Salazar & Slytherin(was Re: Draco and Slytherin House (was: Harsh Morality)

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 121532


Alla wrote:
""Listen to me, Harry. You happen to have many qualities Salazar
Slytherin prized in his hand-picked students. His own very rare gift,
Parseltongue - resourcefulness - determination - a certain disregard
for rules," he added, his mustache quivvering again. "Yet the Sorting
Hat placed you in Gryffindor. You know why that was. Think". -p.333,
Cos, paperback.

I frankly do NOT see any sign of Dumbledore praising those traits.
Salazar prized them, yes, Dumbledore - nope."

Del replies:
He did call them *qualities*, didn't he?

This passage is very clear to me, especially when considered together
with Harry's Sorting. Each Founder favoured certain specific
qualities: courage, loyalty, cleverness, resourcefulness, for example.
Harry has got many of the qualities that Slytherin liked, and also
many of those that Gryffindor liked. The Sorting Hat said he was hard
to place, and IMO that's because he has so many qualities that belong
to different "Founder-sets". In the end, the Hat's choice was
apparently between Gryffindor and Slytherin, at about 50-50. The Hat
couldn't reach a decision on its own, which is why Harry's plea
determined its choice : not Slytherin? All right, then it'll be
Gryffindor.

Note: a certain disregard for rules is *not* a Gryffindor quality, as
someone suggested. If it were, neither Percy nor Hermione would have
been Gryffindors, and Neville would be considered a traitor to his own
House for trying to prevent the Trio from breaking the rules.

Del