JKR's intent

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 178744

Pippin wrote:
> Perhaps your mind was reeling so much that you 
> didn't take in the explanation of how the banners 
> came to be there? Those whom Neville invited into 
> the RoR over the two weeks in which he hid out
> there were already members of Dumbledore'sArmy. 

Del replies:
I have two mixed answers to your explanation: one 
is "I don't care" and the other is "it doesn't change 
anything". Let me explain.

1. I don't care. I don't care what the reason is, 
what I care about is the result. And the result is: 
the Houses are not united and Slytherin House is 
explicitely shown to be the one House that won't
oppose "evil" (whether LV or the Carrows or Snape 
or whatever incarnation one chooses to see Evil in), 
even in this very last hour of the War. Whatever the 
reason, the message is there: even when it comes to 
The Last Battle, Slytherin House still cannot be 
counted on to take any place along the other Houses, 
among the Good Guys.

2- It doesn't change anything. It doesn't matter what 
reason JKR invented to keep the Slytherins out, because 
that reason is just as problematic as the result. 

2a- So Neville didn't take in anyone who wasn't in 
the DA? Er, why not?? If a Slytherin had demonstrated 
the will and the courage to face Evil, if a Slytherin 
had taken action to combat Evil, do you really think 
that Neville would have refused them simply because 
they hadn't been in the DA? I don't. It seems obvious 
to me that if Neville had found a Good Slytherin who 
showed willingness and desire to fight Evil along 
the DA members, he would have taken them in. But he 
didn't find such Slytherin. We know he didn't, because 
he doesn't mention one, because there isn't one in the 
RoR, and because not a single Slytherin rebels when 
McGonagall tells the Slytherins to get lost. That's 
3 pieces of circumstancial evidence that, when put
together, and especially when taken within the general 
context of "nothing Good ever comes out of Slytherin" 
that's been repeated and demonstrated over and over 
again throughout the series, point to one simple and 
obvious conclusion: out of all the Slytherins attending
Hogwarts that year, not a single one was willing to fight Evil.

2b- Let's admit that Neville really didn't consider 
anyone who hadn't been a DA member, no matter their 
current credentials. Well, that takes us back to how 
the DA was formed. It takes us back to how nobody 
among the Good Guys even bothered to wonder whether 
there could be a Slytherin interested in joining the 
DA. It takes us back to how Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and 
Hufflepuff joined together to form the DA, while 
Slytherin formed the Inquisitorial Squad. So it takes us 
back exactly to my original point: there was NEVER any 
intention, on JKR's part, to actually show the Houses 
united, to actually show a few token Slytherins 
joining the Good Guys to fight Evil. 

And my mind is still reeling at this idea.

(And no, I don't count Snape and Slughorn as valid "token Slytherins",
because we know Snape didn't join the Good Guys because he believed in
their cause, while Slughorn is a pre-LV Slytherin - not to mention
that he openly showed reluctance to even looking like he might support
the Order!)

Del