if snape said there was a male student who swaggered around with two sidekicks bullying and taunting just because he could and causing harm to and getting in trouble other students because he could and bragging about how rich and influential he and his family are and forever convinced he's the best thing around

and nobody knew his name

they'd think of draco

so i typed up a long ramble/rant about the presentation and it got longer than i thought you'd want to read. to summarize:

i think harry's realization about the perception that other houses are breaking the rules is critical. there are two aspects of the participant-observation study: differences in experience in-house, and differences in perception of house. i think it would be helpful for there to be a presentation that discusses the difference in experience, including a speculation section (which is perfectly appropriate provided it's made clear this is speculation) noting that animosity may also arise due to aforementioned perception. if people think the heads of other houses are blatantly unfair, the favoritism showed will engender resentment. resentment festers into anger.

it's something that needs to be cleared up.

also worthwhile i think would be a presentation to the heads only about observations of differences in rules for each house, with recommendations, such as making the rules clear from the get-go while clarifying that rules are different, and spending x amount of time being with students and observing the common room.

also, harry, in a professional presentation of this type of study it's absolutely relevant to include a portion mentioning your own experience--though i understand his desire to seem perfectly objective.

something i hope he'll also notice is how your house shapes you

also also i think the first years should spend even a day in one other house to alleviate the powerful primate in-group vs. out-group feeling.

POINT IS I LOVE THIS

EXCELLENT

i also think that part of him saying we played cards 'cause draco was stressed to ron and hermione is that he doesn't think of them as "other people" the way other people are

he tells them everything unless they're on the outs (read: ron was an idiot and refused to calm down or admit he was in the wrong)

if i remember right he told them about horcruxes against instruction (before dumbledore said he could share)

he doesn't give them details about the dursley's but that's not hogwarts that doesn't count 

so sprout isn't as physically present as a general rule in the house but she observes court and if there's an issue she immediately addresses it

so 2 for 2 for heads who care about their students enough to make time to be there for them and make sure they're taken care of rather than forcing them to go it alone

"It's not a joke," Harry said. "The hat wanted to put me in Slytherin, but I asked to be put in Gryffindor because I didn't want to be in the same house as Draco."

it's either kind or a bit cowardly of harry to lie to ron or both

he didn't ask for gryffindor

he said not slytherin

i think harry would have liked ravenclaw a lot but i'm especially interested in "ravenclaw harry"

it says a lot about how easily he's able to show different facets of himself to fit in and adapt

(cunning of him)

also i was kind of mad at the door knocker for disparaging that ability and assuming that (1) harry has the heart of a gryffindor (though he does have the training and indoctrination of one) and (2) it knows what a gryffindor is in the first place

idk it was just REALLY smug about it

also mcgonagall should not be doing three jobs

i wonder how involved the other heads are in their own houses?