JKR on the Harry & Draco teaming up rumor

[caliburncy]

No: HPFGUIDX 31996

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Penny & Bryce <pennylin at s...> wrote:
> The exact bit that you were thinking of is:
> 
> Q: Hello, Ms. Rowling. I am a big fan of the Harry Potter books. My 
> name is Katherine Emily Rose, and I am 11. Is it true that Harry
> and Draco will have to get together and fight evil?
> 
> A: Don't believe everything you read on the Net! I saw that rumor
> too, but it is just a rumor.
> 
> I don't think that necessarily negates a possible Draco
> redemption.  It just more or less rules out a scenario wherein
> Draco's participation with Harry is required to extinguish evil.  I
> don't think we can take these chat responses as great sweeping
> evidence of much of anything.

Agreed.  It is also worth noting that by JKR confirming that 
something is "just a rumor", she is not making an explicit statement 
about whether or not the rumor itself is true.  A rumor, by 
definition is of uncertain truth, usually spread by word of mouth--
and therefore most likely *completely baseless*, but this does not 
mean it is incorrect.  Something can be correct in conclusion, 
without having the proper to evidence to support it.  So if you look 
at it from that angle, all JKR has told us *for certain* is that she 
has never confirmed that such a thing would occur.  In typical JKR 
fashion, it is still not an explicit denial that it will occur.  So 
it is still possible, however unlikely, that Harry and Draco will, 
even in that exact same wording, "get together and fight evil" 
without JKR's statement above being thereby false.  All she has said 
is the buzz about this on the Internet is based on pure speculation 
and rumor and not on anything she herself has said.

That in mind, however, even if you believe that *implicit* in JKR's 
statement is the acknowledgment that this rumor is false (which is a 
quite valid, though debatable inference), it still does not imply, as 
Penny notes, that there will be no "development" (i.e. redemption) on 
Draco's part whatsoever, only that that exact scenario of Harry and 
Draco teaming up is ruled out.  So the Redeemed!Draco camp still does 
have a valid case.

Personally, I am sitting on the fence with the whole Draco 
situation.  (Long-standing members will note that I am very fond of 
fences when it comes to most speculation, not because I am 
indecisive, but because I generally refuse to rule out viable 
alternatives until they are proved inviable.)  Based on the existing 
precedents, I see an all-out "redemption" (whatever that means to 
you) as somewhat unlikely (though not impossible), but I do see some 
potential, based on existing precedents, for his character to develop 
further in some fashion, even a positive one.

-Luke