[HPforGrownups] Re: Andromeda as good Slytherin WAS: Disappointment

[terrianking at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 177571

Magpie:
Sorry, hit send too soon.

That's the great thing  about characters you write yourself. They can
be whatever you imagine them to be.

To me it's a bit of a disappointment that she didn't choose to take the one Slytherin characters of this generation and show him learning
to perhaps reject Pureblood values (he puts love ahead of them, presumably, since his love for his family seems to be his defining trait). Draco no longer seems so driven by Pureblood values in HBP.
He just doesn't cross over that last Slytherin hump. 

Lots of Slytherins put love over Pureblood values. They do crazy things for love.  They seem to be able to do this without necessarily 
getting to the level of good people. And of course the other problem is that if they get too far away from this stuff, they get rejected by their house. It's like using Dobby as an example for House Elves wanting their freedom. Yeah, he's an example of one who did, but he really is some sort of oddity in the end and not the way of the future as far as we see.  Andromeda's rejected; Snape keeps his feelings secret. Slughorn is the one example of  a "good-ish" Slytherin who remains a Slytherin, but he's not very admirable at all.

Andromeda could have been a nasty Slytherin who turned out to have a heart of gold different from any other Slytherin we've seen before, or even a flawed person who was still just as good as other heroes.  Or she could have been somebody thoroughly unlikable who had a passion that ruled her and she was willing to leave her family over it while still never being somebody Harry would actually like the way he likes her husband and daughter right off. And that's assuming she's Slytherin based on Sirius' comment. 

-m
 
 
Robert:
 
 
I didn't make up the character of Andromeda. All of her traits are described on the pages of the books, which I did not write. Wish I did,  but I didn't.  As for posting, I was offering one example where it was inferred none were given. But, you are right, characters you create yourself can be and do anything you wish, including "lots of Slytherins."  Andromeda may not be a perfect woman. It doesn't say she is in the books. She and Narcissa seem to share more traits than she and Bellatrix.  She and Narcissa both value their families over  Voldemort, but the difference is that Andromeda chose to chuck pureblood ideology out the window as far as her future life went.  Secondary, or character from the back row or not, she is an example of a Slytherin who chose to not follow her family's beliefs after leaving school. A much more viable character than lots of Slytherins, IMO.

Personally, I like Draco the way he is. Despite everything, all the  
humiliation and torture his family went through, he has not wavered from his personal beliefs. He has seen Voldemort's version up close and personal but he still feels what he has always believed is still the right way for the WW to be going. He is a man of conviction. He isn't someone who can be led by what's the latest "in" thing. Just because he stands by his upbringing and DOESN'T make the choices Andromeda made, doesn't mean he is lost forever. In my opinion he is a great bad guy and I'd rather see him remain a Slytherin than to  see him turn into just another convert who has seen the error of his ways.  That would not be Draco as described in the books. That would be a born again Draco and I don't even want to think beyond that.
 
Robert