Draco in canon (Was: What's with all the Draco love in fanon?)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 153198

Magpie wrote:
<snip>
> Draco's always been a character in an interesting situation.   Many 
> people argued long before HBP that his situation and set up meant he 
> had to play a part somewhere.  There aren't a lot of kids in canon 
> that have any characterization that are in his type of situation; he 
> offers a lot of things for a fanfic writer to explore.  Fanon can do 
> different things with a character so that people can keep things
they like, lose things they don't like, shade things one way or
another.  I mean, the funny thing about all the "why would people
write about him?" is that of course ultimately the author was one of
them. <snip>  
> Iow, many Draco fanfic authors were interested in the same things 
> about the character that seem to interest the author.  

Carol responds:
Rather than looking at Draco in terms of fan reaction, it might be
profitable to consider him in literary terms. The whole Draco subplot
in HBP puts Harry in the role of eavesdropper, ironically analogous to
the young Severus Snape in a number of ways that aren't relevant here
since we're talking about Draco as a character rather than a plot
device. There's also a Harry/Dumbledore Draco/Snape parallel, which
may be further developed in Book 7.

I'm interested in what you mean by Draco's "situation," which I take
to be analogous in some ways to Dudley Dursley's (an only son whose
mother smothers and overindulges him) and in other ways to Ron's (both
are purebloods but one has been taught to believe and the other to
reject the doctrine of pureblood superiority). So one way to look at
Draco would be as a foil (or "mirror") to Ron, or perhaps to the young
Sirius Black, who grew up in a family of Dark wizards with Slytherin
values (snake symbols all over the house) and yet rejected both
pureblood superiority and Voldemort. Or maybe he's a foil to Regulus,
who followed a similar path and ended up rejecting Voldemort. It's too
soon to say whether he'll do the same and whether, unlike Regulus,
he'll survive. But in some ways, Draco's "situation" is unique among
the more developed minor characters because his father is a Death
Eater (as is his aunt) and his mother is, at the least, a Voldemort
loyalist. The only character (aside from the thuggish Crabbe and
Goyle) whose situation is similar is Theodore Nott, and we have yet to
see enough of Theo to know where the arrest of his own DE father, and
the knowledge of Draco's post-HBP plight, will lead him.

Another way to look at Draco is in terms of his role as (minor)
antagonist. IMO, in the first five books, he's as much Ron's
antagonist as Harry's, perhaps because he regards Ron as a "blood
traitor" who ought (in his view) to share his values. Following his
father's example, he turns up his nose at Dumbledore, calling him a
"Mudblood lover," and tries to undermine the "oaf" Hagrid, known to be
a Dumbledore supporter. None of this behavior is of any more
consequence to Draco himself, IMO, than his schoolyard bullying or the
Gryffindor/Slytherin Quidditch rivalry. He's merely following in the
steps of his idolized father, consciously or unconsciously helping him
undermine Dumbledore via Hagrid and hoping that the Heir of Slytherin
will wipe out the "Mudbloods." None of this is the result of thinking
things through; he's merely accepting without question what his
parents, and particularly his DE father, have taught him. And
considering that three of the four boys who share a dorm room with him
(Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott) are also sons of DEs and the fourth, Blaise
Zabini, is a pureblood supremacist, he's unlikely to question Malfoy
family values.

At the end of OoP, his antagonism focuses briefly and intensely on
Harry, whom Draco holds responsible for his father's arrest. (I
believe, though I can't prove it, that he went to Voldemort himself,
intent on revenge but also full of his brilliant little plan to let
DEs into Hogwarts without getting his own hands dirty.) But once he
receives his mission from the Dark Lord, he becomes a seemingly
ineffectual antagonist to Dumbledore (and an unwitting agent of
Snape's tragic dilemma). And now he's an outcast and an outlaw, with
little choice but to become a DE in earnest (or pretend to be one,
under Snape's guidance and protection), or turn to his enemies and ask
them to hide him. To me, the last seems least likely.

Will Draco be redeemed? Will he die? Will he fall irretrievably into
evil? Whose antagonist, if any, will he be in Book 7. I think that
he'll follow the path foreshadowed by Regulus, somehow helping Harry
and then dying as a "traitor" to the DEs. But if he remains a DE, I
think that he'll be Ron's antagonist, not Harry's, as Bellatrix will
be Neville's. Harry will confront Snape but (I optimistically predict)
neither will die, and then Harry will destroy Voldemort alone. He has
enough on his plate without dealing with Draco, who (unlike Snape) is
insufficiently important to sidetrack him from the Horcrux hunt and
the ultimate showdown.

Carol, picturing Dudley and Draco in hiding together and unable to
suppress a smile