Draco and Sirius (was Re: Apologies and responsibility)

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 139371

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "rlai1977" <rlai1977 at y...> 
wrote:

> Oh and I've never quite figured out if it was a careless mistake on
> Rowling's part or not, but in COS the password to the Slytherin dorm
> was 'Pure blood'- and I thought it's normally the HoH who sets up
> passwords?

zgirnius:
Actually, the Heads of House probably don't pick the passwords. For 
Gryffindor (the only House where we ever see this in any detail) the 
passwords seem to be set up by the Fat Lady. For 
example, "Abstinence" is the password in HBP, right after she gets 
roaringly drunk, then horridly hung over, with the monks in the other 
painting. Or, in PoA, after the Lady was attacked and the valiant Sir 
Cadogan took over the job, he was changing the password *all the 
time*, and annoying everyone, but since no other portait was willing 
to take the job, they were stuck with him, and his passwords.

To address the main point of your post, I too doubt racism was 
Snape's primary motivation. To me he seems to have been a Dark Arts 
nerd. Probably joined the DEs as a Faustian bargain he later 
regretted (or not...)