The Cabinet Plan...again (was:Re: The UV (was ESE, DDM, OFH, or Grey?)

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 162781

> Pippin:

>
> That's one reason I don't think the cabinet plan was entirely
> Draco's idea. I don't think he would have been so proud of it
> and worked so doggedly at fixing it if he had conceived of it
> as a way to do murder. His internal conflict would have
> gotten in the way and he would have failed. But Draco
> didn't know he was conflicted, just as Harry didn't know he
> was conflicted about killing Sirius until he stood over him.

Magpie:
But the Cabinet Plan perfectly illustrates what you described above
as the teen mentality and Draco's conflict. The Cabinet plot makes
perfect sense as Draco's idea in that mindset, because it puts
something between him and the murder. He can work so doggedly at
fixing the Cabinet precisely because it is supposed to be a way to
do murder but it clearly isn't. It's just getting DEs into the
castle. It's only after they're there that he has to face the actual
murder part.

> Magpie:
I doubt he envisions them having anything to
> do with the students. Interestingly, the Death Eater who
> specifically does express a desire to attack students is the one
> Draco admits to DD he didn't expect.

Carol responds:
Funny, I thought and still think that he was excusing himself on the
one count he can find that he's innocent of--he knew that Greyback
was part of the plan all along (being used to force Borgin to help
with the cabinets) but he didn't expect him to come along as part of
Draco's DE backup--finally, one charge on which he can plead
innocent! I don't think it has anyt hing to do with honesty.

Magpie:
Why on earth would Draco want to plead innocent to anything? He's
*not* the kid on the playground you describe--or if he is, it's the
DEs who are the headmaster here, not Dumbledore. He's been
desperately trying to prove he's not innocent (in DD's terms) for
the entire book. Bringing Fenrir in is a minor matter on top of all
he's done from the pov of someone judging Draco negatively for his
evil deeds. It's significant for Draco because he judges by the
exact opposite values.

I see what a_svirn meant by Draco's already mentioning Greyback--
that it's a heads-up that Draco is lying at the end, but I think
it's there for completely other reasons. First, most practically, it
introduces Fenrir Greyback by name for the first time and attaches
him to these plots. More importantly, it's further illustration of
the difference between Draco's talk and his actual feelings. He can
brag about Fenrir when he's not there, threaten people with him and
refer to him as a family friend, but in person he can't even look at
him.

I tried to think of what practical reason Draco could possibly have
for lying to Dumbledore about not bringing him in intentionally, and
the only thing I could come up with is that maybe he thought
Dumbledore would take back his offer if he knew about this last bit
of evil Draco committed. But that's pretty weak given that
Dumbledore's already shown he knows about worse things he's done,
and can see through his lies, and anyway Dumbledore is obviously
about to be killed so the offer is no longer realistic anyway. I
don't think Draco's emotions are played to show a lie when he says
the line. There's no indication of the truth as I think JKR would
write it if there was. Most importantly, Draco telling that
particular lie is far too huge a change in Draco's character. But 
it's also a change in his character to 

When Draco quasi-admits to Dumbledore he's not a killer (he doesn't
even say it himself, just admits he doesn't think he has any options
but to kill and starts to accept the offer) that's a huge thing for
Draco to admit. It's his big secret that he's carried since year one
and that much of his personality is devoted to covering up (badly).
He's always loudest about proclaiming his love of evil deeds and
ability to do them himself because he can't. He spends most of the
scene on the Tower still desperately trying to keep this mask on.
Dumbledore sees through it, of course, and just keeps saying "You're
not a killer" to all of Draco's bragging about being a DE. That's
Draco lying to DD--with signs that he's doing so. When Draco starts
to lower his wand he is admitting that he would rather have his
family protected and not have to kill Dumbledore to get it. I don't
think he's ever in his life admitted even to himself that he would
make that choice.

Once the DEs come in and Dumbledore is obviously outnumbered, far
from having a reason to butter Dumbledore up by claiming to be not
so bad Draco's got every reason to hide that moment of weakness.
And also it's just too huge a thing for him to go from a life of
pretending to be worse than he is to cover up the little bit
of "good" to, in front of DEs, lying about how bad he is to pretend
to be a little more "good." Draco has always seen this kind of
goodness (or lack of badness, really) as a weakness and at the point
the DEs come in I don't think he's had time to completely change his
mind on that so that he'd suddenly scramble in the opposite
direction--especially in front of the DEs. I can believe him unable
to go back to his old lies after the taste of freedom of being
truthful about who he is, but not having done a complete 180. If
he's going to adopt those values in future, I don't think he has yet.

That line is, I think, the only time in canon where Draco ever says
something where he describes himself as less capable of that kind of
darkness (which is completely different than, say, striking an
innocent pose and claiming Potter hexed you first, which adds to
your wickedness). I can see Draco lying to make himself sound more
like a DE in that last moment on the Tower, surrounded by DEs, and I
can see him telling the truth to Dumbledore despite them. Lying to
Dumbledore in that moment with the DEs watching seems the least
logical for this character.

I just realized I was mostly talking about why Draco wouldn't *lie* 
in this case, which was a_svirn's theory and not yours, but since 
Draco's lying for the same reason as he's telling the truth in your 
version, the same arguments apply.   

-m