe dark wizards or people who didn't know any better?"
"Perhaps."
At those ominous words, Harry's thoughts wandered off to Dumbledore's lessons on Voldemort's past. A "What if" popped into his head, and the Sorting Hat was probably the best person, err Hat, to answer.
"Do you regret it?"
"Regret what, Mr. Potter?"
"Do you regret Sorting Voldemort into Slytherin?"
"Do you believe that, had Tom Riddle been Sorted into a different House, he may not have become Lord Voldemort?"
"I dunno, from the memories Dumbledore showed me, it seems like if Tom Riddle had made some friends, hadn't known about his Slytherin ancestry, then he may have ended up better. I guess I'm asking whether you've ever regretted any Sorting."
"Mr. Potter, I do not believe you understand me. I am a Hat, enchanted with powerful magic to have a persona and the ability to Sort each student. My understanding of emotions is built up from a thousand years of observation, with my own eyes and from the thoughts of those I have Sorted."
"So…Do you feel regret?"
"You tell me Mr. Potter, I am merely a hat."