Problem with OotP? (was: Pampering)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 119031


Hannah wrote:
Yes, and add to that the 'evil'Inquisitorial Squad seems to 
> > be made up entirely of Slytherins.  Why?  
> 
Juli responded:

 I think it was all because of Draco Malfoy, his
> dad must have told him to support in every possible
> way DU, not to *help* the MoM, but to get DD and Harry
> out of Hogwarts. The kids in the Inquisitorial Squad
> (IS for short) are Draco's friends: Crabbe, Goyle,
> Pansy Parkinson (he went with her to the Yule dance).
> I don't think just because someone is Slytherin he/she
> is evil, there are good Slytherins, like Snape (I just
> love him), and Phineas Nigellus (right spelling??
> sorry), and probably many others we don't know, just
> like someone from Grifindor can be evil
> cough*Pettigrew*cough, or a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff.
> It's just more important in our current story the
> 'bad' Slytherins (Tom Riddle, Malfoy, Crabbe,
> Goyle...).

Carol responds:
It's not just the current story, though. Voldemort was from Slytherin.
I suspect that the "intimate friends" who already called him Lord
Voldemort (in secret) before he left school were also Slytherins and
became the original DEs. All or almost all of the "gang of Slytherins"
that included Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers became DEs. (The
exception may be Narcissa, who nevertheless does not appear to be on
the side of Light.) It appears that Karkaroff, who seems considerably
older than this group, is also a Hogwarts alumnus, and I would be very
surprised if he was not a Slytherin. Antonin Dolohov is perhaps an
exception to the rule; I'm guessing that he came from Durmstrang. He
seems even more evil than the run-of-the-mill DEs.

There may be some exceptions--Avery and Rookwood, for example. And I
can see Barty Jr. as a Ravenclaw gone very wrong.

But the Slytherin/DE association is definitely there, and it extends
to at least three members of the new Hogwarts generation. (I'm
excluding Theo Nott, who is my candidate for the good Slytherin if
there is one.) And note that Pansy Parkinson has her own gang of
Slytherin girls, presumably including Millicent Bulstrode, who
generally follow her lead as the Slytherin boys (excepting Nott and
Zabini) follow Draco's.

I don't like it; I think the whole idea of one "bad" house is
unrealistic and wrong-headed; but I think there are few exceptions to
the general rule just because that's the way JKR wrote the book.

That's one reason why Snape, for me, is such a fascinating character.
He seems to be a typical Slytherin in every way--probably pureblood,
definitely ambitious and cunning, interested in the Dark Arts--and yet
he has turned against his friends and his early conditioning and his
natural instincts to fight against Voldemort--not openly yet, but
almost certainly genuinely on the side of good. Thank God for Snape,
because unless Theo Nott follows his example, he may be our one and
only good Slytherin. (And Phineas, too, but he doesn't really count,
being a portrait rather than a living wizard.)

Carol, who supposes she should be equally grateful for Peter, the bad
Gryffindor