To kill or not to kill and resolutions of the storyline/ Slytherins

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 185554

> Magpie:
> <SNIP>
> I can't believe
> it would break an intense mood to say "the Slytherins who left
> earlier" in a way it doesn't break the mood to say "shopkeepers from
> Hogsmeade." Hell, the Slytherins would be far more important to the
> mood here. Their return would be far more important than these
> peoples' entrance--to Harry, to the reader, and to the story. <SNIP>
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Just want to comment on this point - who says that it will be 
> important to Harry and to the story? 

Magpie:
I'm just saying that the Slytherins are people we already know, who 
we already saw leave etc. Where as the shopkeepers in Hogsmeade are, 
by comparison, less important. Therefore, I don't see how one could 
say that it would break the mood to mention these Slytherins who were 
just featured in a tense scene and sent away, where as it does not 
break the mood to mention shopkeepers from town. 

As I have said, I don't think there relative importance to the story 
is relative to reading that sentence. (However, if that side issue 
gets brought up, yes, I would say that it's a bit odd to claim 
shopkeepers in Hogsmeade are so much familiar and important in 
Harry's life than the Slytherins who actually have featured far more 
in his life. I suspect a quick search of HP4GU would turn up a lot 
more for Slytherins than shopkeepers in Hogsmeade.) It basically once 
again comes down to asking why JKR didn't write that the Slytherins 
returned if they returned. Iow, she didn't write them returning. She 
did write that shopkeepers from Hogsmeade came to Hogwarts to fight.  

It says the Slytherins left when they left (how important or not 
those Slytherins are to Harry doesn't have any bearing on that). It 
never says anything about those Slytherins returning. We do have one 
reference to them later on by Voldemort when he talks about at least 
some of them joining him. The sentence that describes Slughorn 
returning to Hogwarts describes the people who are with him and does 
not describe them as Slytherins--but does describe them as other 
things.

-m