Author's Note: This is a Slytherin reflecting on how Slytherin House's reputation for cunning is going down the drains. I view it as Blaise Zabini, but I guess it could be any Slytherin besides the ones mentioned.
Slytherin, I find, is sorely lacking. Didn't the Sorting Hat say it was a cunning house? The house of people with ambition? Then how, in Merlin's name, did so many morons get placed in here?
Draco Malfoy, the pampered prince of Slytherin. Spoiled rotten by his parents, convinced that he can rule the school because his father is a Governor. Sworn enemy of one Harry Potter, declaring it loudly to whichever brainless lackey happens to be near at the time so that everyone else can hear. He makes his views clear, and refuses to change them. His head is swelled with pureblood honor and ancient traditions, convinced that despite all evidence muggleborns are inferior to him. Subtlety is an unknown skill to him, and he is as brash and loud-mouthed as any Gryffindor. For him, cunning is having enough money to bribe his way out of any situation.
Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle can be lumped into the same noun. They are lackeys born and bred. I sometimes wonder if their lone brain cells get lonely. The two of them follow around Malfoy as his two hulking bodyguards, catering to his every will. Their vocabulary consists of mostly one- and two-syllable words. The only words I have heard them say over two syllables are professor and Slytherin. They are dumb muscle, easily influenced by confusing them with long words or promises of reward. For them, cunning is a heavy fist and threatening demeanor.
Theodore Nott is the smartest of the lot. He has learned the value of subtlety, and is moderately cunning. Unfortunately, like Malfoy, his brain has also been stuffed with pureblood bigotry that he refuses to let go. His family firmly supports Voldemort to whatever end, and that will be their downfall. They do not know how to adapt, how to make the best of a situation so that they come out on top. For him, cunning is hiding what everybody already knows about him to escape from the legal side of things.
Sometimes, I wonder if I am the only true Slytherin. I stay hidden in the shadows, a neutral party. Like my House's symbol, I am flexible, and seem unthreatening until I attack with lightning speed and deadly results. I am not overly loyal like a Hufflepuff, or unthinkingly bold like a Gryffindor. I tend to view things like my Ravenclaw allies, choosing hard facts over blinding emotions. I become one of the crowd - neither smart nor dumb, beautiful or ugly - but I never get too wrapped up in it and forget myself. I wear anonymity around me like a cloak and use it to hide from my enemies. How else would I, a half-blood, have been accepted in a house with so many prejeduced purebloods? For me, cunning is a method of survival