Draco's Choice (was:Re: The Twins are bad, Harry is bad, but Draco is good...)

[phoenixgod2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 136987

<snipped evidence of Draco being a weeny> ;)

> Betsy Hp
> "You're at my mercy...."
> "No, Draco," said Dumbledore quietly.  "It is my mercy, and not 
> yours, that matters now."  (592)

My favorite DD moment in the book. I love that line.
 
> And Draco, with the freedom to choose finally returned to him, 
> lowers his wand.  Even with the temptation of the four Death 
Eaters, 
> who five times by my count try to turn Draco into a killer, Draco 
> shows us (and Harry) who he truly is: he is not a killer; he is an 
> innocent.

You almost had me Betsy, until this line. Draco became a much more 
three-D character in this book and I liked that. I still hate the 
character but I liked that he got more substance. But Draco, 
whatever he might be and however might he end up is not an innocent. 
Draco did a great number of bad things and expressed very little 
squeamishness over it. Stamping on the face of a paralyzed person 
takes a certain level of sadism that I think you are glossing over. 
While he might have experienced hesitation in killing someone face 
to face, he never really seemed all that broken up over the near 
deaths of two students from a distance. The death eaters he let into 
the castle could have killed dozens of students. The fact that the 
group faired as well as they did was due more to the fact that they 
were drugged to the gills in luck potion. As it stands people were 
injured and Bill was mutilated because of his actions. Maybe he was 
caught off guard by Fenir showing, but that doesn't mitigate the 
fact that he was the one that opened the door.

Morally ambiguous, maybe. Innocent? Not in a million years. 
 
> Betsy Hp:
> I would say not killing Dumbledore showed a great deal of 
> compassion.

Or squeamishness. Just because Draco couldn't kill someone who was 
staring at him in the face doesn't mean he was a fluffy bunny.  He 
still perpetrated plenty of violence against Hogwarts.  We haven't 
seen any evidence that Draco regrets any of the violence he has 
caused. His actions speak much louder than whatever he might have 
said to Dumbledore.

>And in a round about sort of way, keeping his friends 
> out of his tangles with Voldemort showed a form of compassion too.

How did he keep his friend out of it? I seem to recall Crabbe and 
Goyle being used quite a bit. And even if he wasn't involving half 
the slytherin fifth years, it seems to me that was more because of 
orders to keep his job below radar more than out of compassion or a 
sense of duty to his friends and fellow students.
  
<snipped>
> I think the true measure of Draco's worth will be found in book 
7.  
> Thanks to Dumbledore, Draco will finally be allowed to make the 
> choices that will show us who he is.  Based on his first major 
> choice, I think Draco will turn out well.

I think Draco is going to survive, but Draco is never going to turn 
out well.

phoenixgod2000