Slytherin House

*"Or perhaps in Slytherin you'll make your real friends, those cunning folks use any means to achieve their ends." --The Sorting Hat*

**Slytherin** is one of the four Houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Founded by Salazar Slytherin, the House is composed of mostly pureblooded students, due to its founders distrust of muggleborns. The House is traditionally home to students who exhibit such traits as cunning, resourcefulness and ambition. Its emblematic animal is a snake and its colors are green and silver. The house ghost is the Bloody Baron.

Slytherin corresponds with the element of water, with serpents being commonly associated with the sea and lochs in western mythology, as well as serpents being physically fluid and flexible animals. Students of the house are also seen as "fluid" in their allegiances and tactics. The colors also correspond with the waters around lakes and lochs often being green and silver associated with wealth.

## Traits and Values

Slytherins tend to be ambitious, shrewd, cunning, strong leaders and achievement-oriented. These traits often cause them to hesitate before acting, so as to weigh all possible outcomes before deciding exactly what should be done.

The qualities which Salazar imbued with the Sorting Hat in the students sorted into his House were cleverness, resourcefulness, determination and a certain disregard for the rules.

Slytherins are an unusually cohesive House, though not in the traditional way. Gryffindors are protective of one another and Hufflepuffs have a strong sense of brotherhood and camaraderie. Slytherins, however, tend to congregate into tight-knit groups, usually led by the most resourceful or charismatic one in the group. These groups are often referred to as "nests of vipers". The only thing to unite these various cliques are a common dislike of Gryffindors.

### Blood Purity

The Sorting Hat claims that blood purity is a factor in selecting Slytherins. This suggests that it bases its decisions more upon the views of its members than on any accurate test of a student's lineage. Half-Blood and Muggleborn Slytherins certainly exist but are considerably more rare than in the other Houses (such as Hufflepuff, which historically has been home to the most muggleborn students).

While Salazar was certainly an ambitious and powerful wizard, he held a very different view of blood purity and the importance of lineage. He suggested and fiercely fought for a stricter policy of admission to the school--one limited strictly to pureblood students. The controversy this created led to his leaving the school behind. A thousand years later, the House's students are still closely associated with Salazar's reputed views and open expression of pro-blood purity sentiment does seem to be more common in Slytherin than in other Houses.

This feud, which causes the once-strong friendship between Salazar and Godric Gryffindor is also allegedly the origin of the fued between Gryffindor and Slytherin Houses.

## Reputation

There was an old folk saying that all dark wizards came from Slytherin. This is of course wildly inaccurate, though there is a reason the stereotype exists. Many cruel, arrogant and violent wizards are sorted into the House. Many dark wizards were once Sorted into Slytherin, as their traits of ambition and cleverness often lead them to the wrong side of the law. However, it must also be noted that many Slytherins oppose the use of the Dark Arts and discrimination on blood purity do exist, such as Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy and historically, Horace Slughorn or Andromeda Tonks.

Cunning an ambition are easily turned toward ill purposes but are not inherently negative; furthermore, daring, intelligence and loyalty can easily become negative. Slytherins are though less of by people because many of them seem to value their own lives more than the lives of others. It should be noted, however, that in the Battle of Hogwarts, while all of the Slytherin students either left the school or were thrown into the Dungeons, that many returned with Professor Slughorn to act as reinforcements.

Slytherins and Gryffindors have a fierce rivalry dating back to the days of the schools' founding. The two Houses are often at each others' throats and Slytherins have been known to gather to mock, boo and otherwise torment Gryffindors at every opportunity. The bad blood between the Houses only seems to get worse as time goes on.

Ravenclaws, surprisingly, seem to be the most sympathetic to Slytherin. Ravenclaws value individuality, creativity and intelligence and Slytherins often show many of these traits: the Slytherin's resourcefulness often appeals to their sense of creativity, their cleverness to their value of wit and their ambition to the Ravenclaw's sense of individuality. While they also conflict on many points, the Ravenclaws can often objectively see things from the Slytherin's point of view.

Hufflepuffs are...well, they don't *dis*like anybody in general but they have a hard time with Slytherins. They view Slytherins as inherently selfish and their tendency toward cheating and cruelty makes it hard for the Hufflepuffs to work with them.

## Common Room

The Slytherin Common Room is in the dungeons of Hogwarts Castle and underneath the Black Lake. Because of this, the light in the Common Room is a sort of aqua-green. To enter the Slytherin Common Room, one must speak the password in front of a stretch of damp stone wall and the concealed door will slide aside. The Slytherin Common room is elegant but cold, favoring style over function. There are a number of desks and long couches and a massive window that looks out into the lake, where many students like gather to watch the marine life of the Black Lake.

## Head of House

The Head of House is a position of great authority and respect, and is always given to an acting Professor that was sorted into that House during their education at Hogwarts. The position of Head of Slytherin is a particularly feared position, as they are seen to epitomize the traits slytherin is supposed to represent.

The current Head of Slytherin House is Professor Nora Denuit, Hogwarts' Potions Master. This cunning, ambitious teacher is widely feared throughout the student body. She has held this position since 2014.

Prior to this was Magnus Turpin, Professor of Potions who served from 2002-2013 until he retired in order to follow his true passion of Merfolk Vocal Coaching.

Before him was Horace Slughorn, who served as Head of Slytherin from 1996-2002 and Severus Snape before that, who served from 1981-1996.

Slughorn was also the Head of Slytherin *before* Snape as well, serving from 1927-1981.

## House Relic

The relic of Slytherin House was the Slytherin Locket. The locket is a large, octagonal locket of heavy gold with a serpentine "S" is green jewels adoring the face.

The Locket possessed many magical properties and was considered among the most powerful magical relics in existence, rivaling the Sword of Gryffindor. All who bore the locket were secretive of its powers, however, so no record survives of its properties.

It was turned into a Horcrux by Voldemort, however and was destroyed in 1997.

## Notable Slytherins

#### Class of 2024

* Hester Armisen
* Lucy Bulstrode
* Samantha Buttress
* Cosmo Cutterug
* Wanda Demidov
* Gestabald Dodderidge
* Mia Farrow
* Merriweather Fitz
* Elektra Flint
* Duncan Foster
* Wiley Goyle
* Luka Hess
* Scorpius Malfoy
* Mallory Morrissey
* Marcie Marmalade
* Robin Moore
* Lucien Nott
* Albus Potter
* Astraea Selwyn
* Quintus Selwyn

#### Notable Alumni

* Draco Malfoy
* Gregory Goyle
* Pansy Parkinson
* Daphne Greengrass
* Astoria Greengrass
* Millicent Bulstrode
* Flora & Hestia Carrow
* Bliase Zabini
* Terence Higgs
* Marcus Flint
* Lucius Malfoy
* Narcissa Malfoy
* Regulus Black (Deceased)
* Severus Snape (Deceased)
* Alecto Carrow
* Dolores Umbridge
* Horace Slughorn
* Tom Marvolo Riddle