Draco, Harry & Norbert / Keeping Lupin's Secret (was:My own take on the Prank)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 152691

> >>Joe:
> > <snip> 
> > In fact we see the scene again in some ways when Draco follows 
> > Harry, Ron and Hermione to Hagrid's hut just so he can tell 
> > McGonagall.

> >>Lunasa:
> I was thinking that myself actually. And everyone one involved got
> punished. All four kids got points taken away for snooping about   
> the grounds in the middle of the night. 
> <snip>

> >>Magpie:
> I agree Draco in PS/SS (where he's spying on the Trio etc.) does 
> remind me of what we hear of Snape from Sirius and with the       
> Prank.  
> It certainly sounds like he was trying to get them in trouble.  
> Though that also brings up a whole host of other things to think 
> about for me, because I don't think Draco does follow them just so 
> he can tell McGonagall.  He only tells McGonagall when he gets 
> caught himself.  Draco throughout PS/SS, to me, seems to want far 
> more to be in on it than he does to be telling on it.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Actually, this scene in PS/SS was where I expected Draco and Harry 
to become friends. (I was expecting such a scene throughout the 
entire book because the "school days" genre feel was so strong in 
PS/SS.  Oh well. <g>)  

To refresh everyone's memory, Draco first overhears about Hagrid 
hatching a dragon from Harry and Hermione [SS paperback p.234], but 
doesn't say a word to anyone.  He then sneaks down to Hagrid's hut 
and sees the newborn Norbert for himself [235] and again tells no 
one.  When the trio hit on giving Norbert to Charlie, Draco finds 
out about the plan [238] and keeps silent.  Harry and Hermione go 
ahead with the plan (Ron being too injured to help) since it's too 
late to change the meeting time with Charlie.  And then comes one of 
the funnier scenes in the books, IMO.

"Then a sudden movement ahead of them made them almost drop the 
crate.  Forgetting that they were already invisible, they shrank 
into the shadows, staring at the dark outlines of two people 
grappling with each other ten feet away.  A lamp flared.
"Professor McGonagall, in a tarten bathrobe and a hair net had 
Malfoy by the ear." [240]

The *reason* I find that scene so very amusing is that apparently 
Draco *didn't* call McGonagall there to catch Harry in the act; 
Draco was waiting to do the catching himself.  But when he leaped 
out at the person walking by in the dark, he actually grabbed hold 
of McGonagall.  Hee!  That *must* have been a surprise.

Honestly, the fact that Draco didn't share the information about the 
dragon with *anyone*, and that he was lurking in the hallway all by 
himself (no Crabbe or Goyle) suggested to me that his real goal was 
to see an actual, live dragon.  They're his namesake, after all.  
Unfortunately, McGonagall ruined his plans and he ended up being 
sent into a "werewolf infested" forest.

But this is very different, IMO, from Snape's interaction with the 
Marauders.  For one, it's not Draco's style to try and catch wrong 
doers in the act himself.  If he'd wanted Harry to get in trouble 
he'd have told Filch the where and the when and let Filch do the 
catching.  Or he could have put a bug in Filch's ear back when 
Norbert hatched. 

But that follows for me, since I see no parallels between young!
Snape and Draco, or between the trio and the Marauders.  Other than 
their houses, the two generations aren't all that similar.  
(Honestly, the closest parallel I see is young!Snape to Harry, and 
young!James to Draco, but even that isn't a perfect match by any 
means.)

> >>Magpie:
> <snip>
> What's actually a bit funny that I just thought of is that, you 
> know, what about Dumbledore getting in trouble?  Little Snape     
> could have caused a whole lot of trouble back then, similar to the 
> way his telling on Lupin in PoA gets him fired.  Dumbledore's      
> snuck a werewolf into the school?  One who, it might come out, has 
> in fact been roaming the countryside with three other students    
> every full moon?  However did Dumbledore get Snape to keep the     
> secret? Especially in a way that MWPP never seemed to appreciate?

Betsy Hp:
*That* is an interesting question, Magpie.  I'm trying very hard to 
not enter into conjecture about what exactly happened during the 
infamous Prank.  JKR is far too good at twisting preconceived 
notions (see Merope and Tom), and I'm sure there will be some twists 
to this particular tale.

Because *if* Snape was really Lucius Malfoy's lapdog, he had an 
excellent way of getting that rather hot piece of information out to 
the WW general public.  And the WW would not have stood for their 
precious children being exposed to a werewolf.  Even if Dumbledore 
(with his powerful connections) hadn't been fired, Lupin would have 
been expelled for sure.  And I'm betting Dumbledore would have at 
least been weakened.  It didn't take very much for the MoM (under 
Fudge's rather weak and ineffective leadership) to take over 
Hogwarts. 

Yet, it's only when Lupin shows himself incapable of being safe 
around children that Snape finally outs him.  Why does Snape keep 
the secret for so very, very long?

Betsy Hp