Severus Snape: a true Slytherin🐍
I find this statement by Dumbledore to be full of prejudice and sheer obtuseness.
This is something that happens often on the part of the decent body and I find it unacceptable to say the least.
To be a professor, apart from instilling knowledge (and hopefully) sparking the spark and passion of knowledge in young minds, is to be a virtuous example.
(I am reminded of when Minerva locked the Slytherins in the dungeon during the final battle at Hogwarts 😖).
In this case, Dumbledore's statement in the GOF is bleak.
According to the Hogwarts Headmaster being sorted into the Slytherins means you don't have to be brave and dutiful.
For what reason?
Why does one have to be so sectional and prejudiced?
According to this reasoning if you are a Slytherin you are directly considered a Dark Wizard with no positive aspects so the blame automatically falls on the Sorting.
Severus should not be a Slytherin because he is an intelligent, capable, brave and loyal wizard.
He's in the right place because we need to clear this bullshit view.
Severus is a great and important member of the House of Slytherin 💚
Snape looking stricken... is very intresting because there are two different interpretations for it.
First, he thought what if he had sorted into Gryffindor, thus he would've not went to a dark path and wouldn't have lost Lily. I disagree with it.
Second, he doesn't like Dumbledore's insinuation that one needs to be a Gryffindor to be brave. Snape was always a proud Slytherin and a house doesn't define one's character.
A Slytherin can be brave, loyal, wise and cunning and Snape is perfect amalgamation of all the houses yet he is first and foremost, a Slytherin.
He is cunning to fool the greatest legilimens alive, ambitious to want to save all he can, determined to see through his duty till the end, resourceful to use all tools available from both sides, proud to know and teach Dark Arts and their defence, shrewd enough to pick his battles wisely and self-preservative as long as situation demands it. These are all Slytherin traits so yeah, Severus Snape is a true Slytherin.
I think you're being a little too harsh. The truth is every person has all or most of the traits described by the four houses but each has its preferred ones.
Severus is cunning like a Slytherin, as loyal as any Hufflepuff, brave like a Gryffindor and his wit and creativity would give any Ravenclaw a run for their money.
We are all like that. I'm a Slytherin because I know how to stoop to conquer and pick my fights. I'm hardworking when I set my mind on something and loyal to those I love like a Hufflepuff and in dire situations I keep a cool head, which would be expected of a Gryffindor. I'm sure you and all the other members fit into more than one house as well.
And remember how Harry describes Snape in the epilogue? The bravest man he has known and sure Severus was braver than all those Gryffindors combined although that's the main trait of their house.
I actually headcanon that the Soeting Hat wanted to put Snape in another house but Snape insisted on Slytherin and the Hat obliged. Maybe he looked so stricken at Dumbledore's words because he's afraid the Hat has told him what it saw during Snape's sorting? I personally like the idea of Snape having chosen his own ambitions over Lily from the very start and thus dooming himself to his tragic future. He was given the choice to join his friend but refused to give up his personal ambition of being a Slytherin. He also had already established that he would rather be brainy than brawny, he could hardly go to Gryffindor after that fight on the train. He would never hear the end of it!
