The good Slytherin

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 131488



> Subject: Re: The good Slytherin
> 
> This one is easy to answer, there are no good Slytherns. I've been 
> rereading the books to get ready for HBP and not once do you see a 
> single decent or honorable act by a Slythern. Not once does a single 
> Slythern student perform a act of friendship or tolerance for Harry nor 
> do you read of any Slytherns disapproving of Drago Malfoy's actions. 
> All you see is a bunch of nasty little snakes trying to craw up the 
> ferret's ass as far as they can go. It not just Malfoy but all of 
> Slythern House that has declared themselves Harry's enemies. 

Julie says: 
Where do we ever read of all Slytherins *approving* of Draco's
actions? In fact, we actually *do* read of one who doesn't approve,
or at least isn't interested in joining Draco's antics. And where 
in the book do we read that all in Slytherin House have declared 
themselves Harry's enemies? AFAIK, most Slytherins haven't
really declared themselves either way. 

It's been mentioned, but we see Slytherins from Harry's POV
exclusively. And we only see perhaps a dozen of them--Draco
and friends, along with some on the Quidditch team--while the
vast majority are essentially non-entities at the moment. What
we do know that every Slytherin toasted Cedric, and some also 
toasted Harry. Simple , but we don't
really know for sure

Fact is, we don't know enough about the majority of Slytherins to
know whether they are LEANING toward good or toward evil. I 
capitalize the word leaning because we are talking about children 
after all, some as young as 11 years old, and it seems very 
presumptuous to write them off so immediately and based only
on their house affiliation. Not much different in fact than some 
Slytherins writing off all muggle-borns as inferior.

> 
>    If there is such a thing as good(non evil more likely)Slythern 
> then they will probably show up in HBP with the news that Voldemort is 
> back. I hope that they will be some Slytherns that want nothing to do 
> with Voldemort and this will lead them seek out an alliance with the 
> other Houses. But they will have to make the first move. They will have 
> to show contrition to their school mates and they will have to first 
> apologize to Harry and make a show of friendship not the other way 
> around.
> 
> 
> McMax
> 
Julie says:

Er, apologize for WHAT? Existing? Being sorted into Slytherin by the
Sorting Hat? What have most Slytherins done to Harry or anyone else
at Hogwarts other than support their own house in various competitions,
as all students do? I really don't see any reason at all the condemn a
whole house for the actions of some.

I agree Slytherins will more likely be "Not Evil" rather than "Good." 
No one is fully "Good" or "Evil," including every Gryffindor we've 
met. They too have human faults, be it recklessness (Harry/Sirius),
insensitivity (Ron), intolerance (Hermoine), passiveness (Lupin),
blind ambition (Percy), occasional meanness (twins), arrogance 
(James), and even cowardice (Peter). The list could go on. Fact 
is, even those on the side of good are only "Mostly Good," and
some perhaps just "Not Evil," if we consider Snape's apparent
actions and attitude. 

Still, I'm hoping one or two Slytherins might fall in the "Mostly
Good" camp myself, and I don't think there's a single piece of
canon that would make this impossible or even improbable
(including that even Snape could end up in the "Mostly Good"
camp).

Julie  




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