Salazar & Slytherin - Quality of Qualities.

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 121879



bboyminn wrote:
"I think Dumbledore was simply acknowledging  /aspects/ of Harry that
parallelled the aspects of Slytherin. There was no implication of
/quality/ of qualities judgement (did that make sense?)."

Del replies:
It makes sense in itself, but it doesn't make sense to me in the
context. Harry was feeling low because he was *afraid* he might be a
better Slytherin than Gryffindor. So DD telling him "Oh yeah, you do
have a lot of what you yourself consider as Slytherin bad traits"
wouldn't be exactly *helping* IMO. I personally think that DD was
telling him that, yes, he did have those traits, but that he should
consider them as positive traits, and that they weren't even his only
good traits.

Bboyminn wrote: 
"I don't agree with the 50/50:Gryf/Slyth idea. I think the Sorting Hat
knew well where Harry truly belong, but it wanted to make sure Harry
knew. In a sense, the Hat tempted Harry with Slytherin, first to see
if he would be tempted, and second, to see if he had the courage,
scared as he was, to argue with a powerful magical object. "

Del replies:
To me, when the Hat confirmed in CoS that Harry had been hard to
place, it sure didn't sound like the Hat had known all along where he
was going to place him.
Even if the Hat had indeed been playing a guessing game with Harry
during his Sorting in order to test him, why would it keep on playing
that game more than a year later, when Harry was definitely a member
of one House? Especially considering that Harry was having doubts
about his Sorting, and that he had turned to the Hat for
*reassurance*! It would have been very cruel for the Hat to keep
playing its guessing game *then*, if it knew all along that Harry was
a true Gryffindor. Sure Harry reacted the right way, by telling the
Hat that it was wrong, but that wouldn't diminish the nastiness of the
Hat's lie, if its saying that Harry had been hard to place was indeed
a lie. Personally, I'd rather think that the Hat has been honest all
along, and that Harry was a very good candidate for Slytherin as well
as Gryffindor.

Bboyminn wrote:
"I don't think the Hat was as cold and calculated as perhaps I make it
sound, but it is the Hat's job to test the students, and get a good
sense of them and their obvious and hidden characteristics."

Del replies:
I disagree that it is the Hat's job to test the students. Its job is
simply to put the students where they belong. From what I can
remember, we've never been privy as to what method(s), if any, it uses
to do that.

Bboyminn wrote:
"Slytherins disregard the rules, Gryffindors know WHEN to disregard
the rules. Those are functionally similar, both are willing to break
the rules, but they are founded in much different motivations. "

Del replies:
I disagree.
In PoA, for example, Harry bent the rules for his own very private
profit when he went to Hogsmeade without authorisation. In GoF, he
went roaming the castle at night for his own interest, when he went to
the Prefects' bathroom. In OoP, he broke into Umbridge's office for
his own interest. I think that Harry is a true Slytherin *on that
matter* : he disregards the rules in general.
And as Potioncat already mentioned, the Twins spend A LOT of time
breaking the rules for their own interest.
As for the Slytherins, apart from Draco and his two buddies, we rarely
see any of them breaking rules that the other Houses (especially
Gryffindor) don't break just as much, like fighting in the corridors.
The one place where I remember them getting really nasty is on the
Quidditch pitch, but then I also remember a Gryffindor captain telling
his Seeker on one occasion to catch the Snitch or die trying, and on
another occasion to use any method to prevent the opposite Seeker
(Cho) from getting to the Snitch. Of course, one could argue that
Quidditch is precisely one of those occasions where breaking the rules
is appropriate ;-)

Del, who is quite a Hermione where Quidditch is concerned, and
heartily supported her when she criticised its effect on the
inter-House relationships in OoP :-)