Draco's Hand of Glory (was: Re: Half-Blood Prince)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 183904

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > However, in doing that handwaving, we lose a large chunk of      
> > Draco's story.
> > <snip>

> >>Pippin:
> Um, *you* lost a large chunk of Draco's story.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Yes, sorry. Editorial "we" there. :)  *I* lost a chunk of Draco's 
story, and yet one more part of the series fell far short of my 
expectations.  (Those expectations being: a fun and satisfying read. 
*g*)

> >>Goddlefrood:
> The obtaining of the Hand of Glory by Draco is not really a big
> problem and I have a simple solution to it. 
> <snip of clever solution>
> Goddlefrood, hoping this may alleviate some issues people have.

Betsy Hp:
Not for me, because it's still a dropped plot point.  Because it 
directly affects a defining scene for the character, whatever 
explanation readers come up with (simple and elegant and entirely 
plausible though they may be), it's too big a change to handle off 
page with no comment. (My goodness, it's about the character's 
relationship with his *father*! In a "coming of age" tale, no less.  
How do you get bigger than that?) I can only classify it as a Flint 
and continue on.

Of course, that's all my personal opinion.  And keep in mind that 
while the rest of the group was reading "Harry Potter and...", I was 
reading "Draco Malfoy, his favorite professor, the House of 
Slytherin, and..." (More fool me. *g*)

> >>Lynda:
> <snip>
> Now, since he's not one of the major characters for whom
> we are given a storyline in the series, that how he got it was left 
> out is fine left to the realm of speculation for me. . . but I have 
> a lot of fun in the speculating although never coming to a firm     
> conclusion.

Betsy Hp:
I'd have argued in the past (when I was young and foolish *g*) that 
Draco Malfoy *was* a major character.  *Possibly* a step or two 
behind Ron Weasley, but certainly equal to Hermione Granger (we learn 
*far* more about Draco's home life than Hermione's, for example; and 
no one ever managed to motivate Harry to do something like Draco, 
back in the day).  Which means plot points left entirely up to 
speculation are frustrating rather than fun.  I was reading to see 
what happened to Draco.  But that's not the audience JKR was writing 
for. (OotP had me worried, but I got suckered in by HBP, I'll admit.)

Betsy Hp