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

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 168384

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "montavilla47" <montavilla47 at ...> wrote:

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".
 
Montavilla: 
> I came rather late to the Draco fan club--but he was the character
> who most intrigued me leading into HBP.  I was intensely curious
> what the boy whose Dad was just sent to prison because of
> Harry Potter was going to do next.
> 
> I decided to track every Draco moment through the books.  I didn't
> get through it, because I only started about a week before HBP
> was released, but I realized one thing:  What really sold me on
> Draco was that moment on the train when he offered Harry
> his friendship.  Sure, it's in a completely obnoxious way, but
> it seemed genuine.  And Harry's response was such a put-down.
> 
> It's the first mean thing that Harry does--even though he's just
> defending Ron and I love him for that.  But it feels very significant.

Geoff:
Curiously, I have always had a weak spot for Draco and I would love 
him to be involved in some sort of rapprochement with Harry in Book 
7 - maybe stemming from what Harry saw on the Tower.

The problem is that I have always felt that the meeting on the train 
was a pivotal moment between them and that the continuing rivalry, 
obstruction and dislike took root and grew from that point in time.

I wouldn't accuse Harry of being mean at this point. I see precisely from 
where he was coming. I remember when I first went to grammar school 
at the age of eleven; it was a fairly typical English single-sex day school. 
Only one other pupil had come from my old Junior school and I didn't 
even know him despite us having been in the same school for two years 
and more - which is a point to ponder for the McLaggen theorists. I had 
to make new friends and, at that age, I tended to make snap decisions 
almost at the moment of speaking to someone whether I was going to 
like them, dislike them or just see them as another member of the group.

So it is with Harry. His first attempt at contact is with Molly Weasley 
and he is then helped by Fred and George. Once Ron comes into his 
compartment, they begin to tentatively build bridges.With the others 
- Neville, Seamus and so on, the bonds begin to be formed over their 
meal because intially they have been put together in the same house.

Draco and Harry got off on the wrong foot because the former lacked 
social skills and bungled the meeting. Instead of being friendly, he 
succeeded in getting up Harry's nose creating a situation which 
became increasingly irreversible.

If Draco had not tried to impress Harry by being rather snobby and 
superior and Harry had not been influenced by Hagrid and Ron 
commenting about Slytherin, a different scenario might have emerged 
but that would not have met JKR's required dynamics for the story.

Looking back to my comments on going to grammar school, the other 
guy who came from my old school was a bit like Draco in that he 
wanted to be a bit superior and so we never developed a friendly 
relationship; we were always either at loggerheads or ignoring one 
another from that point onwards, just like our two protagonists in 
the books.