Will Draco come back? & Character development

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 81917

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jakedjensen" <jakejensen at h...> 
wrote:
<snip> 
> I suspect that Malfoy will return to Hogwarts.  He does still have 
an 
> important role to play.  He is the Snape of his generation.  And, 
> just like Snape, I feel sympathy for Draco.  From the moment we met 
> Draco he has shown to be intelligent, athletic, clever, and a good 
> leader . . . however, he is also the byproduct of a disfunctional 
> home.  There is an important line in OotP that I believe applies to 
> Draco.  DD, when talking about Kreacher, says, "Kreacher is what he 
> has been made by wizards, Harry." (p. 832, OotP) Draco, too, is 
what 
> he has been made by wizards (especially his father).  I think, in 
the 
> end, Draco will go through a transformation.  Most likely, one of 
> the "good" characters will make the first move (early money is on 
> Hermione, but never count out Luna or Harry to throw a curveball). 
> Remember, regardless of how poorly he did it, he did originally 
offer 
> Harry friendship (PS/SS).  I think JKR will bring him around.  
<snip>

Jen: 
Draco continues to be one-dimensional, seemingly influenced only by 
Lucius and his pure-blood indoctrination. Yet this character is the 
proverbial gold mine waiting to be dicovered--I want to see some 
rebellion! Draco's had other influences in his life now, seen a few 
things that hopefully give him pause, yet he's still sneering and 
attempting to thwart 'Potter'.

I guess his character may never expand beyond that. Draco reminds me 
of Vernon--they are both essentially frozen in their Book 1 
characterizations. 

For me, OOTP is about Harry beginning to view the WW less in 
black/white terms and more in shades of gray.  Institutions and 
characters are shown in a different light. Even a phrase or two tells 
us Harry is noticing people have different sides:

Petunia--"And all of a sudden, for the very first time in his life, 
Harry fully appreciated that Aunt Petunia was his mother's 
sister....All he knew was that he was not the only person in the room 
who had an inkling of what Lord Voldemort being back might mean." 
(OOTP, US, chap. 2, p. 38).

Dudley--"....despite the sense of numb dread that had settled on 
Harry since the arrival of the first owl, he felt a certain 
curiosity. Dementors caused a person to relive the worst moments of 
their life....What would spoiled, pampered, bullying Dudley have been 
forced to hear? (OOTP, US, chap. 2, p. 30).

Snape & James--"...it was that {Harry} knew how it felt to be 
humiliated in the middle of a circle of onlookers, knew exactly how 
Snape had felt as his father taunted him, and that judging from what 
he had just seen, his father had been every bit as arrogant as Snape 
had always told him." (OOTP, chap. 28, p. 650).

Harry's new insights about others go on and on--Sirius, the MOM, 
Neville, even Ron when they are by the lake and Harry notices a touch 
of arrogance in the way Ron flips his hair, so much like James used 
to do.

But not Draco. So either that's all we're going to get, or there will 
be a bang towards the end when Draco finally breaks free from 
Lucius.  I'm voting for that one!

Jen