Draco = Evil?(was: Elkins' Draco Malfoy Is Ever So Lame. )

[alshainofthenorth]

No: HPFGUIDX 124758


Apologies for jumping into your argument like this, but I wanted to 
make a few points since there was a good while since HPFGU had a good 
Draco discussion. Snipping off points I'm not replying to. 

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "horridporrid03" 
<horridporrid03 at y...> wrote:
 
<snip>

> >>Betsy:
> >Good lord, a student interested in his studies and his sport!  
Lock 
> up the women and children; another Dark Lord is being formed! <eg><
> 
> >>Naama:
> >Well, you said he wasn't ambitious - I showed that he was. What 
> other ambitions could he have - other than excelling in studies and 
> sports?
> 
> Betsy:
> I was trying to say that other than normal ambitions (like studies 
> and sports) Draco didn't appear to have much of any.  Certainly not 
> of the "evil Dark Lord I will rule the world!" kind, anyway. 
> 
> >>Naama:
> >And really, you know, bribing your way into the team shows more 
> intense ambition than being "interested", you know. 
> > Where, oh where, does it say that he is the second best seeker?! 
> And Hermione expressed what was already clear to the reader - that 
> the new brooms bought Draco his position.<
> 
> Betsy:
> Has Slytherin lost to anyone, other than Gryffindor, since Draco's 
> been Seeker?  I don't recall that they ever have - though I'll 
admit 
> I don't have the stats down pat.  But Harry does take him seriously 
> as an opponent.  And I believe that Slytherin has won the Quidditch 
> cup every year except when Gryffindor won in PoA.  (Which, funnily 
> enough, was won not because Harry was the better player, but 
because 
> he had the better broom.)

Alshain:
Somehow the arguments about players and brooms aren't always 
consistent: Slytherin played Ravenclaw in POA and won. Draco had a 
Nimbus 2001, Cho had a Comet Two Sixty (the broomstick Draco had as 
an eleven-year-old, which looked even more like a joke against the 
Firebolt). Why is the Slytherin-Ravenclaw and the Ravenclaw-
Gryffindor games fair, but the Quidditch final isn't?

I'd also like to point out that Draco doesn't seem to be all that 
good at Quidditch. We've seen him play all of three times: first time 
he botched it by losing focus and taunting and laughing at Harry 
instead of looking for the Snitch, which was hovering by his ear. In 
the second game, he's falling for an easy feint of Harry's. Also 
commits one of the most common fouls of Quodditch (blagging), when 
Harry is about to go for the Snitch the first time. And in the third 
game, he seems to have learnt some on the job, but he's still more 
interested in intimidating Ron. He flies well, I'll grant him that, 
but he can't play a fair game to save his life.

Also, the only other Slytherin Seeker we've seen so far was Terence 
Higgs -- presumably he was a seventh-year and had contributed a lot 
to the long winning streak of the Slytherin team. We don't know which 
kind of competition Draco was facing in the tryouts second year, but 
surely there were third-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-years who were 
both talented as well as interested in trying to fill Higgs's shoes? 
What made Flint pick an unseasoned second-year? Was it Lucius Malfoy 
putting his thumb on the scales? Since the Malfoys are a powerful 
family, disgruntled people will be very circumspect. 
 
<Again, snip>

> Betsy:
> And Hogwarts is full of Muggle borns.  I put this wish of Draco's 
on 
> par with Harry's wish to smash Snape's head in with a cauldron.  
Not 
> a nice wish, no.  But until either boy is gloating over a dead 
body, 
> I tend to give them a pass. 

Alshain again:
"Too late now, Potter! They'll [Ron & Hermione] be the first to go, 
now the Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first! Well - 
second - Diggory was the f-"

Also, Hogwarts may be full of Muggle-borns, but he isn't taking them 
as an example, is he? He's consciously singling out Hermione instead 
of som Ravenclaw Muggle-born he sees each week in Herbology.
   
> Betsy:
> I don't have my books with me, but I believe in PoA, Draco goes on 
> and on to Snape about what a great Headmaster he'd make.  

Sorry, that's in CoS. Yes, Draco might genuinely like Snape, but he 
might also have selfish reasons for supporting him.

<Another snip>
> Betsy:
> 
> As to times to show compassion: There's the ferret bounce, the time 
> Draco lost the big Quidditch match, when his father got thrown in 
> jail, after he was wounded by the hippogriff.

A:
Hermione does, at least I'm reading it that way:
"Do you think he'll be all right?" Hermione asked nervously. That was 
immediately after Buckbeak had mauled him. Harry, who had had 27 
bones regrown by Madam Pomfrey in the past year, immediately 
reassured her.
  
> Betsy:
> Yes, context.  In a world with Voldemort you'll have a hard time 
> convincing me that silly, petty, Draco is supposed to be *evil*.  
> And *worst* fellow student?  Please.  He's barely a blip on Harry 
> and co.'s radar.  Why else did we hear so little of himn OotP.  His 
> digs are tired, and his songs, while hurtful to Ron, won't cause a 
> bunch of dead bodies.  And won't get a fellow student expelled. 
> (Hello, Tom Riddle!)
> 
> So no, I won't call Draco evil.  I won't call him purple either.  
> How do you define evil that you think Draco fits that definition? 

Alshain:
Betsy, I agree that Draco isn't anywhere close to Tom Riddle. But not 
for want of trying. They're quite different in their ambitions and 
their abilities. Tom's hatred for Muggles was personal and much more 
ardent; Draco is more generalised. Tom had much more ambition, but 
consider that he started from an interwar Muggle orphanage. He had 
heaps of motivation for wanting to becone something else. Draco 
doesn't. But he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth - he has 
nothing more to strive for in terms of personal comfort. He's already 
a member of one of the richest and most aristocratic members. He 
doesn't have to fight for anything other than to preserve the status 
quo. Tom also had far more charisma and magical talent, while Draco 
is an inept in comparison. But taking away their different 
environment and their different levels of personal talent, their 
mindsets are fairly similar.   

<snipping again>
 
As to Hagrid - when did he 
> sabotage one of Hagrid's classes?

One word: Buckbeak.

As to Draco, yes, I find him evil. Not in the least comparable to 
Lord Voldemort, no, but on a more human, selfish and petty level. I 
don't even think he's able to think in terms of right and wrong on a 
deeper level. It's rather telling that the first thing we see him do 
as a Hogwarts prefect in OOTP is rudely pushing aside a couple of 
first-years to get a carriage for himself and his cronies. Other 
people may see his antics as witty or funny - in any situation his 
immediate reaction is to go for the Achilles' heel in other people, 
in order to make himself look better. His evil manifests in a 
complete lack of conscience or empathy with other people, and there, 
I think he's very similar to Riddle. I can't just see his hexing 
Neville with embarrassing hexes, disrupting Hagrid's classes, 
sneering at Lupin's shabbiness or taunting Ron as anywhere close to 
wit and humour.

Alshain