I've been kind of curious as to how houses in Harry Potter work. They're supposed to reflect major traits in the students, but they also rely heavily on choice. Harry was put into Gryffindor because he chose to be there, even though he could have been in either Gryffindor or Slytherin. Hermione chose Gryffindor, even though she could have been in either that or Ravenclaw. Neville is the same way. We see him come to be this brave, leader character (more than Harry, IMO), but in the beginning it was his choice that primarily placed him in his house.

So now I'm curious about Ron. Throughout the books, Ron is seem as extremely cowardly. He has to be coerced into doing anything with Harry and Hermione that sounds even remotely dangerous. Especially in the second book, I get the feeling he was only in the car because of his brothers, or in the woods because Harry wanted him to come. In the last book, which should have been a big moment for Ron, he manages to abandon his friends and run away because he doesn't feel like doing it anymore. He comes back, yes, but not out of bravery. In all 7 books, Ron is shown to be a very loyal character, and nowhere near brave. Yet instead of Hufflepuff, whose main attribute is loyalty, he's in Gryffindor.

So I'm wondering about how the houses are picked. I guess it doesn't really matter what your personality is like, because you'll end up in the house of your choosing anyway. This makes me wonder why the Sorting Hat even exists. Most likely, JKR made a mess of her Ronnie bits and couldn't really fix them before the series was over.:\

...This has nothing to do with my questions on how Ron ever became and Auror when he was so shitty at magic.