my vote goes for Slytherin, he is just far too cunning for him not to be in my opinion. He has far more control over the wizarding populace by being the headmaster, everyone knows and loves him while keeping up his grandfatherly figure at the same. Where better to get control over the future of the world than by being the headteacher while they were growing up.

Add to this that he has all those fancy titles and he has more political punch than fudge anyway, its just most wont see him working behind the scenes.

Def Slytherin

 

Since the thread got bumped after 4 months...

Given JKR's penchant for writing "bad" Slytherins and "good" Gryffindors, I'd say he was most likely in Gryffindor just because she says so. Houses don't mean anything anyway. The Slytherins (especially Draco) weren't particularly cunning, the Hufflepuffs in CoS and GoF were quick to turn on their "savior", we don't really know much about the Ravenclaws but we do know that Hermione is top of the class, and there doesn't seem to be anybody to challenge her for that position, and Pettigrew, Neville, aren't particularly brave (though Neville has his moments).

Up until OoTP Fudge went to DD for everything. Weren't there a couple lines in OoTP telling us that? Can't remember it line for line though...

 

The most obvious reason besides JKR said so?

He was head of Gryffindor House - a post requiring you to be an alumni of Gryffindor.

Aside from that, there are many other reasons:

o Just because Harry and co are stupidly rash doesn't mean Dumbledore is. Look at McGonnagal - does she look stupidly rash to you? And, for that matter, people change. Maybe Dumbledore and McG were rash. After 60+ years of life in McG's case, and 150+ in DD's place, you tend to become more intelligent.

o According to JKR, anyone that comes out of Slytherin is a dark wizard. Dumbledore is hardly a dark wizard.

o Look at all the symbolism. Auburn red beard? Red Fawkes? There's probably more.

o Anyone who calls him a manipulative bastard needs to stop reading shitty Indy!Harry fics for awhile. Honestly, it's a cool plot device but it's kind of a stretch to believe that it is the truth.

o You don't have to be a Ravenclaw to be smart. Tom Riddle anyone? Besides, after 140 something years of magical life, it's only logical that you would be fairly well versed in the arts of magic and general intelligence.

I must admit, however, that I find the idea of Hufflepuff!Dumbledore (and him being the heir) is pretty appealing.

 

Thank the Lord at least one of you has some goddamned common sense. This is a question dealing with Canon. The truth about JKR's world. Not the world created by adolescent children with a major problem for authority figures.

Albus Dumbledore was in Gryffindor house during his time at Hogwarts. This is canon. It was stated in the Fourth Movie, right at the end. Don't bitch about the movies not being canon, because they are. If it wasn't true, JKR never would have let them put that in the script. It is as simple as that. He is not, nor was he ever a "master manipulator", stop confusing canon with fanon. Do the rest of us a favor and read the books again.

 

He's either the manipulative bastard we see in Indy fics or he's a blind idiot who makes mistake after mistake and gets people killed because of it.

I don't think anybody was saying you have to be in Ravenclaw to be smart, just that that's the main description of that house: intelligent people. Then again, a lot of the people (Cho, Marietta, etc) that we see don't show any particularly great intelligence.

 

Or, he is a human who for all his good intentions, sometimes things don't go as he planned them. He is a good person who tries with all his might to help everyone and to ease suffering. He, however, is human. Yeah, I know, hard to believe isn't it?

He does make mistakes, but he also does great things. He stops Death Eaters and saves the children in DoM. He saves Harry from being killed in GoF, in the third he helps save Sirius and Buckbeak.

In the second book, while he didn't do much, he sent the letter to get Hagrid out of prison, and had a huge part in defeating the Basilisk. In PoA, he wasn't mentioned a lot, but saved Harry.

Of course things go wrong, but by no means should he be labeled as a "blind idiot who makes mistake after mistake and get people killed because of it".

 

I think either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff is most likely. He is far to obvious in cannon to be a slytherin, he also seems to ignore common sense frequently. Most notably in HBP, deciding to do nothing about Draco even though he knew something was up...no properly intelligent being would take that chance.

Gryffindor would work, as he does seem to fit the standard Gryffindor mold: naive and brave (Though with Dumbledore it is out of actual bravery, not stupid confidence). However, he is far too intelligent and driven for the standard Gryffindor, as they all seem to be slackers.

Hufflepuff seems very likely to me, since he is so damnably loyal to his students and allies that he fucking dies because he keeps giving them second chances. Additionally, Hufflepuff always struck me as the generalized house, more balanced people in there, rather than overtly brave/intelligent/cunning.