The marauders are a pretty good representation of the 4 houses of Hogwarts. We have Remus: very smart and sort of square- Ravenclaw
James: Bold, and daring, but a bit rash- Gryffindor
Sirus: Fiercely loyal, but not the best student- Hufflepuff
Peter: Slick, and ratty- Slytherin
Well, this is just something that popped into my head, so make of it what you will.

~Max~

I have to disagree there. I agree pretty much on the points of James and Remus.


For Sirius however... in PoA McGonagall refers to him and James as "both very bright, of course-- exceptionally bright in fact."

And I don't think that Peter posesses the kind of cunning that Slytherins prize... he just values his own behind above all else. I wouldn't say he's "slick" though.

-Lina

You can be xceptionally bright while also being an awful student. It's not hard. Just don't work like you should. It's worked for me for the last eight years :-D. I think Peter is nothing but slick. He tricked the entire wizarding world into believing that Sirius killed him, and he slipped out after they got out of the Shrieking Shack (PoA) while everyone was distracted. He's definitely an opportunist as well, which seems to be a Slytherin quality.

~Max~

I can't see Peter winding up with Slytherin because I just don't think we would have fit in at all.

The whole "not the best student" thing is something that has irked me for a while in the HP fandom. Who's to say you can't wind up being a smart student in Hufflepuff? Hermione's the "brightest witch of her age" and she didn't go into Ravenclaw... her courage, etc. overrode the other qualities so that she wound up in Griffindor. I feel kind of bad, like the Hufflepuffs got a bad rap because Hagrid refers to them as a "load of duffers" in SS/PS, I believe that someone who is very bright and whose studies are important to them, but friends and staying loyal to said friends matters more to them could easily wind up in Hufflepuff. I dunno... do you get what I'm saying?

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. ^_^;

-Lina

Well, I should clarify myself. By not the best student, I meant that he's not your model A-student. One who is allways in the library on weekends, but can work hard when he needs to. The Hufflepuffs seem to be able to enjoy themselves based on the canon character's characterizations in the stories. I didn't mean that they are all a bunch of slack-jawed nincompoops. I meant that they are definitely not bookworms.

~Max~

I agree with Lina that the Hufflepuff (house I am in according to most sorting sites!) do seem to be seen as a bit of a joke (particularly in some of the Fan-Fic I have read). Hagrid actually says that many think Hufflepuffs are a "a load of old duffers" but that he thinks its "a load of old Hogwash" if I remember rightly. I have always subconciously placed Hagrid in Hufflepuff (I know he was in Gryffindor!) as he is fiercely protective of his friends and beasts!
Cheers
Sam

Besides, think about how rash Sirius is/was. Rashness is definately one of the negative Gryffindor traits.

Sirius is *not* Hufflepuff. I've never heard of a Hufflepuff master prankster. In fact, I've only heard of Gryffindor ones, so thats a bit of House pride for me...

That's one of the things I don't like about the houses - they place general stereotypes on students. It's just saying everything is black and white. I always wondered, if Dumbledore was so big about student unity, that he didn't just get rid of the houses long ago. Sorry if I just got off on a random tangent there, but that may spark some discussion.

Okay, I don't think that people quite understand what I meant. I did not mean that Sirius was an idiot, nor did I mean that each of the marauders belonged to a different house. All I was saying is that each of them does possess at least one of the "defining" characteristics of the other houses. That was all.

~Max~