Slughorn in some ways embodying the Slytherin house that should have been, before it was twisted beyond recognition by Voldemort.
Except that Voldemort was the "heir of Salazar Slytherin," and set loose the monster that Slytherin placed in the castle to kill mudbloods, so I'd say Voldemort was exactly who Slytherin had in mind when he formed his own House. Rather, I'd say Slughorn represents a better, more pro-social means of acquiring fame for fame's sake.
I'd say that both Ron and Neville have secret ambitions to distinguish themselves as shown, for instance, when Ron sees himself in the mirror of Erised being head boy and being awarded the house cup, they just feel inept or unworthy a lot of the time, overshadowed by overbearing family.
Not sure when Neville shows any particular ambition for ambition's sake, but I agree about Ron. It's for him and Percy that I said "most of" when referencing the Weasley clan. Arthur is perfectly happy to perform his bad-paying but personally fascinating Ministry job, where he exhibits an interesting Gryffindor/Ravenclaw duality, with very little Slytherin. The one who goes to study dragons (Charlie?) appears the same.
Dumbledore, of course, was still extremely ambitious at 11 when he was being sorted. He refused the post of minister much later, after being chastened by his experience with Grindelwald.
There's the whole issue of his seeking and ultimately possessing the Elder Wand, too. There's only one reason to want that.
And I bet Hufflepuffs can be quite scary, depending on whether they are united behind you or against you. I bet no one is ever bullied or excluded in that house though, not like in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw where their fellow housemates can make life very unpleasant for Harry and Luna. We are rarely privy to goings on in Slytherin, but one would imagine bully is their middle name...
Except that Hufflepuffs joined in the pile-on against Harry when he entered the Tri-wizard Tournament, and may have even instigated the badges. Diggory was, after all, one of theirs. Diggory is even proudly wearing one of the badges, though he does have the good grace to be embarrassed after Harry sees it.
All of which shows a good example of how far generalizations and stereotypes will take you.
I do love those books for giving so many interesting talking points!
Ditto!
And to think, I refused to look at them for a few years because they were marketed as
children's books.
