Harry Potter: Hermione Was Almost Put In A Different Hogwarts House - Here's Why

Fans of Harry Potter are familiar with the fact that when you arrive at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at the tender age of eleven, you're sorted into one of four Houses. After the Sorting Hat has its say and announces your placement to the entire school, it's set in stone; you live with other members of your house and learn magic with them, though some of the classes mix various houses together. The categories are, honestly, pretty binary. If you're a Gryffindor, you're brave; Ravenclaws are smart; Slytherins are cunning; Hufflepuffs are, uh, hard-working or something like that. (It's not particularly clear.)

In any case, Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger (played on-screen by Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson) all get sorted Into Gryffindor, which works out nicely for everybody ... but Hermione, an uncommonly smart witch, definitely wouldn't have been out of place in Ravenclaw. It's so obvious, in fact, that in the fifth book, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," Terry Boot, a Ravenclaw student, point blank asks Hermione, "How come you're not in Ravenclaw? With brains like yours?"

"Well, the Sorting Hat did seriously consider putting me in Ravenclaw during my Sorting, but it decided on Gryffindor in the end," Hermione tells him. So what exactly went down with Hermione during her Sorting, and is this common?

Hermione's comment seems benign at first, but it's actually very interesting in that the Sorting Hat really waffled over which house was truly right for her. This is because that's not actually completely common, and according to an article on Wizarding World, Hermione comes very close to qualifying as a Hatstall. In case you're unfamiliar, a Hatstall refers to a wizard for whom the sorting hat takes over five minutes to decide which house best suits each student.

"The Sorting Hat spent nearly four minutes trying to decide whether it should place Hermione in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor," the article reads, making it clear that Hermione fell short by one minute (and one would imagine that, for such a perfectionist, that fact might frustrate her). Another Gryffindor classmate, Neville Longbottom, played on-screen by Matthew Lewis, had a similar issue: "In Neville's case, the Hat was determined to place him in Gryffindor: Neville, intimidated by that house's reputation for bravery, requested a placing in Hufflepuff. Their silent wrangling resulted in triumph for the Hat."

The article clarifies that Harry only encounters two real Hatstalls: "The only true Hatstalls known personally to Harry Potter were Minerva McGonagall [Maggie Smith] and Peter Pettigrew [Timothy Spall]. The former caused the hat to [agonize] for five and a half minutes as to whether Minerva ought to go to Ravenclaw or Gryffindor; the latter was placed in Gryffindor after a long deliberation between that house and Slytherin."

The truth is that Hermione, a spectacularly smart and talented witch with an extraordinary memory and a talent for spell-casting, would have fit in just fine in Ravenclaw ... but she's really meant for Gryffindor. Whether or not she believes it throughout the books and films, she's incredibly bold, whether she's using a Time-Turner to save a hippogriff and an escaped convict in "Prisoner of Azkaban" or she's helping to create forbidden Polyjuice Potion in "Chamber of Secrets." Her two boldest moves, though, come in "Order of the Phoenix" and "Deathly Hallows."

When the Ministry of Magic overtakes Hogwarts in "Order of the Phoenix," Hermione — not a knowledge-hungry Ravenclaw — is the one who sets up a secret student society to study defense against the dark arts, making sure that she and her fellow students are prepared for the war against Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). She even goes so far as to curse the agreement they all sign so that Dumbledore's Army will know if anyone betrays them (it's not shown in the film, but a Ravenclaw who tells on the club ends up with pustules across her face that spell out the word "SNEAK.") "Deathly Hallows," though, is where Hermione comes into her own. She erases her parents' memories so that they forget she exists so that she can safely hunt for Horcruxes with Harry and Ron, fights flawlessly in any battle that comes her way, and even frees a dragon from Gringotts when the gang needs to escape the wizarding bank, riding the beast to safety. Sorry, but Terry Boot could never.

Beyond Hatstalls, though, there's another Sorting issue entirely, which is personal choice. Tossing free will into a situation where a magical hat tells you what your most prominent trait is might seem like an impossible concept, but according to Harry, it totally works (even though it clearly didn't work for poor Neville, since the hat realized he should be in Gryffindor over Hufflepuff). Harry is told by the hat that he might be a good fit in Slytherin, but he begs for "not Slytherin," at which point the hat calls him a Gryffindor — and in the epilogue of "Deathly Hallows," Harry's son, Albus Severus, worries that he might end up in Slytherin.

Trying to comfort his son, Harry says, "It doesn't matter to us, Al. But if it matters to you, you'll be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account." When Albus Severus doubts him, Harry reveals that the hat accommodated his wishes: "It did for me."

If you've read or seen "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," you know that this doesn't work and Albus Severus ends up in Slytherin anyway ... but that's okay. The Sorting Hat knows best, apparently, when it comes to telling eleven-year-olds they can only be one very specific kind of person forever.