Every kid from the Wizarding World longs for the day when they will be sitting in front of all of Hogwarts and the Sorting Hat will choose which of the four Houses shall welcome them. This alone defines much of the young witch or wizard’s future, as each house seems to demand a specific set of features and qualities from their students. In this sense, Slytherin house is infamously regarded as the one “where the villains come from,” as most of the evil wizards came from there, including Voldemort himself.
Although there might be some truth to that, the Harry Potter series made it more than clear that many notorious Slytherins are on the good side. Why, Harry himself should have been in it. Especially during Voldemort’s dark times, a few select Slytherins have played pivotal roles in his downfall. The list that follows contains the most remarkable examples of not-so-evil witches and wizards from Hogwarts’ most misunderstood house.
10 Adrian Pucey
Adrian Pucey attended Hogwarts at about the same time as Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. An athletic young wizard prone to sports, he was one of the chasers for the Slytherin Quidditch team, playing against Harry in his first year. A talented player, Pucey was a driving force for Slytherin on the field, scoring goals and pushing his team forward.
How He Redeemed Himself
Albeit competitive, Pucey seemed to carry a deep sense of sportsmanship. He was one of the few Slytherins not willing to cheat or resort to disingenuous tactics. When most of his colleagues dressed as Dementors to scare their opponents, Pucey chose to stick to the rules and seek victory by merit, through his Quidditch skills.
9 Andromeda Tonks
Andromeda was born in the traditional pure-blood Black family. She attended Hogwarts in the mid-1960s, shortly before her paternal cousin Sirius Black. Regarded by Sirius as his favorite cousin, she was sorted into Slytherin, a common choice for other pure-blood magical individuals. Andromeda never seemed to take much pride in this status, though.
How She Redeemed Herself
Following her graduation from Hogwarts, Andromeda married Muggle-born Edward “Ted” Tonks, which deeply infuriated the rest of the Black family, apart from Sirius. For the Blacks, mating with “mudbloods” was an utter act of treason. Having her face portrait properly burned in the family tree at 12 Grimmauld Place, Andromeda gave birth to hers and Ted’s daughter, Nymphadora, raising her with love and affection.
8 Leta Lestrange
Leta was born into the Lestrange family, one of the most notorious pure-blood families in the Wizarding community. Sorted into Slytherin, Leta went through a hard time during her years at Hogwarts. She was bullied for intimate issues, like the rumors that she was an unwanted child, and by the loss of her half-brother, Corvus. This led Leta to become a lonely child, with Newt Scamander being one of her few friends.
How She Redeemed Herself
Following her school years, Leta worked in the Ministry of Magic and got engaged to Newt’s brother, Theseus. By 1927, Leta was with Theseus and Newt in a rally held by Gellert Grindelwald, to expose his biased views on non-wizards. As the dark wizard attacked the Scamander brothers, Leta broke the powerful spell, sacrificing herself to give them a chance to escape. An ultimate selfless act like this is especially uncommon among Slytherins.
7 Narcissa Malfoy
Even before being married to Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa was a strong believer in the blood-purity philosophy, for she was a member of the Black family. Like her sister Bellatrix, she was a typical Slytherin, which means she had great contempt for their sister Andromeda, as well as her cousin Sirius and his mates known as “The Marauders.” Although always supportive of Lucius in his role as Death Eater, Narcissa herself has never been officially one.
How She Redeemed Herself
Despite her inclinations, Narcissa had always been a loving father to her only son, Draco. During the Battle of Hogwarts, she found that Harry Potter was alive, even after being struck by Voldemort’s Avada Kedavra. However, she lied that he was dead, betraying the Dark Lord. Narcissa knew how much suffering her family went through because of Voldemort, and loved them above anything else, proving even Slytherins have a heart.
6 Regulus Black
If one thing is for sure, the Christmas parties at the Blacks' were anything but dull. While some, like Bellatrix, were strident voices for wizarding blood purity, others, like Sirius, knew otherwise. Sirius’s brother, Regulus, was more partial to the first group. He was sorted into Slytherin, and became a huge admirer of Lord Voldemort during his first appearance, working hard on his way to becoming a Death Eater.
How He Redeemed Himself
Regulus had a change of heart as he realized the Dark Lord intended to use his house-elf Kreacher to test some kind of powerful dark magic cast upon Slytherin’s locket. With Kreacher’s help, Regulus stole the original locket with the intention to destroy it, replacing it with a real one. He eventually got killed doing so, but his attempt granted him a place in the pantheon of Slytherins who stood up for the right thing.
