Draco and Hagrid, Neville sneaks in

[davewitley]

No: HPFGUIDX 37987

I said, parenthetically:
>>BTW, I think that those who see Draco as 'only' engaging in mild 
bullying and verbal abuse without any real determination to make his 
malice stick have a case to answer in Buckbeak: even if Lucius took 
over the running of the case, it seems clear that Draco was out from 
the start to inflict real damage on Hagrid, both emotionally and on 
his career.

and Heidi replied, implicitly:

 > And I also don't really think that it's a significant degree of 
cruelty for 
> him to have been set against Hagrid after Buckbeak struck him in 
3rd year. It 
> says pretty clearly in FB&WTFT that they are dangerous creatures, 
and yes he 
> should've paid attention and not insulted Buckbeak, but on the same 
line, 
> Hagrid should not have brought the hippogryffs to class. They. 
Were. 
> Dangerous. And you can't really blame him for thinking that Hagrid 
should be 
> sacked for doing something that was dangerous to the students - but 
then 
> again, I think Hagrid's done a lot of things which aren't exactly 
sensible 
> from a teaching perspective.

I think the thing that bugs me is the intersection of Draco's 
smugness with what is happening to Hagrid: if Draco was really acting 
(ie not play-acting) upset and hurt, I would understand wanting to 
get Hagrid dealt with.  Conversely, if he just made use of his injury 
to mess the Quidditch schedule about, and get Pansy's sympathy, and 
taunted Hagrid over his inability to manage his lessons that would be 
mean but in line with the idea that he is unpleasant but not 
seriously malicious.  However, he seems to play up his injury in 
order to achieve his end, and then gloat over Hagrid's expected 
downfall.

Heidi again, tangentially:

>Of course, I feel the same way about Madam Hooch and the first 
flying lesson too...

Me, discursively:

This sounds like a pernicious dose of common sense invading our 
fantasy world (though it has always puzzled me that pre-Hogwarts, you 
can throw a child out of the window and be sure that if magical, they 
will be OK; once there, it's dangerous to fall off a broomstick - 
perhaps the education process destroys instinctive defences... but 
Neville hasn't received any education to speak of yet?).  Begone, 
temptress!

There is another Draco issue: the more we can excuse his canon 
behaviour, the less redemption he needs.  To complete the picture of 
children growing up, do we need *some* character in Harry's 
generation who really is evil and *needs* to change their attitude, 
as we suppose Snape did in the previous generation?

David