Why We (Some of us, anyway) Love Draco

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 25875

I've followed the arguments on here about why so many people, especially
fanfic authors, have tried to rehabilitate Draco Malfoy, with considerable
interest.  Being a fanfic writer myself (current project: "Harry Potter and
the One Ring of Power," a Tolkien-JKR crossover) I've been doing some
thinking about this.

Partly, for us fanfic writers, it's just because...Draco-as-a-character can
be a lot of fun to write!  He's snarky, snide, vicious when crossed, and
does things that we highly-civilized fanfic writers would never, EVER do!
He adds tension to the existing relationships (as a rival for the affections
of the female characters, among other things) and can say and do things
without being too out-of-character that Harry or Ron would never be likely
to do.  He's kind of like "the Great Brain" in the John Fitzgerald
books...the Great Brain _often_ uses his intelligence in ways that their
elders wouldn't approve of, including trying to get a teacher he dislikes
framed up and fired.  And he's the hero of the stories!

Partly, also, because I think a lot of us recognize that at age fifteen,
Draco Malfoy is far, _far_ from being bad enough to qualify as an
unredeemable monster.  We dislike him in canon because we see things through
Harry's eyes, but as S.M. Stirling pointed out to me in e-mail once,
"everybody's a hero in their own story."  It would be, and to fanfic writers
is, interesting to look at things from Draco Malfoy's point of view, and see
how different the Potterverse looks from there.

Actually---at age fifteen, Draco's just about at the age to start rebelling
against his father, particularly since the man seems to be very domineering
and controlling.  Teenagers and young adults _love_ p*ssing off the older
generation---what would make Lucius Malfoy madder than having Draco not only
renounce evil (possibly dumping the Thickie Twins, Crabbe and Goyle, and
taking up with some Slytherins who can at least speak coherent English) but
come around to being a ferociously committed opponent of it?  I can see
Malfoy Senior going into vintage I-fathered-a-hippie rants..."I gave you
everything, and this is how you repay me---an Auror you'd become!  Such a
shame for the neighbors!"   We don't see this so much in the other
characters, except for Bill Weasley's hair and Gred-and-Forge's joke
shop...Harry Potter doesn't _need_ to rebel against the older generation;
the Dursleys are _already_ enough to turn Confucius into Abbie Hoffman, and
it would be quite out of character for Hermione-the-rule-abiding.