Slughorn a dead end topic?

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 137832

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "prep0strus" <prep0strus at y...> 
wrote:
 
> But he's not a nice 
> person, not a fair person, and not a person who stands for much 
that 
> Dumbedore stands for - but then, neither does Snape.  When will we 
> see a TRULY good slytherin.

Hickengruendler:

I don't really agree. He might not be the nicest, he certainly was 
not nice to Marcus Belby anymore, once he realised that Marcus 
doesn't have any contact to his famous uncle, but he's also not 
really unpleasant. He for example doesn't insult anyone, the way 
Snape or Sirius, a Gryffindor, did. Sure, people realise who his 
favourites are. But I found him a particularly realistic character in 
this case. I had a music teacher like him in school. I didn't like 
him, because it was obvious, that he prefered the students who were 
in the school choir, but I do think he was nice enough to the rest as 
well, even if it was obvious that he didn't care for them.

And I would call him fair. He is fair enough to give everyone a 
chance if he sees enough talent, no matter what the person's 
background or family is.

Not a person, who stands for what Dumbledore stands for- well, maybe 
not. He certainly does not share every of Dumbledore's opinions. But 
who really does? They all have their flaws. At least Slughorn agrees 
with Dumbledore, that it is unimportant from which family someone is, 
or from which Hogwarts-House. And at least in the last point he's one 
of the very few characters who think so, and you could say that in 
this case he is much closer to Dumbledore than everyone named Potter 
or Weasley or Malfoy or Longbottom or Black is.
 
prep0strus:

> 
> I get the feeling the Houses are something that JKR got trapped in, 
> and don't really fit with what they've been described to be.  
Cedric 
> could be Gryffindor, Hermione could be Ravenclaw, Neville could be 
> Hufflepuff... but no one appealing could be in Slytherin.

Hickengruendler:

What about Harry? The Hat wanted to send him into Slytherin. Okay, 
Harry chose Gryffindor in the end. But nonetheless, as the Hat said, 
he would have done well in Slytherin. And even though it was meant as 
a contrast to Tom Riddle's choice, Harry still showed many Slytherin 
traits during the books, (as did Hermione, by the way), and many of 
them helped him in his adventures or even in his daily routine.