chapter discussions, SS/PS, chapter 5, Diagon Alley

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 187984

 
> Pippin:
> Um, I can't believe you've forgotten all the things we always point to to show that Slytherins weren't all bad, starting with Snape saving Harry's life. 

Potioncat:

OK, I'm back in the fold. 

Here's why.  I've argued for many years that it makes no sense for one house to be the "house of bad kids." By the end of the series, however, I wasn't too sure that JKR agreed.  But Pippin is right, the last thing we hear about Slytherin House is that one of the bravest men Harry ever knew came from it. Pretty high praise from Harry Potter.

So I began to think about that praise, and to think about how the characters might view things. Eleven-year-old Harry Potter learns from his first two wizardig friends that Slytherin House is bad.  He sees Draco Malfoy rapidly sorted into it--and it's downhill from there.

Eleven-year-old Albus Potter hears from his father that the bravest man came from Slytherin and that Slytherin House would be lucky to get him. 

(Yes, I know, Pippin has been making this point, but I'm not as quick as she is.)

And this is why I asked the Top Ten List question, because it dawned on me, that we have clear opinions about the characters who were around during Harry's school years. We know a bit of personal information about many of them, but Al wouldn't.

School kids by the period of the epilogue would know about the usual heroes of the war with LV. (Gryffindors, of course.)  They would also know about Slughorn, who recruited and led reinforcements to the Battle of Hogwarts; Regulus Black who stole a Horcrux from LV's well-guarded cave; the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black who played a part in gathering intelligence for Snape; and Snape who successfully spied on the DEs from LV's right hand. Andromeda Tonks might be in this list of Pro-Harry Slytherins. I'm just not sure if she's been confirmed as Slytherin. (Doesn't Slughorn actually duel with LV along with McGonagall and a 3rd person?)

So while I've whined that there wasn't "the good Slytherin" there are Slytherins who did good. This generation of kids have more than "all bad wizards come from Slytherin." 

They also have a few heroes from the other houses.

> 
> Pippin: 
> I would say that Harry's view of the House expanded. The Hat does seem to try to steer abnormal children into Slytherin, and they stand out there because they'd stand out anywhere. But how many wizarding kids are abnormal? Certainly not a quarter of the population. 


Potioncat:
What? Where do you get that the Sorting Hat puts abnormal children into Slytherin?

But I agree completely with the rest of your comments about Slytherin and Al's reason for worrying about it.