First Impression of Draco (was:Re: Further Notes on Literary Uses of Magic...)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 168322

Alla wrote:
> > <snip>
> > What does JKR do with House Slytherin? The first kid she makes me
 to meet is Draco Malfoy. I hated him on the spot, hated him, hated 
him, hated him. Oh, and in case anybody wonders that initially had so
very little to do with Harry, it is not even funny. I despised him, I
think first and foremost for passing a judgment on the person (Hagrid)
he never even met, I despised him for being a snob... <snip>
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> This is fascinating to me because I had *such* a different first 
impression of Draco.  My first thought was actually, "ah, here's 
Harry's soon to be best friend".
> 
> Of course, I was looking at PS/SS as a sort of "school days" genre 
> with a magical twist.  And in my experience with that sort of story 
> the protagonist almost always hates and despises the person destined 
> to become their bosom friend.

<snip> Sure *Harry* might see him as a snob, but since he's going to
be Harry's best friend by the end of the year, there's obviously
something more going on here. <snip>
>
Carol responds:
My reaction was somewhere between the two. Draco seemed like an
ordinary wizard boy, one who was placed there to introduce concepts
like Quidditch and the school houses. He did seem overindulged and
slightly Dudleyish (saying that he'd bully his father into buying him
a broom), but not all that terrible. At least he had enough manners to
sau "Sorry" when Harry said that his parents were dead and "See you at
Hogwarts, then." And "I say! Who's that man?" sounded schoolboy
British to me, meaning exactly what a British schoolboy would say in
that situation. Granted, referring to Hagrid as "a sort of servant"
sounded a bit upper-class snobbish, but I thought he was just
repeating what he had heard his parents say.

I certainly didn't hate him on the spot, but I didn't expect him to
become Harry's best friend, either. He seemed (not that I consciously
thought about it) to be an expository device, giving Harry an idea of
what life was like at Hogwarts. I did think it was curious that he
specifically asked for Harry's surname, though (presumably to link him
to some wizarding family he was familiar with) rather than his name
(meaning first and last) as any kid of my acquaintance would do. And I
noticed that JKR strategically interrupted the dialogue at that point,
as if the blond boy's reaction to Harry's name would be revealing.
And, of course, we do get that delayed reaction on the train.

At any rate, I think that scene shows Draco as he would be with a kid
who *wasn't* Harry Potter and about whom he had no preconceptions. It
would be interesting to get Ernie Macmillan's reaction to "Imagine
being sorted into Hufflepuff" if his family has a tradition of being
sorted into that house. He might also have reacted negatively to
Draco's hope of being sorted into Slytherin, which might have been a
bit of a wake-up call for a boy to whom Slytherin is normal and
expected. Not that he would think less highly of Slytherin, but he'd
be aware of the hostility toward it of the other houses. No doubt he
learned that soon enough!

Carol, who only felt that "hate, hate, hate" reaction toward Umbridge
with her cruel detentions, "Moody" Crucioing the spider despite
Neville's reaction, and (sorry, MWPP fans!) James and Sirius in SWM