First meetings HP/DM, JP/SS was Re: Always bothered me

[jenny_ravenclaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 71373

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "slytherinspirit" <kcawte at b...> 
wrote:
 
> And if he had known that the person who had betrayed his parents (at 
> the time obviously that would have been Sirius) was in Gryffindor he 
> wouldn't have wanted to be in that house either.>

Okay, even though I tend to agree with you that both Sirius and 
Pettigrew were in Gryffindor, there is no canon evidence to back that 
up.  It is possible that they were both in Slytherin.  I certainly got 
the feeling that all of the previous Blacks were Slytherins, but 
again, no canon proof for that either.

>What I have consistently said is that the good and neutral Slytherins 
are discouraged from openly stating their opinions because of the 
attitude of the rest of the WW, that those Slytherins who are not sure 
which way to jump are practically shoved into the arms of Voldemort 
because of the way they are treated and that the WW needs to wake up 
and realize that it bears some of the responsibility for Voldemort's 
popularity amongst the Slytherins.>

I'm not sure I follow you here.  Where have we seen a Slytherin who 
might be good or neutral?  How do we *know* they are not encouraged to 
state their views?  To add to that, what is acceptable about being 
neutral when it comes to race?  This is an old argument, but many of 
the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust might have survived had 
their own neighbors not turned their heads in the other direction.  If 
a Slytherin is neutral, then I say shame on him/her for not having any 
kind of courage and self-respect to stand up for himself and for the 
others who deserve to be defended.  

I am also not sure how some Slytherins might have been "shoved in the 
arms of Voldemort". Sirius mentioned how prejudiced his own family was 
and even though they did not agree with what Voldemort did, they 
certainly held onto their beliefs in purebloods only and made no 
secret of it.  It didn't seem so hard for them to do so.

I agree with you that the WW in general needs to take a much closer 
look at why Voldemort gained such a following, and the whole idea of 
purebloods, Muggles and Mudbloods should be dealt with better, but 
anyone who followed Voldemort did so on his/her own.  Can't fault the 
rest of the WW for that.

--jenny from ravenclaw ********************