OoP: the DA (was:Dd's treatment to Harry)

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 68855

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "darrin_burnett" <bard7696 at a...>
wrote:
> 
> Errol:
> 
> > It would have  been too huge a risk for both the Slytherin and for
> > the DA. On the other hand, I wonder how Harry would have reacted 
> > if a Slytherin  *had* shown up in his class. ...edited...
> > 
> 
> Me:
> 
> I'm all for the DA including a willing Slyth who isn't going to 
> betray them, but I wouldn't blame the DA one bit if they were 
> suspicious.
> 
> ...edited...
> 
> Any Slyth would have to prove his or her loyalty. Perhaps that is 
> unfair, but that's part of what those kids have to deal with, since 
> many of their fathers have been V-Mort's lapdogs.
> 
> All I know is that Harry would be a moron to just blindly accept a 
> Slyth. He already had a Ravenclaw betray him.
> 
> Darrin

bboy_mn:
 
I have to go with Darrin on this one. As things stood in OoP, I think
they actively prevented any Slytherins from finding out about the DA
meeting or the classes. In a sense, given the Inquisitor's Squad, I
think it was Umbridge & Slytherins against Harry & friends. If a
Slytherin had shown up, they would have either gotten rid of him/her,
or moved the meeting to a new location. And it would have taken a
pretty acceptional Slytherin to talk H/R/H into allowing that
Slytherin to stay.

So, by default all Slytherins were excluded from the DA meeting and
classes in OoP, and rightly so, I think.

But at the same time, I don't think all Slytherins are evil; greedy,
selfish, self-centered, and more, but not universally evil.

In the next book, if the DA Club is allowed to continue, I think there
will be pressure from the administration to make it an open club; that
is, open to the entire school including Slytherins. If that occurs,
after much resistance, I think Harry will open the DA Club to
Slytherins, but he will make it crystal clear that HE, Harry, is in
charge, they have to follow his orders, and that any acts of
intimidation, or violations of the rules of common decent mutually
beneficial conduct, and the offenders will be thrown out. That rule
could just as easily apply to Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, or Gryffindors.
They all have strong rivalries against each other. 

I suspect Draco & friends will try and get in, and will probably
actually get in, but Draco could never conform to the rules, and he
could never take direction and criticism from Harry. So, I suspect
Draco and Friends would last about 20 minutes into the first lesson
before Harry, Hermione, & Ron backed up by all the core DA's booted
Draco out.

Let me remind you all of the chaos that reigned during Lockhart's
Dueling club. If would be extremely difficult for Harry to control a
class like that. So I think he would have to make the existing core
DA's his assistance instructors. That should give him more control,
and since they come from all houses except Slytherin, the student are
more likely to think they are being treated fairly.

For any well behaved Slytherins who were able to stay, I think they
would take a lot of HEAT for Draco & friends, and that would make life
very difficult for them. So for practical reason, I don't see many
Slytherins staying for very long.

Why would a Slytherin NOT support Voldemort? Well, all Slytherins may
be nasty, but they aren't all stupid. All you have to do is take a
look at history, and you will see that regimes like Voldemort's are
universally doomed to failure. Voldemort will destory Britain and much
of Europe in the process of winning this war. Infractructures
destroyed, international relationships destroy, the economy destroyed,
commerce - destroyed, you name it - destory. Voldemort may make a
great ruthless dictator, but he is wholely lacking in the ability to
run an effective prosperous country. 

There is an old saying, 'Tyranny is the architect of it's own doom'.
It's entirely possible, that some Slytherins don't give a damn (pardon
the French) what your blood is as long as your money is good, and you
are willing to spend it in a way that makes them, the Slytherin, rich.

Universal prosperity is a far greater power than universal oppression.
Some Slytherins may be wise enough to see that.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn