[HPforGrownups] Re: Draco Draco Draco

[Aja]

No: HPFGUIDX 34026


Wheee! Here we are again on my favorite topic of conversation! And Heidi,
my goddess, I was in the *middle* of typing a private email where I
mentioned the love-hate aspects of Draco SHIPS in comparison with Pride
and Prejudice, my favorite book, when lo and behold, your post arrived and
you did just that on-list! I'm still beaming.

Now, to specifics:

On Thu, 24 Jan 2002, btk6y wrote:


> There is absolutely no concrete evidence in the books to suggest that 
> Draco was injured in anyway after the ferret-bouncing incident.  If 
> he was, don't you think he would have insisted on going to the 
> infirmary instead of going with Moody to see Snape?  Remember, this 
> is the same Draco that faked the severity of his arm injury from 
> Buckbeak to get Hagrid canned.  Don't you think he would have done 
> the same to Moody if he were hurt in the slightest way?

Absolutely not. Not only does he has more to fear from Mad-Eye, who more
than one person believes to be off his rocker anyway--but he's also in a
completely different situation in this scene than the Buckbeak incident.
In that scene he was already doing his best to attract attention--he
deliberately intended to sabotage the class and ham it up to make Hagrid
look bad. He considers Hagrid incompetent as a wizard, and has no respect
for his abilities.  Moody, however, is more than capable as a wizard--and
Draco, instead of having the upper hand, as he did in COMC class, is
completely vulnerable.  

There's also the fact that he's an (arguably) more mature
14-year-old. You've just been turned into a ferret in front of all your
classmates and whammed about a bit on a ceiling.  You're already
terrified.  Of course you run away in fright, but after you've
recovered, and remembered that you're a Malfoy, and Malfoy's don't have
weaknesses, do you want word to leak out that you instantly scrambled for
the infirmary?  Malfoy probably *was* bruised and sore for several days,
but it's not like him to suffer a loss of dignity and then not try and
salvage it as best he could. You could argue that by keeping quiet and
acting as if he weren't hurt, this is what he was doing.

> I submit that the reason Draco missed is that his anger at Harry for
> insulting his mother caused him to draw his wand and fire to quickly. 
> Think which reason is more in tune with Draco's character as portrayed
> by JKR.  Has she given you any reason thus far to believe that Draco
> would show mercy on Harry by not attacking him from behind? 

JKR has already shown a habit of revealing people's intentions,
appearances, and actions to be anything what they seem.  She did it with
Snape in Book 1, Ginny (to a degree) in Book 2, with Sirius in 3, and
finally Moody in 4.  This is a *major* component of her style--and it
doesn't help that seen through Harry's POV people are often judgmentally
portrayed until we learn something new and startling about them that
presents their former conduct in a different light. I wouldn't be at all
surprised if future illuminations about Malfoy enable us to re-evaluate
his actions throughout the series.

>  Is there anything in Draco's character to convince you he was trying to
> just "get Harry's attention" rather than inflict injury?

Yes. His warning Hermione at the Quidditch Cup that the mob was after
muggles. I see no ostensible reason for doing that other than not wanting
to see real harm come to his classmate and chief rival.  Also, there's the
fact that it's never Malfoy who whips out his wand first--it's usually
Ron, egged on by an insult. Malfoy had no direct hand in Buckbeaak's
execution.  That was mostly his father.  In essence--when you come right
down to it, Malfoy's all talk.  I don't think he's truly evil because I
don't think he has the guts to do the dirty work. :) 

> Keep in mind, this is a boy who was thrilled when the Basilisk nearly
> killed 3 or 4 students in year 2 and shows no remorse for the death of
> Cedric. 

Showing and feeling are entirely different matters. Harry's never cried
over Cedric's death--you could take that to mean he shows no remorse as
well.  I'm arguing a thin logic here, but the logic you're using is
based on what we've *seen* of Malfoy, which has to date been totally
through Harry's eyes.  And Harry, as we have seen frequently, is not
always astute in his judgments.

>  I would submit that Draco has no concept of right or wrong and it is
> much more consistent with his character that he attacked Harry from
> behind rather than just "trying to get his attention."

I think he has *some* concept, but it's probably rather warped one based
on the logic of power/wealth/ancestry=good, poverty/muggles/weakness=bad.
Once these assumptions get skewed (and I hope/believe they will), he'll
have some maturing to do, and then, I believe, Draco Malfoy's character
may have some surprises for us all.

Aja (who's thought an awful lot about this)

"Harry does seem to spend a lot of time being suddenly cut off from help
by silly plot devices."  --Franzi