Narcissa (and Draco)

[narie]

No: HPFGUIDX 78612

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Doriane" <delwynmarch at y...> 
wrote:

(liberally snipped.)

scooting2win:
"We have not seen enough of Narcissa to really make a judgement in 
this
manner,"

Del:
"Quite true. Very very little canon concerning Narcissa."

Me:
Ah, but what there is does seem to indicate that Narcissa is not 
exactly a spineless, submissive wench.

Well, I like to think that, anyhow.


scooting2win:
"She is agreeing to raise Draco to be a little Death Eater,"

Del:
"We don't even know that. Maybe she doesn't want that. Maybe Lucius 
put her under an Imperius curse."

Me:
Imperius-controlled Narcissa doesn't sit well with me for a couple 
of reasons, the first one being the nature of the Black family – 
from what we saw in OotP, the Black family is a definitely dark 
family - "Harry's bewilderment deepened with every step he took. 
What on earth were they doing in a house that looked as though it 
belonged to the Darkest of wizards?" (OotP, pg 60, UK hc) – and 
while you could argue that Narcissa, like Sirius and Andromeda, 
could be the case of a Light wizard in a predominantly Dark family 
(the Blacks strike me as being yet another case of the whole... 
deterministic nomenclature system JKR has got going), I don't think 
it's all that likely...

After all, in OotP we saw that Kreacher loathes Sirius and will not 
obey Tonks, who is a direct descendant of the Black family - both 
these characters are anti-LV wizards. However, "Kreacher seized his 
opportunity shortly before Christmas... He went to the only Black 
family member for whom he had any respect left... Black's cousin 
Narcissa, sister of Bellatrix and wife of Lucius Malfoy." (OotP, pg 
731, UK hc) I don't really think JKR would have chosen to remind us 
of her relationship to Bellatrix if she wanted us to think that 
Narcissa is a submissive trophy wife, especially given Bellatrix's 
own character and what she has just done. I like to think much more 
along the lines of Narcissa being evil, and while perhaps she does 
not have her own fully-fledged agenda, not all her aims are equal to 
Lucius's own.

After all, she did insist that Draco attend Hogwarts, as opposed to
being sent to Durmstrang, like Lucius wanted (would provide quote, 
but my GoF is currently in a box in Chicago, and I am most certainly 
not). Note that Draco said something about his mother insisting on 
this happening, not Lucius doing it for Narcissa's sake. As far as 
I'm concerned, in order to achieve that she must either have whined 
quite a lot, in order for Lucius to acquiesce to her, or simply been 
forceful and resolute about it from day one.

I prefer the latter option, but that could just be me.

Plus, I find it very hard to believe that Kreacher would have 
respected her if she were anti LV – in this case Lucius would 
perhaps control her under the Imperius curse, but Kreacher would 
have been aware, prior to their marriage, of Narcissa's beliefs and 
thus treated her like he did with Sirius.


scooting2win:
"I do not believe that Draco will become a Death Eater, even though 
JKR is pointing in that direction. Maybe something will change in 
Draco by the 7th book making us all look or feel like damn we should 
have got that one. Maybe Draco will fall in love with someone who 
makes him act right. JKR told us we are liking Draco more then we 
should. But I don't think it's because he is going to become a Death 
Eater, I think it's because he is too self centered to try to ruin 
his pretty looks. And I think he gets that from Narcissa.

Del:
"Huh-huh. I'm not terribly convinced, but then I'm not convinced by 
JKR's treatment of Draco, Crabbe and Goyle anyway. Seems to me like 
she needed them in the previous books, but now that the serious 
stuff is going on, she doesn't know what to do with them. 

Me:
I'm not buying into reformed Draco at all, at any point, and 
especially not after book 5 and his "You're dead, Potter" (OotP, pg 
749, UK hc). I don't really presume to know whether he wants to be a 
DE or not, but he certainly seems to hold his father (or if not, his 
family's honor) rather highly, as his "I'm going to make you pay for 
what you've done to my father..." (OotP, pg 750, UK hc) shows.

Apologies if this has already been said – I read and reply from the 
Yahoo digests, which means I usually lag far behind the list.

narie. First post, woo!