Draco's Personality/The Bathroom Scene Again

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 165036

> Megan Responds:
> 
> I agree that no one is beyond redemption - the question with 
Draco, 
> however, is what he needs to be redeemed from. I don't think the 
> wand lowering in HBP reflected a sudden realization of his innate 
> goodness as much as cowardice. Throughout the books, he has 
> demonstrated a lack of courage in any situation where he was left 
to 
> his own devices, without the threat of his father's retribution to 
> protect him, having to actually back up his talk. 

Magpie:
I don't think "innate goodness" is what it is either, but I don't 
think we're talking about cowardice either--Draco can't kill when he 
gets to the Tower, period, which means death for him. On one side 
he's got killing an innocent, helpless person, on the other people 
threatening to kill him if he doesn't do it. Is that supposed to be 
cowardly? If it's cowardice to not kill the person, that's a good 
kind of coward to be. You can kill and be a coward--just ask Peter 
Pettigrew who always makes choices based on his own survival. He'd 
have killed Dumbledore the second he got up to the Tower. 

When Dumbledore offers the alternative he goes over his position as 
not one of desperation, exactly. That's why it's potentially 
meaningful. He's not simply being given a hand-up, here. 
Dumbledore's trying to offer him a rational choice, one that he can 
choose because it does not involve leaving his family to die, which 
he is pushing himself to try to prevent (if ineffectively). Once the 
DEs come to the Tower the danger returns--not killing Dumbledore 
means that he will be killed himself. He specifically goes over the 
fact that he *doesn't have to* in his view. While it's not the same 
as choosing the right side, it is choosing against one idea he's 
been holding on to desperately. I'm not saying Draco is being brave 
or heroic, but I think "he's a coward" is trying to judge him on 
things that are not the issue. 

I would also add that Draco is not as dependent on his father in 
this way as he's so often described. Lucius is rarely any help to 
Draco whatsoever, and neither are Crabbe and Goyle. So while it's 
accurate to say that he often uses his father as a threat, I don't 
see his father backing him up. He does try to get Buckbeak killed, 
but I think that's something Lucius wants as well. Usually it's just 
Draco out there taking his lumps and dealing with the disappointment 
of the fact that he is out there on his own. 

Megan:
 
> *In SS/PS, he was terrified to be in the forest looking for the 
> unicorn killer with Harry, and ran off at the first sign of real 
> danger. (ch. 15)

Magpie:
I'd have run off too. I think Harry might have as well if he hadn't 
been frozen in fear (much as Hermione was with the troll). No need 
for him to stick around, certainly!

Megan:
> *In CS, he is clearly afraid of having to compete on an even plane 
> in quidditch and popularity with Harry during the school year, as 
> evidenced by his repeated badgering of his father for a better 
broom 
> before school starts. (ch. 4)

Magpie:
Wanting to have a good broom for school is a bit of a stretch for 
cowardice. I think he just wants a good broom for its being a good 
broom. Also, not that it's a big deal, but what's with the "even 
plane?" It's not like Harry's on a broken school broom, here. 
Beginning in PoA Harry's actually on a better broom than everyone 
else, and while Draco certainly is terrified going into the 
championship, he does play. (His badgering is "repeated" either--
Lucius shuts him up quite effectively throughout the scene.)

Megan:
> *According to Fred and George in PoA, Draco was just as afraid of 
> the dementors who came onto the train as Harry was, although he 
> panicked instead of fainting; and he certainly was afraid of 
> Buckbeak after being scratched. (ch. 6) He also was scared by 
> Harry's disembodied head in Hogsmeade (ch. 14), and Hermione's 
slap 
> across the face (ch. 15)
> *Throughout GoF and OOP, he continues to fear the creatures Hagrid 
> brings to class. 
> *In HBP, Draco is so terrified of his situation that he cries to 
> Moaning Myrtle.

