Why Draco Malfoy Isn't Evil ... IS

[cassandraclaire at mail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 14848

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Doreen" <nera at r...> wrote:
Abgela:  Here is why I think Draco is officially evil
> 
> This is not just a little boy who was taught hatred at his father's 
knee.
> This is not "somewhat of a jerk". This is a nasty brat who is openly
> enjoying the prospect of seeing his schoolmates cut down by 
Voldemort. 


Doreen: Draco and his allies are mean to other students; 
disrespectful to Hagrid when he was teaching; they show no respect 
even to Dumbledore during a
> couple of his speeches in the Great Hall. The references are too 
numerous to
> name, but it would make for an interesting list.
> 

> 

<g> I do believe that the number of pairs of leather pants Draco has 
in canon continues to stand at zero. I think part of what Heidi's 
trying to say is this. (And look at it from the writer's perspective, 
too.) Draco in canon is a horrid little git. He does all sorts of 
nasty things. This is incontrovertible. HOWEVER. He has not yet done 
anything in canon that renders him irredeemable. There is a point 
that a a character passes where redemption seems not just unlikely 
but impossible. Draco has not passed that point. Yes, he's mean, yes 
he's a nasty little brat, but "EVIL" is a big word and I'd use it 
sparingly. It does not apply to "being mean." That's just meanness. 
It does not apply to being disrespectful to Hagrid, either. That's 
just nastiness. Meanness and nastiness do not equal evil. (*cough* 
Snape. *cough*) (Not even to mention that Draco was quite right about 
those stupid blast-ended skrewts.) There is a big difference between 
talk and action. I am not apologizing for Draco. I think he's a 
worthless little weed. But I don't think he's done anything that 
qualifies him as more that "potential evil" quite yet.

Yes, what he said on the train about Cedric was dreadful. But do any 
of us actually think he had some kind of hand in Cedric's death? No. 
Did he have the slightest idea what his father was up to with the 
Chamber of Secrets in Book 2? No, he admitted as much to Crabbe and 
Goyle. He's just a kid, Junior Death Eater material though he might 
be. It's still just words, just spouting off what his father's told 
him. He has not committed any sort of act (i.e. murder) , as of yet, 
that would render it narratively impossible for JKR to turn him 
around or invalidate all our prior experience of the character if she 
did so. Wheras she could not, IMHO, redeem Voldemort, or Lucius. Is 
she leaving a loophole for possible Draco redemption? Search me. I 
know there are plenty of people pulling for him to turn himself 
around that have never read a stitch of fanfic in their lives, so 
there's more going on that mental poisoning via leather trousers. I 
think it has more to do with the fact that it's very hard to watch a 
character you've known since he was eleven years old slotted into 
the "worthless, evil, not a speck of humanity to him" category. Not 
to mention it's a bit ... boring.

Cassie