The Significance of Albus Severus Potter Possibly Being in Slytherin
We all know Harry told his son Albus Severus that if it really bothered him, he could tell the Sorting Hat he’d rather be in Gryffindor than Slytherin. The thing is, though, what if Albus was really Sorted into Slytherin?
To commence, we must acknowledge a theory about Harry himself almost being sorted into Slytherin: since Harry was a Horcrux, Harry possessed characteristics of Voldemort, such as his ability to speak Parseltongue. So, quite possibly, the Sorting Hat picked up on these said characteristics of Voldemort within Harry and thus decided he would have done well in Slytherin. Yet Harry himself, apart from the fragment of Voldemort’s soul within him, also possesses many traits that Slytherin House seeks. As it says on the Harry Potter Wiki,
[a]ccording to Albus Dumbledore, the qualities which Salazar valued in the students he chose included cleverness, resourcefulness, determination, and ‘a certain disregard for the rules.’ Dumbledore noted that all of these were qualities possessed by Harry Potter, who was in Gryffindor.
In addition, Slytherins are also strong, clever leaders, like our dear Boy Who Lived. As for his son, not much is known about Albus Severus Potter, but assuming his nature is much like Harry’s (as it seems to be in the epilogue), then it is also possibly safe to assume that he will embody many of the same Slytherin-like characteristics Harry has himself without the help of Voldemort’s fragmented piece of soul. Therefore, it is likely that Albus could indeed be in Slytherin.
Once we acknowledge the obviousness and the basics, then we move on to opinions. There might be many people out there who want Albus to be in Gryffindor, like virtually his entire family has been, and there are others out there who want Albus to be in Slytherin. If Albus is indeed sorted into Slytherin House, then the whole perception on Slytherins change, if not already changed by Severus Snape, for whom Albus is also named. Snape set the way for shattering the illusion of Slytherins with his bravery and story of unrequited love. They cannot all be bad. Snape ultimately wasn’t, and Horace Slughorn wasn’t either (though he did like to “collect” his students). Regulus Black, though initially a Death Eater, turned against his master, dying in the attempt to bring Voldemort down. There was also Andromeda Black, who married Muggle-born Ted Tonks, disowned from her family because of this fact. Just because Salazar Slytherin and his supposed last heirs the Gaunts and Tom Riddle, Jr. were prejudiced does not mean the majority of them are. As said earlier, Slytherins are clever and resourceful and think through their decisions. They have wonderful qualities to their House, but it is often overshadowed by the prejudice the other Houses show toward Slytherin. Perhaps the Slytherins feel as though they are supposed to act that way, since their parents did before them and all the other Houses expect that of them. Maybe it is reading too much into it, but it is plausible that the Slytherins in the novels are forced to think as they do and are never given the chance to prove themselves to be good and wonderful people. They do not have to inherit the prejudice.
This is why it is so important that Albus possibly be sorted into Slytherin. As shown by his nature in the epilogue, which is so similar to Harry’s and Lily Evans’ before him, Albus could carve the way into a new future for the snake House. In this future Slytherins would be depicted as a decent House to be sorted into, just like the other three. The Slytherins would finally have good to their name, if not already because of Snape and the countless others listed previously.
The House cannot be all bad. We all have a bit of all the Houses within us. Who knows, maybe you’re a Slytherin as well. Maybe I truly am. But ultimately it is fine because Slytherin House is not a bad one. It is a good House conceivably pressured into being the way it is. But it can change, and knowing J.K. Rowling, it most likely did.
