Responses of children

[Pamela Rosen]

No: HPFGUIDX 176316

> Jen:  I wanted to clarify that it was the entire conversation
between Harry and Albus Severus, not just the name alone (I
didn't explain  very well). His take was Harry-as-parent said
it was OK to be in Slytherin, you know? I extrapolated from
there that in his worldview, where he's still dependent on his
parents for many things, that if a parent who seems to love his
child says being in Slytherin  house is OK, then it really is OK.
A parent wouldn't send a child to spend time somewhere if it's a
bad place. An older child might see  more gray area there of
course, or even another 9 y.o.- don't know.
<SNIP>

Alla:

You explained perfectly – no worries, I understood it to be the
whole conversation.

But what you said made perfect sense, no?

Maybe that is what JKR was going for? Meaning to make sure that
beloved and respected parent figure tells the kid – it is truly
Okay to be in Slytherin and then the kids will take out exactly
the same message your child did?

I mean, Harry is beloved, respected, and all that in WW.


Pam now:
I'm sorry to chime in here, but I've been thinking about this
for awhile, and I wonder if it just isn't as sinister as everyone
is making it out to be?  I live in an area where there are two
great colleges (Stanford and UC Berkeley) within 50 miles of
each other.  School loyalty among alumni who still live here
is very strong.  Quite often many generations of the same family
go to one or the other school.  It's hard to imagine a family I
know, who had four generations attend UC Berkeley, to suddenly
produce a child who wanted to go to Stanford!  It would be a
blow to the family, almost, even though Stanford is also a
wonderful school and the parents should be proud their child
could go there.

I saw that scene at the train station a little like that. All
the Weasleys were Griffindors, Harry and Hermione, who joined
the Weasleys, were Griffindors; we have to assume all older
offspring were also Griffindors (or the subject wouldn't have
come up) it is clear throughout DH that what house you were in
no matter how many years it's been since Hogwarts still mattered,
and here's Albus Severus thinking he doesn't have a choice and
he might become a Slytherin!  It's not that Slytherin is bad,
per se, it's just that it would make him different from his
whole family. It would be like that one red Stanford banner
in a whole houseful of blue and gold Berkeley. It would make
him different,that's all, not necessarily bad. Would his parents
root for him as a Slytherin at Quidditch, or would they stay loyal
to Griffindor? Those are the kinds of things an 11 year old thinks
about. And I really think that's all that Harry was addressing.