While Slytherin gets a bad rep in the Harry Potter series, the students that have come out of Slytherin aren’t are evil. The setup of Slytherin as a mostly evil in the house is kind of problematic, but there are many Slytherin traits that are admirable. Considering that Slytherin’s are known for being cunning and ambitious, it’s no wonder that many of the students were good students and highly skilled. Even some of the worst people to come out of Slytherin house were extremely smart.
We’ve collected a list of the best students from Slytherin, while Harry was at school and before, ranked by their grades.
10. VINCENT CRABBE
Vincent Crabbe is definitely not known for being an intelligent person. Both he and Goyle were really just Malfoy’s cronies and that’s about it. Crabbe was clearly a follower, not a leader. Crabbe and Goyle were both known for being somewhat doltish.
Crabbe is lowest on this list for kind of a cruel reason. That is because he is the one of the two who passed away from the Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement. Although, the question of whose grades were worse, Crabbe or Goyels, is debatable.
9. GREGORY GOYLE
Goyle and Crabbe can almost be seen as practically the same person. While they might have looked different, they were both Malfoys sidekicks who were known for being rather unintelligent. They were also bullies like Malffoy, but they clearly didn’t have the smarts that Malfoy possessed. One of the least intelligent things Goyle and Crabbe did in the series was eating poisoned cupcakes that were literally just floating in front of their faces.
8. MARCUS FLINT
Marcus Flint was an older Slytherin student while Harry was in school. He was captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. While he definitely has a lot smarter than Crabbe or Goyle, there is no indication that he was particularly intelligent. The main personality trait associated with Flint was that he was mean. He was a player on the team who played quite dirty and tried to hurt the opposite team. While he probably got decent grades, he didn’t ever come across as a stand out student.
7. MILLICENT BULSTRODE
People who read the Harry Potter series probably remember that Millicent Bulstrode was the person who Hermione stole a hair from in order to use the Polyjuice Potion. However, the hair turned out to be Milicnet’s cat’s hair. Unfortunately, she’s just another Slytherin student who is known for being a bit brutish which seems like a stereotype. However, she was also a member of Umbridge’s Inquisitorial Squad. So, she might have been a decent student but was also a pretty bad person.
6. PANSY PARKINSON
Pansy Parkinson was one of Draco’s friends at Hogwarts, and she also had a big crush on him. Pansy was also mean-spirited and rude to most other students besides the Slytherins. However, she was made prefect in her fifth year which indicates she must have had some good qualities as a student.
She likely at least had good grades overall in order to get this role. She might not have been nice, but she never seemed particularly bad at school.
5. BLAISE ZABINI
Blaise Zabini was another Slytherin student who was known for his good looks. He was invited into Horace Slughorn’s Slug Club. He was one of the Slytherin students who didn’t seem quite as vile as Malfoy’s group.
While he might have been vain and not super nice, he didn’t seem to have Death Eater tendencies. Also, while his invitation to the Slug Club was largely based on having a famously beautiful mother, he likely had good grades as well.
4. DRACO MALFOY
Draco Malfoy was horrible to Harry and others throughout their time at Hogwarts, but there’s no denying that he was intelligent. While he might not have been the top of his class, he was made prefect. He was a smart person, and he even finally grew up to be less awful. Even though there were probably smarter students in Slytherin who were more dedicated to their studies than Draco, the fact he was favored by professors like Snape might have given him a leg up.
3. HORACE SLUGHORN
Horace Slughorn is definitely a really capable potion’s master. He is also one of the few Slytherin characters from the books who is not evil. He might not be the purest of heart, but he’s not a bad person or a Death Eater. While he is more interested in collecting connections with people smarter and more famous than him, he’s also intelligent in his own right. His capabilities as a teacher indicate he probably did well in school.
2. SEVERUS SNAPE
Snape is definitely highly intelligent, even though he wasn’t always a very good person. Snape was a loner and interested in the Dark Arts when he was a student. However, he was also exemplary at potions.
Other than that, it’s clear he also was skilled at other areas of magic including Occlumency. Plus, he was even able to invent his own spells, even if they weren’t positive ones. Interestingly enough, Slughorn even invited Snape into the Slug Club when Snape was at school.
1. TOM RIDDLE
Tom Riddle might be the worst student that Hogwarts ever produced, but there’s no denying he was a model student at school, at least on the outside. He was made Head Boy and was by all accounts a perfect student with great grades. Of course, this was just a mask for the fact he was already in the process of becoming Lord Voldemort even when he was in school. Riddle might have gotten some of the best grades of any Hogwarts student ever, and there’s no doubt he was good at magic, but his true colors were made clear after he left the school.
