Harry stepping up to the plate. Was Harry heir of Slytherin?

[hawkfalco]

No: HPFGUIDX 98037

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Mandy" 
<rredordead at a...> wrote:

> Mandy here:
> I admire your faith in DD being not only right, but honest.  I don't
> think he is either when it suites him.
> 
> DD will tell Harry whatever DD thinks Harry wants, and needs to hear
> to keep Harry in the 'dark' about his destiny for as long a possible.


Hawk here:
I completely agree that DD is censoring what he is saying to 
Harry. DD explained well why he had with held the information 
from: to spare him pain not to keep him from the Dark Side. 
I do not believe DD is out and out lying to him. To tell Harry that 
Riddle is the "last remaining ancestor of Slytherin" and have it 
not be so would be just such a lie. So, yes, I trust that statement 
as truth.




> This is dangerous thinking in DD opinion, as he has to keep
> Harry on the side of right, justice and good, away from 'bad'
> influences.  The last thing DD needs if for a young Harry (and Harry
> was only 14) to begin to entertain thoughts of belonging in Slytherin.


My personal take on that scene in DD's office at the end of 
'Chamber of Secrets' is a bit different than yours. I do not
believe that DD is trying to "control" Harry or keep him from 
"dangerous thinking". What DD is doing is offering a bit of 
wisdom and perspective to a troubled and seeking 12 year old 
boy who has just been through one hell of a tramactic 
experience. The lesson taught is about how choice and action 
make the man, not the scar on your head or the House you 
school in.

>  Especially as it is the House he really belongs in imo. (The Sorting
> Hat was going to put Harry in Slytherin before he asked not to be.) 
> If Harry was in Slytherin House he would be far more difficult to
> control and more likely to be seduced by the Dark side. 

Yes, DD is watching and influencing but I think you suspiciously 
paint him with too much meddling deceit. I find that DD 
consistently offers up teachings and then leaves Harry to think 
his own thoughts, make his own choices, choose his own 
friends, etc. As far back as the first few chapters of the first book 
he has had opportunities to lean toward the Dark. He has been 
given free will throughout the books and, so far, he has chosen 
the Light. A Dark Temptation would be an interesting thing to 
watch but I do not ultimately fear for Harry's soul.


> Whether Harry likes it or
> not, he has Dark as well as Good Magic in him, in large amounts, and
> if he doesn't learn to embrace the Dark (as well as the Good) and
> learn to control it, it will begin to control him. 


Does Harry have Dark Magic in him as you propose? Please  help me out with an example. 

He has a temper. But that's not Dark Magic.

He has dream visions. That's not Dark Magic.

He was once possessed by Voldermort but that does not make 
Harry a Dark Wizard anymore than it makes Ginny a Dark Witch 
for have being possessed by Tom Riddle.

The Curse Scar connection ties him intimately with Voldemort 
but we have yet to see Harry as Dark all on his own when Voldy's 
not messing about with his head.

He can speak Parseltongue. That's a skill Dark Wizards have 
had in the past but is it in itself Dark Magic? Does it make Harry 
a Dark Wizard? I don't think so. And I think it will come in handy in 
a future book.

It may be logical to assume that the curse transferred Dark 
Magic but what if it just transferred certain powers and skills? 
Can magic be Light or Dark depending on intent and result. 
Magic is as Magic does? (sorry Forest Gump)


> So DD is telling Harry what her needs to hear, and I wouldn't, if I
> were you, discount your theory just yet.  I for one think Harry is the
> heir of both Slytherin and Gryiffindor.  He was able to open the
> Chamber of Secrets and pull the Gryffindor Sword from the
> Stone...er..sorry, hat.


Yes, he could open the Chamber because of a skill transferred 
from Voldemort not bloodline...well, all that has already been 
explained. Sometimes things just are what they appear. I know 
you view DD in a different light than I. By the 7th Book we shall 
know them.

Hawk