system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Harry Potter] Why aren't snakes considered "beings"?

In the *Harry Potter* universe, there are two categories of magical creatures-- "beasts" and "beings". "Beings", broadly speaking, are creatures that are intelligent enough to communicate with humans in some fashion, and can use their intelligence to participate meaningfully in Wizarding society. Such creatures include goblins, house-elves, hags, vampires, giants. Merpeople and centaurs are exceptions, as they do not wish to involve themselves in the affairs of other species and declined "being" status. 

So that brings us to the issue of parselmouths. In the world of *Harry Potter,* parselmouths are wizards who can speak to snakes. Obviously, in our world, snakes are not especially intelligent, so it would be difficult to speak with one even if you could understand their "language". But parselmouths are clearly able to have complex and meaningful conversations with snakes. This shows that snakes in the *Harry Potter* universe are much more intelligent than snakes in our world-- they have a language, and they can hold conversations with humans. 

So with all that in mind, why are snakes not classified as "beings"? They cannot speak normal human languages, but neither can mer-folk, and they were offered "being" status.
gpt
Sapience isn't enough to be considered a being, you need to be able to rise above your baser insticts to participate in society. The Textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them by Newt Scamander explicitly states this as the reason why Acromantulas Manticores and Sphinxes aren't considered beings, since despite their human like intelligence, they still would not be able to resist attacking humans in specific circumstances.