Raging Snape / Draco's Redemption / JKR's Plots (was:Re: seeds of betrayal)

[Peg DiGrazia]

No: HPFGUIDX 149672

Betsy Hp:
>I still see Draco's "redemption" story as being a bit dull.  He 
>just hasn't done anything really, really bad.  In fact, I get the
>sense that his dabbling in evil has quite turned him off the whole >Death Eater thing.
   
  Peg now:
  I've never understood this argument.  While I agree that Draco has likely changed his mind about wanting to be a DE, I don't see at all that he hasn't done anything really, really bad.  The ONLY reason that Draco isn't a murderer is that his first two attempts at murder were somewhat inept.  Katie nearly died; Ron nearly died.  I don't think Draco would have felt any remorse if he'd been successful in committing one of these more antiseptic murders.  The fact that he was face-to-face with Dumbledore on the tower is, IMO, the thing that made him back down and begin to rethink his position.  (I imagine it's much more difficult to kill someone who's looking you in the eye and speaking to you than it is to kill from a distance.)
   
  I'm not saying I believe Draco can't or won't be redeemed -- I believe he probably will be -- but I don't understand how being a foiled murderer is any less of a moral offense than being a successful murderer.  The fact that he seems much more concerned about LV killing him (I think it's notable that he doesn't say anything about LV killing his family to Myrtle -- that point doesn't come up until the tower) than about the effect committing murder will have on his soul (not just the physical tearing of the soul, but the emotional and psychological effects) doesn't make me like him much more, either.
   
  Peg, who didn't realize how strongly she felt about this point until she started typing!