Malfoy redemption

[cassandraclaire at mail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 14883


rainylilac: In one interview someone asked her about Draco and she 
responded that he was a terrible person, the kind of boy "who knows 
exactly what will hurt someone most". In a recent interview I think 
someone asked if Draco would ultimately team up with Harry to fight 
evil and she responded "Where do you guys hear these things? No, 
absolutely not."

Snape also knows exactly what to say that will hurt someone most and 
deploys that skill frequently, yet he isn't evil. Also, in my records 
of that chat, she didn't say "no, absolutely not." She said "Don't 
believe everything you hear on the Internet." I 'spose my records 
could be wrong, but IMHO "no, absolutely not" is a very un-JKR 
response. She likes to leave these things open and not give away too 
much information. It's not like her to put the kibosh on a possible 
plot development although is IS like her to throw as much confusion 
towards that plot development as possible. So far in chat she's 
pretty much answered Malfoy-redemption related questions the way I 
would if I was planning on redeeming the little sucker.

Simon Branford, mail-order doctor: And equally we have no reason to 
believe that Lucius will not be redeemed. Basically this is all up in 
the air. With the possible exception of Voldemort any of the 'bad' 
side could be redeemed.

Lucius is a lot farther along the "bad" path than Draco is. Lucius is 
almost without doubt a murderer, and I consider him a murderer at 
least by intent in Book 2 (the basilisk would have slaughtered the 
muggle-born students of Hogwarts not to mention the death of Ginny 
Weasley.) He's a slimy child-killer and it'd take an Act of God to 
redeem him; that's not the case with Draco.

Rainylilac: Unfortunately I don't see it happening.
Kids are among the most perceptive people in the world.  They're 
innocent and easily duped like Ginny Weasley, but they're also 
capable of telling right from wrong.
There are real world examples that bear this up.
Kids who had prejudiced parents growing up to not be prejudiced 
themselves.
Draco is, in fairness, jealous of Harry but he's going about handling 
it wrong.  Instead of trying to do his own great deeds, he tries to 
tear down anything of Harry's.
And if he really wanted to outshine Harry, he could be doing things 
to elevate himself in Hogwarts and the eyes of others.  Either he's 
entirely terrified by and cowed by his father, or -- more likely, 
given how he behaves -- buys into it completely and plans to grow up 
to be a Death Eater himself.
If Draco Malfoy had the slightest inkling prejudice was wrong, he 
would not still continually be using the "Mudblood" ephithet, because 
he knows full well it is one. 
He knows full well it is offensive to Harry's trio. 
He knows full well it is considered one of the worst things you can 
say about a person.
A person lacking prejudice would have reflected on this. Maybe not 
apologized for it, but would've at least stopped using that 
particular thorn to nettle his adversaries with.

Um...yes. Nobody's arguing that Draco isn't a bigoted little prick, 
in fact its been reiterated over and over even by those of us agruing 
that he's redeemable. Not one person is arguing that Draco is nice; 
not one person is arguing that he isn't a bigot and a pest and a 
mean, unpleasant, bullying sort of child. He picks on the weak and 
cheats and lies and is completely prejudiced. Stating all those 
facts, IMHO, goes nowhere in arguing against his possible redemption; 
we all accept that that's how he's portrayed and most likely how he 
is. "Draco is, in fairness, jealous of Harry but he's going about 
handling it wrong" is, IMHO, the understatement that ate 
Hogwarts. "Handling it wrong" doesn't even approach how rotten Draco 
generally is. It's not really relevant to the arguement though.

I don't even argue that Draco WILL be redeemed; I have only argued 
that narratively, it would be possible for JKR to redeem him without 
invalidating the universe and characters that she has created. Wheras 
it would be impossible for Harry to, say, become buddies with Peter 
Pettigrew without invalidating what we know of both of them so far.

Do you really think that Snape wasn't pretty much exactly like Draco 
when he was at school? (Only possibly less popular and Draco probably 
has cleaner hair.) I wouldn't be surprised if he went around spouting 
off about Muggles and Mudbloods. He joined the Death Eaters, after 
all. And his redemptive possibilites are quite clear in canon.

Lastly, I'm afraid I don't see how the fact that kids are perceptive 
ties in with anything relating to Draco's evilness or lack therof. Do 
you mean an eleven-year-old child with little to no experience of the 
outside world should be able to see right through everything his 
father has ever told him to be true? I suppose one could cite Harry 
seeing through the Dursleys but there's a HUGE disctinction there 
which is that the Dursleys are unkind to Harry and give him no 
attention at all, wheras it certainly looks from canon like Lucius 
gives Draco plenty of attention as well as expensive brooms. Or are 
you saying that the fact that the fact that Harry and Hermione and 
Ron perceive him to be an evil git therefore means he is one? (Not 
like they haven't been wrong about people before.) Maybe I just don't 
understand what you were trying to say.


kenc: Curiously enuff, I was reminded of Sirius's prank on Snape. How 
wrong (and irredeemable) *that* could have been ...

Yes, excellent point.

Magda: Perhaps Voldemort will demand some sign of Malfoy Senior's 
devotion and order him to sacrifice his son (Isaac style).  And Dad - 
scum that he is - complies.  Draco's enthusiasm for the Dark Lord 
would wither immediately.  Then Harry could save him. I like this.

You have just described the plot of every Harry/Draco slash fic ever 
written, pretty much. *giggles madly* Have a virtual brownie.


Cassie