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

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 162813

> > >>a_svirn:
> > I don't think we can dismiss that as bragging, though. Draco's 
> > bragging usually fails to impress his audience; in fact, the 
effect 
> > it often produces is quite the opposite one. Yet the old 
Ollivander 
> > was certainly impressed. Whatever Draco showed him, it must 
have    
> > been sufficiently convincing...
> > <snip>
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> Right, but it's what Draco *showed* Borgin that did the trick.  
> Borgin was already frightened and changing his tune when Draco 
> followed through with the Fenrir threat. (The bragging wasn't the 
> powerful bit.)

a_svirn:
Why do you assume that it was bragging then? In the beginning of HBP 
Draco gave Borgin (sorry, it was Borgin, of course)to understand that 
he is Grayback's colleague. And sure enough, in the end of HBP 
Grayback shows up among the group of hit-men. Where do you see the 
snag? 


> > >>a_svirn:
> > I concede that Draco might not have been technically 
lying.        
> > <snip>
> > But it seems to me that he wasn't exactly honest either. He'd 
known 
> > very well that Grayback was likely to come.
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> But that's an assumption.  And I'm not sure what you're basing it 
> on.  Why should Draco have felt Fenrir was likely to come? 

a_svirn:
He didn't have to *feel* anything. He *knew* that Grayback was part 
of the group. That makes odds for his showing up at the grand finale 
rather good.

Draco said to Dumbledore that he hadn't invited Grayback, but then, 
he probably hadn't *invited* anyone at all – he wasn't the one who 
passed the invitations. He wasn't the one in control.  

> > >>a_svirn:
> > Oh, yes, Dumbledore said that he's not a killer. But what does it 
> > mean? He didn't say, "Draco, Draco, you are not a 
murderer",        
> > because they both knew that Draco did stoop to murder.
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> Who did Draco murder?  

a_svirn:
No one. I said he stooped to murder, but we all know very well that 
he wasn't successful. Or, as Dumbledore said, he was "lucky". Which 
actually means that his victims were lucky. 

> Betsy Hp:
Also, I think you've got the gradations of the 
> words wrong.  One can be a killer without being a murderer (a 
> soldier, for example).  But one cannot be a murderer without being 
a 
> killer.  For someone to murder they've had to kill.

a_svirn:
Yes. That's what makes Draco such a poor soldier for any cause, 
Voldemort's or Dumbledore's alike. He has no objection to murdering 
people so long that he doesn't have to do or witness actual killing. 
Poisoning, plotting and planning for others to do the job – that's 
more in his line. 

> > >>a_svirn:
> > What did he actually say to him, then? That he was no good as 
a    
> > Voldemort's hit-man and would be much better off under the 
Order's 
> > protection? In that case Draco's lowering his wand would mean 
only 
> > admitting his own limitations. A sure sign of growing-up, 
but       
> > little else, I am afraid.
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> And yet, Draco proved himself well able to be Voldemort's hitman.  
He 
> had Dumbledore dead to rights. 

a_svirn:
No, he didn't. He simply had an incredible and completely unforeseen 
luck to find Dumbledore incapacitated. If it hadn't been for that he 
wouldn't have been in a position to complete his assignment. 

> Betsy Hp:
 So Draco doesn't lower his wand 
> because he's in a weak position.  That he's in a position of 
> strength, a position that someone who *was* a killer could have 
> operated quite comfortably from, is what makes Draco's lowered wand 
> so powerful.  

a_svirn:
It would have been powerful, if Draco *had* lowered his wand. But he 
was in no hurry to do that. Dumbledore's offer was the answer to his 
prayers, but, then, Draco had never dreamed to find him so weak. So 
he hesitated. Tried to weigh the advantage of giving to Voldemort his 
heart's desire against the disadvantage of being enslaved to the Dark 
Lord for the rest of his life. That he started to lower his wand 
gives credit to his intelligence, but not to his morals. 

> Betsy Hp:
> Powerful enough that if effects Harry.

a_svirn:
How does it affect Harry? The best that can be said is that he pities 
Draco.