Who is berk and Slytherin reputation

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 105751


Adan wrote :
> >  have a hard time picturing Lucius sitting on his bed scribbling 
> > away in the diary.  Just not a very manly thing.  I've always 
> > thought diaries were rather a "girly" thing, 

Amey answered :
> Yes, sure. Remember what Ron says anout the diary? "Tom got a diary 
> for christmas and couldn't bother writing it" (Sorry, not exact 
> quote). This shows a typical boy's POV towards a diary. I am sure TR 
> wouldn't have bothered writing a diary had it not been the way to 
> instruct his succcessor.

Del wonders :
Interesting. Does that mean that Tom *intended* it for a girl to find
and use the Diary ? Or is it just that customs have changed since
Tom's time, when boys maybe wrote more often in diaries ?

Amey wrote :
> Sorting hat to Neville:
> "Let's see. What have we here? You are not exceptionally bright 
> (Ravenclaw out). Wouldn't do anything to gain what you want, zero 
> cunning (Slytherin out). Courage I see some, hidden somewhere deep 
> down. Plenty of Loyalty too... I think its Hufflepuff for you... not 
> Hufflepuff you say, ok then it better be Gryffindor" ;D

Del replies :
I don't have my PS book with me, but I vaguely seem to remember that
Neville said he would be happy with anything but Slytherin. Did I
imagine that ? And anyway, why would Neville not want to go to
Hufflepuff ? As you said, he doesn't have exceptional brains, he's not
the typical picture of courage, and I doubt he would *want* to go to
Slytherin ! (Unless there's something about one or both of his parents
that we don't know...) So he was *obvious* Hufflepuff material, he
would have no reason not to want to go there. 

I, Del, wrote :
> > If what James and Sirius did is OK, then Draco and his buddies 
> > don't do anything wrong either.'

Amey answered :
> But with Crabbe and Goyle, you have to keep an eye on their fists, 
> not their wands, which makes it a different proposition.

Del replies :
Er, yes : a much *less* dangerous one. To attack someone with your
fists, you have to be close to them. With a wand, you can attack from
far away. Moreover, a spell is often much more annoying and
debilitating than a hit.

Amey wrote :
> And also, they tend to attack together, it's not like Draco puts a 
> spell and C&G wait on the lines. Draco doesn't have that daring. :D

Del replies :
In the Pensieve scene, Sirius did not exactly wait until Snape
recovered from James's spell (Expelliarmus) before cursing Snape
himself (Impedimenta). He gave a bark of laughter and immediately
cursed Snape.

Amey wrote :
> I am not defending what they did at that time, what I am again saying
> is a scene in Penseive (which might be subjective for all we know) is
> not an evidence on which you can brand somebody.

Del replies :
That was never my intention. I was originally responding to Valky who
said that James was noble, even in his fight with Snape. James might
be quite noble otherwise, *we don't know*, but he *was* a total berk
in that scene.

I, Del, wrote :
> > But *why* should Snape have chosen another House ?? Slytherin is 
> > NOT a bad House, and it was even less so at the time. We know NOW 
> > that many DEs were former Slytherins, but when Snape got to 
> > Hogwarts, the VWI was barely starting, and Slytherin House was not 
> > yet tainted with the Dark Mark of the DEs.

Amey answered :
> Yes, but still it was a house founded by *Pureblood-maniac*.

Del replies :
That was more than a thousand years ago...

Amey wrote :
> Also, people there were obsessed with Dark Arts, even if we have only
> a few examples. So, I think, it would have a bad enough reputation 
> even discounting DEs.

Del replies :
It had a bad enough reputation *for those who disliked the Dark Arts*.
However, it's quite obvious that many people, including some very
influent ones, didn't belong to that category. The Malfoys, the Blacks
: 2 very prominent families, deep in the Dark Arts. I'm afraid that if
such influent people approved of those Arts and all their kids ended
up in Slytherin, then Slytherin most probably did NOT have a bad
reputation at all.

Moreover, Snape was *raised* in the Dark Arts, so it would make sense
that he would *want* to be Sorted in Slytherin, just like Draco.

As for Sirius, I repeat what I said in another post : we don't know
that he didn't want to be in Slytherin. It might just be that the Hat
saw more reckless courage than cunning ambition, and so decided to
Sort him in Gryffindor. For all we know, Sirius seethed with rage for
weeks.

Del