Did the Slytherins come back?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 181804

> 
> Betsy Hp:
> The other thing is, IMO, the *only* place JKR tells us not all 
> Slytherins are bad is in her interviews.  It's really hard to find 
> places in the text that support her theory.  The Gryffindors 
> certainly hate all Slytherins on sight, and they're never put in a 
> position to learn anything different.  Neither is their behavior 
> towards Slytherins ever questioned.  Whereas Slytherins behaving 
> badly is clearly seen as such.

Pippin:
Only if the reader is applying a ridiculous double standard, IMO. Theo
Nott never so much as hexes someone for fun, never mind Unforgivable
Curses, and yet he doesn't qualify as a decent person? Gimme  a break!

We have exactly the same basis for disbelieving Voldemort's claim that
Hagrid was raising werewolf cubs as we do for disbelieving his claim
that the Slytherins joined him -- an interview never backed up by the
text. And yet no one ever insisted that they were going to go on believing
Hagrid  kept werewolves until JKR made it clear in the books that he never
did. Why is this being treated differently? 

 I submit that JKR is more interested in getting the reader to notice and 
question unconscious assumptions than in "correcting" our impression of 
Hagrid or Slytherin House. It's not as if there are real half-giants or
Slytherins who will suffer if the readers don't catch on.

Once Harry has realized that  Slytherins who once supported Voldemort
may no longer do so,  knowing who was in Slytherin and who wasn't can
no longer tell him what he wants to know:  is this someone I can trust? DH
is all about judging  the contents of people's characters by getting to know
them. Unthinking hate will never get you close enough. The anti-hate 
message in that is plain enough, IMO.  

 So why should Harry note that Slytherins came back or sat at
the House Tables with the other students? It wouldn't matter to him.
JKR runs into the same difficulty with her treatment of women's status:
in a society where it's taken for granted that witches and wizards are
equals, no one is likely to remark on the fact. 

Pippin