More on the train stomp

[David <dfrankiswork@netscape.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51586

Diana wrote:

>    I do not think the threats and comments Draco made at the end 
of 
> GoF were like his usual previous taunting - they had purpose and 
> menace behind them - I think the trio recognized this and hexed 
them 
> because of it.  No, I don't think DCG were capable of killing any 
of 
> the trio on the train, but I think the underlying death threat was 
> very real, even if Draco couldn't carry it out right there.   

I find it hard to read this passage like that.  Draco's behaviour 
reads, at least superficially, like the classic nyah nyah nyah of 
the underdog (cf Eileen on Slytherin) who thinks he is going to get 
his own back.

Look at Draco's progress.

In Madam Malkin's he is confident, willing to be friendly to Harry, 
looking forward to attending Hogwarts.  If his father has told him 
his opinion of Dumbledore, it hasn't sunk in.

In Borgin and Burke's we discover that even when he thinks he is 
unobserved, Mr Malfoy wants Draco to be guarded in his speech about 
Harry: the mentality of the ghetto or laager (neither analogy is IMO 
precise).  That year, Draco discovers that his father's power in 
Hogwarts is ultimately unable to achieve anything, and he loses that 
power.

In POA, Draco discovers the same about his father's official power 
in the Ministry.

In GOF, he discovers that his father's social connections bring no 
more benefit than Arthur Weasley's.

I think that while the trio and others perceive the Malfoys to be 
wealthy, powerful, and well-connected, Draco's image at least is 
that they are very much under threat, and progressively losing all 
their advantages.

Furthermore, I believe he has very little idea what Voldemort 
entails.  All he knows is that his father's view of the Voldemort 
era is different from the popular one.   But his father takes care 
to keep Draco ignorant and away from the action: even in GOF, at the 
QWC.

Yes, a little consideration would make him realise that Cedric's 
death means something very serious is going on, but I believe he 
just feels that the muggle-lovers have had it all their own way up 
till now.

Now, as to the reaction of the trio, it is true that Harry's 
graveyard experience might well make him feel that Draco, Crabbe and 
Goyle are a very dangerous group of people.  As far as he (and we) 
knows, they are all sons of DEs.  However, I believe that Harry and 
Hermione's reaction shows that they *don't* in fact take Draco 
seriously.

I think that, if they really felt they were being offered death 
threats, yes Ron might well have flown off the handle, but H&H would 
more likely have gone ice-cold and asked Draco to explain just 
exactly what he was talking about.   Instead, they just lose their 
tempers and hit them, so to speak, with the flat of their swords.  
If D, C, and G are really dangerous, then merely hexing them is not 
a particularly bright idea.  

Whether the hexing was an over-reaction has been the subject of this 
debate.  But I think it was done in the (correct) belief that Draco 
and his friends are not a serious threat.

David