[HPforGrownups] Star draco & Malfoy Family Relations

[Lindsay W.]

No: HPFGUIDX 116325


Aura wrote:
>So, I was feeling ambitous tonight and decided to find sirius the
>star in canus major. While I was researching stars, I discovered that
>there's a star called draco.
>
>First think I thought was, "wow, JKR really did plan her books from
>the beginning." The next thing was, "wow, proud Lucius allowed his
>heir to be named in his mother's family's tradition." I wonder why.

Lawless replies:
I've actually been meaning to bring this up for a while, but you beat me to 
it!  =P  Yes, there is a constellation named Draco, and ever since OotP 
when we "learned" about the Black naming tradition, my mind has been 
a-whirrin' with the implications of this.

I definitely don't think it's some wizarding tradition for the mother to 
name the son - after all, I honestly don't see Hagrid's mother naming him 
"Rubeus."  I think naming process happens just like any family today - an 
agreement by both parties.

We know Narcissa sends her son sweets, that she convinced Lucius to send 
Draco to Hogwarts instead of Durmstrang - knowing full well that Draco 
would get the "proper" education at Durmstrang, instead of being surrounded 
by all the "mudbloods" at Hogwarts, and furthermore, it appears that she 
even named him according to her family traditions!

I mean, c'mon...every proper wizard name we've seen in this book ends with 
-us (or -as in Phineas's case, but pretty much same thing).  Lucius, 
Severus, Remus, Sirius, Regulus, Rudolphus, Cornelius, Rubeus, Albus, 
Filius...must I go on?  Yes, there's names like Rastaban, Blaise, Vincent, 
Gregory, etc - but there seems to be a strong tradition among the "proud" 
or traditional for the "-us" ending.  So why, of all the names, 
Draco?  Draco himself knows that his name sounds a little corny - remember 
the Hogwarts Express scene from PS/SS, when Draco first introduces himself, 
and Ron sniggers?  Draco immediately assumes (correctly, probably) that Ron 
is laughing at his name.  And I can't imagine for one second that if 
Draco's name was just an abbrv. of something longer - Draconis, maybe - 
that he wouldn't introduce himself as thus?  Or that McGonagall wouldn't 
call him that for the Sorting?  Or certainly on the Black Family Tree, it 
would be listed in full?  But no!  No!  Instead of some more 
proper-sounding wizarding name of Draconis, the Malfoys name him just 
"Draco", in all its full-glory.  And I can't *imagine* Lucius (who is big 
on appearances and being respectable) agreeing to that without a bit of 
convincing on Narcissa's part.

Three options as to how this happened:
a) Lucius actually cares for Narcissa enough to give into her whims, 
although I don't mean care in such a way that Lucius is some radically 
different man around Narcissa - bringing home flowers and serenading her in 
the moonlight definitely isn't Lucius, in my mind.

b) Narcissa is a strong-willed and, furthermore, powerful witch that Lucius 
respects.  Their relationship is very equal - it doesn't imply actual love 
or caring or even affection, but a respect for each other and especially, 
the two powerful bloodlines from which they come.  They are truly the 
arrogant creme de la creme of the wizarding world in their mindsets.  There 
would be some convincing on Narcissa's part, and perhaps some Slytherin 
sneakiness to get Lucius to agree.  I like this option best!

c) Pre-nup. of some sorts, lol.  Enough that so it was agreed before 
marriage that Narcissa would be able to name her son, she would have the 
final word on where he goes to school, etc.  Even after suggesting this, I 
have a bit of a problem with it - I can certainly see some sort of pre-nup. 
agreement over Draco's name, but not his schooling.  I don't see the Malfoy 
family "giving in" to too many demands.

But anyway, even WITH c, there is strong evidence, in my mind, that Draco 
has a very loving mother - and that furthermore, he doesn't have an abusive 
father.  And abusive father wouldn't give in to the demands of a loving 
mother, and a loving mother - especially one who is as theoretically 
powerful as Narcissa, with all her family connections - letting her son be 
abused.

There's been one non-stop argument about Lucius's treatment of Draco in 
CoS, and what it implies of family relations.  And it's odd, because before 
I joined HP4GU, I never once saw the CoS scene of Lucius and Draco as 
abusive.  Rather, I always saw it as a rather pissed-off Lucius having his 
home *raided* by the Ministry, having to sell off his Dark Arts artifacts 
(which *has* to be a real inconvenience and annoyance) to keep them from 
turning up, and furthermore, Draco seems oblivious to the position his 
family is in, and is whining.  Yes, whining!  So therefore, I can quite 
sympathize with Lucius at that moment, and if I strike out this scene as 
the only "evidence" of abusive family life for Draco...

...I would have to say, based on all that we've seen, that Draco is just as 
loved and, furthermore, just as spoiled as we've ever imagined.  Lucius may 
torture Muggles, but he  wouldn't harm a hair on Draco's head...unless, of 
course, Draco betrayed him.  =P

But I'm going to stop now before I start to argue against my own points,
--Lawless, winded...I'm not a Malfoy lover, but I'm not going to 
unnecessarily damn them, either!