Draco Malfoy

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 105376

Cathy wrote:
<snip> One of the things jumping out at me on my current read through
the books (I've lost track of how many times this is) is just how much
Draco knows. He drops little hints of things all the way through the
books.  In the last chapter of GF, something HP seems to ignore or, at
least, not comment on, is Malfoy's "I told you not to hang around with
riff-raff like this! Too late now, Potter.  They'll be the first to
go, now the Dark Lord's back!"  Malfoy knew it, when Fudge wouldn't
even admit it (although I am quite certain he knew it to be true but
was too concerned with his postition at the MOM to want to admit it),
and when, upon returning to school in Sept, HP realized a good portion
of the rest of the students didn't believe LV had returned.
 
I think Malfoy, Sr has been a little incautious about what he says in
front of his kid.  Or at least doesn't check to make sure Draco isn't
eavesdropping before having this intersting conversations.  Draco
knows too much.  It will be interesting to see where his story goes in
the next two books.  I've always though, in the end, Harry is going to
have to save Draco somehow. <snip>

Carol responds:
I agree with you that Draco knows some surprising things (Harry would
do well to listen to him but, of course, not be baited by him). For
example, he knows something about the Chamber of Secrets (though he
doesn't know who the Heir of Slytherin is or exactly what's in the
Chamber). He also "knows" that Sirius was the Secret Keeper for the
Potters and betrayed them ("I'd want revenge if I were you.") But I
think his father knows just how much to tell Draco and how much to
keep quiet (he knows his son is a sneaky little rat and from what we
see in CoS, he keeps him firmly in line--in contrast to his apparently
indulgent mother). But Draco wasn't told by his father that Voldemort
was back. He was in school when it happened. It was Dumbledore who
made the announcement at the end of the year feast, when he tells the
students that Voldemort murdered Cedric (technically, Wormtail killed
him, but Dumbledore also gives incomplete information).

I can't see Harry saving Draco, much less Draco going over to the
other side. He's been too throroughly indoctrinated from a very young
age. Almost certainly his father will escape in Book 6 and die in Book
7, but I have no idea what Draco's fate will be. (Defeated but ready
to make trouble for the next generation?)

You mentioned Goyle Sr. in the part of your post that I snipped. It's
true that he wasn't named by Lucius Malfoy in what amounts to a roll
call of the DEs present in the MoM, but he could be the baby-headed
Death Eater, who was out of the picture at that point if I recall
correctly. Since the other DEs were rounded up and placed under an
anti-apparating spell, the baby-head and the injured Nott were
probably also caught and placed in St. Mungo's. Whether they were
cured and sent to Azkaban or are still in the hospital is anybody's
guess. But Gregory Goyle's behavior at the end of GoF suggests that
his father shared the fate of Crabbe Sr. and Lucius Malfoy, meaning
that Goyle Sr. is probably in Azkaban with his DE friends. Only
Bellatrix and Voldemort escaped, as far as we know.

Carol, who thinks we keep better track of JKR's characters than she does