Crabbe-and-Goyle and Draco Malfoy

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 46844

A thought has occured to me...

It states, clearly, several times in The Texts Themselves that "for one
wizard/witch to save the life of another creates a bond between them."  This
is why, among other things, Snape is trying to save Harry's life even though
he detests the little dratsab (spelled backwards because some folks may read
this list on machines where nannyware is required) and why Dumbledore isn't
too displeased that Pettigrew/Wormtail, with that life-debt to Harry Potter,
is now Voldie's right-(silver)-hand man.

Is it not an explanation for C+G's willingness to follow Draco and defer to
him that does no violence to The Texts Themselves that at some time prior to
their eleventh year and Hogwarts letters, Draco had saved both of their
lives?  Or, for that matter, they had saved his, which is why he now allows
them to be his followers?

I'm not even so sure that they're stupid.  Just because they don't talk much
doesn't make them stupid...Draco blabs on, a mile a minute, and a lot of
time that flapping tongue of his is what gets him into Deep, Deep Kimchee.
They apparently do pass their classes, and since Hoggies has Anti-Cheating
Charms, they can't just be cheating their way through---a lot of the tests
at the end of the year do seem to involve practical demonstrations of what's
been learned, so cheating's Right Straight Out anyway.

If, say, they saved Draco's life, or Draco saved them, part of their bond
could be that Draco spends a lot of his spare time helping them get their
minds around their homework...that is, if they _are_ as stupid as the Trio
thinks they are.  Draco calls them stupid in The Polyjuice Scene, but
Drakie-wakie's not a reliable witness on several counts; between his waspish
tongue and the possibility that he himself is more gifted than the average,
and unable to empathize with those less gifted, I would say there is at
least room for some doubt.  The Trio think they're stupid, as well, but
again, we have the problem of the "unreliable narrator," in that Harry is
not privy to much actual knowledge about C+G.