Draco's Popularity/Dark Book - Blood and Cruelty/ Draco

[Katie]

No: HPFGUIDX 177359

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "horridporrid03" 
<horridporrid03 at ...> wrote:
> Betsy Hp:
> Draco is not popular.  He's the kid in the back of the classroom, or 
smoking behind the stairs, snarking at the popular boy.  Draco 
> doesn't "get" students to dislike Harry, IMO.  He's just very quick 
> to jump on the train when a controversy comes up and there's a group 
that decides they don't like Harry today.

<<<GIGANTIMOUS SNIP>>>

***Katie:

I disagree that Draco is: 1 - Unpopular, or 2 - Some kind of James Dean 
rebel.

Draco, from day one, is very obviously a popular student within his 
house. He has a group of followers - not just Crabbe and Goyle, but 
Pansy Parkinson and others, who laugh at his jokes, worship his status 
as a pure blood from a wealthy and important family, and just outright 
like him. Sure, his father bought his way onto the Quidditch team, 
instead of him earning it, but he got to stay on the team. 

All the times that Draco is publicly mocking or baiting HRH, the rest 
of the school easily and willingly falls in line. Why? Because Draco 
obviously has a powerful and magnetic personality. If he was unpopular, 
would the whole school have been wearing "Potter Stinks" badges? NO. If 
he was unpopular, would the whole of Slytherin house been 
singing "Weasley is our King". No. And all the times in Care of Magical 
Creatures, when Draco baits Hagrid and everyone except HRH laughs and 
goes along. Draco is not unpopular. Children and teenagers do not copy 
and follow an unpopular person. And many people at Hogwarts copy and 
follow Draco. 

I agree with you that Draco doesn't get people to dislike Harry...at 
least, not permanently. But he has a lot to do with keeping negative 
attitudes towards Harry going strong, and he certainly has a lot of 
influence within Slytherin to make people mock and ridicule HRH. Maybe 
Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are naturally more allied with Gryffindors, 
but throughout the books, there are MANY times when the ONLY people 
that support Harry are other Gryffindors, and sometimes not even them! 
And Draco certainly helps to fan the flames, even when he didn't start 
the fire. He is not without influence over other students. He's a 
pretty popular kid.

KATIE