Why not Actually Re-Write? Just for fun.

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 180460

-va32h:
> 
> I agree on both counts (Draco making a more visible turn to the
light, but not in the Malfoy Manor scene). 
><snip>
> While Draco was in no position to help Harry in Malfoy Manor, I don't
> understand why Draco was back to snotty-old-Draco in the RoR. Yes,
yes, he wanted to capture Harry to get back in favor with LV.  But by
this time, Draco ought to have known that nothing would get his family
back in LV's graces - the only way to be free of Voldemort was to help
get rid of him. 

Carol responds:
I don't have time for a detailed argument now or to hunt up old posts
on the subject, but my reading of the RoR scene was that Draco was
playing along with Crabbe, pretending to want to turn Harry over to
Voldemort, but was actually trying to protect Harry (and even "that
diadem thing," which could have been destroyed by Crabbe's and Goyle's
wild spells). His lines to Crabbe about not Crucioing or killing Harry
are too reminiscent of Snape's lines to the DEs near the end of HBP to
be coincidence. More than once, he grabs Crabbe's arm to stop him and
he casts no spells himself even before he loses his (mother's) wand.

I don't think Draco cares at all about getting back into LV's good
graces (contrast his behavior at Malfoy Manor with that of his father,
who definitely wants his old authority back), and he has no reason to
fear for the lives of his parents if he doesn't turn Harry over to LV:
no one has assigned him to do so. It seems to me that it's all
Crabbe's idea--he rejects Draco's authority over him before he casts
the Fiendfyre.

Carol, wondering whether Draco would have fought the DE instead of
saying "I'm on your side!" if he still had a wand