Draco's crime ( Repost of Amy Z post)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 128885

>>Alla:
<snip>
>No, I would say that Hagird was absolutely blameless in the matter 
and Draco had nobody to blame but himself for what happened and as 
you yourself said Bucky was acting true to his nature.<

Betsy:
And that's exactly why Hagrid *is* to blame.  He knows the 
Hippogriff nature.  He knows they're prickly, and he knows that they 
are dangerous enough to a full grown man, let alone thirteen year 
old children.  Seriously, if you were introducing children to horses 
for the first time, would you choose an amiable creature, tolerant 
of children and not offended if her coat is patted in the wrong 
direction, or a thoroughbred racing stallion, high strung and 
nervous, known to kick if approached from the wrong direction?  
Sure, if you're a horse lover, the placid old nag is a bit boring 
and the thoroughbred a much more interesting creature, but Hagrid is 
dealing with first-timers here.  Something I think he didn't fully 
comprehend. 

Also, I really see a bias here when folks jump all over Draco for 
not being all ears during Hagrid's lecture (taking place outside, 
where it's even easier to drift) and then turn around and blame 
Snape because Neville doesn't follow directions written out on a 
blackboard.  Every other professor at Hogwarts starts their classes 
out with fairly benign magic, and still caldrons get melted and 
feathers blow up.  Hagrid decides to start *his* class out with a 
creature that earns a level 3 classification from the MoM.  (My 
theory is that Hagrid geared his classes towards his own preferences 
rather than thinking about his students.  A beginners mistake, I 
would imagine.)

>>Alla:
>Oh, Draco was injured, no questions about it. He was framing Bucky, 
IMO, by milking his injury for MUCH more it was really worth.<
<snip>

Betsy:
But milking an injury isn't the same as faking an injury.  The truth 
of the matter is that he was attacked by Buckbeack and blood was 
drawn (enough to get a dog executed in some States here in the US).  
The rest was just flowers and chocolates, I would imagine.

>>Phoenixgod:
<snip>
>IIRC, Draco also bragged about what his father was going to do. If 
he didn't deliberately seek to frame buckbeak he certainly 
manipulated the aftermath pretty ruthlessly. I don't think it would 
be out of bounds to lay BB's death squarely at his feet--at least in 
part.<
<snip>

Betsy:
Oh, Draco manipulated the aftermath magnificently.  But again, the 
attack happened, Lucius used it to try and hurt Dumbledore, and 
Draco went along for the ride.  Seems a little passive for murder 
accusations to me.

>>Nora:
<snip>
>It's an extremely uphill argument if you want to make the case that
Draco is not malingering. As in, you have to deal with both the
potentially biased perceptions of other characters but also a lot of
plain fact. There's no lasting damage to his arm mentioned in
canon. He admits to what he's doing and what benefits he derives
from it here.
>So what we have is a boy who has a degree of malice or at minimum
lack of empathy to feign injury to get a teacher fired and a sentient
creature *executed*. He hides behind the authority of others in a
refusal to take responsibility for his own actions. Definitely
lacking in the virtues (such as compassion, honor, and honesty) and
other aspects of character, Draco is.<

Betsy:
I'm not arguing that he's not malingering.  And I'm not arguing that 
he's a fine upstanding citizen whose been grievously 
misrepresented.  I *am* arguing that he was a fairly passive tool in 
his father's war against Dumbledore, and that if left to his own 
devices Draco would have used his injury for tears and sympathy (and 
Harry's gnashing teeth) and possibly some quidditch strategy.  
Killing Buckbeak and firing Hagrid was Lucius' bugaboo.  One Draco 
was thrilled to witness, but not something he did himself.

(And I still don't buy the "sentient" argument.  So the WW pulled 
out all the stops to examine whether a magical creature should be 
killed.  Don't mean Buckbeak is that much more aware than an above 
average dog.  I don't mean to keep harping on the, unaware of 
impending doom, but... the creature nearly flubbed up his own rescue 
for goodness sakes.)

Betsy