[HPforGrownups] QUESTION!!!!

[rayheuer3 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 112048

theredshoes86 (_ballerinalaura at mac.com_ (mailto:ballerinalaura at mac.com) ) 
wrote:
 
>in GoF, Draco Malfoy says to Harry on the train ride back:
>"'You've picked the losing side, Potter!  I warned you!  I  told you you 
ought to choose your 
>company more carefully, remember?  When we met on the train,  first day at 
Hogwarts?  I 
>told you not to hang around with riffraff like this!'  He jerked  his head 
at Ron and Hermione.  
>'Too late now, Potter!  They'll be the first to go, no the Dark  Lord's 
back!  Mudbloods and 
>Muggle-lovers first! ..."  (p 729, hardcover)


Ray replies:
 
While it is certainly true that Malfoy "warned" Harry on the Hogwarts  
Express, that is not the day they met.  They met about a month earlier in  "Madame 
Malkin's Robes for All Occasions". Draco had (or pretended to have) no  idea 
who he was talking to, and once he determined that Harry's parents were  "our 
kind" (ie Wizards) he seemed genuinely interested in making friends. I find  it 
curious that Madame Malkin took care of Harry while Malfoy stood  around.  One 
possible explanation is that Draco was intentionally lurking  there, since it 
would be the one place every student would have to go. (PS/SS US  softcover 
pp 95-98)
 
>why, WHY, would Draco want to become friends with Harry?   <snip>
>[I]n my opinion, Draco wants Harry as a friend, although that might  seem 
like a stretch to 
>some of you.

>BUT, you cannot deny that Draco ADVISED Harry  not to go making friends with 
"Mudbloods 
>and Muggle-lovers"  So, this is EVIDENCE that Draco wanted Harry  at least 
on his side. 
> Draco WANTED Harry to be a prejudiced pureblood kinda  guy.



On the train, Draco hears that the legendary Harry Potter is on the train,  
and asks HRH "Is it true?  They're saying all down the train that Harry  
Potter's in this compartment.  So it's you, is it?"  (PS/SS US  softcoverp.135).  
This is apparently the first time Draco connects the  name "Harry Potter" to the 
boy he met at Madame Malkin's.
Now, if we take it as written that Draco didn't know who Harry was in the  
Robe shop, we can assume that he was genuinely trying to make friends  (read: 
recruit henchmen.  Crabbe and Goyle can'r be  *everywhere*).  Bully-types never 
seem to forget the first schoolmate they  talk to at school (not counting 
family friends they knew from infancy).   That person, depending on gender and 
personality, usually becomes the person's  lifelong best friend, lifelong bitter 
rival, or lifelong love interest.   Thus, Draco just can't let Harry (at least 
the idea of Harry) go.  He will  probably continue with his "come over to my 
side, or I'll make life miserable  for  your and your friends" routine until 
they are both old and grey or one  of them is in their grave.
 
  --  Ray


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