Random Thoughts on Draco

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 125458


>>Steve/bboyminn:
<snip>
>As to whether Draco is pampered, spoiled, or indulged; I think not.
Draco comes from a family of wealth, privilege, and status. Because 
of this, members of the family are expected to conduct themselves 
with dignity, restraint, and formality at all times.
<snip>
>At their first meeting in Madame Malkin's Robe shop, Draco
demonstrates his self-important formal privileged old-money
aristocratic values. This may have been something that others would
have recognised and been drawn too. But Harry, having lived with the
overindulged or over-privileged Dudley, was turned off by it.
<snip>
>So, when Draco re-meets Harry on the train, he tries his best at
playing the power and status game as he understands it. His approach
is that /He/ is someone special, and that /He/ can help Harry form 
the proper strategic alliances, and that /He/ can save Harry from the
horrible mistake of associating with /commoners/. Draco is offerring
to be Harry guide through the world of power and privilege, but fails
to understand the austere and underprivileged life that Harry has
lead, never having been underprivileged himself.<

Betsy:
Yes, yes, yes!  That's exactly what I think.  Draco, interested in 
becoming Harry's friend, tries to impress Harry by doing an 
impression of his father, all aristocratic breeding and the proper 
amount of disdain for things not truly Wizard.  That's all Draco's 
known, and so it's all he knows to do.  He has no *idea* how off-
putting he's being, and so he goes and does the same thing on the 
train. I'll bet he's watched his father act similarly with other 
folk, and they *fawned* over his father, so why should Harry be any 
different?  (Though I'd also point out that Draco hit the Quidditch 
angle and the "what House do you want" angle while in the dress 
shop, which any eleven year old wizard would naturally have views 
on.  So Draco *is* trying to bring up topics of mutual interest.)

What's interesting to me is that Draco worked so hard to impress a 
boy in badly fitting Muggle clothes.  I imagine Draco was pretty 
sheltered up until Hogwarts, but he *had* to have noticed that Harry 
was dressed differently.  Was it the differences that drew him?  Or 
was Draco just eager to befriend a fellow Hogwarts student?  Things 
I sometimes ponder.

>>Steve/bboyminn:
>But Draco isn't content to build himself up, he has to tear Ron 
down in the process.
<snip>
>So, in a sense, not shaking Draco's hand was not something Harry 
did against Draco, but something he did in support of Ron. If Draco 
had left Ron out of it, he would have gotten his handshake.<

Betsy:
One thing to add to this: Ron insulted Draco first; he sniggered at 
Draco's name.  It was a small insult, yes, and I think Draco acted 
all out of proportion, but there you are.

>>Kemper:
>I'm not sure that Lucius comes from old-money. I think he married
into old money when he married Narcissa. My impression of the very
few people I know who are born into money is that they don't continue
to tell you how wealthy they are or how poor you are. What they buy
should impress upon others how wealthy they are without them needing
to say out loud how rich they are.<

Betsy:
I totally agree with you here.  I'm quite sure Lucius came from old 
pure-blood stock that had absolutely nothing to it's name.  I think 
Lucius married well, and may have made some judicious political 
moves that also added to his once empty coffers.  (After all, for a 
long while there, Voldemort was winning.) But he is too 
outwardly "money aware" to come from old wealth. The very fact that 
Lucius feels the need to attack Weasley for his poverty suggests 
that poverty is one of Lucius's biggest fears.  I doubt Draco is too 
familier with the family's monetary history, but I'm sure he's 
picked up on his father's money tensions.  Children always do.

>>Kemper:
>Even if Lucius was a natural mentor, he doesn't really know the 
rules of the Status Game to coach Draco effectively. All he knows is 
that money can buy things and privilege. Brooms and Fudge's ear. 
This is what Draco knows.<

Betsy:
Oh, I think Lucius does have *some* ideas on how the game is 
played.  He's done too well for himself (without taking on a 
career), and he did land a Black daughter. I think it's more that 
Draco is not suited, personality-wise, for the kind of games Lucius 
plays.  Lucius strikes me as a leader of his peers, but Draco, 
though he's a Prefect, seems more like a class-clown than a 
Slytherin Leader.  I also have doubts as to Draco's ruthlessness.  
His attacks on Harry have all been so... innocent, really.  Badges 
and dress-up, no real humiliation or bodily endangerment at all.  I 
get the feeling that if Lucius had been Harry's peer, he'd have been 
a much bigger threat.  Probably because Harry wouldn't have seen him 
coming.  

Because Draco doesn't measure up to his father's expectations, I 
think that Lucius gives Draco very little training.  So Draco apes 
his father without fully understanding the power behind Lucius's 
actions.  I would also add that we cannot overlook Narcissa who most 
definitely comes from an old and moneyed family.  I'm sure she's had 
some input in Draco's upbringing.

>>Kemper:
>I find it hard to believe that Draco is the only wealthy family in
Slytherin. Why didn't their families chip in for some brooms for the
team? I would guess that those families didn't need to prove that
they had money. Quiditch is just a game.<

Betsy:
Ah, now here, I think, Lucius is desperately trying to *prove* that 
he's still quite wealthy.  Maybe it wasn't a cheap business, getting 
excused as an Imperio victim back when Voldemort first fell.  Maybe 
Lucius had to dig rather deeply into the family coffers at the time 
and now there's not much left with which to gain Fudge's support.  
After all, he's *selling off* portions of the family estate in the 
beginning of CoS.  

Which leaves me to wonder - how well off *are* the Malfoy's now?  
Will Narcissa have anything with which to bargin for her husband's 
freedom, or will they have to wait on Voldemort's pleasure?  Again, 
I ponder.

Betsy