Potter Ragnarok Continues

[ebonlock]

One of the other things that bugged me on a profound level was that during the battle of Hogwarts when all the houses were joining together to defend their school, not a single Slytherin stood with them. There was a perfect opportunity there to show that a) Albus was right in thinking that maybe they did sort too son, and b) Slytherin house wasn't just inherently bad. Because realistically speaking I can't imagine the school keeping Slytherin after the fall of Voldemort. Why would they? Simply for tradition's sake?

Yeah I know what you're thinking, but what about Snape? After all he was Slytherin. Yeah but that's one exception, one. And before him we presume that Phineas Nigellus rocked pretty hard to be made headmaster, and Slughorn wasn't a total dick...but that's it.

In my mental version of book 7 Draco's been working with Slughorn since the beginning of term, pissed off about how shitty his family is being treated, and allowing his pride and anger to rule him instead of his cowardice. He's a devious little bastard and can, we discovered in HBP, actually pull off a plan on occasion. So he's got Sluggy brewing up a shitload of Felix Felicus which he makes sure gets to every single Slytherin before the final battle. He then makes it real clear to his house that they don't all want to either bet against Potter's luck or that they're going to come out ahead if Voldie takes over.

Goyle protests and aims a hex at Draco which Pansy intercepts without blinking an eye and lets him know in painful terms that nobody messes with her Draco. She and Draco then lead a small band of Slytherins to join the other houses. True house unity and an actual full-on redemption for Draco. Much more satisfying, IMHO.

Of course in my mental version Snape also takes out Nagini while being killed by it because he is just that fucking awesome.

And speaking of satisfying, I would really love to read what folks could come up with for a better epilogue to book 7. If you'd had the chance to write this for Rowling and tie up some serious loose ends what would you focus on? Would it be grand a sweeping, filling in every single hole in each character's life? Would it merely consist of a conversation between the portraits of Dumbledore and Snape (hey, he was a headmaster too so he should be there in the office in portrait form)? Or a scene at Azkaban where Umbridge is on Dementor wrangling duty for the rest of her natural life?

You tell me, how would you have wrapped the series up?

Comments

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Wait. *No* Slytherin stayed? That's stupid. (A) *Some* of them have got to figure that if Voldie got his ass kicked once, it could happen again. (B) Yeah, Slytherin !== Evil.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Nope all the other houses joined together while the Slytherins all fled. All of them. Even Slughorn I think (although that's not terribly surprising). And when, in Snape's memories, Albus says that to him about sorting too soon my only response was a hearty, "Fuck you, old man!" It was totally insulting, as if he couldn't wrap his brain around anyone being incredibly brave, loving and loyal without being a Gryffindor.

[aelfsciene.livejournal.com]

Slughorn led the students in evacuation, but he's the one who returned leading the parent-cavalry (of the students who stayed, iirc), and was battling V in the end, wasn't he? Someone said that Slytherin students also returned with him, but I can't remember for sure and haven't a book to check. But that's it, I'm fairly certain Sluggy was the single Slytherin who fought against Voldemort in the battle--it was even mentioned that evacuated students had joined the Death Eaters at one point!

I like your version of Draco's story much, much more, too.

[psyfic.livejournal.com]

Re: the Slytherins, it was exactly what I expected. Not because they are cowards, but because they are kids and if their parents are DE's, they are *not* going to fight against their parents. If their parents aren't DE's, the DE's were the ones in charge and they'd be afraid of what would happen if the good guys (who didn't seem as organized, let's face it) lost. I wasn't at all surprised none decided to fight.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Thing is some of those other kids, the Hufflepuffs/Gryffindors/Ravenclaws, probably had parents who were Imperiused, or maybe outright DE's as well and would be fighting actively against them too. So I don't buy that every single Slytherin wouldn't have fought because of this. And of all of them Draco actually had the most active reason to fight but he still ended up being the useless dick he always was.

Thing is she'd set up a redemption story for him at the end of HBP and then just dropped it. I had hopes when he refused to identify Harry but when he showed up with C&G at the RoR, they were all dashed.

[psyfic.livejournal.com]

Slytherins don't fight like Gryffindors. They're more passive-aggressive. What was it Phineas said? Slytherins are brave, too, but when it comes to a fight, they choose to run away. It's a survival instinct. No one said less of the other students who left. The Slytherins will have to deal with being on the losing side in the aftermath - which is arguably harder and takes more guts.

Re: Draco, well, to me he was always that way and I never saw anything that indicated different. HBP painted a wide yellow streak on him and he kept touching it up in DH. Having him do something different would have really surprised me.

She left the redemption of him up to the fans. He is now perfectly positioned in his humiliation and self-awareness of cowardice to actually grow a backbone and make something of himself after DH. Hopefully, he did.

[elo-sf.livejournal.com]

Slytherin stuff: yes.

Epilogue: I would have done 12 months after the war ended and what people had started doing and what had changed. Who was who at Hogwarts and the Ministry and what had changed. To me that would have shown more impact than "19 years later" they can all pop out babies.

I'm not sure about the unicorn stickers, but the Epilogue should be cut from the book and just let people imagine if you cannot do more than set up Harry Potter: The Next Generation.

Also, now she is saying she will write "Hogwarts: A Complete History" *groan*, I mean argh!

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Yeah I like the one year later idea, finding out what happened shortly after the dust settling would've been far more interesting. Even just knowing who ended up in Azkaban, what they did with the giants and dementors after they sided with Big V, etc. would've been cool. I'd love to know how Kingsley handled the Ministry in post-war Britain, was he a bad-ass coming down hard on those who'd sided with the DE's, or was he more forgiving?

[elo-sf.livejournal.com]

Exactly. That would have made a fantastic Epilogue. And reading hogwarts: a complete history is just not that interesting to me.