Dark Book - Blood and Cruelty

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 177198

bboyminn wrote:
> 
> Draco didn't just talk to Hermione, he threatened her.
<snip>
> Draco threatened Hermione's life. If that makes Hermione reasonably
fear for her safety and her life, she is within her rights to defend
herself, and her friend are withing their rights to assist in
defending her since Draco has two very big goons with him. <snip>

Carol responds:

Actually, Draco says, "You've picked the losing side, Potter! I warned
you! I told you you ought to choose your company more carefully,
remember? When we met on the train, first day at Hogwarts? I told you
not to hang around with riffraff like this! [He indicates Ron and
Hermione.] Too late now, Potter! They'll be the first to go, now the
Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first! Well--second--
Diggory was the f--" (GoF Am. ed. 229). [His words are cut off by a
shower of hexes.]

Draco is not threatening Hermione's life. He's merely predicting what
will happen now that Voldemort is back and repeating his earlier
warning to Harry not to associate with "riffraff." He's insulting both
Ron and Hermione, but he's not threatening to harm them himself, only
predicting that they'll be killed by Voldie or the DEs. He doesn't
even have his wand out, nor do Crabbe and Goyle. A smirk is not a
weapon, however annoying it may be.

In any case, it's not the prediction of harm by the Dark Lord or the
insult to Harry's friends that provokes all three (and the Weasley
Twins, attacking from behind) to simultaneously hex Draco and his
silent companions. It's the offhand reference to Cedric Diggory, which
seems to be merely an uncontemplated correction as Draco realizes that
the first death didn't fit the specified category of "Mudbloods and
Muggle-lovers." Up until that point, Draco has, i agree, been
deliberately provocative. Here, he's merely thinking out loud,
correcting his own mistake. But his apparent indifference to a murder
that Harry witnessed triggers an explosion of hexes.

HRH's reaction is understandable, but it's not self-defense. They are
in no danger from Draco, who is merely shooting off his mouth and
bragging about being on the winning side. If he had been killed or
permanently maimed by their spells, I don't think the "he provoked us"
defense would hold up in court, especially given that he and his
"goons" were unarmed.

Carol, noting to the other Steve that she has no emotional stake in
this discussion and is merely trying to interpret the canon fairly and
objectively