Of Sorting and Snape

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 175776

Jen:
> I still think of the Black House as a Slytherin House and Kreacher 
as 
> one who has a chosen loyalty to the Blacks and a forced loyalty to 
> Harry, which just happens to be a more amenable term of service than 
> it used to be.

Magpie:
Yes, but the fact remains Kreacher is a House-Elf (he could have been 
a Hufflepuff House-Elf just as easily, actually). He's a House-Elf. 
He's not a Slytherin. Saying that we see how great Slytherins can be 
by showing us a house and an elf once owned by Slytherins pleasing 
Harry is still avoiding Slytherins. And of course, avoiding anything 
where Harry has to seriously reconsider his own behavior or ideas in 
the ways people have described--that goes without saying. Even if this 
is some clue that Harry's treating his Slytherin enemies with kindness 
and respect would turn them into fluffy bunnies, he still never has to 
do that. He just has to treat the talking pet better and makes a 
servant for life. He also yoinks a Slytherin's wand away from him and 
gets that bending to his will quite nicely. So no, Harry happily 
living in a cozy house he inherited from a line of dead Slytherins, 
being waited on by their old affection-starved pet isn't to me a 
powerful metaphor for the beautiful side of the Slytherin nature.

-m