[HPforGrownups] The Malfoys (was Re: good and bad slytherins/Disappointment and Responsibility)

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 175040

Instead of burying my comments about the Malfoys in my attempt to blame the
Sorting Hat for everything, I decided to give them their own post.  And
since va32h has now given them their own well-deserved topic, I
have attempted to tack this post onto that thread instead of the one with
the quotes I'm replying to.

> Pippin:
> We should take heart,
> JKR seems to be saying, from brief glimpses of how things could be:
> the chastened wizard, Fudge, led forward by the goblin and the house
> elf at the end of OOP. Or the moment in DH when "nobody was sitting
> according to House anymore." Including Draco Malfoy.

> Magpie:
> I believe Draco Malfoy is huddled with his parents not being
> bothered, but not part of the celebration.

Jen: I don't get why the state of the Malfoys matters there. They're
in the Great Hall and not fleeing to the hills, a huge change from
being in the forest with Voldemort only hours before.

Debbie:
I suggested earlier that the fact that the Malfoys were in the Great Hall at
all, and not being rounded up and carted off to Azkaban, is deeply
significant.  It's unrealistic to expect them to be welcomed and embraced by
the others, given their complicity with Voldemort all this time.  But they
made a choice that threw their lot in with the Good Guys, and if they're a
bit bewildered by their company, it's clear that nobody is rounding them up
for Azkaban.  And as the epilogue shows, Draco gets a normal life, too (and
evidently not with the overtly anti-Potter Pansy).

I agree with va32h that the books contain many clues that their break with
Voldemort has been coming for a long time:

1.  Lucius made no attempt to search for Voldy after Godric's Hollow.

2.  If anyone "sent" the Lestranges after the Longbottoms, it was most
likely Lucius (though I'm not convinced anyone sent them, since the source
is a JKR interview.)  If they were not sent, I'm sure Lucius was much
happier with Bellatrix and her continued devotion out of the way.  And while
it's pure conjecture, Lucius might even have tipped off the Ministry to make
sure they were captured.

3.  Lucius uses the horcrux entrusted to him, the diary, for his own
purposes rather than keeping it safe for Voldy's return.  And though his
disregard for the muggleborns at Hogwarts is despicable, it is notable that
he did not get the diary into the school for Diary!Riddle's benefit but to
create a situation that would enable him to sack Dumbledore.

4.  Narcissa defies Voldemort to protect her son in HBP.  Draco realizes
that he is not a killer.

5.  From the beginning of DH, Lucius and Narcissa appear to be reluctant
hosts at Malfoy Manor, and Draco is horrified at the task assigned to him.
Torture just isn't his bag.  And later on, in the chapter entitled Malfoy
Manor, it becomes clear that Bella is in control.

6.  Draco chooses to stay at Hogwarts.  He does not want to fight on
Voldemort's side.  He does not harm Harry, either, when he has the chance.

It doesn't make them fully sympathetic, though.  Like the Blacks, Lucius has
an innate sense of pureblood superiority, and unfortunately he has been too
willing to act on it (at the QWC, for example, and in slipping the diary to
Ginny to open the Chamber).  We don't ever learn whether any of the Malfoys
have softened their stance on Muggleborns.

There's also the peacock symbolism.  Depending on the context and the
culture, peacocks may represent many things, including immortality (an
association Voldemort must have appreciated while using the manor as his
headquarters), fidelity (for which the white peacocks were just a show, as
none of the Malfoys remained faithful), and transformation (an association
derived from alchemy). Although it is far from a sea change, the process of
transforming the Malfoys from loyal DEs to Voldemort's betrayers has been
going on for a long time.

There is also an Eastern myth to the effect that Paradise was guarded by a
peacock, which ate the devil, thereby allowing the devil to enter Paradise.
So in his own home, guarded by white peacocks, Lucius sits watching the
devil at the head of his own table.  We should have known right then that
the Malfoys would become agents of Voldemort's fall.

Debbie
noting that things really have changed if Ron can joke about Rose Weasley
marrying Scorpius Malfoy


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