IIn the Tower (was: Peter's basic nature v Snape basic nature)

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 145225

va32h:

I do think Draco was exaggerating. I have loaned out m y copy of HBP,
but doesn't Draco even say it in passing? As in "After Montague 
nearly
died..." Draco is not a character we can count on to be objective or
reliable in his information giving.

Magpie:

He's not objective but anyone can be accurate at times (this is the 
same way I look at Sirius' claim that Snape went around with a gang 
of Slytherins--Sirius may not be objective about Snape, but I take 
that line as accurate).  I thought the Montague line was relatively 
accurate in the same way.  Perhaps another person wouldn't have 
said "he might have died" but Draco offers this in the middle of a 
straightforward explanation of how he pulled off the cabinet thing.  
He says (since I've got my book for this post!):

"Montague told me that when he was stuck in the Hogwarts one, he was 
trapped in limbo but sometimes he could hear what was going on at 
school, and sometimes what was going on in the shop, as if the 
Cabinet was travelling between them, but he couldn't make anyone 
hear him...in the end he managed to Apparate out, even though he'd 
never passed his test.  He nearly died doing it.  Everyone thought 
it was a really good story..."

"Nearly died" is kind of vague and I doubt it's a clinical 
diagnosis, but in OotP there were ongoing mentions of Montague 
spending a long time recovering with Madam Pomfrey, indicating he 
really did suffer something serious, imo.  There's no mention of him 
being splinched, which I think we should have heard about.  He 
seemed more addled than missing body parts.  I think this came from 
Apparating out of limbo and into Hogwarts (into which you're not 
supposed to be able to Apparate) rather than just a normal 
Apparition problem.  Had he not been able to Apparate out we don't 
know how long he might have been stuck or how they'd have gotten him 
out, I guess.

> a_svirn:
> I believe we are told that his wand was shaking so badly that he 
> could barely aim. Which means, in effect, that he did aim, albeit 
in 
> an unsatisfactory manner.  

Magpie:

I guess you could use that line to say that aiming=going to act, but 
it seems to deliberately rewrite the scene to add some suspense over 
whether Draco might throw the AK before he's stopped by Snape's 
arrival.  Draco's already been aiming at DD since the beginning of 
the scene, meanwhile the DEs are standing around ordering him to act 
and being at a loss because he doesn't and won't. Dumbledore said 
pages ago Draco wouldn't kill him and I never saw any reason to 
think DD was wrong.

HBP:

"No, said the fourth Death Eater sharply. He had a heavy, brutal-
looking face. 'We've got orders. Draco's got to do it. Now, Draco, 
and quickly.'

"Malfoy was showing less resolution than ever. He looked terrified 
as he stared into Dumbledore's face, which was even paler, and lower 
than usual..."

Magpie:

He's even less resolute than he was before, and even before he did 
not make the move to kill Dumbledore.

There's then more conversation with more Death Eaters ordering Draco 
to do it and (HBP):

"Now, Draco, quickly!" said the brutal-faced man angrily.

But Malfoy's hand was shaking so badly he could barely aim.

"I'll do it," snarled Greyback, moving towards Dumbledore..."

Magpie:

So first Draco was looking even less resolute and more terrified, 
*staring into DD's face.* He was already aiming at him and had been 
throughout the scene.  The description here to me seems more about 
showing Draco's disintegration ("Do it quickly--But Malfoy was 
shaking so badly he could barely aim") rather than a burst of 
intention on Malfoy's part (for instance, "Malfoy tried to point his 
wand at Dumbledore but his hand was shaking badly").

I think Draco's still mostly responding to Dumbledore in this scene--
and Dumbledore is aware of that connection too (until he's dead). 
There is, imo, no tug-of-war going on here with Draco wavering 
between the two sides.  He's paralyzed, knowing what he isn't, but 
unsure of what he is.  I don't think there's any suspense that Draco 
might AK DD.  He's done.  He knows something about what he is now 
and he can't go back to the person he was at the beginning of the 
scene, imo, which was DD's intention.

"Draco, do it, or stand aside so one of us..." says the woman.  When 
Snape comes in Amycus says, "We've got a problem, Snape...the boy 
doesn't seem able..."

