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

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 157845

> Carol responds:
> 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).

Magpie:
Sorry, I didn't mean to sound harsher.  So it seems you are describing him 
as not remorseful about the necklace in this scene, which to me sounds like 
the results didn't effect him emotionally.  And you see his relationship 
with Snape changed by the real resentment of Snape as someone trying to 
steal his glory.

Unless, regarding the murders, you mean that he's just not ready to admit or 
deal with remorse, which is how I read the scene.  I think Draco's physical 
state is somewhat like Tonks' physical deterioration is linked to her 
emotional state.

Draco's attitude towards Snape is I think more complex than just his 
thinking he wants to steal his glory (though DE Snape would presumably want 
to do that)--that's something he can say that doesn't hint he's got a real 
problem.  I think that scene has Draco lashing out at previous authority and 
beliefs all over the place, and running from Snape as the DE mentor he 
looked up to--and he doesn't even want to talk about Lucius.

Carol:
> 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).

Magpie:
I think he's no longer so focused on Harry now that he's been given an 
important task himself.  He responds snarkily to Harry's demand to tell him 
what he's doing and jumps at Harry surprising him in Apparition lessons, but 
he's not putting effort into bugging Harry the way he has before that I can 
remember.

Carol:
 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.

Magpie:
I thought his not being indifferent was important to the arc. If he's truly 
indifferent he seems a lot closer to having what it takes than I read him 
as--and that also surprises me given the character as I read him over 
previous books.

Carol:
> 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.

Magpie:
I think his tears relate to the whole overwhelming situation.  His words 
refer, imo, some to the problems with the Cabinet ("It won't work"), some to 
the threat in general ("If I don't do it soon he'll kill me") and some to 
the entirety of his position ("Nobody can help me.").

Carol:
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).

Magpie:
And I think it's more than just Voldemort not caring about him. I think it's 
also that he's not cut out for what he's expected to do.

Carol:
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.

Magpie:
Just jumping in at this point to say it's interesting that we see no 
reaction about Sectumsempra from Draco at all.  It certainly seems like it 
should be an important lesson in death, one that could both intensify his 
own fear of death (though it could actually help him deal with it as well 
since it's no longer completely unknown) and also make murder even more 
difficult.  I like to think Sectumsempra just hasn't been truly dealt with 
yet, because Draco pretty much ceases to be a character as soon as Snape 
enters and only reappears again in the unrelated scene on the Tower.

Carol:
> 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.

Magpie:
I think he is very concerned about having to commit murder, and trying to 
quash it.

Carol:
> 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.

Magpie:
I don't think he was confident when he got up to the Tower, or that he's 
surprised at all when he can't do it and that was why he kept insisting he 
was going to do it, trying to get himself to do it. I don't have the book in 
front of me, but I just don't really remember an emotional beat of Draco 
being surprised, and everything about the scene read to me as DD greeting a 
boy he knew was already broken.

It's definitely not a surprise to the reader--Dumbledore confidently says 
it's never going to happen right away, and there's no moment where it's ever 
on the verge of happening--I mean with Draco really making himself try. 
He's avoiding throughout the scene.

It read to me not as this being the place where Draco realizes he's not the 
person he thought he was, but as if this was his last hope of forcing 
himself into being the person he is supposed to be.  He's been acting all 
this time, and the act ends here, because here's where he has to do the deed 
or not.  So he's stuck just repeating that he's going to do something with 
little hope he will do it, and seeing the DD can see it too.  I just think 
the Tower scene is more his frantically trying to deny what his not being a 
killer more than being genuinely surprised when it turns out that's the 
case.

-m