Draco characterisation and Elkins' post (was A relayed post)

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 55166

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "heiditandy" <heidit at n...> 
wrote:
> Also, as evidence for Draco being on the smarter side, we have the 
> noninclusion of him with Crabbe & Goyle on the list of People 
Harry 
> is Surprised To Hear Passed Their End of Term Exams, and the fact 
> that Snape praises him in class. If he were utterly incompetent, 
> that wouldn't happen - although a little puffery is possible - in 
> other words, I'm sure he's not always better than Hermione in 
> Potions, but I'm also sure that he's not messing everything up. He 
> never makes a cauldron explode unless someone throws a firework 
into 
> it. 

I think there is also some evidence that Draco is good at Charms -- 
in fact, I've argued that it may be his best subject.  Snape picks 
him to go against Harry in the Duelling Club, and while there's 
almost certainly a political aspect to that choice, I don't think 
Snape would've put Draco on the spot like that if he thought the kid 
was going to embarass Slytherin house in front of the whole school.  
And, in fact, Draco holds his own quite well, culminating in the 
Serpensortia spell -- which he must've been taught outside the 
classroom, since none of the Trio were familiar with it.  It doesn't 
say so specifically, but conjuring a live snake out of nothing seems 
like a pretty advanced spell to me, yet Snape was confident in 
Draco's ability to do it.  And at other times, whenever we see Draco 
cast a spell, it always works the way it's supposed to.

Problem is, we haven't been shown a definite correlation between 
magical ability and intelligence.  I can see how potions would 
require smarts, and possibly things like Arithmancy or Ancient 
Runes, but Charms?  I don't know.  It's possible that Draco is an 
averagely intelligent kid with a lot of magical ability.  He also 
doesn't appear to have a lick of common sense or emotional control, 
which makes his intelligence even harder to judge.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com