Harry and Draco's views of each other WAS: Re: Real child abuse

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 145881

> Alla:
>
> Harry is always accurate? Of course not, but yes, I do think that
> Harry's view of Draco is a great deal more accurate than Draco's
> view of Harry. And I think HBP confirmed it splendidly. IMO of
> course. Harry knew that Draco is up to something and Draco was up
to
> very dangerous something. Harry did not know of course that Draco
in
> the middle of cooking up assassination of the Headmaster realized
> that he is not up to the task.

Magpie:

Harry's knowing Draco was up to something is not the kind of accurate
I'm talking about. Draco claimed Harry wasn't the Heir of Slytherin
when the whole school thought he was. That's not the kind of
accurate I mean either.  

> Alla:
>
> Agree as general philosophical proposition. Disagree on specific
> application of that general proposition. Harry got Draco's down
> as "pureblood bigot", Draco IMO is a pureblood bigot. What is
wrong
> with Harry's view of Draco here? IMO nothing. Sure, Harry does not
> concern himself with the questions why Draco is a bigot, but why
> should he?

Magpie:

"Pureblood bigot" is not the beginning and end to a personality. I
think there are good reasons for thinking about the rest of his
personality-of anyone's personality. And if you don't you can hardly
be an expert on them.

> Alla:
>
> I remember Harry getting special treatment ONCE during six books,
> namely receiving a broom stick and getting on the Quidditch team
in
> his first year, which I cannot even wholeheartedly call special
> treatment, because IMO he got on the team because of his talent,
not
> because of special connections or something.

Magpie:

Yes, I'm sure that's the way Harry sees it. Sure it's special
treatment but for an acceptable reason. Not for the kind of reasons
those other people get special treatment, which is totally unfair.
So it doesn't count as special treatment when it's Harry.

Getting a broom and being on the Quidditch team is special treatment
for whatever reason it happened. So is being able to compete in the
Triwizard tournament. So is constantly being in the newspaper and
having everyone interested in you. Or seeming to have the House Cup 
Competition results changed to favor you.  So is being the 
Hadmaster's favorite. Or being the center of the entire known 
universe in which you exist.  If you're called "The Chosen One" it's 
a good sign you might be elevated above other humans in your midst.

And Harry is The Chosen One, even if he didn't name himself that.  
By definition he is very different from all other students. Harry 
may identify himself as someone who wants or gets no special 
treatment (except the bad kind which makes his life hard), but being 
convinced of your own saintlike humility is not the same as not 
being special. At this point you can't just separate Harry's status 
from his personality. It's part of who he is.

Alla:


> While Draco gets on the team during his second year as everybody
> should, BUT because his father bought broomsticks for the whole
team.

Magpie:

I think he deserves to be on the team as much as any other Seeker in
canon we see and Harry's friends telling themselves that he's only
on the team because of his father buying brooms is just as unfair as
the Slytherins saying Harry's on the team because he's famous (if
they say that--one would hope they'd have just accepted him as a
good player when he proved himself to be such, as most of the school
seems to have done with Draco). We have plenty of clues that Draco
deserves his place on the team. He's a perfectly good player whose
father donated sports equipment four years ago. (I can just imagine
the way it would be viewed if Draco got a Firebolt third year
instead of Harry.  If we can get over that, we can get over the 
Slytherins having new brooms in second year.)

> Alla:
>
> I think that by the end of HBP Harry is already giving a lot more
> perspective to Draco than he deserves....but I don't see Harry's
view of Draco's "public persona" as being skewed. IMO of course. I
think Harry judged well what he saw of Draco, while Draco's judgment
of any part of Harry's character is IMO totally skewed.

Magpie:

So Harry can see Draco as being as an amoeba while not seeing 
himself as superior to anyone. I don't think Draco's view of Harry 
is *as* skewed as Harry thinks it is (and it might be agreed upon in 
some ways by people closer to Harry).  I don't think Harry's view of 
Draco as a total person is completely accurate and I think both boys 
project things they don't want to face in themselves onto the other. 
The descriptions of Harry here hint at a different character than I 
see in the books, so we seem to be sort of trying to have two 
different conversations with neither of us interested in the one the 
other one is having.

-m