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

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 119170


Potioncat wrote :
"Yes!  That's it entirely.  Given the description of Slytherin traits,
we should see a very different House!"

Del replies :
Exactly. We agree that the choice Slytherin traits (apart from
purebloodedness) are quite all right, and yet the overwhelming
impression is that the Slytherin students are not at all all right.
That's a major discrepancy, and we have been given no clue to explain
it, except for the one I can't accept : that they have an evil nature.

Potioncat wrote :
"We should be see talented students working hard and doing what they
need to do to be successful. Some of course would be cheating to get
good marks and some would be studying. Not everyone would be bright,
but everyone should be driven to succeed within their abilities."

Del replies :
We've seen those things in non-Slytherin students, but not in
Slytherin ones yet. I can of course imagine that it's only because
Harry never runs into those hard-working Slytherins. I really hope
we'll get to meet at least one of them in HBP, maybe one that did very
well in his OWLs ?

Potioncat wrote :
" There should be the Debating Club captain, the Junior Ministry of
Magic Club, the Young Witches Association officers, all the right
"looks good on a  resume" activities."

Del replies :
:-) Cool-sounding clubs !

Potioncat replies : 
"Of course, Harry doesn't belong to any of those clubs either, so
maybe he never runs into that sort of Slytherin."

Del replies :
I hope so.
But if they do exist, they seem to keep a singularly low-profile,
since we never hear of them even in passing. Well then of course, we
had never heard of the existence of *any* club before OoP, so I guess
I'm being too demanding :-)

Potioncat wrote : 
"Back to points, Slytherin still gets high points (even before 
Umbridge) Where are they coming from if Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy are 
the typical students? "

Del replies :
Well, I believe that Draco can be quite a good student when he applies
himself to the task, so I can see that he would earn quite some points
in those classes where he's not in competition with the best student
in his year (Hermione). But Crabbe and Goyle ?? Nobody, starting with
the Trio, even understands how they managed to pass each year, so
there's no way they can earn many points in class.

Potioncat wrote :
"You made a point of the Slytherin team being a brutal team, not a 
good team.  But it isn't winning the cup either. Who knows what 
previous teams were like?"

Del replies :
Slytherin doesn't win those years because Gryffindor has a prodigy
player (Harry), just like it didn't win back when Gryffindor had
another prodigy (Charlie). But it won every single year in-between,
including those last years when the Gryffindor team was almost the
same as when Harry arrived (and so presumably very good, since Harry's
early teammates are supposed to be good players).

Potioncat wrote : 
"I remember being in school eons ago and the three local high schools
 all had sterotypes.  One was full of dull, stupid farmers. (With a
big strong football team...not much on strategy) One had
untrustworthy, rich city slickers with a well equiped football team,
excelling at cheating and of course there was my high school...fine,
outstanding individuals we were with a team that played hard and fair."

Del replies :
Think hard : were there any British exchange students, or British
teacher assistants, or anything like that ? Any people who might have
mentioned those high schools' reputations to JKR ?

;-)

Seriously though : did you ever get any insight as to how the students
in those other schools saw you and your schoolmates ? Might be
interesting in figuring out the Slytherins' mentality.

Del