A note on Slytherin

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 164097

> >>Debi:
> <snip>
> Each house represents a family unit so I would assume they are     
> close knit, even a good Slytherin would be concerned about the
> pressure from the bad Slytherins that they would receive on working 
> closely with the other houses. Also information about the DA was    
> spread by word of mouth, I would assume that those close to Harry   
> and those that those particular friends would tell would most      
> likely not include anyone from Slytherin.

Betsy Hp:
I tend to think the latter: no one from Slytherin was invited.  Even 
Hermione didn't quite understand what the Sorting Hat was trying to 
say.

I'm assuming you mean "children of Death Eaters" when you refer 
to "bad Slytherins".  I'm not sure how much pressure they could 
assert, since their parent's beliefs could get them arrested.  But I 
do agree that Slytherin, being the outcast House, is probably 
particularly close-knit.  Outcasts usually are.  So I don't think any 
Slytherin would try and join a group that sees their House as evil or 
not quite good enough.

> >>Debi: 
> Also a Slytherin type personality is one that is aloof and not     
> inclined to be the type to admit needing the help of others, they   
> seem to be self serving as we see by  Horace Slughorn's example.   
> They also seem to be elitists.

Betsy Hp:
That's the prejudice against them, yes.  But the pensieve scene in 
OotP where the rich, beautiful, wellborn Gryffindors attack the half-
blood ugly kid from a Northern Mill-town pretty much ripped up that 
particular myth, IMO.

Slytherin is no more elite than Ravenclaw.  Draco is many things, but 
he's not aloof.  Crabbe and Goyle aren't all that self-serving.   

> >>Debi:
> But I do believe the majority of them are not evil, just that they 
> have a slightly different conscious that most of the Hogwarts      
> students.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Honestly, I think the biggest difference between Slytherins and the 
rest of the school is the certain knowledge that the rest of the 
school dislikes them.  We've seen first year Slytherins hissed at the 
Sorting Feast without teacher interference.  I imagine it leads to a 
sense that the rest of the school can go hang for all the Slytherin's 
care.  And that's not evil; it's human.

Betsy Hp