I started by thinking of Eileen Prince, was she a Slytherin. We do not know much about her. The fact that she played and was captain of the Hogwarts Gobstones Team, as well as marrying a muggle Tobias Snape makes me think that she was not a Slytherin.

I seriously can't see Pansy Parkinson playing gobstones, it just doesnt seem to be in their nature. Slytherins from what we have seen tend to only hang out with each other. I don't recall hearing any of them hanging out with anyone else but other Slytherins.

She also married a muggle, and Slytherins from what we have seen only marry pure bloods.

Merope Gaunt was not a very talented witch from what we have seen and was bullied by her father and brother. Perchance was she sorted into Hufflepuff, for she definately did not have brains for Ravenclaw, and lacked courage that would get her into Gryffindor. There is a chance that she was a Slytherin because of her blood, she did use a potion on Tom Riddle to make him fall in love with her. But I just cannot see her as a Slytherin. I am thinking she was a Hufflepuff and that was another reason she was so bullied by her father and brother that she didnt live up to the Slytherin name.

Hmmm...I agree with the Eileen Prince theory, but not so much in the Merope one because the Hat mostly listens to your choices and not your abilities, so that makes me think that maybe her father threatened her to let the Hat sort her into Slytherin. Of course, she may have disobeyed her father and pretended that the Hat made the decision and she said nothing, but I believe in that less than her letting the Hat put her in Slytherin. After all, she did not have enough courage to stand up to her father, so I guess she wouldn't at that time either.

I think the true question with Merope is, did she even go to Hogwarts? The family knew that Slytherin had a fall-out with the other Founders because of them letting in Muggle-Borns. Would Marvolo had let his children go there? I tend to think not. In fact, I don't think she got any kind of schooling except what her father taught her, and we saw the way he taught her in HBP. Expectations and yelling, that's it! So pretty much nothing.

I feel that they would have to go to Hogwarts to even be able to use magic or they would be sent to Azkaban. Even though they didnt like the ministry, they tended to follow the rules when confronted.

No, I don't think they'd have to go to Hogwarts to learn magic. Harry was doing things before he even knew he was a wizard. All Hogwarts does for them is one, give them an education, and two teach and hone the skills of wizardry. But if they are being homed schooled, and the parents are teaching them, then Hogwarts wouldn't be needed.

Also, why would they go to Azkaban if they didn't go to Hogwarts? Not going to school is not reason to be sent to Azkaban.

With the ministry not letting anyone under the age of 17 not use magic away from Hogwarts, and since Hagrid was expelled and his wand snapped in half, to me it seems as if the MoM would force anyone who wanted to be a wizard to attend Hogwarts or another school. If people were allowed to just learn on their own, it would definately increase the chance of muggles learning of magic because of the trial and errors that could happen. I could just picture Bellatrix home schooled and the neighborhood cats and dogs dissapearing or having jinxes placed on them, as well as possibly some muggle children.

I see your point, Arsi (quite funny example with Bella, lol), but I find the Gaunt's to be an exception. It is quite possible both Merope and Morfin attended school, but neither one of them seemed very gifted when it came to magic (like they were improperly educated about it) and I don't think Marvolo could've stood them (Merope primarily) being gone for any length of time. DD did say that after Marvolo came back home and found her gone, that he died a short time later. But hey, I could be wrong and they could've attended school. The probably got really dismal marks if they did go though, lol.

Hey, don't pay any attention to me, I read your post wrong, and I was thinking you were saying they would have to go to Hogwarts in order to learn magic, not use it. But.....

Does MoM have all knowing power over everything? We can take Durmstrang and Beauxbatons for example, I think there is a lot going on there then meets the eye, and I don't think MoM has the power to be over them, though they are in different countries.

And we have to face it, kids are doing magic at home, but it's hard to detect. I have a feeling little Draco has been doing magic for some time at home, and probably Bellatrix did also. MoM just keeps a handle on it.

So, I did read your post wrong, but, I still feel that the kids could be taught at home, probably with the permission of MoM but would have to still be in a controlled environment. Like when Mrs Weasley threatened to pull Ron if he didn't behave himself. He would still have to learn wouldn't he?

I was thinking back to the end of HBP last night, and I know Dumbledore had died and there was alot going on. But I do not recall any notice, letter or anything having to do with responsibility being sent home with the students who are 17 or will be 17 during summer. So, perhaps home schooling is possible. Not getting any OWL will not prevent a wizard from being able to use magic outside school. They just effect what jobs you can apply for.

I think that Draco was doing magic at home since he was old enough to hold a wand... With his father's contributions they could get by with just about anything they wanted to at his place. And like it said in the books, they can tell magic had been used at a place, but they could not determine who had used it.

But all in all, with government being what it is, I cannot see them resisting to put forth some sort of control on things when they feel they can.

well, in HBP we learn that the ministry can detect magic, but not its performer. So, parents who disagree with hogwarts policy can teach their own children and even allow them to exercise spells or charms, and the ministry would never now who is performing that magic. DD said that it was the parent's responsability to avoid the children from doing magic...

And going back to the topic, I agree with WWW, maybe merope didn't attend Hogwarts. But if she attended it, i think she was a slytherin, too. Look at Crabbe and Goyle, they have no abilities, but they're in slytherin just because they're purebloods and support the supremacy of pureblood wizards... Voldemort wasa half-blood, but he ended up in Slytherin because, well, he was slytherin's heir, hahaha!
and eilen prince... well, that'd be a difficult choice... I have nothing to say. Now I just wonder why her son was sorted in slytherin, he wasn't pureblood, and he's not slytherin's heir. Maybe there was so much "sly-style" in him that the Hat didn't care about his blood status...

The traits of a Slytherin are those power, cunning, and detemination. Other than the Voldermort connection, these traits were all a part of Harry. In fact they were all a part of James, Sirius and if you look pass the obvious Sev. Snape's mother was likely a Slytherin, where else would Snape get the desire to be in that house. Pansy P. prove a Slytherin can marry a muggle. Andromeade Black (Tonks' mom) proved the same. And let's face it, only a beaten down woman would marry the likes of Tobius, who was obviously about as charming as his son. Merope did not go to school. Her father was a racist and a control freak. Mofin did not care about going to school, this would have sorted him into Huffinpuff I think, because he lacked the traits need to get him in Slytherin other than the blood line.

i don't think the gaunt children would of gone to hogwarts.

merope would be to busy cooking dinner everynight.

plus it isn't compulsory that they go to hogwarts..