Eh, if you think the sorting hat is on crack because of that, you've obviously never read The Lie I've Lived

 

I'll go with the canon hat. Although the way he destroyed HJ that whole story was quite hilarious.

 

Possibly. In any case, that's not really an argument that supports the idea that Slytherin fit Harry (and not the Horcrux) best. He would probably have done well in any of the houses, but clearly he fits the Gryffindor bill as well as anyone: brave, daring, noble.

 

I don't think the horcrux had anything to do with the sorting because at the time book 1 was written, the rest most likely weren't and thus neither was the concept of the horcrux. My beef with the sorting is that Harry never seems to display any Slytherin traits in canon. It doesn't seem plausible that simply being sorted into a different house would totally suppress a significant aspect of one's personality. The only remotely cunning or ambitious thing Harry does in canon that I can remember is run the DA - and arguably that's also brash and reckless; not to mention it was Hermione's idea in the first place.

 

In my opinion, canon Harry was clear fit for Hufflepuff. He went to Wizarding World because he wanted friends, he was hardworking (not like he had any choice at Dursleys), he latched on first friendly person (Ron) and never betrayed or abandoned him, after he became friend of Hermione he never made fun of her habits, he was Dumbledore's man even after DD's betrayals (loyalty).

He was hardworking (before Sorting), loyal, friendly, kind and possibly just.

 

^Bullshit!

Harry = Gryffindor.

He had more balls than anyone in the series, except maybe Snape.

That said, just because you're in Gryffindor need not mean you have to be brave. Let's look at the other people in that house for instance.

Seamus, Dean, Parvati and Lavender. I might be forgetting canon, but neither of them have shown any instance of being brave throughout the series.

EDIT: Inb4 'Dean dated Ginny Weasley'

EDIT 2:

Well said, brutha!

 

Dumbledore disagrees with you:

There is a case to be made for Slytherin Harry. He's generally got little in the way of resources and support, but somehow usually manages to find a way to come out on top in the end, usually against very long odds. When it comes to doing what he thinks is right, he will do whatever it takes, and to hell with the rules.

School policy gets in the way? Ignore it.
Your godfather is in prison for a crime he did not commit? Bust him out.
The ministry is out to get you? Defy them at every turn, openly and secretly.
Made an inconvenient promise to a goblin to get his help? Break it.
Standard school spells not good enough to get the job done? Break out the torture and mind control curses.

The only thing Harry really lacks for a proper Slytherin (besides the racist assholeishness that so man of them display) is ambition. For most of the series, Harry seems to just want to be an ordinary student instead of getting caught up in politics and Dark Wizard plots. Even then, while he might not look for trouble, he usually does not shy away from it once it finds it. Then there's the fact that, even if later Harry is not as ambitious, 11-year-old Harry has, in words of the sorting hat, "a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting."

What Harry generally lacks is not ambition, but initiative; he is ambitious, but for the most part, he's not very proactive about pursuing his ambitions. Of course, proactive Harry would make stretching out every book's plot across an entire school year much more difficult than it is with a passive, reactive Harry.

As for Pettigrew, I think the element of personal choice might explain a lot of how he wound up in Gryffindor. Maybe, because Pettigrew had a cowardly streak, he wanted to end up Gryffindor in order to become braver (obviously, it didn't entirely take). Or maybe he was braver than he gets credit for back in the day, but not quite brave enough to stand up to Voldemort in a face-to-face meeting (which would take a lot of bravery), and after that betrayal his courage broke.

 

Harry went to the Wizarding World because he wanted to learn about his parents (similar to Tom Riddle). He was actually very lazy, which you'll notice if you take an unbiased read through the first few chapters of PS/watch the beginning of the movie. He 'latched on'to Ron because he sat in the same compartment as Harry, and was similarly shy. Later on, by the fourth book, Ron and Harry had a pretty big fight which resulted in the two of them not talking to each other (which I can imagine would be a little hard on them; dorms, same classes, etc.). In the seventh book, Harry let Ron leave the safety of their tent, into God-knows-where, so he could run around in the cold and not only get himself killed, but just as likely lead any trackers back to them. He was annoyed with Hermione many times throughout the books, but the biggest point to jump out at me was the annoyance over the Firebolt. He wangsts over Dumbledore and his friends after not having to do anything for a month or so at the start of his fifth year, and all throughout fifth year is angry at Dumbledore (for not meeting his eyes). /WallofText

An angry, unmotivated, emotional teenager. This is the type of person I peg Harry as for the majority of the series.

Anyways, I think the Sorting Hat has figured a good sorting pattern out, after a thousand years of looking into the minds of mixed-descent eleven-year olds. Who am I to question the mind of a hat that is older than any other living thing that thinks? For all I know, the Sorting Hat could be nut-bustingly bonkers, and sorts children by running a series of confusing and meaningless roulette games in his head.

 

Pettigrew was a fucking coward. All there is to it.

Defecting to the dark side was purely motivated by fear and who blames him? Dumbledore is nowhere near as scary as Voldemort who you know will fucking torture you and rip the information from you anyway.

And as for him accepting to be Secret Keeper, maybe the fucker was too much of a coward to say no to his friends.

Harry isn't anywhere near Slytherin. He's unmotivated,lazy, and worst of all distracted by stupid high school shit when his parents' murderer is out there actively trying to kill him. He's a sheltered brat whose bravery may well come from ignorance than anything else.

Sure he has his good moments but it doesn't change the facts.

 

Pettigrew wasn't brave. If he had been, then he would've commited suicide by the end of his fifteenth birthday.

 

Pettigrew is a liar. Just because he said he was scared, doesn't mean he was scared. People tend to sympathize with those who do things out of fear for their lives - it's a great cover to hide one's true intentions. The only people in HP that outright admitted to gladly following Voldemort in the periods between his first defeat and return were Bellatrix and Bartemius Crouch, Junior.

Who were both fucking crazy.

I'm not saying that Pettigrew was the greatest example of Gryffindor, but if anyone had nothing to fear from Voldemort, it was the guy who (a) no one gave a shit about, and (b) could apparate to wherever he wanted and hide out as a rat. In a world capable of Point Me's and Marauder's Maps, Legilimens and Taboo spells, Pettigrew managed to hide out for years, and was found only by chance. I like to think that Pettigrew was reckless enough to believe that, having graduated Hogwarts at the top of his game alongside talented friends, that he could pull off the ultimate prank and infiltrate Voldemort's ranks. Obviously didn't work out, but since we don't know what drove him to make the choices he did, it's kinda dumb to flat-out say "Pettigrew wasn't a real Gryffindor."