Draco and Harry (was:The GoF Train Scene - and beyond...)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 146863

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > <snip>...I think it is significant that Draco was the only      
> > person interested in befriending Harry before knowing that he    
> > was *the* Harry Potter.

> >>Amiable Dorsai: 
> And Draco was so gracious, too--I mean, I'd be all over a person   
> who, at our first meeting, bragged about himself, insulted my     
> mother, insulted my only friend, sneered at my opinion about my    
> only friend, and then interrogated me to see if my family was     
> good enough to go to Hogwarts.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Poor Draco <g>. He really managed to stick his foot in it didn't 
he?  Having been there a time or two myself I have a hard time 
hanging Draco for that sort of sin.  

Interestingly enough, the first question Harry asks Ron is if his 
whole family are wizards.  He also regrets that he's lived with a 
Muggle family and tells Ron how horrible they are.  And while 
there's no mention of Harry's dead parents, Ron is quite eager to 
hear about the night they died. (Ron obviously misses the 
connection, as he will in GoF, so I'm not accusing him of cruelty or 
anything.)  It's interesting to me because Ron's and Harry's 
conversation is much like Draco's and Harry's.  Family lines and 
wizarding purity is covered, the weirdness of muggles is discussed, 
and Ron doesn't sympathize with Harry being an orphan at all.

A big difference is that Ron is openly impressed with Harry from the 
start, and a bit shy and self-effacing.  Draco, on the other hand, 
is quite confident and out-going.  Draco intimidates Harry, though I 
don't think he does it on purpose (he doesn't ask anything a WW 
raised child couldn't answer).  And Ron, by his own self-doubt, puts 
Harry at ease.  

I do think Draco would have chafed under the "side-kick" role, 
unlike Ron.  And their opening scenes show us as much.  Ron is much 
more content to settle into Harry's shadow.  Draco enjoys the spot-
light a bit more and I think he'd have expected to be on more equal 
terms with Harry. (Their respective Quidditch positions are pretty 
illustrative of this, I think.)

It's for the best that Harry gets adopted by the Weasleys.  The 
Malfoys would have been a disaster.  And Ron is much better in the 
supporting role than Draco could have been.  I think it's also 
important that Harry sorted into Gryffindor and Draco became the 
head of Slytherin (for their peer group).  But I still think a union 
between Harry and Draco is needed for Harry to defeat Voldemort.  
Gosh, JKR practically came right out and said so during the sorting 
in OotP.

And I do see Draco's and Harry's first meeting as the beginning of a 
beautiful friendship.  It's the old "hate each other on first sight" 
cliche, with all the mis-speakings and mis-interpertations such 
cliches involve.  Frankly, if the Norbert incident had gone down a 
bit differently I think Draco and Harry may have become friends at 
that point.  But than other things may have gone more smoothly and 
the series would have been less interesting.  However, we're coming 
to the end of the series and Harry will need to be on full power to 
take down Voldemort, so it's time for these two boys to finally 
become friends.   

Betsy Hp