Sorting Hat for a Day

[ZaraG]

No: HPFGUIDX 188509

> > Happy Smiley :
> > Yet Phineas Nigellus also said, "We Slytherins are brave, yes, but not stupid. For instance, when given the choice, we will always choose to save our own necks." and I think *that* does not suit Snape. 
>  
> Potioncat:
> I'd to hear what others have to say about Phineas Nugellus's little speech to Harry. His comments were made with a specific outcome in mind. It seems to me that anyone, given a choice, would rather live than die, but sometimes there is no choice. Like when Harry didn't want to face the troll, but he felt he had no choice. Well, yes, he did--but not in his own mind.

Zara:
I like what you say about Harry and "no choice". I feel several of the Slytherin characters are shown to exemplify that same sort of thinking, and thus Phineas Nigellus's little line is at best misleading. 

In addition to Snape, certainly the most prominent example of this, several other Slytherins are shown to have acted in ways that placed them in jeopardy. Regulus Black, when he went after the locket and drank the green goo himself. Draco, who persisted in dragging Goyle along in the Fiendfyre scene, even when it seemed this would leave him trapped. Slughorn, who returned to Hogwarts for the final battle.

In fact, the only Slytherin I can think of who seems to have acted according to Phineas's little saying was Pansy Parkinson. And even in her case, this could be as much about her dislike of Harry as about saving her own skin.