To kill or not to kill and resolutions of the storylineWAS :Re: Disarming spell

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 185491

> Alla:

> I mean, Slughorn does return to fight, and while I wish that JKR
> would have never said that Slytherins return to fight and left it to
> the reader to decide, I think Pippin's interpretation of that quote
> can easily hold water. How indeed would Harry know that Slughorn
> returned with *friends of the remaining students*? Okay, families, I
> get, but friends?

Magpie:
Is this an interpretation that reads "Slughorn and Charlie Weasley 
returned with the friends and family of the remaining students" as 
one that adds Slytherins to the mix? Because if it is I have to say 
imo it does not hold water. It seems like the only reason to even 
need a different interpretation is to try to reconcile it with JKR 
later totally different recounting of what she wrote. Otherwise to me 
it's like reading the line in HBP that says something like "the next 
group was all Hufflepuffs" or to describe a group of kids who show up 
to try out for Gryffindor Quidditch and saying "But Harry wouldn't 
recognize them all as Hufflepuffs...there must have been 
Slytherins/Ravenclaws/Gryffindors there too." It's just how the 
narrator tells us what's going on. Does anyone question that line? Or 
any other of the many lines like it? 

Slughorn comes back and Slughorn is mentioned. He's one of several 
special Slytherin cases who are moved, due to love of someone else, 
to oppose Voldemort. 

Alla: 
> So, what I am trying to say is that to me the originality is here
> only if I accept that Slytherins' redemption is written subtly and 
it
> is not very glorious, glamorous, etc.
> 
> I mean, I cannot stand Draco, but he does save his friend from 
mortal
> danger. Isn't that the deed of courage of JKR's favorite house?
> 
> I am not making sense, I am just trying to explain why I find
> Slytherins' resolution to be original.

Magpie:
It seems like that's just dependent on what one would call 
redemption. I mean, it's not subtle exactly--we're told straight out 
what Draco does, we get a sense of what he's feeling. It is what it 
is. I'm not denying it's a good thing that Draco wouldn't leave his 
friend to die--it very clearly sets him up as different from Crabbe. 
It all seems pretty much in line with the way Slytherin is in the 
end, which is not flat-out evil. I wouldn't call the house redeemed 
in the least, but I also wouldn't say there's never any Slytherin who 
does the right thing in any situation. The series actually, imo, 
gives one very clear thing that saves them from evil--their love for 
certain people. They've never been all bad. They just aren't really 
worthy of the term "good" either. Their morally challenged--more so 
than any other House, and seem to be Sorted on that quality.

-m