DISCLAIMER: All recognisable characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
Cold. Selfish. Cunning.
That's what they like to describe us as. For those feeling particularly eloquent, 'Dark' may join the list. Or perhaps even 'Evil'.
We view our house differently. We know what's behind the wall we put up between ourselves and the rest of the world. We are misunderstood, discriminated, and ostracized. We share a bond between ourselves, the rejects of society, because honestly, who wouldn't bond with others of their kind?
They say our only similarities are our disgust of Muggles and Mudbloods, our common selfishness, laziness, and spineless corruption.
We disagree.
Oh, sure, there are some real bigots who make the name Slytherin, but the rest of us are just normal students, normal humans. We get hurt, we get angry, we experience joy, we have insecurities. We have a knack of surviving past adversities, despite the fact that they are the 'good' people.
We are given a name, a label. A Gryffindor may lack courage, a Hufflepuff may lack loyalty, a Ravenclaw may not know everything in books, but a Slytherin must always fit in to what others think of us.
Because we're viewed only in one way, some of us have taken the mask to skin; we become what people think we are. But are we all really that way? People will think there's something strange going on if a Slytherin becomes nice. They don't trust you, and you'll only feel like a fool for trying.
So why try?
Why try to be nice to a world that shuns you, and will always shun you? Why try to be the person you are, when the world only accepts you as someone else? Why try to be good, helpful, kind, caring, when the world doesn't want you to be those things?
Furthermore, why leave the house that became your family? Why renounce the cloak that you wear, when your house wears it with you? Why be disloyal to your house that cared for you, despite all the rest of the world hating you?
We may not indulge in public displays of affection, or declarations of love, but the bond we share is deeper than blood. It goes further than just being friends, than just being there for each other. We are family; we may not consciously think so in our minds, but our hearts know the truth.
We are cunning, yes. We are slippery like the snake, our house animal. Why bother working hard, when you can get the same result faster, and less effort? The end justifies the means; we're smart, we get our own way, and we quite frankly don't care how we achieve what we want. If the world is not going to let us work hard, earn for ourselves, we're not above to getting what we want our way.
We have no need for heroes. There is no space in our life for theatrics, for dramatizations, for sympathies for just one person who has a higher opinion of themselves. Surviving every day without lashing out against other students—we try to retain our aloofness, try to pretend that everything is fine and dandy as a Slytherin—is a challenge in itself; we have neither the time nor the patience to praise others for living.
We have grown to accept who we are. We have grown to realise that we can depend on each other, that only we can understand each other.
So we march together, our heads held high, our shoulders hunched against the world.
Because we are Slytherins, and proud of it.
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AN:
Please note that this was not written to insult or offend anyone. I am not insinuating that Slytherin is the only house worth recognising.
Also please note that I frankly don't care if you don't agree with my view on Slytherins. Kindly don't flame me if you disagree with how I see them; you're entitled to your opinions, I'm entitled to mine.
Review your thoughts and opinions.