Draco's arc (was Re: What Came First: Task or Cabinet?...

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 157839

Carol earlier:
> > I see. Thank you for finally explaining your interpretation.
However, as I've said, we don't know Voldemort's motivation, and I've
never denied Draco's character arc though I see a larger role for
Dumbledore's mercy than you seem to.
> 
> Magpie:
> Yes, in your version, as I read it when you described it, Draco is a
Jr. DE would-be murderer going along in his task (to fix the cabinet
in order to kill DD), his only anxiety being that Voldemort will kill
him if he fails to get that Cabinet fixed and it's hard.  He almost
kills two people but has little reaction to that because he doesn't
have a problem having the blood of two Gryffindors, especially a blood
traitor, on his hands.  He'd kill more bystanders if Snape didn't warn
him off it for purely utilitarian reasons.  He shows up on the Tower
as ready to kill as he was in September, and is shocked to discover
he's not doing it. Dumbledore's mercy, as I understood it, is almost
like a magical spell or gift (metaphorically, not literally).  It
reminded me--and I don't mean this sarcastically--somewhat 
> of the turnaround of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas." <snip>

Carol responds:
That's a bit harsher and colder than my actual view of Draco. I
certainly never said that he'd kill more bystanders if Snape hadn't
warned him off (though Snape *does* present purely utilitarian reasons
to protect his cover). Nor do I think he's as ready to kill as he was
in September (though he's not consciously aware of the change in
himself) or that Dumbledore's mercy operates like a spell (it's more
that he's receptive to it, as he would not have been at the beginning
of the year). I think that the experience on the tower is an epiphany
for Draco, in which he realizes what Dumbledore already knew, that
he's not a killer. I'm not sure whether I wasn't clear or whether
you're reading in something that I didn't say. Let me try again (and
I'm not arguing with you or saying that I'm right; just trying to
clarify my own position).

I do think that Draco is "a junior DE" on the train. He's always
idealized his father and he's angry about his father's arrest (and is
still angry at Christmastime--note the point at which he walks out on
Snape), and someone, either Bellatrix or Voldemort, has presented him
with the idea that killing Dumbledore will win him "glory." He's proud
of his cabinet plan (as indicated by the tower scene), tough of course
he doesn't speak of it to his friends, and of being given an important
job by Voldemort. But there's already an important change in him that
we see again in the confrontation with Snape--he's lost his interest
in education. He no longer sees it as important. His future, he
thinks, is with the Dark Lord, who is going to take over. He's no
longer even interested in throwing his authority around as a Prefect.

By the time we see him with Snape, he's still contemptuous of school
but now he's getting a bit desperate--pale with bags under his eyes as
if he's losing sleep, and he's already given up Quidditch. Someone is
pressuring him to get on with the cabinet plan or kill DD in some
other way--hence, the ill-judged attempts at killing him using the
necklace and the mead. I don't see any remorse for these actions. He
keeps quiet about the mead and denies involvement with the necklace
"that Bell girl must have an enemy." His relationship with Snape has
changed for reasons we've already discussed. He seems to view him as a
rival determined to thwart his efforts, to interfere and "steal his
glory," rather than as a respected teacher and concerned Head of
House. He lies, talks back, resists all Snape's efforts to help
(though I do think he listens to the practical advice not to resort to
amateurish tactics that could get him in trouble).

His relationship with Harry doesn't seem to have changed, however--
it's still antagonistic in the few encounters we see (Draco with the
two "girls" before the Quidditch match and the Apparition lessons, not
to mention the Sectumsempra incident). I don't see any concern for
what happened to Katie or to Ron at any point in the books (maybe not
because "Weasley" is a Blood Traitor so much as because his mind is on
other things). Still, the reaction to Katie seems both indifferent to
her fate and irresponsible, not to mention dishonest in denying
involvement. 

