[HPforGrownups] Draco sympathizing?

[Margaret Dean]

No: HPFGUIDX 23867

Amy Z wrote:
> 
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., Margaret Dean <margdean at e...> wrote:
> 
> > That would also line up very well with the one time I ever
> > detected a flash of real sympathy toward Harry in Draco.  Now,
> > this may be just my weird take on the matter; I know that most
> > people feel that when Draco tells Harry (who doesn't know what
> > the heck he's talking about, at that point), "If it were me, I'd
> > want revenge!" he's just trying to egg Harry on to do something
> > dangerous (go after Sirius Black).  But somehow I read that line
> > as Draco being, for once, perfectly sincere.  If it were him --
> > if someone had betrayed his parents to their deaths -- he would
> > want revenge.  And if Harry felt the same way, Draco would
> > perfectly understand in a way that Hermione and even Ron might
> > not.
> 
> This is a neat interpretation, one I hadn't thought of at all (I
> thought he was not only egging him on to do something dangerous, but
> getting a nasty kick out of knowing something about Harry's family
> that Harry himself doesn't know).  So I just went back and re-read the
> passage, and it almost all fits, but the line I can't square with your
> interpretation is the "mean smile."  Why a mean smile?

Draco's face is just shaped like that?  :)  No, but seriously,
the kind of smile Draco would be wearing if he was imagining the
kind of thing =he'd= do to someone who betrayed his parents could
easily be read as "mean" by Harry.  It certainly wouldn't be a
=nice= smile.
 
> Another thing that came out of the re-reading was the thought that
> Draco *doesn't* know that Harry doesn't know the story, even at the
> end of the conversation.  Harry says "what are you talking about?" but
> Draco assumes that he's just pretending not to know out of cowardice.

I wonder how much Draco actually knows about Harry's home
situation and how little exposure he's had to the wizarding
world.
 
> I always think it's interesting that Draco knows this story and Ron
> doesn't.  Arthur knows it (that's why he's worried Harry will go
> looking for SB), yet he didn't share that piece of the story with his
> kids.

It's the sort of thing Draco =would= know; I get the feeling he's
the kind of kid who listens at keyholes.  As for Arthur, he
probably didn't want =Ron= to go looking for Sirius Black,
knowing how close Ron and Harry are -- and how impulsive Ron can
be.  We've already seen Ron attacking someone else on a friend's
behalf in CoS, where he ends up spitting slugs.


--Margaret Dean
  <margdean at erols.com>