Disappointment Was: Deaths in DH WAS: Re: Dumbledore (but...

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 177564

 Robert:
>  
>  
> I have to come out of lurkdom to disagree here. I believe it was 
stated that Sirius was the first Black not assigned to the house of 
Slytherin when he attended Hogwarts. That would mean all of his 
cousins WERE - including  Andromeda. We hear her mentioned throughout 
the last books of the series as the Black sister who was shunned by 
the family for marrying a Muggle born, and having a long and happy 
marriage, as well as a daughter who became an auror.   She was the 
example that not all Slytherins are bad and some can join the adult 
WW and choose their own path in life after being Slytherins in 
school. Bella tells Voldemort that she had no contact with Andromeda 
AFTER she married the Muggle-born. Before that particular offense 
they were on good  terms.  Also it doesn't state whether she became 
Sirius' favorite cousin before or after attending Hogwarts.  Maybe 
the example wasn't Draco, but does that have to mean no other example 
is acceptable?

Magpie:
There are no other examples anyway. Andromeda isn't a character in 
the story. We can maybe infer that she was Slytherin based on what 
Sirius said, but we don't know anything about what she was like. 

So my short answer is no, characters who appear in one scene with two 
lines can't be an example of something like this. Had we known her 
she might have been fairly unlikable too (I think the one thing we 
hear about her is that she speaks haughtily or something). But the 
very fact we have to look outside the many Slytherins we have seems 
imo to back up Adam's impression. As, imo, do ideas like "but JKR 
didn't flat out say in canon that ALL the DEs were Slytherins" 
or "there are lots of Slytherins we don't know and they might be 
better." With all the Slytherins JKR chose to show, they all had 
serious problems. And I have the same impression as Adam that Draco 
seems especially important in this way. Dumbledore's saving of him in 
HBP did seem to set up to me that this would show hope--that soembody 
on the wrong path could actually become a better person, could change 
his views believably and go on to live a life. Instead Draco's story 
seemed to change him, yes, but quite deliberately limit that change 
to something less significant.

-m