Magpie:
Yes, he is definitely prone to screaming and running at times, I 
agree. Though I still think some of the things you draw in are a bit 
extreme. Draco is definitely jumpy--jumpier than most. But some of 
these things are a little off. He does run in the face of a dementor 
and Harry's head. I don't think he has any scenes with Buckbeak 
after he's rather seriously attacked (and I must say his 
dramatic "He's killed me!" seems less about cowardice and more 
about, well, being a big drama queen!), and he's not afraid of 
Hermione after she slaps him, iirc. (He is very jumpy about Fake!
Moody after the Ferret bouncing.) He's jumpy in Hagrid's *class* 
after being attacked--and most of the kids are as well. He's not 
always falling apart, he's just always nervous about missing 
instructions (wise move!). And I think it's a bit strange to act 
like crying to Moaning Myrtle given the situation he's in in HBP is 
a sign of cowardice. You don't have to feel sorry for the kid, but 
he's being personally threatened by the real life boogeyman of his 
universe and still trying to hold it together while realizing 
everything he believed about who he needs to be might not be true. 
If he needs to let off some stress through tears I can't blame him. 
When he's finished he goes back to trying to deal with it (badly). 
Draco gets split open by Harry in HBP and seems to deal with it okay 
(as he also does the Ferret bouncing incident at the time, facing 
Moody defiantly). 

Megan:> 
> And, most tellingly, throught all of the books he repeatedly 
accuses 
> Harry of being afraid of various people, situations, etc. - I have 
> always taken this as an attempt to draw attention away from his 
own 
> fears. 

Magpie:
I agree that usually when he's accusing other people of being afraid 
he's covering up his own fears. But in HBP he is forced to face a 
few fears of his own, and I don't see his wand lowering scene as 
being about just Draco being a coward. Why doesn't coward!Draco just 
go to Snape for help if he just wants to be protected?  He is a 
scared person, but I think the story makes it clear he's not being 
simply motivated by fear throughout HBP. He is scared and that is 
one of the things he's reacting to, but there's more going on with 
that.

Megan: 
> So, I think the wand lowering was a reflection of the knowledge 
that 
> there would be no escape from his fear this time - he was on his 
> own, and even if his father were there, he would not be able to 
> protect him from LV. So if Draco comes over to the Order's side in 
> DH, it will be either because of fear of LV and some belief that 
the 
> order would offer more protection than his family or the DEs (more 
> likely in my opinion since this isn't Draco's story and there's 
only 
> one book left), or because he is somehow able to overcome his 
fears 
> and make a fully realized decision on his own (which would take 
more 
> time than I think is left, given his state at the end of 
HBP)...but 
> either of those scenarios could also go the other way - staying 
with 
> the DEs out of fear or coming to the realization that he really 
does 
> want to be one of them.

Magpie:
I'm surprised you think the second possibility requires too much 
time, since it seems to me the point of HBP was getting Draco to the 
point where he could attempt to make a decision on his own (not that 
he necessarily will one way or the other). I just honestly don't 
think JKR is interested in one scaredy-cat pre-DE who takes himself 
out of the proceedings and goes into hiding. If she was I don't 
think she'd have just had Draco for the first time realize that 
there was another way, and then yank it away from him. I thought 
Dumbledore's talk with him on the Tower was very much about getting 
him able to make his own decision. He draws "comfort and courage" 
from Dumbledore's praise of his own abilities, things that he 
actually succeeded at. 

Draco can still be scared--it's a scary situation and he's not 
particularly brave. But he's already shown that however much of a 
scaredy-cat he may be, his priorities are not simply keeping himself 
alive at all costs. With something to be brave *for* he attempts to 
rise to the challenge and doesn't completely fail.

Sherrie:
If I was magical Professor X and saw Harry standing over a bleeding
Draco, and knowing, as all teachers must that Draco has ALWAYS
started things either with "fighting words" or actual unprovoked
attacks, I would have both parties put their memories into a pensieve
or administer a truth serum/potion. I WOULD NOT strike out and assume
that Harry was the guilty party. This is just another example where
Harry is shown injustice by adults who never seek truth.

Magpie:
Except it's not, because the idea that Harry's being accused of 
attacking Draco without provocation is *your issue*, it's not canon. 
The teachers in canon--including McGonagall who knows perfectly well 
what Malfoy is like, and that Harry has been known to lose his 
temper around him--are not asking Harry what his reasons were. There 
is actually not a lot of time spent blaming Harry at all. If 
McGonagall scolded him for using the particular spell he used, 
where's the indication that she's blaming him for not being 
provoked? 

-m