A relayed post from a 'would-be-should-be-can't-be-right-now' HP4GU-er

[Tammy Rizzo]

No: HPFGUIDX 54959

H'lo, group.  :)  My sister, Shelly, is unable to subscribe at the present time (her 
home computer is suffering serious dial-up problems, and her work computer is 
monitered for exessive email), but she is very much a grown-up Potter fan, so I 
have been forwarding her a small number of, to my mind, wonderful posts from tihs 
list, which she then discusses with me.  With the recent post about the Draco FAQ, 
and the links to some older essays on him, I found Elkins' post (#39083 -- Re: Draco 
Malfoy Is Ever So Lame. Yet Sympathetic. And Dead, Too.) and sent it to her in its 
entirety.  She sent this back to me, and gave me permission to share it with the list.  
I hope this isn't against the rules?  I didn't see anything against doing this, but then, 
it's been a little while since I read them last . . .

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I won't make you scroll, but I just had to put in my two cents' worth.  I
haven't finished it, yet, but I read the part about how he responded with
"shamed fury" to the accusation that he bought his way onto the team.

I think Draco's MAIN focus for his hatred of Harry AND himself is the fact
that Harry is a leader, and his followers love and follow him because of
Harry's qualities, and character.  Draco, on the other hand, has his
followers, but they do not follow him out of loyalty to him, or love for
him, or even admiration for his qualities as a sneaky Slytherin.  He
basically INHERITED Crabbe and Goyle, whose fathers are likewise followers
of Voldemort, led by Malfoy.  The other Slytherin follow his example
because they've been TAUGHT to.  He's a MALFOY, after all.  His father is
a mover-and-shaker in the evil community, and Draco is Lucius's heir.  If
Voldemort were an emperor, Lucius would be king, or at least prince, under
him.  Draco is expected to follow in his father's footsteps of power, and
HE CAN'T DO IT!  He really IS a bit of a wimp, moron, and incompetent
boob, and he knows it.  The others probably know it, too, but follow him
because the hierarchy has been set.  Where Harry EARNED his friends'
loyalty, love, and trust, Draco had his followers handed to him on a
silver platter, and he knows he'd be nothing without his father's power. 
This has got to irk the kid, no end.  He's a follower, stuck in a position
of leadership, which he did not choose.  Moreover, his closest followers,
Crabbe and Goyle, are even more moronic than he is.  Maybe if he had some
really GOOD henchmen (along the lines of an evil-twin version of Ron and
Hermione), maybe he could accomplish something.  If Crabbe and Goyle could
THINK, they could give him some good sneaky ideas, or at least not hinder
him in his little nitnoy plots.

Let's face it, for Draco to be a "rival peer" to Harry, he needs to be on
an equal footing, and all the disadvantages are on Draco's side.  Who
cares about money, power, brains, brawn, etc.?  I'm talking about the
strength of the "dreamteams" in play.  Let's compare it to D&D for a
moment.  Harry has very high scores in the dexterity, constitution,
intelligence, wisdom and charisma factors.  Ron has more wisdom than
intelligence, perhaps.  Hermione is practically a 25 on intelligence. 
They are strong characters, whose strengths compensate for each others'
weaknesses.  Now let's compare the "evil team."  Crabbe and Goyle have
high strength scores, and absolutely nothing else.  Draco is average on
all his scores, but no more than that. Now, really, how fair is that? 
Even if he were more like Ron, who is, in point of fact, rather "average"
in his abilities, if Draco had two strong team members to balance it out,
someone else of high intelligence, wisdom, charisma, or SOMETHING, then it
would be a more equal match.

Poor Draco, due to the patriarchal society in which he lives, he has been
stuck in a position of power, but has been given absolute gits as
henchmen, and therefore, has no REAL power at all.  If his henchmen had
been chosen on the basis of ability, rather than patrimony, he might be a
real mover-and-shaker, as well.  As it is, he's been set up to fail.  His
father should have encouraged him to seek out talent among the other
Slytherins. There are surely some powerful, potent, intelligent, or wise
students in that house.  They probably aren't "pureblood," or
"respectable" enough for Lucius to allow Draco to play with them, though.

OK, now I'll read some more.

As has been pointed out, Draco is not a House leader.  He's not popular or
well-liked even within his own house.  He has his friends who have been
arranged by his parents.  Probably even Pansy has been "arranged" by his
and her parents, in one sense or another.  The rest of the house couldn't
care less about him.  As for Snape's seeming love of Draco, is it possible
that he's been cozying up to Draco all this time in order to preserve his
position with Lucius Malfoy, in the event of Voldemort's return to power?
He's obviously got some sort of double-triple-multiple cross PLANNED.  At
the end of GOF, Dumbledore said, "You know what to do," or words to that
effect.  His role has been planned for some time, and his making Draco
into his pet might very well have been prep work.

