Draco is E.Vil (long stream of consciousness rant)

[cassandraclaire73 at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 25297


Susan--

Oh, dear, this had me rolling around on the ground, speechless with 
hysteria. By the way it was me who said Draco is a badly socialized 
child. :> And thanks for the hat-tips with the Mai Tais, green 
umbrellas and (oh God, no more, no more!) leather trousers.

*I* have laughed at Draco's lines in canon (the only Amy cited, about 
how 'if you were any slower, you'd be going backwards') and his 
reaction to the Blast-Ended Skrewts. "Oh, lovely, who *wouldn't* want 
a pet that can burn, sting and bite all at once?") But I am as 
mystified as anyone as to the explosive popularity of fanon Draco. 
Perhaps it's just the appeal of bad boys (witness Krycek's frequent 
rehabilitation in X-Files fanfic) or the fact that he may not be 
described as good-looking, but nonetheless he is blond and 
expensively dressed. <g> at Amy -- I know the books never say he's 
attractive, but then they never say either Harry or Ron is attractive 
either, and *I* think Harry is adorable, while Ron has numerous 
drooling fans.

Extensive rants have been written as to why Draco is, after Harry and 
Hermione and Ron, probably the most written-about and loved character 
in the fandom, so I'll shut up. I agree with Amy -- Rowling's done a 
great deal to make him dislikeable; I can't think of a thing she 
could do to break the back on his popularity in the future other than 
making him irredeemably evil or extremely fat. 

I have, however, now been converted to a Draco/Kneazle shipper. 
*That'll* bring him over to the Good Guys' Side.

Cassie





--- In HPforGrownups at y..., shall at s... wrote:
> The most interesting thing about Draco, to my mind, is his 
fascinating double (or multiple) lives.  When trapped between the 
pages of canon he is a horrid little brat with a cowardly 
disposition,  racist views and appalling taste in friends (I agree, 
incidentally, with whoever said that he is a badly socialised child, 
but you have to feel sorry for him - am I the only one to have 
noticed that Crabbe and Goyle haven't uttered a syllable in the 
entire canon? the poor kid must be desperate just for a decent 
conversation, for goodness sake. (snip) Once the covers of the books 
are closed, however, and Draco escapes into fanon the uber-Draco 
emerges - a  tortured, sensitive soul, simply crying out  to be 
redeemed by the love of a good woman. Or man. Or, possibly, Kneazle.  
So tortured and sensitive is he, however, that any redemption is not 
going to last beyond the chapter's end (in the less restrained 
fanfic, Draco may need to be redeemed several times in the same 
paragraph) leaving it to be done All Over Again ["Here is an 
administrative announcement.  For the last time, will all the mary 
sues out there *please* take a number and GET IN LINE."].
> 
> There are, of course, compensations: the rich complexity of the 
uber-Draco's sex life (frustratingly, nay, often tragically 
interrupted as it may be), the flawless dress sense, the nifty knack 
for one liners, the chance to hang out on a regular basis with 
characters who have a sporting chance of getting the jokes (I mean, 
if he'd tried the one about the grating and the very heavy hat on C&G 
in SS/PS they'd probably still be trying to work it out by the time 
OoP came out in paperback)...
> 
> How do you reconcile the two?  My own belief is that the canon 
Draco is frantically out there, somewhere in that ether in which 
literary characters float when the books are shut, putting messages 
into bottles and setting them afloat  into the readership's 
collective stream of consciousness, in the hope that one day one of 
them will wash up on the beach where JKR is sitting (probably sipping 
a mai tai with a green umbrella in it if there's any justice in this 
world) and she might sit up and take notice.
> 
> And what do the messages say?  Well, that's anybody's guess.  
Personally, I incline to one of two possibilities.
> 
> The first is 
> "You bloody woman.  I've been around for four books now, and the 
highlight of my career so far was being turned into a ferret.  For 
god's sake, wake up and give me something interesting to do.  Evil, 
if necessary.  Messy, provided you give me enough notice to wear my 
second best robes in advance.  But at least something better than 
sneering, flushing, and laughing in an unpleasant way."
> 
> the second is
> 
> "Start writing something which will  get these women off me now!.  
Oh, and if *you* ever dare to mention leather trousers you're dragon 
fodder,Rowling."
> 
> Susan