[HPforGrownups] Good Slytherin (Was: Re: Thestrals and Slytherins)

[Kathryn Cawte]

No: HPFGUIDX 71229

 

 
bboy_mn: 
 
So how did the other houses feel when Slytherin held both the House
Cup and the Quidditch Cup for SEVEN years prior to Harry's arrival at
Hogwarts?
 
Gryffindor wasn't 'awarded' victory at the end of every year, they
ACHIEVED victory at the end of every year, and were awarded/rewarded
for their outstanding achievements. 
 
Me -

I know this debate has been had before and I don't really want to get into
it again because the two sides never get closer together and it just gets
repetitious. But IMO Gryffindor was just 'awarded' victory at the end of PS.
If any of the other houses had beein in the position of Slytherin and
Dumbledore had snatched the victory away by awarding points to another house
for blatently disregarding the rules then I would feel for them too. It's
taken until OoP for the lesson that rules are there for a good reason and
don't only apply to students who aren't called Harry Potter to come through
as far as I'm concerned. 

Frankly I'm not at all surprised so many Slytherins join the bad guys -
after all if everyone's going to believe the worst of them anyweay they have
very little incentive to try and fight the dark. The school spends 7 years
tryiong to alienate 1/4 of its students and then wonders why a lot of them
join a group which makes them feel important and powerful. I see parallels
here between the Slytherin children and American street gangs. Being a DE
makes them feel as if they belong, it gives them (in their eyes) power over
thiose who shun them. Now I'm not saying that they're all misunderstood and
just need a hug anymore than I think that a gang member who commits a crime
should be let off because of their background, but the WW has to take some
responsibility for the problem. 
 
> But then I hold the controversail view that the only Gryffindor who
> should have been given points at the end of PS was Neville (all 
> right yes I admire Ron greatly for his actions but he shouldn't have
> been in a position where he had to do that because none of them 
> should have been trying to get to the Stone in the first place)
> 
> K
 
bboy_mn continues:
 
Then I would speculate that you completely missed the point. That
point would be that for evil to flourish good men need do nothing. 
 
There is a higher order, a higher power than rules that control the
hearts and minds of men (and women) who believe in justice and
liberty, and that is the power of RIGHT. 
 
Sometimes even when it's against the rules, good men force themselve
to do what is right for no reason other than it is the RIGHT thing to
do. It takes nothing to follow the crowd; it takes courage to stand
against it. At some point we will all have to choose between what is
right and what is easy, and for all the young readers of 'Harry Potter
and the Philosopher's Stone', I suspect that they are now much more
willing to do what is right than what is easy.
 
 Me -

I agree that following the rules is not always the right thing to do but it
was entirely the right thing to do in PS. Yes Harry successfully kept the
stone from Voldemort *after* he'd put it in danger in the first place. The
mirror would only give the stone up if the person wanted to find it but not
use it. If Harry hadn't been there then Quirrelmort would never have got it
out of the mirror in the first place. The only reason the stone was in any
danger was because Harry managed to remove it from the mirror and have it
end up in his pocket. He and his friends arrogantly decided that the only
thing that could save the stone from Snape (so wrong on two counts there,
since not only was the stone safe but it wasn't Snape who was after it
anyway) was three 11 year old student witches and wizards. Because of their
actions two of them ended up in the hospital wing (at least I assume Ron was
hospitalized at least briefly), Neville was hexed and Quirrel died (now I'm
not saying that Quirrel could have been saved by this point but I guess we
ll never know). And what was their punishment for disregarding the rules and
endangering the stone? A stunning victory over Slytherin house and the
humiliation of their enemies. But to be fair I wouldn't have expected
anything else after all when they endangered themselves to rescue Herrmione
(instead of telling a prefect where she was) they got rewarded - they were
very lucky that the three of them survived. Had they not been so lucky then
all three of them could have ended up badly hurt or worse; I'm sure they
wouldn't have been rewarded then so I guess it's like movie!McGonagall said
and they were being rewarded for pure dumb luck. Of course Harry learnt that
rules don't apply to him when he disobeyed Professor Hooch and was given a
broom for his trouble. (I have no problem with him being given a place on
the quidditch team since while the difference is merely a technicality that
would have been because of his talent not because of his rulebreaking - and
that talent would surely have been discovered later in the lesson if he hadn
t  taken off after Draco, but they should both have been given detention as
well). 

And since you're quoting cliches at me let me point out that all this rule
breaking has been done on the best of intentions and we all know where good
intentions lead!

K
*hah take that you ... you ... Gryffindor!*