[HPforGrownups] Werewolf!Draco (was: Draco's alleged dark mark)

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 162530

Beatrice:
> this is a great question.  I read this editorial (
> http://www.mugglenet.com/editorials/editorials/edit-hseeker01.shtml ) a
> while ago and I have yet to see the ides posted here so here goes:
>
> read the editorial and post your thoughts. I not sure how I feel about
> this idea, but it could explain a lot.

Magpie:
Well, you asked for it.:-)  I hate this theory.  Not because Werewolf!Draco 
is something I particularly dislike (I think it's kind of interesting the 
way he seems so often connected to them as Snape is so often connected with 
vampires), but because it's one of those totally backwards theories where 
the person gets an idea that isn't really a conclusion from canon, and 
instead of looking for actual proof they just take scenes that more 
logically mean something else and say how they can make them fit the theory.

In this case, the author starts by asking "is it just me, or does DM exhibit 
the symptoms of a werewolf?"

The answer would be no. Draco exhibits none of the symptoms of being a 
werewolf. So the writer creates them with half truths. S/he says he misses 
Quidditch matches--implying that he, like Lupin, is incapacitated for days 
around the full moon.  Only the book shows Draco not incapacitated at all, 
but going to the RoR during Quidditch matches--the RoR explained by the 
actual plot in the book. It's no a "disappearance" as the writer calls it. 
It's cutting a game. (Once Harry even sees Draco minutes before the game.)

That plot also explains Draco's not handing in his Transfig homework, which 
Harry learns about from McGonagall, not Hermione as the writer claims.  The 
fact that he didn't hand in his homework indicates that he was in class, not 
missing class because he's a werewolf, which McGonagall would not give him 
detentions for. This, like the missed Quidditch games, is presented as if 
it's a mystery and not something explained in the book.

Then there's the one actual symptom: Draco's deteriorating physical 
condition, which has some things in common with Lupin's in PoA.  It also has 
something in common with Tonks' condition, which is emotional in nature. 
That's who Harry himself compares Draco to himself, not Lupin.  The writer 
ignores the ways in which Draco's condition is different from Lupin's. 
Lupin's illness was monthly. Draco is deteriorating all year--as explained 
by the Cabinet plot, not being a werewolf. (He's also described as being 
thinner as well as paler, something left out because it's less werewolf-y. 
Lupin didn't lose weight.)

The writer then presents Dumbledore's being surprised that Draco brought 
Fenrir to Hogwarts as a mystery when it's not. Dumbledore isn't shocked, he 
just correctly surmises that Draco would be upset at the idea of his friends 
being hurt by Fenrir.  Dumbledore's words don't at all suggest that 
Dumbledore must think that Draco's a werewolf. The fact that Draco's so 
afraid of Fenrir is also presented as a mystery in the essay when the guy's 
just plain scary and Draco's easily scared (in PS he's specifically scared 
of werewolves).

Next there's some significance to Draco drawn from the fact that Lupin 
mentions Fenrir wants to infect as many people as possible in the same scene 
as he explains how he himself was bitten in revenge--though it's natural 
that both these things would be in the place where Lupin introduces Fenrir's 
backstory. What's missing from the essay is anything that specifically 
indicates that Fenrir has gotten Draco.  The book, on the contrary, offers a 
completely different revenge on the Malfoys. While Draco may be afraid of 
Fenrir, Fenrir himself doesn't show that kind of interest in Draco. He says 
he likes kids and wants Dumbledore for afters. I'll bet if we get to see 
Fenrir interacting with Lupin they'll be a different vibe. If Fenrir was in 
fact the cause of all Draco's suffering I don't think he'd just avoid 
looking at him in the scene. At that point it would be too late for "if I 
don't look at him maybe he won't really be here."

The fact that Harry could be wrong about Draco's Dark Mark is true (I assume 
we'll learn for sure in the next book and if we do I hope we'll get 
confirmation of just what Draco showed Borgin--until the Mark is confirmed 
it feels like a loose thread), but we don't know that werewolf bites are so 
recognizable, that they would frighten someone. It's not needed in the 
scene. Draco doesn't need to threaten Borgin with another werewolf if he's 
one himself.
'
Then there's this:

The essay:
"It makes sense that Draco is a werewolf. It explains why he was sick for 
much of the school year. It explains why he was afraid of Greyback. It 
explains why Snape at Slughorn's Christmas party was looking at Draco as 
though both angry and...was it possible?...a little afraid? (page 321). It 
explains why Draco was crying in front of Moaning Myrtle."

Magpie:
Huh?  It's like the entire book didn't happen and these things weren't far 
better explained by the actual plot. (This is followed by a reference to the 
movie that's neither here nor there--Hermione howls like a werewolf in the 
movie too, doesn't she?)

What the essay completely ignores is a really honest attempt to look for 
evidence of werewolfism as the best conclusion, real reasons why the answers 
given in the book *can't* be true and things that disprove the werewolf 
theory.  In Draco's case this is as easy as it is with any other character. 
Werewolves miss school for several days a month. Draco does not. There's no 
references to his being absent from classes. Harry's watching him like a 
hawk and notices when he disappears from the map sometimes during the day. 
He'd have noticed monthly absences according to Lupin's schedule. Not only 
does the theory not explain anything, it unexplains a lot.

-m