5 Albus Potter
Indeed, the connection between Potter and the Slytherin house is strong enough to be spread across generations. Even though Harry avoided being sorted into it, thanks to a sincere tête-à-tête with the Sorting Hat, his middle kid Albus Severus Potter had another thing coming. But Harry himself tranquilized the boy, saying that going to Slytherin was not at all something to feel bad about. Ironically, Albus became best friends with Scorpius Malfoy, Draco’s son.
How He Redeemed Himself
Of course, being the son of The Boy Who Lived does not automatically put one on the “good” side. In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Albus gets himself in big trouble after traveling back in time by using the Time-Turner and trying to change some tragic events in the past. Lord Voldemort is nearly brought back in the ensuing chaos, but Albus prevents it just in time, becoming one more of the select Slytherin heroes.
4 Salazar Slytherin
In a list where the good Slytherins are put together, the original could not be left out. Salazar Slytherin was one of the greatest wizards of his day. One of the original four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he excelled in abilities such as Parseltongue and Legilimency. However, he always opposed the idea of having Muggle-born students in the school, insisting that the knowledge of magical subjects was for pure-bloods only.
How He Redeemed Himself
Naturally, Slytherin's extreme views would lead to a bad reputation for the house that bears his name. Even so, it is not particularly true to call him “evil.” After all, Salazar helped to shape Hogwarts into what it became, so every wizard that graduates there ultimately owes him at least a quarter of their gratitude. Also, it is not wrong to praise a student for being cunning and ambitious, Slytherin’s most distinguishable traits. Leaving all that Chamber of Secrets mess aside (which, admittedly, is pretty hard to do), Salazar was a pretty straight-up fellow.
3 Horace Slughorn
"Success" is a word that followed Horace Slughorn throughout his story. As a member of the wealthy Slughorn family, Horace constantly worked to establish a network with the top-shelf names of the wizarding community. Highly intelligent, he was even encouraged to launch a career in politics, but was content enough joining Hogwarts' faculty as Potions Master, enjoying a reputable collection of powerful friends all over the wizarding world.
How He Redeemed Himself
Although a pure-blood wizard from a very traditional family and a Slytherin member, Horace was never prejudiced against muggles. On the contrary, he felt great pleasure when spotting talented muggle-born students, like Lily Evans and Hermione Granger. Even though he was the one to tell young Tom Riddle about the Horcruxes, Horace never shared his murderous urges, nor agreed to help him and the Death Eaters in the two times Voldemort rose to power.
2 Vincent Crabbe
Most fans remember Vincent Crabbe as one of Draco’s loyal droogs, alongside Gregory Goyle. Burly, pushy, and dim-witted, he was hardly seen not escorting Malfoy, acting as muscle for whatever trouble he indulged. When Lord Voldemort rose back to power, he found most of his supporters in Slytherin, as some were children of active Death Eaters, including Malfoy, Goyle, and Crabbe.
How He Redeemed Himself
With all this history acting in benefit of the Dark Lord, Crabbe’s good deed was a huge, though accidental one. During the Battle of Hogwarts, as he, Draco, and Goyle were chasing Harry and his friends, Crabbe chose to cast Fiendfyre on them - a dark spell, very hard to control. As his poor magic skills were unable to control it, the spell ended up killing him, but it also destroyed the Ravenclaw’s Diadem, one of Voldemort’s seven Horcruxes. Not bad for a feat even powerful and “good” non-Slytherin wizards failed to do.
1 Severus Snape
Although Gryffindor is usually described as the “house of the heroes,” one of the most courageous and selfless wizards ever is actually from somewhere else.
Severus Snape was sorted into Slytherin, resentful that his best friend Lily went to Gryffindor instead. As he was constantly bullied by James Potter, his hatred grew, and he developed a great interest in the Dark Arts. Things got worse when Lily and James got married; Snape had been in love with her since the first moment they met. When Lord Voldemort came, Snape joined his ranks as a Death Eater.
How He Redeemed Himself
Aware that Lily was Voldemort’s next target, Snape shifted sides, becoming loyal to Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix. Meanwhile, he remained seemingly loyal to Voldemort, who never learned of Snape’s true allegiance. Snape sacrificed himself in every possible way to make Voldemort lower his guard, giving Harry what he needed to ultimately defeat him. He chose to be a hero, driven by one force: his eternal love for Lily. Inside Snape, love was bigger than anything else. Not bad for a Slytherin.
Stream all Harry Potter movies on Max
Comments
Post a Comment