Apologia pro Draco (was Re: Wizarding Top Ten)

[sistermagpie at earthlink.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 188500

 Geoff:
> The point that occurs to me is that being a limited ally would be a very 
> real world thing. As I said before, if I were in that situation, I would be 
> too busy trying not to be noticed and possibly too darned frightened to 
> do anything. which makes both Draco and me either limited allies or 
> wimps or both. 
> 
> I know that there have been situations in my life where I have had to 
> play dumb or even lie to get myself off the hook - admittedly not a hook 
> as dangerous as being killed or injured but to avoid embarrassment or 
> for the sake of my reputation or, as in this case, to protect someone.

Magpie:
Me too. And if we were talking about the real world, I don't think I'd be looking at it the same way. But in understanding this text, I think there's *a lot* of importance put on courage. Even to the point where a common flaw of the heroes is too much courage (which in itself is not necessarily a good thing, but is definitely very forgiveable and far better than too little). So when I'm talking about the characters in this book, I feel in reading it that Draco is absolutely placed squarely in a lower place than most other characters who aren't villains. 

In a series so concerned with courage, where the author considers courage to be necessary for all other virtues, I can't help but see something significant in a character who never gets a chance to show that he has the courage to act on his convictions (or possibly even quite figure out what those convictions are). He's not Peter whose cowardice drives him to actively commit evil. And I think we see that Draco shares the other not-evil Slytherins path to redemption--that is, he *can* be courageous when he's motivated by love. I would say we saw this in HBP. He showed courage there in trying to protect his family, and also correct morality when he drew the line at being able to murder an innocent man for Voldemort just for his own survival. He shows himself even closer to goodness when the fire breaks out, imo. Crabbe runs out to save himself. Draco tries to drag out the unconscious body of Goyle, even though he's not motivated by love of Goyle (who along with Crabbe seems to have proved himself to be not a good friend to him). But he tries to save him because he's a human being who he doesn't want to see die in a fire. 

The only reason I don't see this as a truly redemptive moment for Draco is that it doesn't seem to be written as such. It seems glossed over as a prelude to Harry's far more dramatic rescue of Draco as his enemy, and is then followed by Ron punching Draco in the face for claiming to be on the DE's side to save himself--which I can't help but take as saying something about what the author thinks about the kind of thing we're talking about here. I found Draco's protestations to the DE funny--why on earth shouldn't he try to save himself with his wits there? But Ron thinks it's pathetic, especially after they saved his life. And yes, Ron is in no way the author's mouthpiece, but since I don't see anything in the text that disagrees with Ron's view here, and I've no doubt that most any other student or creature we might have seen in that situation who was nominally anti-Voldemort, would have never stooped to it. (Unless to also be shown as low--like Zach Smith.)

So based on the "rules" I sort of get from the books, I'd say Draco's more in the "he's not evil, and has the potential for goodness" category rather than the "he's one of the great and good" category. I feel--and this is just a feeling so don't take it as a canonically based fact--that the author wants him in exactly that place.

-m