Good Slytherins, one and all.... or not?

[antoshachekhonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 98612

> > Eustace_Scrubb:
> > 
> > I agree with those who think that JKR's notes about Theodore Nott
> > increase the chances that he'll turn up in some role in one of the
> > next two books.
> > 
> > The real question is can one (or two or six) "Good Slytherins"
> > effect the unity of the four houses, ...edited...
> > 
> > ...edited...
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > 
> > Eustace_Scrubb
> 
> bboy_mn:
<snip> 
> Uniting the houses does not mean 100%. So, yes, one or two or six
> Slytherins joining the fight for the greater good does represent
> uniting the houses. No community is ever totally united. 
> 
> The main point regarding 'uniting' the houses is that the Slytherins
> are invited to join; they are not, for example, excluded from the DA
> Club as they were in OotP, and that some of them accept this
> invitation. Some of them are free and independant enough thinkers that
> they don't blindly follow the path or the person they are expected or
> assumed to follow. 
> 
<snip> 

I agree. It seems to me that, once there is one Slytherin 6th/7th year student who is 
independent-minded enough to break with the Malfoy junta, it will have two very powerful 
effects on the balance of power among the students:

1) Malfoy's dominance will be challenged from within his own house, which will be a 
humiliating and devastating blow for a bully such as he

2) The Trio, the DA, and the rest of the students will suddenly have to begin judging 
Slytherins as individuals, not as a FlintMalfoyCrabbeGoyleParkinsonBullstrode monolith

Both of these effects will tend to increase overall school unity.

Regarding the 100% comment above, which I believe is also quite astute: it is good to note 
that, while most of the non-Slytherin characters we know best at the school were in the 
DA, this still represented a tiny proportion of the student body--36 students out of what 
JKR tells us is 750 or so Hufflepuffs, Raveclaws and Gryffindors.