More thought about Draco.

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 129690

May I apologise in advance because I am writing this post using a 
friend's computer while away on a weekend in Cardiff; hence my HP 
books are sitting in my bookshelves 25 miles away in a direct line 
and 105 miles by road! So I may not be able to quote canon with my 
usual ease.

I think that what I want to say will be, like most people's 
contributions, subjective rather than objective. Unlike Snape, to 
whom I have never been drawn, I have always had a sneaking sympathy 
for Draco because I feel that many of his less pleasant traits have 
been shaped by his background.

Perhaps my sympathy has been aroused by a quote from C S Lewis, – 
the opening sentence of "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" (if I quote 
from memory correctly) reads "There was a boy whose parents named 
him Eustace Clarence Scrubb and he almost deserved it." An epithet 
which could almost cover our Slytherin friend!

I have always held to the view that Draco /could/ move towards the 
side of light. As an evangelical Christian, I believe that no person 
is irredeemable unless by their actions and mindset, they finally 
make themselves so. Those of you who also know C S Lewis' "The Last 
Battle" will remember the dwarves who refuse to believe in the 
existence of Aslan and who finally become totally unable to see 
Heaven into which they have come and nothing can be done for them. 
In COS, Dumbledore famously remarked that it is not our abilities 
which make us what we are but our choices.

I can see similarities between Draco, Dudley Dursley and Eustace 
Scrubb. They are all the only child in their respective families and 
they are all spoiled. They all want their own way; but in Draco's 
case, I believe there is also an element of lack of love and also 
loneliness. I wonder sometimes whether the marriage of Narcissa and 
Lucius had something of an arranged match about it and that, having 
produced an heir, Lucius is too involved with other matters to be 
really close to his wife. COS suggests that there is little 
affection between father and son – although Narcissa appears to show 
some concern about Draco. In my contacts with young people over 30 
years of teaching and even longer in church young people's work, I 
have often some across boys and girls who come from a family where 
there is little love shown and where the parents indulge the child's 
every whim (often in the shape of possessions) to satisfy their 
offspring. In many of these cases, the young people are spoiled and 
demand to be given whatever they want; Dudley creates merry hell 
with Vernon and Petunia if he doesn't get it and they give in with 
disastrous results to his development. Lucius obviously expects 
Draco to better the half-bloods and Muggle-borns because he is from 
superior stock and is prepared to an extent to bribe Draco to 
satisfy him but I see no desire to meet the boy's real needs.

On the subject of Draco's loneliness, I have already said that he is 
an only child. He has grown up in an  austere atmosphere. He has 
Goyle and Crabbe as sidekicks but I suspect that the level of 
satisfying conversation with them is minimal and there must be times 
when he wishes for friendship simple and untrammelled. What we see 
of inter-personal relationships in Slytherin suggests a lot of 
hostility towards other houses but little warmth towards each other 
so that the attitudes shown between members of, say, Gryffindor to 
each other must sometimes create a little envy and longing. This may 
have been at the back of Draco's initial approach on the train. 

OK, Draco had not struck it off well with Harry in Diagon Alley but 
that could possibly have been overlooked. Maybe Draco wanted to get 
the great Harry Potter onside but there may have been a factor of 
seeking friendship in it. Draco completely fumbles the approach; he 
is not perhaps used to trying to start new relationships and manages 
to alienate Harry because of his crass comments about Ron. But we 
have two pre-teens here. I remember changing schools at 11 from a 
Junior school to a day grammar school in South London where I knew 
no one; it took some weeks to really develop close friendships and 
there were one or two relationships which went sour for no real 
reason. I also know that, although I personally had loving parents, 
there were times when I lamented that I didn't have a brother or 
sister; I discovered later in life that my mother had had a 
miscarriage during  my childhood and that wish could not be 
fulfilled.

Rejection of friendship can often produce the other side of the 
coin – enmity. This hatred has been allowed to grow over the years, 
fuelled partly by the rivalry between the two houses and has become 
a dominant factor as the two lads have grown into young adulthood. 
But Draco is on the receiving end of differing feelings. Anger 
because his father has been exposed as a death eater and sent to 
Azkaban; irritation at wanting be able to emulate Harry's popularity 
and success and the lack of a real, deep man to man friendship such 
as that enjoyed by Harry and Ron.

Personally, I would like to see a rapprochement between Harry and 
Draco. What would produce the scenario and whether it could happen 
is an open question which lies in the hands of their creator. Maybe 
matters have gone too far. It may depend on how the Second War 
develops and how the influence of Hogwarts and the train of events 
impinge on those pupils whose sympathies lie with Voldemort, either 
through parental influence or their own leanings. Many people on 
both sides are going to have to make choices which will have a 
permanent influence on their futures and on their relationships with 
their peers. And one of those is Draco Malfoy.