ACID POPS and Teenager Draco

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 157503

> Mike:
> I saw her using everything at her disposal, including a bit 
> of 'implied' sexual coercion. Am I saying they are having an affair 
> at this point? NO, but Narcissa is being coercively feminine as 
well 
> as being obviously distraught. 

zgirnius:
I like the way you expressed that! I picked up the same ACID POPS 
overtones in reading that chapter (though I decided by the end of the 
book that LOLLIPOPS is the ship that will still be floating after the 
final storm...). She is a beautiful woman, and knows it, and she's 
trying to use any weapon at her disposal. Not because she is 
attracted to Snape, but because she is desperate.

> Mike:
> But if he thought he needed backup, why not enlist Snape? Because 
he 
> thought Snape would step in front of him and kill DD before he got 
> the chance? That's the way he presented it to DD. But if that's the 
> case, why wasn't he concerned that one of the other DEs wouldn't do 
> the same? He didn't seem to even know who was coming, much less 
> whether one of them would try to "steal his glory". At least a 
Snape 
> that he believed to be on his side and a friend of the family and a 
> mentor to him would be easier to predict. What gave Draco the idea 
> that Snape would stab him in the back? Moreover, why would he trust 
> strangers over Snape?
> 
> *This* is the plot point, regarding Draco's motivation, that I'm 
> hung up on. How will this affect Draco's actions in book 7? Could 
> his mistrust of Snape and fear of LV's reprisals help drive him 
back 
> to the *good* side? And all those ships can leave port and sink out 
> at sea for all I care.

zgirnius:
Who inserted Bellatrix into the equation? I can't find that post, but 
it had some good ideas. 

We know Bella has trained Draco over the summer (in Occlumency if 
nothing else), and we know Draco tells Snape he has better help than 
Snape, at Sluggie's Christmas party. I think Auntie Bella may be 
helping with some of the off-site stuff, like poisoning the mead, and 
rounding up Death Eaters to back Draco up. Itg would be in her 
interest for Draco to succeed in the mission as she could take credit 
for training him, and she could definitely have been harping on 
Snape's desire to steal Draco's glory.