Random Thoughts and Questions

Forgive me if these thoughts are completely scattered!

Reading this book again simply left me with more questions. Sometimes, it gets annoying only following Harry Potter's story when there are so many other characters and aspects of the story that I would love to explore. One of these: What was Hermione's motivation? She was so dedicated to her studies and even to the education of both Ron and Harry. Forgive me if I'm forgetting important information in later books, but I wonder if she only found out about magic due to the arrival of her Hogwarts letter at age eleven? Was growing up in a Muggle house her motivation to excel in her classes? Or is this Hermione's natural state of being? Has she always excelled? Before she arrived at the castle, Hermione could have been trying to catch up on the Hogwart's history and wizard spells so that she would fit in with her fellow classmates. Doing so, however, seemed to have had the opposite effect. She seems to be separated as "the smart one," which we don't necessarily see in later characters such as Cho or Gilderoy Lockhart (who were both Ravenclaw). No one else read the required material; most of them just grew up with it. It seems that so much pressure is put on this female character throughout every book. Though it seems Hermione is really smart, it also seems that she simply READS the required material for school... whereas, no one else seems to do this. If she really was "The brightest witch of her age" (as Sirius refers to her in the third books), why was she not put into Ravenclaw? But, then again, why was Lockhart put into Ravenclaw? 

The whole subject of the Hogwarts houses will always bother me. The fans seem to understand the sorting into houses as: you are sorted with the traits that you value, instead of the traits that you possess. But, where are they getting this? That isn't what the book is conveying. It seems like the sorting hat sees inside of you, and sees your traits. But, how much can the hat see? How does that work? Is the hat always right? Does the fact that Harry CHOSE Gryffindor make him a true Gryffindor? Do all Gryffindors do this? Is that what sets you apart? Why are these houses such a part of these students' identities? Can a person not possess all of these traits at once?