Slytherin Relationships

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 116096


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Tonks" <tonks_op at y...> wrote:
> 
> I have been thinking about the dynamics in the relationships of 
> folks who attended Hogwarts as members of Slytherin House. We can 
> assume that members of other houses have normal feeling and 
> relationships with their friends, spouses, children, etc. Of course, 
> the Ravenclaws might seem a bit aloof because of their high 
> intelligence and *thinking type* personality, but basically they are 
> capable of love and feeling of affection like all the rest.  But 
> what of the Slytherins?  I was watching a skating show today where a 
> couple was acting as two sinister characters and the dynamics 
> between them made me think of Bella and her husband.  I am thinking 
> that when two Slytherin marry it must be like 2 snakes. Each with a 
> certain cold respect for the other, a mutual understanding of like 
> personalities. A member of any other house could never find 
> happiness with a Slytherin, because the Slytherin would eat them 
> alive, so to speak.  Others would be too sensitive, heart on sleeve 
> types, for a Slytherin. Any thought?
> 
> Tonks_op

Carol responds:
Of course, we have no canon to support us here because we see very
little of the relationship between the Lestranges or their relatives,
the Malfoys, so everything we say here is speculative. To begin with
the Malfoys, whom we see together briefly in GoF: They are both
reasonably attractive people (Narcissa, we're told, would be pretty if
she weren't sneering) and they seem to hold the same Slytherin values,
considering themselves better than other families because of their
wealth and "aristocratic" blood. They are something like the English
gentry of the nineteenth century--it's okay to make money as long as
you don't do so by *working.* (I wonder how Narcissa is managing
without her house elf--surely she has some "hired help" if no new elf
is available.) Kreacher is loyal to Narcissa, who clearly shares the
Black family values, and she and Lucius evidently work together to use
Kreacher information against Sirius and Harry. The only sign of
disagreement between them is Lucius's desire to send Draco to
Durmstrang to learn the Dark Arts, and he is overruled by, or gives in
to, Narcissa's desire to keep her darling boy (whom she sends sweets
at school) close to home. Lucius, in contrast, is less permissive and
concerned with Draco's marks and with his behavior in public--he must
not *appear* to dislike Harry Potter. But there's no indication that
Narcissa opposed Lucius's intention to use Tom Riddle's diary to wreak
havoc at Hogwarts and somehow bring actual harm to Harry. The whole
family, according to Dobby, consists of "bad Dark wizards." The ideal
Slytherin family, evidently--happy in their own evil way.

The Lestranges are another matter. Clearly the Lestrange brothers are
purebloods or Bellatrix wouldn't have married one of them (or,
alternatively, she'd be burned off the Black family tree). All we know
about the Lestrange brothers is that, like Bellatrix, they were
members of a Slytherin gang and later became Death Eaters, both of
them helped Bellatrix Crucio the Longbottoms, both of them were silent
during the sentencing, both went with her to Azkaban and later broke
out with her, and both fought in the DoM against Harry and his
friends, only to be arrested again. Bellatrix and her husband
Rodolphus were paired together by Lucius Malfoy, and it *appears* that
Rabastan later joined them when his own partner was incapacitated.
It's as if Bellatrix has two loyal followers, one of whom is married
to her, and the other, his brother, can't give up his part in the
trio. Bellatrix was once beautiful in her sultry, sinister way, and
she seems to have been the oldest sister, an heiress, probably to some
of the Black family wealth, so maybe there was some competition
between the brothers to marry her. Yet she seems to be the leader of
the trio, sometimes regally haughty and sometimes shrewish. They seem
to be in awe of her, particularly Rabastan, who isn't married to her
and yet sticks to her (and his brother) like glue. This is a very
strange relationship. I don't see any romantic love in it, and there
are no children. (Azkaban cooled their ardor, possibly.) And
Bellatrix, as we know, is insanely and fanatically devoted to the not
wholly human Voldemort. Are the others equally devoted or do they
simply do her will? Bellatrix says that you have to *mean* a Crucio,
and these men Crucio'd the Longbottoms, along with Bellatrix and Barty
Jr. Perhaps they're fanatics, too? Not two but three cold-blooded
snakes, held together by a hatred of Muggles and Muggleborns and the
hope for power in a new order, where purebloods are the ruling
aristocracy and all others do their will or die?

I just don't know, but it strikes me as strange, and perhaps
significant, that there are two Lestrange brothers. Why not just give
Bellatrix a husband? Why bring in Rabastan?

Carol