"Slytherin" Hermione? (was Re: The Beetle At Bay)

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 112351

Susana wrote: 
> I can see I'm alone on this. There's a difference between pursuing 
ones objective and doing it at all costs. I don't think Hermione 
would use *all* means to achieve her ends - only those she thinks 
are justifiable. One may argue that her means are *not* justifiable, 
but I'm arguing that *she* believes they are. You seem to be 
implying that she draws no line; I'm saying she draws a line that 
some people consider excessive.
> 
Potioncat:

I'll bet Lucius feels his actions are justifiable too. 

I snipped a lot of a very good discussion to get to this point. I 
think I got what I expected out of this thread, but I'd like to 
confirm it in the friendliest manner.  I'd like to hear from both 
sides. It seems to me that in the post above, and in others, the 
argument is that Hermione doesn't have Slytherin traits because 
Hermione is a good person. And that where a Gryffindor has a trait 
that belongs to Slytherin, the trait is re-named. I happen to think 
that Slytherins and Gryffindors are very similar!

Do you think it is bad to have Slytherin traits?  Or do you think it 
is only bad to have them in the degree Slytherins do?  I don't think 
there is anything wrong with those traits, but rather in the way 
we've seen Slytherins use them. (For the purpose of this discussion, 
I don't consider a belief to be a trait.  I agree that believing in 
Pureblood supremacy is bad.)

And that could be said of all the houses.  Too much ambition can 
drive a person to go beyond good behavior to reach his goals.  Blind 
loyalty can cause a person to follow a leader in the wrong 
direction, or to tolerate mistreatment.  Knowledge for its own sake 
can distance you from humanity.  Reckless courage can get someone 
killed needlessly.

It would seem to me that most of the students would have traits of 
several houses.  In some cases, you can clearly see the other House 
traits.  And in some, you can wonder why they weren't placed in a 
different House.

Now, I may be wrong.  It may be that JKR thought "I'm going to write 
about a group of good, courageous kids called Gryffindors and I'm 
going to pit them against the bad, ambitious gang of kids called 
Slytherins.  And to fill out the pages I'm adding some unimportant 
loyal, smart kids for background."

But so far, she's shown us some good people performing some very 
questionable actions.  And she's shown us some bad people doing some 
good things. And sometimes knowing the motivation changes how we see 
those actions.  

Potioncat