Slytherin For the Win!

So, Slytherin. My goodness. My house, my favorite house. The house of sooo many villains, moral greys and such horrible things in the books, it's hard to find much redeming light there. But not on Pottermore.

So, reading the responses, I have to say this. WOO I MADE PREFECT. Or rather, some respected spot. Among others of course, with my fellow snakes mentioning Watcha, wraith, Kilt Midnightauror86, Hinkypunk Rune Draconis, Newt Leviosa, Lilys Rose Flame (a writer on this blog), Birdie Ghost dragon (Betty Blackbird), Philly, Skala Lumos, Jinx, Bear, Milton, Desire, Basilisk, Leaderboard members all over and of course, our own Severus Snape. This is a house where I'd say leadership is what you make of it, and one where it certainly shows as everyone have people that they seem to look up to, and people that they know help push the house forward, and given that I know and have worked with most of the names on the list, I can certainly say it's a tremendous team effort, going to what another user stated, that all of slytherin can be considered leaders to some extent, and another, that mentioned the old joke amongst Slytherins that none of us really wanted to be leaders in the first place!

Greatest Leader of Slytherin

Now, what makes a Slytherin Leader? Contrary to what I'd imagine most outside the house would expect, it doesn't quite work like Game of Thrones. While we do share Ravenclaw's elements, praising those that earn and brew, we tilt towards what was discussed in Hufflepuff, with helping newbies, supporting others, friendships, not being a jerk, not causing drama, and even our ambition, but ONLY when it's directed towards goals that help all of us. Single minded ambition is deemed as lowering, and this is slightly coroborated with another user's digression on house jumping, while a person would still be respected, lowering the opinion of the person in the house's eyes especially after such an open action, leaving some users feeling betrayed.

So obviously, Slytherin doesn't work with other houses either, right? Again, the answer is no, the respondants stated pretty unanimously that Slytherin tries quite hard to work with others, making brewing contests and usually being responsible for whatever mischief happens by users towards Pottermore, aiming to make contact and petitions to help users, and try to involve all the houses in that. On that note, some of the respondants made reference to Slytherin being hated, or finding certain houses more difficult to work with, as one brought up observed difficulties in Slytherin getting anything done with Ravenclaw (something that I can sadly attest to at times, we try, but I can't say anyone's really happy after, and I'm still not sure if that's a good sign or not) and yet another mentioned difficulties with Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, as they were under the impression that they hated us. On this note, Slytherin is wholy concious of our position in the books. We sort of know that most that haven't gotten the chance to know us may get the wrong impression, and by a lot of the answers here, some of it seems to be active rebellion against the stereotype. Even while we have a good few that consider ourselves to be from one of the pure-blood families (and actually, I think Slytherin has a rather interesting tilt on forming families in general, but this is a digression for another day) it doesn't dwell on us and any reference to Voldemort tends to be scornful, or simply admiring of his skill and power. Dangerous perhaps, but it serves to give us a mark for our ambitions to match.

That being said, we are rather welcoming, there were a few mehs in the response, and most said that we were inclusive, with one answer stating that there were tight knit groups, which there are, because there are families, and groups of friends, especially among the leading snakes, that can be harder to get ahold of or enter, because of past history or just the sheer comradire and connection. Though for the groups for dueling, brewing, and helping others I'd say those are fairly inclusive, but the sub divisions and cliques are very real, though not an overwhelming presence, or even noticiable to most.

And like the other houses, here are a few words from our fellow Slytherin students:
-We are not bad-StrikeScarlet
-Welcome to Slytherin, snakes are the very best
-Don't judge us by the books, we're an amazing house, we embarace teamwork and do all we can to help each succeed
-Slytherin, what more is there to say
-We're not all evil. In fact, most of us are not. This is a sterotype and it's annoying-Bladesilver123441
-Proud to be a part of it- Skalalumos27412
-Welcome to the best house-Birdie
-We're not evil because we're slytherin, we're evil for other reasons
-Unity
-Slytherin is NOT the bad house you may think it is.
-There is not one thing to discribe our house. We are a group of team players, some willing to step up to a leadership role, but we are a group that celebrates the small accomplishments of individual members for the good of the team.
We are concerned with justice, fair play and constant vigilance. Life has a lot of grey areas, but sometimes it is absolute. Just because the cheating won't make a difference in determining the winner of the cup doesn't make it ok. Just because the inappropriate role play is in a quiet spot of PM does not make it ok. Just because you are unable to cheat and remain unrepentant, does not make  you ok.

And finally, my own words of wisdom to any new snake... You are part of the best house there is. We can have the intelligence of any Claw, the chivalry of any Lion and the loyalty of any Hufflepuff. We're different only in that we have the ambition to take all our best traits, and use them as tools to cut forward. Our singular goal is progress, for ourselves, and for others. You are on the path to greatness, and soon enough you will make your own path, so remember, you aren't just a Slytherin. You are the best of each house, with dreams as big and grand as any Disney princess. Really, just listen to the song.