By the time we see him crying in the bathroom, those incidents are
long past (and since both Ron and Katie have fully recovered, he has
no reason to think about them or to feel remorse). His tears relate,
not to them, but to his very real fear that he'll fail to fix the
cabinet and be killed. (See his words to Moaning Myrtle that I quoted
upthread). By this time, his eyes have been opened about what it means
to be a DE. I don't know whether his loyalties have shifted--he still
thinks Dumbledore is a "stupid old man"--but he certainly sees now
that serving the Dark Lord is a dangerous business and that Voldemort
has no more concern for his followers than for his enemies. But Draco
is still perfectly willing to Crucio Harry (Harry still needs to learn
to leave that particular curse alone, too. I realize). But then Draco
gets another dose of reality--Harry nearly kills him (unintentionally,
of course), and he's only saved because Snape and no one else happened
to find him. (I wonder if, now that it's over, Draco has thought about
that.) But now Draco has had a taste of death. It's a very important
lesson, but at the moment it only serves, I think, to intensify his
*own* fear of death. And the pressure also intensifies. We learn on
the tower that his family is being threatened, too. (It's interesting
that we learn in HBP that even Death Eater families love each other.
Narcissa loves her son and he loves his parents.) 

So Draco is no longer the confident, pro-Voldemort junior Death Eater
that we saw at the beginning of the book, but IMO, he's not remorseful
or concerned about having to commit murder, either. What we see in the
bathroom where he's white, shaking, and crying, is pure fear bordering
on despair. But Draco isn't the coward he's depicted as being in the
films, nor is he as helpless and clueless as the adults think he is.
He's resourceful and determined and he pulls himself together, returns
to his work on the cabinet, and succeeds in repairing it, whooping
with joy and triumph as if his mission is accomplished. He's succeeded
in his plan, or at least what he considers to be the hard part of it.
Now all he has to do is call in the Death Eaters, lead them to the
tower, and dispatch the foolish old Muggle lover after the DEs have
lured him there with a Drk Mark. He'll get the glory and Snape will
wake up disappointed, as Draco tells DD on the tower. So, for the
moment, Draco is reveling in his triumph, forgetting the lessons that
he's learned--that the Dark Lord is a harsh master who views his
followers as expendable and is quicker to Crucio them than reward them
and that death is a terrible and scary thing (unless you're
Dumbledore, and he doesn't know about DD's "next great adventure" view
of the subject). 

Getting onto the tower isn't quite as easy as he expected (the Order
members weren't supposed to be there) and he's not particularly happy
that Fenrir Greyback is one of the crowd, but still, when he gets to
the top of the tower, he thinks he's going to do the job, and the
first thing he does is cast a disarming spell. And there he is, faced
with an unarmed, helpless Dumbledore, who's unexpectedly weak and at
his mercy. But something has happened. He's not the person he thought
he was. He doesn't cast the AK and gloat in triumph. He hesitates. He
procrastinates. He listens to Dumbledore and answers his questions,
even seeming happy to receive his praise for the cabinet idea that
he's been so proud of and worked so hard on. Dumbledore is still, in
his view, a foolish old man who doesn't know that Snape is a double
agent (I, of course, think that DD is right to trust Snape but that's
another topic), but, like Harry in the Shrieking Shack, he finds that
killing isn't as easy as he thought even though, unlike Harry, he
knows the proper curse. 

Draco has reached a turning point. If the DEs hadn't come in,
Dumbledore might have persuaded him to go into hiding. (As it is,
he'll have to choose on his own, later, whether to hide or to fight
and whose side to fight on.) They pressure Draco, but he can't act.
Killing isn't as easy as he thought. Not even fear for his life can
make him do it. He doesn't put the wand down, but he lowers it a
fraction of an inch. And then Snape comes in and takes matters out of
his hands, pushing him out of the way, killing DD himself (stealing
his "glory" after all), grabbing him by the scruff of the neck like a
mother cat with her kitten, and in general, reducing him to the level
of a child again when he's just days from his seventeenth birthday.
Draco obeys Snape and runs out the gate, Apparating--where? To
Voldemort? To his mother? We don't know. His fate and his choices are
an open question until Book 7.

Draco has, I agree with you, come a long way, if not to manhood then
very close to it, much closer than he was at the beginning of the
book. He's reached a crucial fork in the road. Unfortunately for him,
he's also a fugitive and a criminal, guilty at the least of criminal
endangerment, attempted murder, and accessory to murder even if he
didn't Imperio Rosmerta himself, in which case he's also guilty of an
Unforgiveable Curse. (I think he had a DE accomplice, but again, we
don't know.) He's still underage, but only for a few days. What will
happen? Will he be killed? Will he be given a chance to choose? Where
does Snape fit in?

Carol, hoping that Snape will show Draco what it means to be
Dumbledore's man, even though Dumbledore is dead and they, together,
brought about that death