Slytherin as villains / Ender vs. Harry SPOILERS for Ender's Game

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 179072

> Montavilla:
> Moreover, it really doesn't matter, did it?  The point is that
> NONE of the Slytherins cares enough about the Anti-
> Voldemort cause (or Pro-Harry, take your pick) to join the
> other students who rebel against the school authorities.

zgirnius:
I agree none of it really matters, and I agree that it is unlikely 
any Slytherins of school age fought on the 'good side' in the battle. 
(Not impossible, mind you. If you and Betsy can have your masked, 
unidentified, unmentioned, effectively invisible Slytherins of a 
certain age fighting for Voldemort in the battle, some other reader 
can have his or her anonymous Slytherins of a certain age who came 
back with Sluggie and the large crowd of reinforcements after helping 
the young 'uns get away).

What I have been arguing, is that it is a perfectly reasonable, 
noncontrarian, evidence-based interpretation of the text that what 
you said in the quote above, is ALL that can be said with certainty 
about Slytherins of school age. I don't think any Slytherin student 
openly took up arms for Voldemort. I don't think it is reasonable to 
insist that Voldemort's statement to Lucius means they did. I 
personally, cannot imagine that Rowling envisioned Slytherin students 
battling against their schoolmates and teachers, and *failed to 
mention it*! 

I was cheated of a Pansy/Ginny showdown <g>?! If Rowling reveals in 
an interview that she did, this will prove my understanding of her 
intent was wrong - but it will not change the fact that she failed to 
show it.

> Montavilla:
> It is a Slytherin student who proposes turning over Harry
> Potter--the one person who can possibly defeat Voldemort
> according to the rumors--in order to save their skins. 

zgirnius:
That Pansy Parkinson is pro-Voldemort to some extent, should not come 
as a surprise to anyone who read HBP. That would not be a sensible 
reason to offer for turning Harry over, though, not if she had any 
hope of persuading others.

> montavilla:
> It
> is the entire Slytherin Student Body that McGonagall throws
> out of the school as untrustworthy--and not one of them
> even hesitates to leave (except the three who stay behind
> for nefarious purposes).

zgirnius:
I don't see how McGonagall's fit of temper shows much about the 
House. She thought they were all untrustworthy, perhaps, but I see no 
evidence they all were. She was committing the logical fallacy of 
guilt by association. 

> montavilla:
> And the strong implication is that SOME Slytherin students
> join Voldemort's forces.  

zgirnius:
This supposed strong implication that they *fought* never even 
entered my mind in my two readings of DH. I became aware others 
entertained the possibility by reading this list.

The Slytherins all left. None stayed to fight against their kin/the 
kin of their housemates, under the leadership of a woman who 
demonstrated that she despises them. I did not find it surprising, or 
disturnbing.