The Houses, Finally

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 184600

> Pippin says:
> Snape humbles himself to the friend he has wronged and to the enemy 
if
> it will save his friend. 

> Philip:
> It is Dumbledore who says to Snape "Sometimes I think we sort too 
early". I
> think he's of the opinion Snape's adult life makes him a good 
Gryffindor,
> i.e. his moral courage places him in Gryffindor.

Zara:
The examples Pippin gives that I included above involve Snape the 
fifth year student, and Snape the young Death Eater. The quotation 
you cite is from Gof, when Snape was a teacher and Order member in 
his mid-thirties. If I understand her argument, she is suggesting 
Snape did not change in terms of his personality at all - what 
changed was his loyalties, only. 

> Pippin:
> He does it alone, without instruction, without a chorus from the
> spirit world to cheer him on, without expecting praise or 
recognition
> or reward -- which is just as well, because he doesn't get any. He
> does what he believes is right, even if it makes him unpopular, and,
> in the view of the majority, dead wrong. And he never, never gives 
up.
 
> Philip responds, interested:
> However, let's not forget Regulus joined
> the Dark Side first, before leaving it. How much more moral courage 
did
> Sirius have, when he rejected his family's wishes by joining 
Gryffindor,
> compared to Regulus who joined Bellatrix and Narcissa in Slytherin.

Zara:
Could you explain what in the train scene suggested to you that 11 
year old Sirius was motivated by moral courage? I really did not see 
it that way. It seemed to me that he liked James, and disliked 
Severus. 

Regulus, it also seems to me, is shown to have acted out of a genuine 
conviction (doubtless inspired by the education his parents provided) 
rather than parental pressure. I doubt his parents made him keep a 
scrapbook of Voldemort's exploits. But even Sirius seems to consider 
that they (and his brother, though Sirius did not know it) would be 
shocked by the lengths to which Voldemort was willing to go.

> Philip: 
> Malfoy is courageous. Hmm. I would have said he is on edge the 
whole series.
> He seems like a quintessential Dark Side material, but fails at the 
final
> hurdle. Then he rejoins the Dark Side rather than face the final 
curtain?
> Some lack of moral courage I think.

Zara:
By "fails at the final hurdle" I suppose you mean his non-murder of 
Albus Dumbledore? I see that neither as a failure, nor as a sign of a 
lack of courage. He could have done it, certainly. If he lacked the 
will for an AK, all he needed to do was drop the old, wandless guy 
off the Tower with a first year spell. And he had every cowardly 
reason to do it - he knew his own life was on the line.

As to why he "rejoined" the Dark Side...I would, again, not 
characterize his actions so. He never "unjoined" it, to "rejoin" it. 
After the death of Albus, he fled with the others, I presume to his 
home, which shortly thereafter became the HQ of the Death Eaters, if 
it was not already playing host to them. If he had stayed, alone, 
what might he expect to happen, not to him, but to his parents? I see 
Draco as facing a dilemma Rowling inflicted on none of the major good 
guys. (She did have Xeno caving in to the DEs based on the same 
threat after first supporting Harry in his Quibbler articles. But 
Neville's Gran got away, and the DEs never got the bright idea of 
taking Ginny as a hostage, even though she was at the school until 
the Easter holiday. Hermione's parents were safe in Australia).