Ending WAS : Compassionate hero

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 176060


> Magpie:
> I see a definitely improvement in *Draco* himself, sure. Harry 
saved
> his life. (Heh--I of course could come up with two examples of 
Draco
> acknowleging Harry and his friends without screaming obscenities or
> throwing curses--the first two times they met!) He seems to have
> settled into a more acceptable Slytherin mode. I don't deny this
> conflict changing.
> 
> 
> Shelley:
> As I think about Draco, I don't know if his curt nod is progress 
or not. 
> Yes, he's grown up and learned not to get in people's faces to 
taunt them, 
> but couldn't that simply be the product of "growing up?" So, it's 
progress 
> in that sense, but I am not sure at all that it's true progress of 
the soul 
> or a change of heart. I took that nod to mean that Draco grew up 
to be just 
> like his father- a man who was prominent and for the most part, 
knew how to 
> behave in public so that he came off as a respectable man. Lucius 
knew how 
> to carry himself, and to present a good "public image", to guard 
whatever 
> inner feelings of hatred and dislike he had for someone. Lucius, 
to me, is a 
> true politician, carefully crafting his words and actions when in 
the public 
> eye to always come off for the better. Once he was caught brawling 
with 
> Arthur, but didn't he have a purpose for it- to slip the diary 
into Weasley 
> child's things undetected? Other than that, we see him play the 
role of 
> "prim and proper." Draco's nod to me indicated that he had grown 
up to be 
> just like Daddy, and knew how to play the role when in the public 
eye as a 
> man of importance. We can assume that he might have an ounce of 
gratitude 
> towards Harry who saved his life, but we aren't told that at all. 
We just 
> have a polite, but curt, nod in a public setting, an acklowdgement 
of eye 
> contact. Even at times we have seen Lucius Malfoy publicly 
acknowledge 
> Arthur Weasley in a fairly civil manner when they were both 
surrounded by 
> other people, and we know how those two felt about one another. 

Magpie:
I do think there's canonical reason to think that Draco just doesn't 
hate Harry particularly by the end of DH. He doesn't seem to hate 
him within that book--I mean, he doesn't seem to have any desire to 
be yelling at him or insulting him anymore. (Certainly I think he 
figured out being a DE was a bad idea, if not for noble reasons.)

The other thing I would say is that Draco was already clearly not 
like his father, so could not have grown up into a carbon copy of 
him--which is not to say he's a huge improvement in every way on his 
father or anything, but Draco was never the politician Lucius was. 
It was always pretty obvious how Draco felt about somebody. Lucius' 
polite moments were usually played, iirc, with sarcastic barbs 
underneath, sounding very oily, while Draco was a bit of a hysteric. 
He didn't really have to acknowledge Harry at all here, and if he 
felt forced to I think it would show. Harry's not nodding to him at 
all, so it's not like he's being called upon to nod or be seen by 
anyone as being rude.

So basically I'm just saying that I see no reason to see the curt 
nod, small as it is, as fake since Draco does seem to have gotten 
over his overwhelming hatred of the Trio within canon itself. He 
still isn't much of a person, but he does go through the kinds of 
growing up changes that I think Harry avoids. He just starts out in 
such a worse shape that he never approaches where Harry even starts 
out. 

> Shelley:
 A curt nod is about the 
> best Harry can hope for.

Magpie:
And Draco couldn't hope for more than he got either, I agree. But 
this, as you say, is about Rowling's style. She doesn't see a kind 
of change like this being possible but in general I see nothing 
unrealistic about the idea that the characters could develop 
differently.

Geoff:
If that is the case in the real world, why should it be so different 
in the Wizarding World? As Alla, among others has pointed out, 
things have moved, judging by the scene at the railway station in 
the epilogue.

Magpie:
I think the scene at the railway station shows the changes that 
happen within canon (Draco humbled, Voldemort killed, evil DEs no 
longer in control of the ministry) and that's it. I think having to 
reach into the real world to explain why this is realistic or not 
shows it's not there in writing. It's relying on things outside the 
story to give the story depth and detail that's not there.

Within the world of the fantasy story, certain battles are fought 
and won, certain things are made to change through the story. 
Misfortune has "sobered" Draco, as his author put it. He went 
through hell as a DE. Voldemort is dead, killed by Harry. The OBHWF 
is bigger with lots of spunky kids who are already talking about 
more of them producing more kids. Teddy was born in DH, obviously, 
and so is now a young adult and he has dinner with his godfather a 
lot. 

Betsy's point, as I read it, was not that she didn't buy the 
epilogue because it was "unrealistic" not to have a huge change (in 
fact she seemed to find this ending believable due to the 
characters' own views on things). She was just answering the idea 
that any other ending besides this one was "unrealistic" because 
there couldn't be any change in 19 years in the real world. In the 
real world there might be and there might not be. Lots of things 
could be realistic. In fiction it's more important that they be 
believable rather than realistic (lots of things in the story aren't 
realistic). Changes in Harry's world, and the results of the things 
actually dealt with in the story are imo clear: Harry now has a 
family, people are happily taking their kids to Hogwarts again, 
Voldemort is dead and Harry's scar no longer hurts. Harry thinks 
Snape was brave. Draco is subdued. It's exactly how it reads, 
because imo it came right out of the story. Those are the points I 
see being made in the epilogue. I think if more points were there 
the before and after would be just as clear.

-m