FF: Draco's Crimes & Misdemeanors

[marinafrants <rusalka@ix.netcom.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51567

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "heiditandy" <heidit at n...> 
wrote:
> Here's the question, which I pose to the list in general: 
> 
> Do insults by an 11 year old smack of evil? 

Depends on the insults.  Some of Draco's insults are just silly and 
childish and don't worry me much.  Others show racism and cruelty, 
which I consider evil qualities.

> If you think that they do, then do you also think that insults by 
Snape
> show that he is evil? 

As I said, I consider cruelty to be an evil quality, and Snape's 
insults certainly show him as cruel.

Of course, having evil qualities is not the same as being an evil 
person.  It all depends on the degree to which these qualities are 
present, and on what good qualities are there to balance them out.  
Snape has done a number of things that I consider admirable and even 
heroic.  I weigh them against his vengefulness and cruelty, and 
decide that on the balance, he's not an evil person, though he 
certainly has a lot of room for improvement.  What admirable 
qualities does Draco have to balance his personality?  Well, he 
seems to love his mother...

Is Draco actually evil right now?  I'm not sure, to be honest.  It's 
possible that he still hasn't fully understood the implications of 
the ideas he regularly spouts.  But he's rapidly approaching the 
point where "but I didn't understand" ceases to be an acceptable 
excuse.  Fourteen-year-olds are not mature adults, but as a rule 
they're not moral cretins either.  I'm waiting to see what happens 
in OoP before I make a final judgement, but right now I'm tempted to 
say that if Draco doesn't see the moral implications of what he does 
and says, then it's because he refuses to see; and as Fudge has 
demonstrated, refusal to see can be a sort of evil in itself.

You said earlier in your message that you wouldn't consider a 14-
year-old evil unless they actually killed or tried to kill someone.  
Well, Draco has tried his damnedest to get Buckbeak killed.  True, 
Buckbeak is not a person, but I don't find this very reassuring when 
I consider that Draco has been raised to think that certain classes 
of people -- Muggles and Muggleborn wizards -- are not really 
persons either.  I'm not at all ready to assume that Draco would 
consider Hermione's life (or any Muggle's or Muggleborn's life) to 
be more valuable than a hippogriff's.  Or a flubberworm's, for that 
matter.


Regarding Draco attempting to get HRH expelled:

> Well, many times, they've broken school rules. They're out after 
hours,
> they actually *do* have a dragon, and Harry is in Hogsmeade 
without a
> permission slip. These are not permissible things, and while I do
> understand that there can be a differentiation between breaking 
immoral
> rules or breaking rules for the right reasons, I'm not quite sure 
what
> the "right" reason would be to justify Harry's going to Hogsmeade.
> Further, reporting a classmate to the teachers can be a tacky, 
mean,
> silly or cruel thing to do - but if the student has *actually* done
> something wrong, well, then the reporter can't personally do 
anything
> about it - but the teachers certainly can! If Harry hadn't been in 
the
> wrong, on some level, by being out after hours with Norbert, 
Professor
> McG wouldn't've taken points. How is being a tattletale evil?

It depends on motive.  If you inform on someone because you believe 
they're doing harm, or even because you genuinely believe that it's 
always wrong to break the rules, that's one thing.  If you do it 
because you want to get somebody you don't like into trouble, that's 
something else.  Malicious and hypocritical at the very least, 
especially since Draco has no problems breaking the rules himself 
when it suits him.

About the train scene:
> But Draco didn't have his wand out, and even beyond that, if you 
look
> only at Draco's words, it's quite clear that everything he's 
saying in
> that scene is actually *true*. 

No one, as far as I know, has ever accused Draco of being untruthful 
in that scene.  The truth of his words is precisely what makes his 
behavior so repugnant.

> Here's a brief fanfic illustration of how, from Draco's 
perspective, the
> visit to their cabin could've been in warning, not as a threat:
> 

I'm having some trouble following the reasoning in this 
illustration.  Maybe I'm interpreting it wrong.  Perhaps you could 
clarify based on my comments below.

> ***********************
> 
> He heard Hermione again, saying she'd put Rita in a jar. She 
must've
> found her while in her Animagus form, Draco realized. He heard 
Hermione
> say, "I've put an Unbreakable Charm on the jar, you see, so she 
can't
> transform. And I've told her she's to keep her quill to herself 
for a
> whole year. See if she can't break the habit of writing horrible 
lies
> about people."
> 
> No, Draco thought. That wouldn't do at all. That would infuriate 
Lucius
> more than learning his son was studying with a Mudblood would. He 
had to
> talk to her, to warn her, to trade his information for her jarred 
bug.

Okay, so he thinks Lucius is going to be pissed off about Hermione 
capturing Rita, and he wants to warn Hermione that Lucius might 
target her, is that it?


> Draco spoke slowly, buying time to think as he moved a little ways 
into
> the compartment, a nervous smile, which he hoped was ingratiating,
> playing on his lips... He said, "You caught some pathetic 
reporter, and
> Potter's Dumbledore's favorite boy again. Big deal." 

So he makes a snotty comment about Rita's patheticness and 
Dumbledore's favoritism, but makes no mention whatsoever of what 
Lucius' reaction might be. In fact, he doesn't mention Lucius at 
all.  How, exactly, is this supposed to help?

> "Trying not to think about it, are we?" said Draco softly, looking 
at
> Hermione, then glancing at Potter and Weasley. "Trying to pretend 
it
> hasn't happened?"

And what does this have to do with Rita Skeeter?  It looks here as 
if Draco arbitrarily jumps to the conclusion that HRH are living in 
denial about the danger posed to them by Voldemort and the DEs.  
Given what he knows about the Trio's experiences over the past four 
years and Dumbledore's speech at the Leaving Feast, such a 
conclusion is not only baseless, but remarkably stupid.

> 
> "Get out," shouted Potter. 
> 
> I will not, Draco thought. You may not want to hear this, but I am 
going
> to make sure that Hermione knows what risk she's taking, being 
friends
> with you. 

Again, on what is he basing this sudden conviction that Hermione 
doesn't know this?  And on what are you basing the claim that he 
would care?

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com