Bad news ... for Slytherins- The Good Slytherin

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 98813

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, which the Sorting Hat alluded to in OoTP
and which is behind the "Good Slytherin" speculation, if I'm not too
mistaken.  Unless the "Good Slytherin" is also a good leader of other
Slytherins (and Theodore's a loner, not a leader, in the cut
backstory).
 
I also wonder exactly how the scene between Theodore and Draco would
have worked, given that with very few exceptions (Chapter 1 of SS/PS,
are there others that weren't at least part of Harry's dreams), the
reader sees the story from Harry's viewpoint.  It seems unlikely that
Harry would have present for this meeting and doesn't seem to fit in
with any of his dream patterns.  Maybe that's why it was cut?

Carol:
I've always been intrigued by Theo (I'm sure he's the "stringy"
Slytherin who saw the Thestral, probably because he saw his mother
die) and I was glad to see that JKR has devoted some thought to him.
Like Snape, he could go either way, but I'm clinging to my hope that
he'll be the "good Slytherin," or even the student who changes houses,
though as a loner, he probably doesn't care which house he's in. 

In any case, I agree with you that the POV is probably the reason she
cut the scene. It just doesn't fit with the way most of the story is
told. The other cut scene involving the Philosopher's Stone didn't
seem quite as limited as the current book, either; the narrator was
apparently able to tell what more than one character was thinking. I
don't think JKR had hit her narrative stride yet--or found her
narrative voice--when that scene was composed, and it's possible that
she hadn't made a conscious decision to limit the story to Harry's
POV, but once she became aware of it, she would have realized that
there was no way to make the Draco/Theo scene fit the pattern.

You asked whether there are any scenes other than SS/PS chapter one
and the various dreams that is not from Harry's point of view. I can
think of one full scene--Hermione lighting Snape's robe on fire in
SS/PS--and a few snippets. There's a dream that Harry can't remember,
but the narrator does, and a moment when Neville is lying awake, like
Harry, but Harry doesn't know it. (Bits like that jump out at me
because they're variations in the normal pattern.)

Carol, hoping we'll see more of Theo in Book 6