Draco and Harry

[Miles]

No: HPFGUIDX 147200

Geoff Bannister wrote:
> Draco on the other hand comes from a different direction but not
> necessarily a hugely happier one than Harry. From canon, I see that
> Narcissa, at least, is very fond of her son - and probably loves him.
> On the other hand I get a feeling Lucius only fathered him in order
> to have an heir. He seems distant, hypercritical and dismissive of
> Draco. He is also a single child and I suspect has a lot of time on
> his own at home; I cannot see Crabbe and Goyle coming over to spend
> time with him. From an early age, he has been schooled in the fact
> that he is a pureblood and that his family are quite something in the
> Wizarding World.

Miles:
I strongly agree with your estimation of Draco as another "grey" character
in the series - obviously a darker shade of grey than Harry and his friends,
but still grey, not black. My impression of some listies who see Draco as
"evil" is, that they more or less share Harry's PoV (which is parallel to
the narrator's PoV), whereas others try to keep a distant and critical view
of the narrator's evaluation - but we discussed this before to the point of
disagreement (hi Alla :-) ).

But I'd like to add another aspect to the comparison of Harry and Draco: the
circles of friends.

Harry's "inner circle" contains of two people, later three (Ginny). His
friends are intelligent, independent, and the two/three of them act on an
equal level, sometimes (but not always) with Harry as primus inter pares.
Ron, Hermione and later Ginny are extremely loyal to Harry as he is loyal to
them, but they criticise each other if they think it is necessary to do so.
Harry has support, he has people who love him (sic), he can rely on them,
they are friends, advisors and give him emotional comfort, and he can share
(most of) his secrets with them.

Draco's "inner circle" contains of Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy. (Do I have to
continue?). We do not know very much about their relations, but we get some
impressions. The deepest insight is in CoS with Harry and Ron as Crabbe and
Goyle in the Slytherin Common Room. AFAIR the young Malfoy/Crabbe/Goyle
mirror the relation of their fathers - the sons of C&G are more or less
"ordered" to "serve" Draco, as their fathers serve Lucius (I'm not sure
about canon, maybe my interpretation is too ambitious here). But what we
know, C&G are stupid, they act as bodyguards to Draco, but they are
certainly far away from being on equal  terms with Draco or being his
advisors. Pansy, joining Draco later as his girlfriend, seems to admire him,
again a relation with clear hierarchy. Draco lacks friends who support him
emotionally, criticise him, and he has nobody whom he can share his secrets
with - we clearly see this in HBP (Myrtle).

Yes, Draco is partly responsible for his own friends, as Harry is for his
friends. But he is pushed by his family background into a social situation
he obviously suffers from at the latest in HBP. And how could he escape from
this situation as long as he is at Hogwarts? We should think about our own
schooltime - a change of school always changes the social relations of a
student, and sometimes such a change is the only chance to get out of a
desperate situation with "bad" friends (or an isolated situation without any
friends). As a Hogwarts student Draco's chances of finding *real* friends is
very small - but it can improve now (not if he joins the DE "community"...).

Miles