kerravonsen | Harry Potter reflected

Yesterday I had a nice time watching the first two Harry Potter movies with a friend, and stopping whenever we felt like it, to comment and discuss everything from the nature of Good and Evil versus Strength and Weakness, to how pretty the costumes were.

Some observations:

Now I understand why folks drool over Snape's opening address.
Someone give me some good Snape fic recs, please! (Already read "Darkness and Light" and Mariner's stuff -- what else is there? That is NOT a WIP.)
A comparison of Harry, Snape and Draco; from my friend's remark about that if someone is, shall we say, dazzled by your charisma, you owe it to them to treat them with respect, otherwise you lose everything. This prompted by the whole off-on-the-wrong foot thing that happened with Harry and Snape, where there in the movie, Harry was just as dazzled by Snape's rolling phrases as any of us, and if only Snape had actually asked him what he was doing, instead of making assumptions, then things might have not gone so badly -- though one could argue that Harry was doomed anyway, what with the whole James Potter problem. (Love RJA's first impressions story). Raised the comparison of Harry's reaction to Colin Creevy's hero worship, where Harry neither encourages it, nor does he crush Colin's ego. Contrast what Draco Malfoy would have done: he would have made Colin into a lackey.
MovieRon has a very expressive face.
Hagrid is just right.
Quiddich is an amazing game, though a bit one-sided if one has a very talented Seeker. Or, it's like two games going on at once.
Evidence for the "Salazar Slytherin wasn't all bad" theory:
1. the Chamber of Secrets is only legendary: what if it wasn't built by Salazar Slytherin himself, but a follower?
  1. Would SS have been so egotistical he would have made a huge statue of himself, or is that not something more likely done by a follower?
  2. When did the girl's bathroom get modern plumbing put in? Yes, the entrance was magically hidden, but who put the snake on the tap that indicated the position of the entrance? Or did they have modern plumbing when the school was built "more than a thousand years ago"?
  3. While Basilisks do live for hundreds of years, is the basilisk there all that likely to be more than a thousand years old?
2. There might have been good reasons not to want to teach the muggle-born, for example, fear of persecution could mean that non-pureblood families couldn't be trusted not to betray them.

We rounded off the evening wondering in great speculative swathes, how might things have been different if Harry had gone into Slytherin -- with the caveat that we weren't interested in persuing anything which gave us an Evil!Harry, but try to live in the hope that Slytherin isn't totally black, and that Harry is stronger in will than to succumb to the temptation to turn into a nasty bully like Draco -- or Dudley.

The key, we considered, is that Harry could be made to go into Slytherin if he hadn't been given any anti-Slytherin indoctrination before he got to the Sorting Hat. Which means he would have to have not met the Weaseleys at Kings Cross.
What if, we wondered, Lucius Malfoy took his little Draco aside and ordered him to cultivate Harry, even if it meant apologising for his unfortunate remarks about Hagrid which had made Harry initially hostile? What if Draco was initially charming (as charming as Draco can be, anyway). Add in an unfortunate encounter with a practical joke by Fred & George Weasely, and Harry could consider Slytherin attractive because he at least has one friend in Slytherin, rather than go with those horrible Griffindors...

One would then hope that Harry would be perceptive enough to break with Draco fairly early -- if there would be some other Slytherin there who was better suited to be Harry's friend. An ambitious muggleborn, perhaps, cunning and soft-spoken, and likely to drag Harry into mischief in the name of a lark... Yes, there would be muggle-borns in Slytherin -- if the chief quality needed to join Slytherin is ambition, then surely there would be ambitious muggle-borns with something to prove? Recall Draco's offer to introduce Harry to the "right" people? Possible implication is that Slytherin itself did not only consist of the "right" people. Certainly Slytherin couldn't be limited to purebloods, or neither Harry nor Tom Riddle would have been able to be Slytherins.

Snape would have to react differently too, if Harry was in his own House: he'd feel responsible for him, and thus while he'd be just as likely to come down on him like a ton of bricks for infractions, it would be for the sake of discipline, not spite. It could be that McGonnigle could turn into the bogey-teacher. (grin) Note that there wouldn't be any reason for Harry to want to give up his friendship with Hagrid, either.

Another interesting possibility is this: that Harry's tendency to treat people as equals first (the most dramatic example being, of course, Dobby) could actually gain him a group of loyal people in Slytherin. What if, for example, Crabbe and Goyle weren't actually as dumb as they're made out to be, and ended up being friends with Harry rather than lackeys of Draco, because he didn't treat them like idiots, while Draco had been using them as his lackeys all his life. (Or, maybe one deserts and the other doesn't). Could Harry grow into the sort of leader who brings out the best in people?

Another interesting thought about Snape and Harry which has just occurred to me: surely they both hate bullying? So what does Snape really think of Draco? Does he not know about Draco's bullying, does he ignore it because of the pressure that Lucius puts on Hogwards, or does he think of it as harmless pranks rather than bullying? Or lessons in self-defence?

Snape has no respect for slackers. Therefore Draco, however odious he is, can't be dumb or a slacker -- he does know his stuff, as far as hexes are concerned. It is just his unfortunate upbringing which makes him consider that certain kinds of tasks are beneath him.
Harry, on the other hand, has been treated like a House-Elf all his life, by the Dursleys. He wants respect. He doesn't want hero-worship or worthless fame, he wants respect. And love.

If he got Snape's respect, that would be verrrry interesting.