No progress for Slytherin? (Was: Slytherins: selfish, not evil)

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 173763

Picking this quote for no particular reason, except it encapsulates
the "Slytherin Problem."

> Magpie:
> Again, Slytherin played a part. Narcissa made a better choice, but 
> it's not like she was choosing between right and wrong and chose 
> right. They weren't part of the celebration, but nobody killed them 
> either. After the storyline for Slytherin in the books I just don't 
> see how this problem was supposed to be solved by it explicitly *not* 
> being solved. 

Montavilla47:
In the Bloomsbury Chat (which I haven't read but I've seen bits of), JKR
was asked if the absence of Snape's portrait in the Headmaster's office 
was deliberate.  Her reply was that it was, because Snape had 
abandonned his post and therefore did not merit inclusion.

She added that she hoped Harry would have seen to it that Snape was
later included.

Which gives me the impression that all the miniscule steps towards 
Slytherin integration are made by Harry and Harry alone.  He's the one
...er... not brawling with Malfoy like schoolkids.  He's the one telling
his kid it's "okay" to be in Slytherin.  He's the one who might, just 
might, allow Snape into the office by grace of Harry.

So, is Harry Snape's personal savior?

He saved the WW when he died for it (although, as the story
reads, it seems to me that his bravest act was coming back to life).
However, while the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws enter
the Hallowed Halls of Hogwarts en masse, the Slytherins may trickle
in one by one, always a little suspect?

I agree, by the way, that having total unity would have been 
completely unrealistic.  It would have been okay, as this is a fantasy,
but I'm not unhappy that it wasn't total.  What makes me very 
unhappy with the story, though, is that it wasn't there at all.  

That may be because of my view of the world, which is that 
every person has unique talents and that all people have merit.

Or it may be simply that this Unity question was set up--set up
very strongly--and it didn't pay off.  And it's more painful than
it would be if this were a single book, because I've spent a lot 
of time loving these books (which won't change), thinking about
them, discussing them, and it seems like such a glaring
omission.

And I think Sistermagpie is right about the WW's strongest
Slytherin image of the Battle of Hogwarts will be Pansy 
Parkinson's words.

Montavilla47