[HPforGrownups] Why redeem Draco?

[Heidi Tandy]

No: HPFGUIDX 59987

Dimitar asked, regarding Draco:
**there is nothing in the four books to 
suggest that he has the slightest inclination to do that. The 
comparison with Snape doesn't work because he saved Harry in the 
first book which showed us that there is more to Snape than meets 
the eye, with Draco there is nothing of the sorts.**

There actually is one clear thing in book 4 to suggest that Draco is not as inclined to wander down the Path of Evil as one might think on first glance - it happens in the woods at the World Cup where, instead of handing the trio over to the death eaters, or even just waylaying them or otherwise hindering them, he tells them how to get out of the way of the marauding death eaters. 

Where's the personal gain to him in this? What benefit can he take from doing something that helps them? He doesn't even gain a smidge of trust or appreciation from them. And I doubt he expected to - so it's likely not that...

And that's apart from the fact that jkr's given him a father who is, at a minimum, psychologically abusive, as well as a teacher who's physically abusive to him in a way that even other teachers are horrified by. Why would she set up any sympathy for him over the course of the books unless she wanted to leave a door open to him being Something Other Than Evil?


Heidi Tandy
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