Dark Book - Blood and Cruelty

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 177197

> >>Bart:
> > So, I have very little doubt about the ability of a smug, smart 
> > adolescent kid to entice others to perform violent actions       
> > against him. 

> >>lizzyben:
> Here's the thing - why would he want to? Is it a whole lot of fun   
> to get beat up, subjected to violent actions, publically           
> humiliated, sluggified, stuffed in a luggage rack, knocked         
> unconcious, stepped on? No. So why does Draco persist? Is he a      
> masochist, or what? Well, I think he shows up because the text     
> requires him to show up - because the characters (and readers) need 
> to dish out some payback. Draco (like Dudley) is the whipping boy   
> for the series; he pops up to get beat down.

Betsy Hp:
Which is a big reason, I think, Draco has so many fans.  It's very 
odd to me that JKR doesn't get the impressive attraction of an 
underdog. (Hence her bewilderment at people liking Draco, Snape and 
Slytherin in general, I suppose.)  When Draco took that beating from 
Fake!Moody, and *still* managed to stand back up and invoke his 
father...  well, it showed true grit, IMO.  And it made me love Draco 
even more.

(Snape not staying down when set on by the Mauraders is another 
instance where I admired even as I winced.)

But for some reason, JKR is all about the winners.  Harry Potter 
doesn't lose a game.  He's handsome and rich and when there's a 
school event, he's having to duck the girls.  I can't think of a 
single time where Harry faced great odds in a school-level situation. 
Not on page, anyway (so yes, this discounts the ugly duckling time we 
hear about prior to Hagrid's arrival in PS/SS, though even then he 
was only unpopular by force). 

(Hermione is the same way, I think: smart, beautiful, admired and 
courted by all who see her. Ron's the only real underdog of the Trio.)

So yeah, when Draco gets into the Trio's face, he's not doing it from 
a superior position.  He's totally taking on the Man.  He might be 
wrongheaded and crazy to do so, but there's still something there to 
admire.  At least for me.  (I wasn't the Man in highschool, myself.)

Betsy Hp