A Response To Lauri, And A Word On The DA

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 83661

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Louis Badalament" 
<lb140900 at y...> wrote:

<snipped> 

Louis:
>    Also, I'd like to throw out a personal opinion about the DA.  I 
> don't think it'll be dissolved at all.  Why, you ask?  Draco 
> Malfoy.  Draco Malfoy, almost entirely.  Let's look at the little 
> prat, shall we?  Here's a fellow who wants nothing more than to do 
> everything, achieve everything that Potter has or can achieve, and 
> outclass him all the while.  I feel that he works towards this goal 
> on both a conscious and unconscious level.  Potter has a set of 
> friends that shadow him almost everywhere?  Why, so does young Mr. 
> Malfoy... although his relationship with them lacks any depth or 
> meaning, and they, themselves, aren't worth talking about.  
Potter's 
> the Seeker on the Gryffindor team?  Well, so's Draco, in the next 
> book, and *he's* on the best broomstick on the market.  Bear in 
> mind, he is not *always* able to achieve this 'Malfoy doppleganger' 
> state in every single aspect.  I, for one, was completely surprised 
> that affluent Mommy and Daddy Malfoy did not run out and buy Draco 
a 
> personal Firebolt the moment he was conscious that Harry had one - 
I 
> suppose that even the *Malfoys* have limits on how much that kid is 
> spoiled.  And, of course, there was absolutely *nothing* Draco 
could 
> do about Harry being a Triwizard champion.  
> 
> But the pattern still continues, into Book 5.  Where Harry has the 
> respect and admiration of Gryffindor (generally), Malfoy has the 
> Slytherins all singing his song.  At the same time Harry is getting 
> Cho Chang as a girlfriend, Malfoy picks up with Pansy Parkinson.  
> Where Potter is involved in the DA, Malfoy enlisted into the 
> Inquisitoral Squad, which exists, at least in part, to flush out 
the 
> DA.  It must've tickled him pink to have his first real 'one-up' on 
> Harry when he was installed as Slytherin prefect.  
> 
>     But now, at the end of Book 5, Draco's out for Harry's blood.  
> Essentially, Harry robbed Draco forever of the ability to boast 
> about his father, and the knowledge of that will eat at Draco's 
> thoughts and personality all summer.  
<snipped>


Geoff:
I have very mixed feelings about Draco. Once, I considered him to be 
an absolute pain in the backside but I sometimes find myself 
harbouring more then a little bit of sympathy for him; who couldn't, 
with a father like Lucius?! He obviously wanted, for some reason or 
another, to befriend Harry right at the beginning but managed to mess 
this up in no uncertain terms because of his arrogant approach and 
that has coloured their relationship ever since. (Perhaps I have read 
too much fanfic lately in which he manages to reach a rapprochement 
with Harry, Ron and Hermione in one way or another.) 

I've known people who have wanted to make friends with someone who 
hasn't responded and it can produce all sorts of mixed reactions 
which leads me to my next thought..

Interestingly, I seem to have been writing a number of posts 
comparing people lately – Wormtail v Wormtongue and Wormtail v Gollum 
for example. Arising out of reading Louis's excellent notes, the 
thought crossed my mind that Peter Pettigrew always wanted to be with 
the "big shots" and, as Sirius Black said in POA, he wouldn't come 
back unless he knew that Voldemort was the biggest bully in the 
playground. I wonder whether Draco might be tempted into that sort of 
scenario? He wants to be equal or better than Harry. Might he be led 
into some sort of betraying situation? Could he become a second 
Wormtail? I'd like to see him acknowledging the error of his ways and 
improving but I ha' ma doots; but, putting on my hat as a Christian 
in the real world, I've seen stranger things happen. Roll on, Book 6.

Geoff