ACID POPS and Teenager Draco

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 157463

--- "Neri" <nkafkafi at ...> wrote:


> ...substantial editing...
> 
> Neri:
> In your version Draco's attitude towards his mother and 
> Snape in HBP is completely irrational. ... he is desperate 
> enough to cry in bathrooms, even after Snape saves his 
> life, Draco wouldn't trust him for help .... The fact that 
> his father is also in mortal peril if the mission fails 
> only makes accepting Snape's help more logical and more 
> urgent. So in order to explain Draco's irrational behavior 
> here you must introduce the Teenage Irrationality Factor.
> ...
> 
> In my version Draco has a rational reason to mistrust 
> both his mother and Snape. He has a rational reason to 
> suddenly have problems with authority figures. He feels 
> betrayed by the important adults in his life. He's afraid
> that his mother and Snape have reasons of their own
> in helping him, that they might be manipulating him. ...
> 
> 
> Neri


bboyminn:

I think you have both touched on aspects of the situation 
with Draco, but I also think you are both missing the most 
critical aspect - Secrecy.

When you swear an oath of loyalty to Voldemort and accept 
his brand, you are also swearing an oath of secrecy. It 
is not Draco's position to divulge any information to 
anyone other than those that Voldemort has assigned to 
assist Draco. You violate that secrecy on forfeit of your 
life.

Draco is playing with the big boys now, he is not keeping 
'schoolboy secrets' any more, these are high stakes life 
and death secrets. It is not Draco's position to tell 
Snape anything. It is not Draco's position to tell his
 mother anything. That task is left up to Voldemort. 

If Snape had come to Draco and said that he was under 
Voldemort's order to help Draco, then Draco would have 
had no choice but to gladly  spill his guts. But Snape 
never said that and neither did his mother. So Draco is 
stuck. If he fails, he dies. If he asks for help from 
the wrong person, he dies. If he gives away the 'secret', 
he dies. Not a lot of choices for poor old Draco.

Voldemort is forcing an impossible standard of adult 
behavior on to Draco, and Draco is not carrying the load 
well. Other more experienced DE's might have found a way
to ask for help. They may have understood that Voldemort's 
plans are not always the most rational, and sometimes, 
you need a little 'secret' help to pull them off. But 
Draco is taking it very serious and VERY VERY LITERAL, 
and he can't ask for help, because to do so would be a 
betrayal of Voldemort and an early death sentence 
probably for himself and for the rest of his family.

So under that circumstance, even factoring in the other 
aspect brought up by others, Draco simply can divulge 
the secret of his mission to anyone other than those 
specifically assigned to him by Voldemort.

Just a thought.

Steve/bboyminn