Redeemable Draco (copy from HP4GU-OT)

[Steve <bboy_mn@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 49914

I responded in the OT group before I notice that the thread had been
moved here, so I'm moving that response over here too. Hope that's OK.


--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Beth Loubet" <bloubet at i...>
wrote:
>
> bel:
> ...edited...
> Don't get me wrong. Draco is an insufferable git. He's a bully,
> a whiner, a brown-noser. He's also ... abused, raised on
> the "wealth is power, and power is everything" paradigm, ...
>
> Draco hasn't had much of a chance to decide who HE is, ...
>
> I want to see Draco stand up and make a decision for himself ...
>
> I think that Draco will end up being one of the senseless
> sacrifices of the war ...
>
> Draco's tragedy will be that he DOESN'T ever get to make that most
> important choice on his own and become an adult. ...edited...
>
> DRACO'S TRAGEDY
> Draco Refuses Adult Choices; Obviously Sacrifices True Redemption;
> Abused, Guided by Evil Dad to Yield
>
> Fire away! <grin>
>
> bel

bboy_mn:

Well... well... well... I think you can lower your shield Captain Beth
there will be no broadside from this starship. (oops, that's Star
Trek... back on track now).

That was probably the best, most concise and insightful analysis of
Draco I've ever read.

I don't refute anything you said, but I would like to add a few
thoughts of my own.

First, Draco will always be a jerk. He will always be annoying and
obnoxious. Even if Harry and Ron becomes friends with him; Draco will
be that annoying obnoxious irritating friend that we've all had.

Draco will always be Draco. That's his personality. I think the
greatest joy in his life is irritating Harry. I think he lays awake at
night think up new ways. And when and if Draco and the Trio become
friends; Draco will still love teasing and annoying the hell out of
Harry. He will still lay awake think up new ways to tease him. But
being an annoying obnoxious jerk doesn't mean he has to be evil.

Next, Draco has lived a life of priviledge. In a sense, in many
senses, he has never had to get his hands dirty. Right now all he does
is talk his father's talk, and walk his father's walk, but I don't
think Draco really has a clue what it means to be a Death Eater. He
doesn't know what it's like to watch someone die. He's never had to
hear the screams. He doesn't really understand what it means to kill
or torture someone.

I can just picture Draco meeting Voldemort. Draco walks up to
Voldemort smiling, extends his hand, and say, "Hello. Having a good
day then?" At this point, Draco doesn't comprehend the bowing,
subservience, God-like reverence, and all around kissing of
Voldemort's bu... robe... robe that is involved. I think Draco sees
his father as a powerful man standing tall at Voldemort's side. The
first time, Draco sees his father crawling on the ground, groveling,
and kissing the hem of Voldemort's robe it is going to be shock to
him. That's not the fathere he thought he knew.

A few Cruciatus curses later, for his irreverant and disrespectful
greeting of Voldemort, and Draco will quickly discover that being a
Death Eater isn't party, party, party.

That will be his rude awakening. Then he will have to decide if he is
himself. A unigue powerful and proud entity, or if he is a groveling
servant of Voldemorts. I think in his own mind Draco sees himself as
Lord of his domain. He is Lord, he is not Lorded over (other than by
his father), and he assumes that that is how his father sees himself;
proud and powerful.

Then as the war goes on, and it becomes clear what war and being a
Death Eater means, Draco will have a crisis of conscience. He will
have to decide if being the petty servant to the master of a world in
ruins is better than being a self-made man in an economically stable
and prosperous world; a world without the chaos and destruction of war.

In a way, I hope Draco will redeem himself in a sense. I say in sense
because I know if he chooses the good side it will be for somewhat
selfish and possibly cowardly reasons, but none the less, he will have
chosen the better path even if he did so for the wrong reasons.

So, in summary-
-Draco will always be Draco regardless of which side he is on.

-Draco doesn't have a clue what it really means to be a Death Eater.

-I have absolute certainty that Draco will have a crisis of conscience
as I have described here. Although, I'm not sure which way he will go.

-Now that there is war, Draco will not be able to hide behind his
priviledged life any more. Like it or not, Draco will have to get his
hands dirty. He will have to soil them with hard reality. Let's just
hope it's not blood on his hands.

I agree with most of your points. And, again, I think you gave an
excellent analysis of Draco and his situation.

Just a few thoughts.

bboy_mn