[HPforGrownups] Draco in the Bathroom -What Next for Draco/Snape?

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 147511

> bboyminn:
> I think this reflects that way in which Voldemort is a master
> manipulator. He has pitted all the Death Eaters against each other.
> Each determined to be 'honored above all others'. Rather brilliant on
> Voldemort's part as long as the DE are plotting against each other,
> they are not plotting against him. Even though Draco fears death, he
> is still determined to be 'honored above all others'. He would rather
> die than lose his chance at 'favored' status.

Magpie:

I can't help but see it as also something bigger than that.  Going to Snape 
is more than giving up his glory, it's not becoming a man.  Thematically it 
just makes every bit of sense that Draco feels he has to do this and not go 
to a teacher to do it for him.  I always remember the talk with Snape that 
Harry overhears.  Draco is able to talk about Snape stealing his glory etc. 
It's when Snape says he knows his father's imprisonment has upset him, 
*that's* when Draco storms out.  I think the glory is a superficial thing 
next to what's really going on, which is more of a personal test. If he 
fails to be the one who protects his family so that Snape has to do it, he 
fails to be a man.  I think Harry instinctively gets this when he talks 
about Draco taking his father's place, and many of the boys in canon seem 
driven by similar concerns--Harry and Neville also seem to feel an inner 
conviction that they must do something to avenge their parents.

Ironically, the last scene with Draco has him in a child's position.  He's 
on the very edge of solving the situation himself and taking Dumbledore's 
offer after disarming him, then the DEs come in and Snape has to take care 
of things.  When Snape leaves, he picks Draco up by the scruff of the neck 
like a kitten.

-m