Draco Redeemable How?

[joyously00]

No: HPFGUIDX 38875

Hello all!

This is my first post... this list moves so fast I am usually too 
busy to reply, but let's give it a shot here:

jenny from ravelclaw said:
> For me, it's not so much that I believe Draco will be redeemed 
(even 
> though I do have hope for that), but that I have a hard time seeing 
> him go down his father's path.  I just don't know if Draco has it 
in 
> him to get his hands that dirty, so to speak.

and:
>He's a 
> sniveling brat, yes, but a coldhearted and cruel Death Eater?  I 
have 
> trouble with that.

This is exactly what I think.  Up until this point, Draco has been 
portrayed as a rather cowardly character who seems to run from any 
type of trouble.  It is my personal opinion that when he sees what 
being a Death Eater truly entails, he'll freak and run.  We've been 
shown evidence that Lucius Malfoy does not tell his son much (if at 
all) about the workings of the DEs (he did not even tell Draco the 
identity of the Heir of Slytherin in CoS).  Draco knows *nothing*, at 
this point.  Even at the end of GoF, when he taunts the Trio, he does 
it in such an off-hand way that it is clear he does not understand 
the gravity of the situation, for both sides.  (I am actually one who 
does not believe it was a "warning", however.  I think he just did 
not know any better.)

I think that Draco is still able to be redeemed as at the end of GoF 
there is the opportunity for him to be gravely changed as a 
character.  Now that Voldemort is back, now that he is older, perhaps 
he will finally be shown the truth.  Draco sees his father to be 
Knower of All, and if he is finally able to see that he isn't, then 
his world will crumble around him.  And I just don't see him 
following in his father's footsteps when this happens.  Draco isn't 
evil.  He is simply a snotty school bully, and so I think he will be 
scared into some sense.  And even if it is to save his own behind, 
there's a large chance he'll want to change alliances.  So perhaps he 
will not be completely redeemed, but will at least partly be.

Joy