As for the redeemable aspect, I can see it.  Draco knows his weakness, and
knows that he'll have to ally with the stronger side, in order to survive.
At the beginning, of course, he believes his father is stronger.  Harry's
just a little kid.  The whiney, pouty, petulant boy who wants the love and
admiration of his father, and can't possibly get it, would be jealous of
Harry, yes, but if he has any brains at all, then by the end, when it
seems that Harry might actually win, Draco will probably turn against his
father, the man who set him up to fail, and who has so little love for
him.  Draco may very well become a turncoat, even if he doesn't embrace
goodness, per se.  He would probably turn from evil.  Or at least from
Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy.  He is similar to Peter Pettigrew in many
ways.  Peter WANTS to leave Voldemort, but now that he's been "outed," the
other side won't have him.  Voldemort is gaining strength, and Peter has
to follow SOMEONE, so he follows Voldemort.  Draco's biggest battle will
be the one against his self-hatred.  When he finally realizes that he is
his OWN person, and can and should stand on his own two feet, I think he
might very well turn away from Voldemort and Malfoy, even though Harry and
the gang would not welcome him with open arms.  Draco's victory would be a
reclamation of self, good and evil being completely beside the point to
him.  He strikes me as more of a "neutral" aligned character, stuck in an
evil household.  He has to act bad, whether he really wants to, or not. 
He'll probably never be "good," but he can certainly embrace neutrality,
and that would be where he would find his strength.  As an independent
character, stripped of his henchmen, I do believe he could survive, and
even thrive.  He does have wit, and some native charm, and enough
intelligence to succeed, if he puts it all to work. So far he has not,
because he has not seen himself in a position to require, or even allow,
him to play to his strengths.  He's trying to be his father, when he
clearly isn't.

In this respect, his very much IS Harry's opposite.  Harry is the orphan,
who can be anything he chooses, and chooses to follow in his father's
footsteps.  Draco is the son who is forced into the role of following in
his father's footsteps, and doesn't LIKE it.  Perhaps that is his purpose
in the narrative?  To be the exemplar, who shows that everyone, orphan or
member of a living family, every person on this earth will eventually have
to choose for himself, and not remain subjugated by the circumstances to
which he was born.  Therein lies his redemption, I believe.


Haaa!!!!  Twisted little featherboa wearers, are we?  <at this time, Shelly didn't 
know what a FEATHERBOA was, now she does>  Heck, yes!  Harry is
never so sexy as he is during the final confrontation scenes, when he's
manfully struggling against the villain, despite his many wounds.  You
just want to wash him, bandage him, and kiss ALL his booboos and make him
feel all better.  Boy, does this lady <she means you, Elkins!> know what she's 
talking about. 
Draco is, indeed, an underdog, and the hurt/comfort scenario is very real.
 Although on an intellectual level, we may revolt if Hermione or Ginny
were to fall in with Draco, on a more primeval level, we'd all have to
admit that we all had a few ideas along that line at some point or other. 
A relationship with the girl Harry sees as "just a friend," could very
well result in a kind of tumultuous redemption.  Imagine Draco telling
Lucius that he's dating a WEASLEY!  That he's in love with a WEASLEY! 
That he wants to marry a WEASLEY!  It may be the only peer-rival battle
that Draco could win against Harry.  If Harry ignores Ginny for too long,
and then Draco actually takes an interest in her, her "he's a bad boy, but
I can help him" instinct could very well take over, and she might let
herself be sucked in.  And then, if he discovers that she does care for
him, if he should ever build up the strength and courage to choose HER
over his own father, well, that would clinch it.  She'd be his forever. 
Talk about redemption.

OK, back to reading.  Where was I?  Oh, yeah, featherboas.  Hee!

Dead Draco.  After he turns his back on his father, his father shoots him
in the back?  I can see a combination redemption/death scene, oh, yeah.
Nothing brings out the emotions in female readers than a redemption/death
scene.  How many times have you heard the line, "They can't DO that!  I
was just starting to LIKE him!"  The truth is, you subconsciously liked
him all along, but were finally "given permission" to like him, because of
his redemption, and then, the sexy object of your desire was ripped away
from you, right at the moment you were about to give him some serious
snuggles!

Yep.  They boy's deader'n a doornail!