Draco and The New Death Eaters. Was: Good Slytherins

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 98009

snipping, of course.....

> Sigune here:

> snip
> In any case it has always struck me that the Slytherins are a kind 
of 
> outcasts at Hogwarts, despite the fact that they are purebloods. I 
> don't know very well how to formulate this... I mean, Slytherin 
is, 
> academically speaking, a 'good' house, is it not? It is successful 
as 
> a unit. And then there is the fact that it is mostly composed of 
the 
> offspring of wizards who rank rather highly in the WW. Yet it has 
a 
> bad reputation and the other houses band together against it.
> 


Potioncat:
This reminds me of lawyers.  Lawyers have a "bad reputation" on the 
one hand, and are respected on the other.  I would think there are 
students who although not like Draco, are very proud to be in 
Slytherin. It is a house of ambition and ambition itself is good. 
But I'm sure all of them suffer from the stereotype. 

Sigune:
>snip<
 A student sorted into Slytherin would have no other choice than 
> to band together with the likes of Draco Malfoy (yuck!) because 
there 
> do not seem many other options. I don't know of any canon evidence 
> that shows Slytherins mixing with people from other houses (but 
> PLEASE correct me if I overlooked stuff). 

Potioncat:
There isn't any canon evidence that I know of either. It may not 
show up in canon because Harry is unaware of it. (And therefore so 
are we.) He doesn't mix with other houses, in fact, I hardly think 
he knows anyone who doesn't play Quidditch.  Ginny seems to know 
people from other houses and Hermione at least knows who people are. 
I would guess that most of the  houses have some mixing and I would 
have to think that would be some who mix with Slytherin.  There is a 
big rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor and therefore, possibly 
less or no mixing there.

Sigune: 
> What I want to get to is - apart from Draco Malfoy, who clearly 
> thinks he is better than anyone else, I think a number of 
Slytherins  might actually feel inferior in a way. Or their 
pretended superiority  might be a reaction against their forced 
seclusion as a group.

Potioncat:
Yes, and I think the description of Theo Nott and the other boy go 
along with that.  Both are on the edge of the Malfoy-Crabbe-Goyle 
circle and seem quiet and unassuming. Almost as if they are trying 
to be invisible. 

Sigune: 
> Snape has done a great job of boosting the Slytherins' self-esteem,
> seeing that under his guidance they won both the House and 
Quidditch Cup seven years in a row prior to Harry's arrival.

Potioncat:
And Harry came along and the cat was in the pixies!  We always see 
Slytherins cheating, I find it hard to believe they would have been 
so successful so long by cheating.  (Although, where quidditch is 
concerned, Snape and McGonagall have trouble staying pure.)

I may have snipped this, or it may have been another post 
altogether, but someone commented that the other houses side against 
Slytherin when they play Gryffindor.  I'd like to see how the house 
loyalty falls in other games. I know my husband sides with the team 
who's winning will best help his team earn the highest standing. So 
there may be that going on as well.  So that Hufflepuffs may prefer 
Ravenclaw to beat Gryffindor  if that will help Hufflepuff move up. 
(I knew I shouldn't try to explain this!)

Sigune:
 It seems to me that IF anyone has influence over the Slytherins, it 
would be Snape,  and I can't imagine he would let his students join 
the Death Eaters  if he can prevent it.  
> So, I guess I am suggesting that I don't think Snape will find 
> himself in a situation where he has to really *fight* his own 
> students, though he may have to use his persuasive skills (wonder 
> what *they* are, LOL) at some point.

Potioncat:
I can't see it either.  I just can't see how he could help it.  
Unless his option is to save the "good" ones and let the Malfoy-type 
fend for themselves. It seems only a handful of students were chosen 
for Umbridge's squad, and while I think they were all Slytherin (do 
we know that?) it certainly wasn't all of the Slytherins.  And we 
see Snape being "respectful" to her authority without supporting 
her. That had to be obvious to all the students in his house and 
must have made an impression.

And I'm with you, I'm sure Snape has his methods of persuading 
Slytherins! (And of course the twins as well.)

Potioncat who responded to this post before but had more time now.