Slytherin House again. Was: Re: Problem with OotP? (was: Pampering)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 119028


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214"
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
> 
> "Jeanette" <ejblack at r...> wrote:
> And there is the last practical, brutal, point, that yes it might 
> be better to have potential dark wizards where they can be known 
> rather than have them grow up hidden in dark corners. Also you can 
> control what they are taught both magically and morally.
> 
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Again, very true and pureblood ideology is disgusting to me, but 
> could we really make judgments about eleven year olds as potentially 
> dark wisards? I am not so sure at all.

Carol responds:
Neither am I. and the Sorting Hat, which seems to have a conscience,
probably wouldn't put children in Slytherin if it thought that
placement would make them evil. The hat isn't looking for an interest
in the Dark Arts as a criterion for placement, as far as we know. And
there has to be a place for the cunning and ambitious types to feel at
home, doesn't there? In addition, Slytherin House is part of the
Hogwarts tradition, honoring one of the four founders, and certain
students, notably those from certain pureblood families, expect and
*want* to be placed there. Imagine Draco as a Ravenclaw and his thuggy
friends as Hufflepuffs. Would any of them be happy with that
placement? Would their Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff housemates be happy to
have them there?

The only alternative that I can see, other than doing away with all
four houses, is to have a separate school for the Slytherin types--and
that would almost certainly be worse. If the Lucius Malfoy types got
control of it, it would quickly turn into another Durmstrang, a
producer of Dark Wizards. Its graduates would probably engage in a
power struggle, with the winner becoming the next Grindelwald or
Voldemort.

How JKR can unite the houses and end the Slytherin vs. everyone else
antagonism by the end of the seventh book, I don't know, but I don't
think that eliminating *only* Slytherin is the answer. (Snape wouldn't
like it, either. ;-) )

Carol