Harry's dream about the Turban (was Re: Re: Neville and the Prophecy - VERY LONG

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 108361

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "aboutthe1910s" 
<aboutthe1910s at y...> wrote:
 
aboutthe1910s:
 
> I strongly disagree with the idea of Salazar Slytherin as the
> embodiment of evil.  ...I could be misremembering this, but I 
believe
> that somewhere in one of the books it says that Godric Gryffindor 
and
> Salazar Slytherin were best friends before the falling out--not just
> friends, but specifically best friends.  This may not seem very
> important, but I think that it is--I think that it says a lot about
> the fact that there was an actual person behind this idea that has
> been handed down for hundreds of years, that he did at some point 
have
> redeeming qualities.  

Geoff:
"The four good friends decided
And never did they dream that they
Might some day be divided,
For were there such friends anywhere
As Slytherin and Gryffindor?
Unless it was the second pair 
Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?
So how could it have gone so wrong?
How could such friendships fail?
Why, I was there and so can tell
The whole sad, sorry tale.

.......
So Hogwarts worked in harmony
For several happy years,
But then discord crept among us
Feeding on our faults and fears.
The houses that, like pillars four,
Had once held up our school
Now turned upon each other, and,
Divided, sought to rule...."
(OOTP "The Sorting Hat's New Song" pp.185-186 UK edition)

On pondering about this, my mind was drawn to "The Lord of the Rings" 
and Saruman, who started out as a force for good and who, in his 
search initially for the good of Middle-Earth and later for the 
pursuit of power, fell under the spell of Sauron.

In the film version of "The Two Towers", one of the most telling 
moments for me personally is when Theoden is being helped into his 
armour by Gamling and he, thinking aloud, puts the rhetorical "How 
did it come to this?"

Perhaps something similar occurred in the mind of Slytherin.