All Malfoy, All The Time (well, some general death eater-ing too)

[heiditandy]

No: HPFGUIDX 31899


 
 

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Aja Fair Romano <aromano at i...> wrote:
> I get the
> impression that Draco has no problem with his studies, although I 
can't
> think of any specific examples of his doing well academically, 
other than
> Snape's constant praise. 
Well, Lucius' big complaint in Book 2 is that his marks are lower 
than Hermione's, and given that she's the top of her class, that's 
not a surprise. I feel that if Draco's grades were lower than a lot 
of muggle-borns, Lucius would've berated him with more particularity -
it's possible, though, that a few other "pure-bloods" had marks 
higher than his, but given the number of Muggle-borns and half-and-
half kids like Seamus (or even those who have muggle born parents 
like Harry) is pretty high, Lucius' complaint seems to be more that 
*Hermione* did better than Draco, not that he did *badly* compared to 
everyone else.
And when Harry is noting that Crabbe and Goyle passed, he didn't lump 
Draco in with them, supporting the implication that at least he's 
brighter than his flunkies, but that's usually how it works.


> In the question of how the deck is stacked against the Good Guys, I 
tend
> to see Draco as a wild card. 
So do I!

> If he can just get out from under his
> father's thumb and think for himself I can foresee him being a 
valuable
> ally--maybe even a double agent for Dumbledore, much like Snape. (I 
don't
> think the affinity between them is purely coincidental.) Of course,
> *much* would have to occur--a manipulation by Lucius that goes too 
far, or
> a scenario in which Harry saves Draco's life, again, another 
parallel--
> before I could see Draco giving Dumbledore his full loyalty. 

I'm not even sure he would then, especially if it was the former 
(i.e. manipulation) - then I could see Draco going against Voldemort 
and supporting certain of Dumbledore's actions without fully 
supporting the man or his goals 100%. 

One of the things I think is useful about Draco is that he *has the 
potential* to be the character who changes his attitudes the most. I 
think that if JKR makes him evil and keeps him that way, it will be 
troubling, at least for me, to see a character who we've "known" 
since he was 10 or 11 move lockstep towards Evil and Darkness just 
because his parents are - in a series where an underlying theme has 
been "choices" I see Draco, at present in canon, as a character who's 
never had to make one - and possibly never really been in a position 
where he could. He's been indoctrinated and given the fact that we 
know that Lucius is a homicidal (to Draco's classmates, in giving the 
book to Ginny) abusive (to Dobby) git (to Hagrid and Dumbledore), it 
may not even be safe for him to break out of his programming yet. 

But I hope he will - even if it's not safe, even if it's dangerous - 
even if he has to give up every little bit of his to-date sheltered 
upbringing. Because it will make an impression on the readers, and I, 
for one, am really hoping it will happen. 

And now, on to his mother...

> > Why don't Lucius and Narcissa have more children (apparently)?

Maybe there's a Family Curse. Maybe Lucius can have only one heir, 
only one child? or perhaps Lucius has other children....they're just 
not Narcissa's. I also agree with Cindy that Narcissa has the aura of 
a trophy wife. We're also just *assuming* that she's Draco's mother. 
There's nothing in canon that would make it impossible for her to be 
his stepmother - CoS even notes that Draco and Lucius have the same 
coloring, so his hair didn't have to come from her. 

dtklein wrote:
> At the graveyard, Voldemort 
> chastises Lucius for fleeing the Dark Mark but that didnt include 
> Narcissa. Further, when Voldemort went through the Death Eaters, to 
> the right of Wormtail was Lucius. To Lucius' left was the empty 
> spaces for the Lestranges. Narcissa might have been one of the 
other 
> unspecified Death Eaters, but it would make sense that Lucius and 
> Narcissa would have spaces together among the Death Eaters. 

No wives of any of the Death Eaters are there (i.e. no surnames are 
mentioned twice). Mrs Lestrange is only alluded to, but not mentioned 
by name - it's possible that Voldemort is refering to a *different* 
and as yet unnamed death eater in Azkaban. It's implied that all the 
Death Eaters are men (although surely, it's possible that one or two 
of the surnamed individuals are women - as they are masked, there's 
no way Harry can truly tell completely) and that their wives may get 
involved in some of the terrorizing but are not included in the 
meetings. That may be a bit out of practicality - someone has to stay 
home with the kids - and is also remniscient of the Nazi party, which 
wanted women at home in the kitchen with the kinder, raising the next 
generation - but allowed then to join in at rallies, even 
in "spontaneous" attacks, but not in any fighting roles on the 
front.