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

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 145411

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.

a_svirn:

Even after your extended quotations I still don't see how else one 
can interpret "barely aiming". Draco had been aiming at Dumbledore 
throughout the episode; he did *not* lower his wand, even though at 
some point he seemed to be on the verge of doing so, and was still 
aiming when Snape arrived. Of course, since he was shaking like mad 
he would have probably missed, or failed the curse altogether, but 
it doesn't mean, that he wouldn't have attempted it. You yourself 
pointed out that he was steadily more terrified and less resolute 
during the scene; being terrified and irresolute what could he do 
but follow his orders? Faint? 

Magpie:
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.

a_svirn:

No, the suspense is what Draco's comrades-in-arms would do to him, 
of course. The trouble is that he shouldn't have been alive at that 
point of the proceeding. Draco acknowledged that much "they thought 
I'd die in the attempt". The fact that he didn't was a contingency 
they were ill-prepared for, and probably were supposed to do 
something about it. Even if they wouldn't kill Draco, it was a 
possibility that preyed greatly at his mind. That's why he sneak 
furtive glances at the door, that's why he was prepared to listen to 
Dumbledore, that's why he was so terrified.    

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.

a_svirn:

Absolutely. Except that I don't see why would "negotiating" 
and "talking the kid out of crisis" be mutually exclusive? 
Dumbledore suggested that Draco renounced Voldemort and offered him 
the protection of the Order in return. Sounds like negotiating to 
me. 

Magpie:
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.

a_svirn:
I agree. I never said Dumbledore was bluffing. But it's precisely 
because he was trying to talk Draco out of making bad things worse 
and to demonstrate that his case is not desperate, Dumbledore 
deliberately downplayed the gravity of Draco's crimes. It's all very 
well to say "Draco, Draco you are not a killer", but fact remains 
that he made two murder attempts and was the master-mind behind the 
third and ultimately successful one. 

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.

a_svirn:

It could also suggest Draco's squeamishness and his contempt for 
half-breeds. Although I agree that the fact that he tried to justify 
himself to Dumbledore inspires some cautious optimism. But 
compassion? Morality? A few minutes before Grayback arrived Draco 
had inform Dumbledore that he'd stumbled on someone's dead body. He 
didn't sound even remotely compassionate.