Dumbledore WAS: Re: Love and Joy vs. Hate and Despair

[Geoff]

No: HPFGUIDX 190931

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Birgitta Karlsson <ingridbirgitta at ...> wrote:

Geoff:
> >  Ron, who immediately instils into him a suspicion 
> > of Slytherins which leads to what I feel was the disastrous meeting 
> > between him and Draco.

Birgitta:
> What disastrous meeting are you refering to?

> Harry and Draco first met at Madame Malkin, before Harry had met Ron, 
> and it was Draco's own behaviour that made Harry not like him. Then 
> Hagrid says the line about all bad wizards have been in Slytherin. The 
> only thing Ron says about Slytherin in the train before Draco shows up 
> is something about not wanting to be in Slytherin.

Geoff:
Draco obviously wanted to show off at Madam Malkins and also on the 
train. But it is feasible that the two of them could possibly have got to 
know each other at least a little better if Harry's views had not already 
been coloured against Slytherin.

Harry is eleven; he is a new member of a strange world; he is 
impressionable. Any child of eleven is. Most children of eleven will 
want to gravitate towards someone they can identify with when in a new 
situation. Hagrid is almost a father figure at that point in time. He has 
"rescued" Harry from Privet Drive, taken him around Diagon Alley, and
talks about his parents. So he is someone whose information is to be 
valued. Ron is the same age and is willing to be friendly so Harry is 
also taking in all that Ron has to tell him and also subconsciously 
absorbing information which could be biased. Just remember Ron's 
reaction on first meeting Hermione. It was a long time before the 
founding of the Trio.

So why disastrous? Because even at these initial meetings, the 
foundations are laid for what became a long running dislike and 
feud between the two which was to waste time, lead to attempts 
to harm each other, even cloud their judgements. 

I believe that Draco was lonely. He is an only child and Crabbe and 
Goyle were poor company for him; he is intelligent and resourceful 
and also brainwashed to an extent by his father. Who knows what 
might have happened if at least some sort of truce had existed 
between them? There was evidence later in the books that there 
it could have happened if Draco had had time to react to 
Dumbledore's offer. Narcissa probably saved Harry's life and Draco 
was in turn saved by Harry.

OK, OK, I know it would have demolished the plot. Our characters 
have to do what they do because the author said so. But a little 
AU (Alternate Universe) speculation can be fun sometimes. It might 
have got rid of the epilogue <vbg>.