The good Slytherin (Draco Malfoy)

[John Kearns]

No: HPFGUIDX 131500

First of all, this will be my (I believe) fifth post here, and I 
realized today that I've displayed some rather horrid manners.  So, 
my apologies, and hallo!  My thanks to everybody who posts and reads 
here for what is really a wonderful community.  You all really make 
me THINK about HP, which is a lot of fun.  Onward -->

One more quick side note: for an excellent post about Slytherin and 
the basilisk, check out #71191.

> Betsy Hp:
> Ah, the old, "let's hold Draco Malfoy to a higher standard than 
> Harry" argument.  Harry has day-dreamed about putting a teacher he 
> disliked under a Cruciatus curse and bashing his head in with a 
> cauldron.  In fact, Harry actually threw a cruciatus at someone.  
> So if we're expected to look at twelve year old Draco's idle day-
> dreams about the girl he hates getting conveniently killed as an 
> example of evil, then I expect our next to discussion to be about 
> what a horrid little boy Harry has turned out to be.
> <<CUT>>
> As I've said, many times before, Draco is spouting his *father's* 
> philosophy.  We have absolutely no canon to tell us if this is 
> what all Slytherins believe.

Betsy Hp graces the surface of an issue (amidst a good argument) 
that I believe will have to come to the forefront of the story in 
the next two books, and which will hit us in the face with 
the 'Slytherin is evil' standpoint the books have taken to this 
point: Draco Malfoy is not yet himself.

I don't mean he is being Imperio-ed or anything like that.  But I, 
at least, tend to forget while reading the books that Harry, Malfoy, 
and the rest are all *kids* - kids who, even at the end of their 
fifth year, are only just beginning to feel out and understand their 
own personalities and opinions.

Fourth and fifth year (US equivalent = first two years of high 
school) are a time when kids are developmentally just beginning to 
comprehend things like the effects of their actions, the 
significance of positive relationships, and their importance and 
role in larger society.  And I think we've seen these realizations 
starting in Harry - his discoveries, for example, that Dumbledore is 
not infallable, that his father was imperfect, that his actions 
could bring about a person's death, and that he is to be a critical 
factor in the WW's war against Voldemort.

We've very little indication to this point, however, that Draco 
Malfoy has experienced anything similar.  He still espouses the 
ideas and rhetoric of his father and acts toward his peers in ways 
that demonstrate a lack of understanding of potential consequences.  
But though at the end of OotP we don't see much of Draco, we do see 
a chain of events that almost certainly should make him *think* 
about his role - his father exposed as a criminal, his arch-enemy 
revealed to be a hero, and almost certainly the full gravity of 
Voldemort's ideals, now that his family, too, has been torn apart.  
Perhaps even that his buddy Goyle is having a change of heart (why 
the heck isn't he on the inquisitorial squad?).

Now Draco may react in any number of ways, and I'm certainly not 
here to suggest that he will be crawling to Harry asking to be his 
sidekick, because of course he won't.  Nobody's character changes 
*completely* overnight or even in two years, despite some fanfiction 
suggesting the contrary.  And of course one possibility is that 
he'll think everything through and decide he's on his father's side, 
or something close to it.  Naturally there are all sorts of 
potential consequences here, but this being the less interesting 
possibility, I'm going to leave it at that.

The more intriguing possibility, of course, is that Draco finds he 
doesn't quite believe in all the horrific things his father has 
taught him.  He'll be too proud and scared of his father to 
blantantly switch sides, of course, and he'll continue to torment 
Harry because he'll still be as jealous of him as ever.  But his 
fundamental beliefs will change.  He'll still be nasty on the 
surface - after all, what else does he know to be?  And maybe he 
won't even side with the good guys but just start to feel a little 
sorry for them.  But - and remember, this is just one possibility - 
some piece of the facade he's built will come crumbling down.

We already know that Rowling's previously planned a chapter with 
Draco discussing Death Eaters, that we're seeing more of Narcissa in 
this book, and, significantly, that Draco will indeed have a Detour 
in chapter 6.  Doesn't it seem likely that *something* interesting 
will happen with this young man?

Rowling has consistently shown us characters in varying shades of 
gray.  In fact, the only characters we know much about that continue 
to be one-dimensional are the Slytherins - a viewpoint largely left 
over from Harry's 11-year-old self.  I can't fathom that this would 
continue.  Harry will now be grown up enough to see it; I think it 
highly likely, given the evidence, that Draco will too.

So, then, what would the consequences of this change be?  It's hard 
to say without knowing the context of what is to happen at Hogwarts, 
but perhaps his still-nasty self will ask to join the now-in-the-
open DA.  Perhaps he'll subtly defend Hermione in class one day, 
much to the Gryffindors' shock.  Perhaps he'll tip Harry off in 
secret that some danger is imminent.  Who knows.  But he'll show us, 
in some small way, that Slytherin is *not* evil.  That anyone is 
capable, when making the right choices, of being a good person.

And what better way to get a bit of insight into the mind of 
Voldemort - the one and only *true* evil the books have shown us?

Thanks again for the wonderful group.  And remember - this is just 
my opinion.  I'd love to hear yours. ;)

John K