Draco as Victim in GoF (was: Re: The Huge overreactions...)

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 150280

I hope this doesn't go through twice, but my post seems to have been 
eaten:

>   Joe:
> I went back and checked. It wasn't Gryffindors who did the hexing
it was Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws who had been in the DA.

Magpie:
You checked the wrong book.  She's talking about the end of GoF,
you're talking about the end of OotP. In OotP Draco, Crabbe and
Goyle try to get Harry on the train and the kids from the DA rise up
and hex them into slugs.  At the end of GoF Draco, Crabbe and Goyle
come into Harry's compartment and taunt them with Voldemort's
return.  The Trio and Fred and George hex them unconscious.

> Alla:

> 
> Draco's provocation is NOT an interpretation, it is a fact, 
Draco's 
> death threat to Hermione is NOT an interpretation, it is in my 
> opinion an absolute fact and Draco is considered a victim? I truly 
> find it impossible to understand.

Magpie:
I'm going to have to disagree that the death threat is not an 
interpretation because I don't see it.  What Draco is doing here is 
far more effective than making death threats that everyone knows he 
can't make.  He is taunting Harry with the situation at hand: 
Voldemort's back and you're all in trouble now.  He himself is not 
going to do anything.  He certainly has no power to get Voldemort or 
the DEs to do anything.  What he is saying to Harry is that *Harry* 
has put his friends in danger.  It's common knowledge that 
Muggleborns and "blood traitors" are Voldemort's natural prey, so 
he's telling Harry that his actions are going to bring Voldemort 
right to the doors of these particular Muggleborns and "blood 
traitors."  It's a far more effective thing to say precisely because 
it isn't about Draco threatening them.  He's telling it like it is.  
It's much more chilling to Harry, imo, hitting the mark.  A death 
threat wouldn't--we maybe see that in OotP when Draco does threaten 
Harry and Harry isn't afraid at all. 

Now, as to whether it's a provocation, yes it is.  What on earth did 
Draco expect going into their car and saying that?  (Perhaps he 
didn't think at all--Draco does seem to feel some need to make 
scenes like this in response to the reality of Voldemort.)  I don't 
have a problem with calling him a victim since he winds up 
unconscious.  I also don't have a problem with saying he provoked 
the attack.  One can intend to victimize and wind up being the 
victim.  Within canon it seems a non-issue.  There are things that 
Malfoy brings up when he's felt wronged and I don't think this is 
one of them.  It seems he pretty much has to accept that he did 
something stupid here and take his lumps. And the Trio doesn't have 
to stew over it because they came out on top.  Nothing seems to be 
festering about this scene (or any of the train fights).


Pippin:
Compare Harry and Co's reaction to Dumbledore's
in a similar situation and look at the results.


Harry and his friends reacted to offensive language and the threat
of violence with violence.

Result: Draco became more embittered and violent.

OTOH, Dumbledore instructed Draco not to use offensive language in
front of him, and mildly pointed out that if Draco truly wished to 
kill him, he would have done so already.

Result: Draco realized he was not a killer.

I think canon shows that while it's perfectly understandable that 
Harry and his friends reacted the way they did, their choice was 
less beneficial than Dumbledore's and they were unwise to make Draco 
the victim of their aggression. If they had truly understood Draco, 
they would not have felt threatened by him, still less by Crabbe and 
Goyle.

Magpie:
Exactly.  I wouldn't expect the kids to act like Dumbledore here, 
but we don't have to stop there.  Harry eventually learning that 
there would have been a better way to handle people like this, and 
that Draco isn't quite what Harry think she is does not mean Draco 
can't also learn what he did was wrong and accept his own part in 
it.  You've referenced what I thought was an important moment in the 
Tower, the moment where Dumbledore tells Draco not to use the word 
Mudblood.  I get the feeling that just might come up later.  Because 
if there's going to be any change in the way Draco and the other 
characters interact this issue obviously has to be addressed.  It 
needs to be addressed if there's to be a healing between the houses, 
and by "addressed" I mean that the "Mudblood" attitude is wrong.  
Beating him up when he says the word doesn't change anything and 
sometimes makes it worse.  (In fact, that goes across the board with 
Malfoy, really.  People often say that what he needs is for someone 
to finally rise up and beat him, but that happens all the time.)  I 
think we've seen in the series that Draco isn't entirely incapable 
of learning or changing his behavior.  It just remains to be seen if 
this will lead to anything significant.

-m