Draco's Warning (?) WAS: Austen and Parallels

[ladjables <ladjables@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52514

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Julie Holmes 
<slytherincess at y...> wrote:
> --- "Nicole L." <nplyon at y...> wrote:
> 
> (Quoting Heidi)Heidi said:
> 
> > You mean on the train? The day after Draco stood
> > with the rest of the school and toasted Cedric's 
> > memory? If you'd like to go back to my posts
> > from last month that his comment on the train could
> > be read as a warning, just as his comments in the 
> > woods at the World Cup were a warning, you might 
> > have a slightly different take on why Draco said
> > what he said in the train. 
> 
> Nicole responded with:
> 
> >Sorry, but post or no post, you're not going to
> >convince me that Draco was just giving them a friendly
> >warning, just as I probably won't convince you that he
> >wasn't.  

I'm with Nicole here, and I'll go further to say it all boils down to 
how you understand the character.  Based on the way I read Draco, I 
would not interpret Draco's insults as warnings.

Julie replied: 
> Warnings come in different packages and are not always
> straightforward. For the sake of argument, it's
> possible Draco was giving a cryptic warning of sorts
> to Harry et al on the Hogwarts Express at the end of
> Fourth Year. 
>  [snip]
> People like the Malfoys look after their
> own asses first- moral obligations are secondary.
> Thus, Draco's main interest at this point may well be
> self-preservation. And only that. We only have three 
> books left, though, to demonstrate whether Draco is
> capable of rising above his primary instinct of Me,
> Myself, and I. 

A cryptic warning is fine, but not in character for Draco, IMO.  In 
fact, can't we interpret every announcement of impending doom as a 
warning of some sort?  How do we decide if the party meant to help or 
not?  I guess it's just a matter of identifying intent.

I don't think Draco will care about anyone else because, at bottom, 
he is self-absorbed and weak.  Now the way I see Draco's mind 
working: if you really relish the idea of someone dying, what 
pleasure is there to be derived from the experience if you cannot 
play on and therefore witness this person's fear?  Short of Draco 
being there himself, (and I don't think he could kill Harry & co., or 
stomach their deaths either) where's the *fun* for Draco if HRH do 
die and he doesn't get his chance to gloat?  What's the point of 
keeping it all inside and thinking, "nyah, nyah, you're going to die, 
you're going down, but I'm not going to say anything.  Better to be 
silent and secretly rub my hands in glee, patiently awaiting that 
glorious day I may or may not see."  Huh?!  Draco?!  He's a bully, 
who enjoys tormenting people!

I think Draco gets a charge out of these threats.  I concede he 
hasn't come to terms with what death really means because he has yet 
to experience the consequences first hand, hence the cavalier 
attitude to wanton murder of his classmates, but these "warnings" 
aren't so much to help Harry and the others as it is for his own 
enjoyment.  He likes to think he's scaring them, and likes taunting 
them with their own deaths, even if he wouldn't kill them himself (or 
lift a finger to help them).  The intensity of such malice is still 
disturbing.  Draco is just chomping at the bit for Voldemort to 
return and begin the ethnic cleansing party.  It will be interesting 
to see how he reacts when Voldemort does actually hit the scene.  
Will he be traumatized?  Probably.  Will he be redeemed?  I don't 
think so.  

I will say though, to touch on D/Hr, that Heidi is right when she 
says there is something suggestive about Draco's comments to Hermione 
in the woods.  Heidi, please correct me if I misunderstood you.  It's 
possible that Draco could be attracted to Hermione; it's human nature 
to develop a fascination for something that is forbidden to you.  But 
a Death Eater's son and a Mudblood?  Sounds like a Klansmen's son and 
a black girl to me.  I so do NOT want to see this in Harry Potter.  
Hermione would have to be stripped of every last vestige of dignity 
(and sanity) to enter into a relationship with Draco.  I like the 
character too much to want to see her so depreciated and so in need 
of serious therapy.

And on Darcy-I think the Draco/Darcy comparison is superficial at 
best.  Yes, both are rich snobs, yes both can be contemptuous of 
others, but was Darcy's morality ever in question?  I don't see Draco 
growing into a Darcy.  As Pippin and others have pointed out so 
brilliantly, Darcy was a good judge of character, a proud man, who 
possessed a sense of honour and duty.  Draco and honour don't even 
belong in the same sentence.

Ama, who cares little for Draco but hasn't written him off entirely
  


  


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