Slytherins (was Re: /Hurt/comfort/Elkins post about Draco)

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 156468

Carol wrote: 
> Regarding the real Slytherin, the one that JKR says we don't see
> because we see Slytherin from the vantage point of the DE's children
> (not to mention Harry's pov, which JKR doesn't mention), I'm 
wondering
> if the Slytherin traits that Dumbledore attributes to Harry in CoS 
can
> be taken to mean that Slytherin isn't all bad and Harry really would
> have done well in Slytherin (if Draco and Hagrid together hadn't
> prejudiced him against it from Day One): "resourcefulness,
> determination, and a cetain disregard for rules" (CoS Am. ed. 333).
> According to DD, Salazar Slytherin valued those traits in his 
students
> (though, oddly, the Sorting Hat doesn't mention the first two--I can
> see why DD wouldn't want it to mention the third).

zgirnius:
I think that resourcefulness and determination are qualities 
synonymous with those described by the Sorting Hat in its song in 
PS/SS:

"Or perhaps in Slytherin 
You'll make your real friends, 
Those cunning folks use any means 
To achieve their ends. "

This is often interpreted as meaning Slytherins are all self-serving 
and unprincipled. However, the verse does not actually assert that 
the 'ends' towards which Slytherins strive must be self-serving. 
Supposing a Slytherin had some positive goal he wanted to achieve, 
this verse certainly suggests he would pursue it with resourcefulness 
and determination. (And probably also a certain desregard for the 
rules. <G>)