The constant repititions of "do it, Draco," seem to again stress 
that Draco isn't trying to do it.  He's not acting. He's frozen, 
with, imo, probably a lot going on inside him that is coming out 
physically. (Elkins actually spotted this being something JKR did 
with Draco way back pre-OotP and I think HBP showed she was right in 
her readings of Draco's physical descriptions.)

a_svirn:

As for Dumbledore, he was, after all, the 
> one being held at wandpoint and tried to negotiate. Under the 
> circumstances, I wouldn't take everything he said at its face 
value. 

Magpie:

I do take his words at face value, absolutely.  Dumbledore has never 
been more on his game than he is in that last scene with Draco imo.  
Physically he's weak, but he's totally in control in his 
conversation with Draco. He's not negotiating, but talking the kid 
through the crisis he's come to.  Just as I don't think DD would 
plead with Snape not to kill him, I don't see him negotiating with 
Draco to spare his life.  He's known this was coming in one form or 
another.  He's described as speaking kindly and like a teacher, 
gently guiding Draco towards his own conclusions.  There's no 
indication, imo, that this is an act.  (In fact ultimately 
Dumbledore's being unarmed is what makes him more powerful.)  When 
Draco says DD should be afraid his, "But why?" seemed genuine to me, 
not a bluff.  When I read this scene I really thought this was 
Dumbledore at his essence; his finest--dealing with a boy on the 
wrong path.  I tend to think this was the DD that Snape knew. This 
is a Dumbledore I can imagine Snape being loyal to (in fact, this is 
a Dumbledore who I think could have inspired DDM!Draco, something 
I'd never have thought of pre-HBP--not that I'm saying that's 
happened).  I'd love to get a glimpse of Snape's own second chance 
scene after this.

> a_svirn:
> Well, his last words weren't about Malfoy period.

Magpie:

I don't know everything his last words are about but okay, even if 
they're not about Draco his last scene is mostly a long conversation 
with Draco where Dumbledore talks about not being a killer and is 
patient and calm, very much the teacher, while Malfoy broadcasts 
physical signs of his internal conflict and distress.  He swings 
back and forth emotionally, looks pale, trembles, his voice cracks 
and he looks like he's about to vomit.  

Draco's last words, which are I believe a first for him in canon, 
suggest respect of Dumbledore's opinion.  

HBP:

"Am I to take it that you are attacking even without the full moon 
now?  This is most unusual..you have developed a taste for human 
flesh that cannot be satisfied once a month?

"That's right," said Greback.  "Shocks you, that, does it, 
Dumbledore?  Frightens you?"

"Well, I cannot pretend it does not disgust me a little," said 
Dumbledore.  "And, yes, I am a little shocked that Draco here 
invited you, of all people, into the school where his friends 
live..."

"I didn't," breathed Malfoy.  He was not looking at Greyback; he did 
not seem to want to even glance at him.  "I didn't know he was going 
to come--"


Magpie:

I think that even with the arrival of the DEs Dumbledore retains his 
connection with Draco.  In comes this walking reminder of the 
results of murder--Fenrir's taste for human flesh becomes worse the 
more he can't satisfy it just once a month. Dumbledore brings the 
lesson back to Draco: Did you bring him here?  And Draco assures him 
he didn't, because it matters even if DD is about to die and the 
damage is done.  He doesn't try to act tough about it or hide his 
own disgust in front of the DEs, he says something to make DD think 
better of him in front of them all.  (The DEs are all speaking to DD 
with disrespect, as Draco had been doing earlier.)  It is probably 
the only line Draco ever has in canon that suggests something like 
compassion or morality.

To me this scene is so central to what DD must be about--and what 
Snape is about.  In most modern Hollywood scripts this plays out 
differently: the hero offers mercy just so that the villain can 
reject it and get killed.  The audience gets to watch the bad guys 
wiped out while still assuring themselves that the good guys offered 
mercy.  I think JKR is writing the more interesting/difficult story, 
where mercy isn't just words, and second chances can make all the 
difference.  

-m