Slytherin

Slytherin House
Slytherin is one of the four Houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and is traditionally home to students who exhibit such traits as cunning, resourcefulness and ambition. Its emblematic animal is the snake and its colours are green and silver. The house ghost is the Bloody Baron. Founded by Salazar Slytherin, the house is composed mostly of pure-blood students, due to its founder's mistrust of Muggle-born witches and wizards. Slytherin house has a negative reputation, with many claiming that it is the source of most Dark Wizards in Britain, notably Tom Marvolo Riddle, a.k.a. Lord Voldemort, as well as many of his Death Eaters (followers). It has a traditional rivalry with Gryffindor. Slytherin corresponds roughly with the element of water.

Slytherins tend to be ambitious, shrewd, cunning, strong leaders, and achievement-oriented. They also have highly developed senses of self-preservation. This means that Slytherins tend to hesitate before acting, so as to weigh all possible outcomes before deciding exactly what should be done. According to Albus Dumbledore, the qualities which Salazar valued in the students he chose included cleverness, resourcefulness, determination, and "a certain disregard for the rules."

The Sorting Hat claims that blood purity, is a factor in selecting Slytherins. This suggests that it bases its decisions more upon the views of its members than on any accurate test of a student's lineage. Muggle-born Slytherins exist, but are very rare.

It might also be possible (though unlikely) that the Sorting Hat simply sorts anyone with ill intentions into Slytherin, regardless of whether they possess cunning and ambition. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle were both incredibly stupid and did not have that clever, cunning mind, but were still sorted into Slytherin.

Cunning and ambition are easily turned towards ill purposes, but are not inherently negative; furthermore, daring, intelligence, and loyalty can as easily become negative. A reason Slytherins may be thought less of by people is perhaps because many of them seem to value their own lives more than the lives of others. Founder: Salazar Slytherin

​Other
House colors: Green and Silver

Animal:  Serpent

Element: Water

Traits: Head: Ghost:  The Bloody Baron
 * Traditionalism
 * Resourcefulness
 * Cunning
 * Ambition
 * Shrewdness
 * Leadership qualities
 * Self-Preservation
 * Determination
 * Intelligence
 * 1) Horace Slughorn
 * 2) ﻿Severus Snape (formerly)
 * 3) Phineas Nigellus Black (formerly)

Common room: Slytherin Dungeon

Other interesting facts:

 * Slytherin students might possess a certain skill in Potions. Harry's two Potions masters, Severus Snape and Horace Slughorn, both belonged to the Slytherin house. However, it is possible that this talent in Slytherin students could merely be a coincidence, as students from other houses at Hogwarts also shared this talent
 * Slytherin students also seem to be gifted in Occlumency. Most of the known Occlumens in the books come from Slytherin
 * Slytherin House was the winner of the first house cup on Pottermore
 * J. K. Rowling stated that by 2017, Slytherin is no longer the pure-blood bastion that it once was. However, its dark reputation still lingers, hence Albus Potter's fears

Quotes
"You could be great, you know, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that."​

—The Sorting Hat to Harry Potter

"Or perhaps in Slytherin, You'll make your real friends, Those cunning folk use any means, To achieve their ends."

—The Sorting Hat