Pre-judgements Entering OotP

[Tom Wall <thomasmwall@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52150

Stickbook wrote:
It's interesting that you don't mention Hermione or Lucius Malfoy.  
How come?

I reply: 
Well, I really do want to trust that Hermione is good and that Malfoy 
is total, scum-infested evil incarnate, but I just have trouble with 
those when it comes to definites.

How?
Well, there's Hermione/Krum. I don't mean to say that I think 
Hermione will become a Death Eater or anything, but I do believe (and 
Ron works this way too, IMHO) that, because they're still kids, they 
can still get into conflicts over little stuff, because it seems so 
big. So, in that sense, I can see Hermione being pig-headed if Ron 
criticizes too harshly and see her choosing something that's not in 
everyone's best interests.

As for Malfoy, I'm working on a little something on him, but a few 
reasons: there don't seem to be any mentions of Narcissa as a Death 
Eater, she doesn't appear to be in the Graveyard scene (and I might 
guess, ala the Lestranges, that couples would stand together in the 
circle) and it's clear (to me) that Narcissa loves Draco 'cause she 
didn't want him to go to Durmstrang, which is far away. So maybe 
Narcissa is better than we're giving her credit for.

And in the case of Lucius in the Graveyard, well, when JKR refers to 
the Death Eater that's supposed to be Lucius, she describes that 
person twice as (paraphrased): 'The Death Eater to the right of 
Wormtail,' and when he speaks, she says, twice: 'Lucius Malfoy's 
voice.'

In the other cases with the Death Eaters that are there, she doesn't 
build that ambiguity into the text, so I kind of think that there 
might be more to Malfoy than we know just yet.

Oh, and about the twins: I really like the twins, and think that they 
would seem to have their hearts in the right places. But I started 
doubting because of this passage in GoF:

"'If it was something serious, they'd tell someone. They'd tell 
Dumbledore.'
Ron, however, was looking uncomfortable.
'What's the matter?' Hermione asked him.
'Well...' said Ron slowly, 'I dunno if they would. They're obsessed 
with making money lately, I noticed it when I was hanging around with 
them <snip>'"
(GoF, US hardcover, Ch. 29, 568)

And then, combined with Dumbledore in PS/SS:
"As much money and life as you could want! The two things most humans 
would choose above all - the trouble is, humans do have a knack of 
choosing precisely those things that are worst for them."
(PS/SS, Ch. 17, pg 297)

So, it seems like evil foreshadowing... ;-)

-Tom