Tough Act Q&A
13/11/2009
Question: Why is Harry against being in SLYTHERIN? The only way he knows about Hogwarts is from the Malfoys who would definitely tell him about how great it was. He would not have a biased against it, also it would e he would get to be with draco. So why is he unhappy about not being in Gryffindor?
Answer: The key to why Harry is unhappy about being in Gryffindor is in his past. Harry grew up on the streets. The Malfoys did take him in, but only to further his studies, they never actually take him into their family — if they did, Harry would most likely have attended Hogwarts from age 11.
Harry has grown up as his own independent force, taking what he can and learning from others in order to help himself (a very Slytherin way of thinking), but he is not an exact copy of those who have helped him out. Harry is very perceptive and did not have Lucius’ ‘sugar coated’ training like Draco did. Lucius trained Harry to be a weapon and is under the false impression that The Boy Who Lived is firmly under his thumb and Harry uses this to his advantage.
To get right down to it, Harry doesn’t want to be in Slytherin because he is afraid of the type of person he will be come. He knows the difference between Evil and Great and Powerful. Slytherin will help him on the path to Greatness, but at what cost? He has seen what greed and a thirst for power can do for a person and he is determined to be better than some of the kids he saw/knew while growing up.
