No, it really isn't. If it can't make sense, by and large, then it can't be accurate, by and large. That we do get a vibe of that in Canon was exactly what I meant by POV bias. We see it from Harry's POV, and his status as the BWL and his rivalry with Malfoy factors. We see it the way it is for him. Not for Seamus, or Michael Corner, or for an unnamed Slytherin. Our POV is extremely narrow, and that is the source of the problem.

That is the point here. Everyone cares what Harry does or doesn't do. No one cares if Seamus bags Tracey Davis meanwhile. The Tri Wiz is an argument for what Palindrome said, actually -- that once it comes to sports and competition, sure, everyone wants their House to do best. Beyond that though, in everyday school-life, for the average student, it can't possibly matter that much.

Hell, I can list more example of cross-house groups than those within. I did, even. A Gryffindor in the Gobstone Club will not refuse to play with a Slytherin because they are from Slytherin. For the average student, the house thing isn't a big divide at all. Beyond Hogwarts -- look at Slughorn's club. Students from all Houses, selected because of their abilities and talents. Those are the networks. Not "I won't employ that fellow because he was a slimy Slytherin".


And for that matter, I never claimed there were no pecking orders. And that's a completely different matter than House questions anyway.

 

I feel like I am repeating myself here. Also, I don't think I wrote what you read.

Yes. And that's fine and all and I agree, but where and how do you make a leap from "caring about your own House and Housepoints" (which I as well as Palindrome said was there) to "I hate everyone that is not my House, and I wouldn't caught dead having a friend outside of it"?

Because that was all I was saying. When it comes to social interactions, then the House system isn't a border. If you are in Gryffindor and want to have a friend in Slytherin or any other House, you can. That was what I was talking about.

As opposed to this, which I never said. Of course they care. Partly because it's Harry (again, POV bias), and partly because they want to win the House Cup. But that means just that, and nothing else.

I don't see how that makes up all of their time. The most important part of their time is neither the time in classes (which are mixed, by the way), nor when they sleep or the short time between curfew and sleep; it's the time after classes, and before curfew, and they spend that anyway they want. Extra-curricular activities are school-wide, not House-wide. If they were friends before Hogwarts or are siblings, and now in different Houses, this is when they meet. It's the largest or second to largest part of the day (depending on classes or no), and it is not determined by the House.

Which is exactly why it makes no sense to look no further than your own House in later life, because otherwise, you'd have only a handful of people to pick. Sure, there are favours to old House buddies. I never said there weren't, I said what wasn't there was refusing to employ someone because he wasn't in your old House.

I think of it like rivaling elite Unis, perhaps. Think Oxford and Cambridge or Harvard and Stanford. You feel a certain attachment to where you came from, of course, but the fact that someone wasn't in the place where you were is no reason to hate him guts and refuse to work with him.


Edit: Also:

<Sesc|Busy> The point is that we don't know shit about 90% of them all, and I said that it was more likely than not that they have friends elsewhere than just in their own Houses, because it makes no sense for them not have that.
<Tehan> ...your argument is that this part of canon doesn't make sense?
* Sesc|Busy rolls eyes
<Sesc|Busy> I'm not saying it doesn't make sense, I'm saying we don't know anything about it, so it's perfectly valid to assume, from certain infos that we do have, that they have friends in other houses.
<Tehan> But that's not my argument at all that you're beating with a stick.
<Tehan> It is, in fact, the argument of a strawman.
<Tehan> My argument is that there's a strong bias for making friends inside the house.
<Tehan> They have friends outside it, sure, but they'll make more and easier friends inside it.
<Sesc|Busy> ... I never was beating your argument, godfuck :|
<Tehan> No, you weren't.
<Tehan> You weren't even coming close.
<Sesc|Busy> I agreed with Palindrome, pointing out why some Fanon shit didn't make sense, and suddenly people disagreed with me.​

I'd say that counts as a spectacular case of talking past each others.


Incidentally, to get back at the pecking order, I agree that being on the Quidditch team counts -- it's quite apparent that successful Quidditch players and victories are something. Regardless of how that is or isn't the case in usual English schools.