Draco an underdog?

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 131958

> >>Geoff:
> I am coming to the conclusion that Alla, Betsy and I are not all
> singing from the same hymnsheet on the question of who is or is not
> an underdog.
> Alla has presented a number of cases where Harry is not "the best
> thing since sliced bread" in the eyes of his house or the school.
> <snip of examples>
> But...
> None of these put him into an "underdog" situation. To repeat my
> definition of a couple of days ago: an underdog is "a competitor
> thought to have little chance of winning a fight or contest."
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
I think the difficulty is that Harry is competing on different 
fronts.  There's his school-boy rivalry with Draco.  And his coming-
of-age conflict with Snape.  And of course his epic battle with 
Voldemort.  In each conflict Harry stands in a different place.

With Voldemort I think Harry does stand as the underdog.  As you 
pointed out, Geoff, Harry *does* beat Voldemort whenever they meet, 
but he always has help (usually Dumbledore's).  Voldemort *is* 
stronger and more knowledgeable than Harry, and so when they do 
finally meet alone (in book 7 I'd imagine) Harry will go into the 
battle as the underdog.  (Or as much an underdog as a children's book 
hero is allowed to have -- I somehow doubt JKR will go for 
a "Voldemort wins!" type ending <g>.)

Harry's conflict with Snape is a bit more gray.  Harry sees Snape as 
a bad authority figure he must overcome, and Snape does seem content 
to play the role.  But Snape never *really* hurts Harry when he has 
opportunity to, instead he protects him.  It's hard to judge who has 
more power in a contest where one of the players has so willingly 
handicapped himself.

The school-boy rivalry with Draco is quite clear though, IMO.  From 
the first book Harry bests Draco in every contest they enter into.  
At their very first meeting Draco tells Harry he hopes to bring a 
racing broom to school and play for his house quidditch team.  And 
what does Harry end up doing in defiance of school rules?  He has a 
racing broom at school and plays for his house team.

Every other book follows this pattern.  Harry *always* wins, and 
Draco *always* loses.  The only thing keeping the rivalry going is 
Draco's persistance in climbing back onto his feet and charging once 
more into battle. 

Betsy Hp