What If Harry Potter Were Placed in Slytherin?

What If Harry Potter Were Placed in Slytherin

Have you ever thought about how things would have panned out if that sorting ceremony went the other way? Welcome to MsMojo and today we’re looking at What If Harry (Potter) Were Placed in Slytherin.

For this essay, we’re taking a deep dive into how Harry’s story would have changed had he been in Slytherin instead of Gryffindor.

It’s clear in the first book and movie that the Sorting Ceremony is of great importance, and readers and viewers had already been conditioned, like Harry, to keep their fingers crossed that he’d end up in Gryffindor. Even this early on, we could tell that Slytherin was no good and definitely not the right match for our young hero. The sorting hat deliberated for a good while before proclaiming that the Boy Who Lived would officially join the house of Godric Gryffindor. It even debated -much to the chagrin of Harry and readers alike- placing him in Slytherin instead, saying he could be “great” there. But in the end, of course, the hat listened to Harry’s pleas of “not Slytherin” and the rest is Hogwarts history.

Throughout the series, and especially in “Chamber of Secrets”, Harry debates whether the hat made the right choice after all - especially considering that he was able to speak Parseltongue in the Duelling club, which made people question if he was the heir of Slytherin. This further leads him to wonder at how different things would be had he been placed in that house instead. We all know of course that there’s no place for Harry but Gryffindor and he gets the confirmation he needs when the sword of Gryffindor presents itself to him. But over the years, there has been plenty of speculation (and fan fiction!) about how things would have looked had Harry been sorted into Slytherin. So without further ado, let’s dive into it.

One thing that would have changed right away was Harry’s friendships with Ron and Hermione. For the most part, we don’t see many close friendships happening across houses, and we can’t imagine that Harry would have made the effort to foster a friendship with Ron if they hadn’t been in the same house and the same dormitory. Keep in mind they only met for the first time earlier on the day of the sorting ceremony! Now we’re not saying that Harry would have automatically befriended Malfoy and his cronies just because he was in Slytherin. We already saw his skepticism of Malfoy when they first met in Madam Malkin’s, so we know he was a good enough judge of character to not fall into that kind of friendship. That said, he realistically would have had a totally different set of friends, likely within his house. We really only see the worst of the Slytherin students in Harry’s year, but that may very well have a lot to do with perspective. Are we to assume they were all bad? Is it possible that Harry could have met some nice, ambitious but not evil buddies in his dorm? We’ll never know.

Because of the animosity between the two houses, we can’t imagine that Harry would have had a positive relationship with Ron and Hermione at all. They may very have even ended up as enemies. Which means that Harry would have surely failed most of his classes, because we all know he depended on Hermione to do most of the work for him. Of course, he probably wouldn’t have any connection with the Weasley family and likely wouldn’t end up matched with Ginny either. Talk about a different life path.

As the story goes on, we learn that pretty much everyone important in Harry’s life was in Gryffindor. His parents, Sirius, Lupin, Hagrid, Dumbledore, and the list goes on. Because being in Slytherin will mark Harry as being different from his parents (and presumably the rest of his family), we can only imagine the internal crisis he would have had trying to find his place in the world. He’s already uncertain about his placement in Gryffindor because of his ability to speak Parseltongue and his connection with Voldemort. Considering Voldemort and most of his death eaters were in Slytherin, Harry would have a hard time contending with the fact that people from his own house killed his parents, along with many people that they loved. This conflict likely would have been a major part of the storyline.

As it is, Harry has a complicated relationship with his potions master, Severus Snape. But how would that have changed had Harry been sorted into Slytherin? You see, much of Snape’s resentment of Harry comes from the fact that Harry reminds him of his Gryffindor father, who in Snape’s eyes stopped him from being with the woman he loved. Snape is known however to favor the Slytherins, and consistently gives them better treatment because he is their head of house. Would this preferential bias have extended to Harry as well? Might his place in Slytherin allow Severus to see more of Lily within Harry? Or would Harry have still been a sore spot because of his resemblance to his father? We have a feeling that these two would have had to contend with a whole new set of issues.

Now when it comes down to it, the big question here is whether being sorted into Slytherin would fundamentally change Harry’s character. Unlike so many famed heroes before him, Harry never really toyed with going over to the dark side, staying steadfast in his beliefs and his sense of good and evil. Harry’s entire journey is centered on his fight against the dark wizard Voldemort, but if he was surrounded by people who supported You-Know-Who, could he possibly have been swayed in the other direction? It surely would have been challenging to oppose the views of his classmates and their families.

In the end though, we don’t think Harry has an evil bone in his body. Throughout the series, Harry was inevitably compared to Tom Riddle by other characters, but while they may have had their similarities, they have a fundamental difference. Harry is fueled by love and bravery while Voldemort bases his choices on fear and hatred. That is a theme that is touched upon time and time again throughout the books and movies. Even when it’s not convenient for him, Harry has a “saving people thing”, and is always inclined to help the downtrodden and the underdogs. From the very beginning, Harry showed his moral character by siding with people like the Weasleys, Neville and Hagrid over the slick and popular Malfoy. Harry never shows himself to be easily swayed by the opinions of others. Who knows, maybe it would have the opposite effect, and he’d actually convince some Slytherins to come to the good side.

What do you think? How would the books and movies have been different with Harry in Slytherin? Feel free to weigh in in the comments!