Scapegoating Slytherin - The Moral Majority / Draco's bigotry and leadership

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 144499

> >>a_svirn:
> Where exactly did he appear to assist Umbridge? He was annoyed    
> with her and didn't even bother to hide it.

Betsy Hp:
Snape provided Umbridge with veritaserum.  Of course, it was fake, 
but she didn't know that.
 
> >>a_svirn:
> Really? So when McGonagall told Harry to keep a law profile she 
> suggested that he should join forces with the Ministry? 
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
No, McGonagall was suggesting Harry think like... well, a Slytherin, 
and cunningly take on Umbridge with the underground DA Club.  
  
> >>Betsy Hp:
> > Total control by the Ministry would mean total destruction of the
> > Founders' Hogwarts. Total destruction of their fingerprints, the
> > houses.
 
> >>a_svirn:
> How so?

Betsy Hp:
Umbridge was doing away with education and replacing it with 
propaganda.  That's directly opposite Hogwarts' purpose, and 
therefore a direct opposite of what the Founders' created.

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > And in a school of Hogwarts size there is no way the students    
> > didn't know that some sort of resistance group was operating. 
> > <snip>
 
> >>a_svirn:
> And where is the canon to support that?

Betsy Hp:
Common sense supports that.  And pretty much the entire series for 
that matter.  Secrets are very hard to keep at Hogwarts.  We learn 
that in the first book.

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > So name me the Slytherin counterpart for Harry Potter.

> >>a_svirn:
> Lord Voldemort. Harry has no worthy opponents among the 
> contemporaries. 

Betsy Hp:
Cheat!  Plus, not true.  Harry's great but he ain't all that.  He 
may *become* Voldemort's counterpart, but he's not there yet.  If it 
*were* true, Draco and Snape wouldn't bother Harry a bit.

> >>a_svirn:
> Blaise hung up in Slytherin compartment, not Draco's.

Betsy Hp:
There's no such thing as a house compartment.  And there are ten 
Slytherins in Draco's class.  They weren't all squeezed in there.  
So why was Blaise?  And why put up with sitting next to Crabbe and 
Goyle?  Especially if he held Draco in contempt.

> >>a_svirn:
> He did not downplay the Slug Club thing, on the contrary, he       
> rather gleefully pointed out to Draco, that Slughorn had no time   
> for DE, which certainly did bruise Draco's feelings.

Betsy Hp:
Rereading the scene I'm not sure where you get "gleeful".  Actually, 
I'd say Blaise was fairly indifferent throughout the scene.  I do 
interpert him telling Draco that Slughorn isn't interested in Death 
Eaters (or the children thereof) as a way of telling Draco that it 
wasn't him, it was his family's politics.  Mainly because it gets 
Draco off the subject.  I could be reading too much into it.  But I 
really don't see any evidence of Blaise attempting to and enjoying 
hurting Draco's feelings.

> >>a_svirn:
> He also made his rather unflattering opinion on Draco's abilities 
> abundantly clear when he said that the Dark Lord cannot be        
> interested in Draco's services.

Betsy Hp:
He tells Draco that he's sixteen and not fully qualified.  Those are 
facts.  And those facts don't insult Draco at all.  He totally 
agrees with them.  Because he *is* sixteen, and he *hasn't* taken 
his NEWTS yet.  There was nothing unflattering about it.

He *was* suggesting that Draco was pulling his leg.  But if he's 
Draco's friend I'm sure he's used to hearing Draco exaggerate things.

> >>a_svirn:
> As for hanging out with Draco in the common room, it's like saying 
> that Harry was hanging out with Romilda Vane in the common room.   
> Common room is called common for a reason.

Betsy Hp:
Harry hung out with Romilda in the Gryffindor common room?  I don't 
recall them *ever* sitting together.  And that's what Harry saw on 
his map: Draco together with Pansy and Blaise.  Something one would 
*not* see of Harry and Romilda, but one would see with Harry and 
Ron, or Harry and Hermione, or even Harry and Neville.
 
> >>a_svirn:
> For the rest I agree, the only way for Blaise to announce his 
> friendship to Draco is to get royally drunk. 

Betsy Hp:
You're rather sure of this.  Why?  I mean, what's the big deal about 
Blaise being friendly with Draco?  I don't get what's so offensive 
about the idea.

> >>a_svirn
> <snip>
> Besides, he still meant his every word for all that.

Betsy Hp:
Of course he did!  He was quoting his *father*.  But he must not 
have really understood what he was saying.  Because his words 
weren't all that consistent with his actions.

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > Which is why I don't think the bigotry is something Draco has   
> > really made his own.
> > <snip>

> >>a_svirn:
> But this is always the case with bigotry. 

Betsy Hp:
Well, yes.  I'm not sure what your point is here.  Unless you're 
saying that Draco has (had) no chance.  Which is a rather harsh 
judgment to make of an eleven year old.  Or even a sixteen year 
old.  At least, IMO.

> >>a_svirn:
> His contempt for muggleborns is not rooted in his family's 
> allegiance to Voldemort, though. If anything, it's the other way 
> round.

Betsy Hp:
Where are you getting that?  Why would you think Draco doesn't have 
the two firmly tied together?  Voldemort is all about driving out 
the non-purebloods and returning the WW to its former glory.  Or, at 
least, that's what Draco's been told.  That's why he was so giddy in 
CoS.  The bigots of the WW, the really overt bigots anyway, are the 
Death Eaters.

> >>a_svirn:
> Well, his father didn't particularly want for Voldemort to return. 
> He felt much more comfortable on his own.

Betsy Hp:
Draco didn't know that.  And unless Lucius wanted to sign his son's 
(and his own) death warrent, he would never have shared his doubts 
with Draco.

> >>a_svirn:
> Yet, his disappointment in  Voldemort did not affect his views on 
> muggles and muggleborns.

Betsy Hp:
Lucius is not Draco. Lucius was raised in a time *before* the rise 
of Voldemort.  He was recruited into the Death Eaters.  So his 
bigotry came first.  Draco was raised after Voldemort and so all of 
the views he's been spoonfed have been tied up neatly with "and the 
Dark Lord will make it all good again".  You show one belief to be a 
lie, I'm not sure why it's unreasonable to think Draco may start 
questioning the other beliefs. 

Draco has been hit with the rather large realization that his father 
was *mistaken* about something.  That's huge.  It's the kind of 
stuff life changes are made of.

Betsy Hp (who could have just pointed to Magpie's post and 
said, "Yeah, what she said." <g>)