[HPforGrownups]Harry and Draco WAS: Dumbledore WAS: Re: Love and Joy vs. Hate and Despair

[Geoff]

No: HPFGUIDX 190969

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, June Ewing <doctorwhofan02 at ...> wrote:

Birgitta:
> > Let's see. At that first meeting at Madame Malkin, Harry hasn't
> > even heard the name Slytherin so he can't be coloured against
> Slytherin. After Draco has said a couple of sentences "Harry was
> > strongly reminded of Dudley." And I don't think Harry meant any
> physical resemblance so it must be Draco's behavior/attitude that
> > he found was similar to Dudleys.  Then Draco goes on to insult
> Hagrid, and when he founds out that Harry's parents are dead he
> > seems more interested in making sure that "they were our kind"
> than feeling sorry for Harry. And then Draco says all that about
> > how they shouldn't let the other sort in to the school and that
> > they should just keep it in the old wizarding families. <snip>
 
> Harry and Draco not being friends has little or nothing to do with
> > any biased views Harry may have had against Slytherin and more to
> > do with Draco himself and his behaviour/attitude. <snip>
 
 June:
> I totally agree with Birgitta but there is also something else that
> hasn't crossed anyone's mind. 

Geoff:
Actually it had....

June:
> Malfoy's father was a death eater (of
> course we do not know this for sure at this point but it is canon
> fact). If Malfoy had gone home after his first year of Hogwarts and
> said to his father "Hey dad, I am now best friends with Harry Potter"
> his father would have said "That's great Draco, have him come over to
> visit" and because Voldemort wanted Harry dead, the minute Lucius
> Malfoy got the chance he would have killd him (and of course made it
> look like an accident). Now wouldn't that have been a short story.

Geoff:
As I remarked in my post, it would have demolished the plot. But might 
I reiterate that Harry was eleven in a completely alien environment and 
was tending to "hang on" to anyone who helped him -Hagrid and
Ron - who, whether you like it or not, did introduce an element of anti-
Slytherinism into the mix. I can empathise with Harry here because, when 
I was eleven I went to a grammar school where not another single pupil 
came form my old Junior school. Like Harry, I was not the most forceful 
of people and latched onto anyone in my class who was prepared to be 
friendly; I am still in touch with some of these, more years later than I 
like to admit.

Referring back to my original text, I pointed out that the "Trio" was not 
formed from Day 1. Harry and Ron were frequently very peeved with 
Hermione's interference and bossiness and it wasn't until two months 
into the Autumn term and the troll incident that matters between them 
thawed.

Just speaking hypothetically, if the two had become friends, I think that 
Malfoy would probably had his father ranting about Harry on occasions 
he was at home and, being a reasonably intelligent guy, would maybe 
have kept the information under his hat. 

I admit that I've always had a soft spot for Draco and was relieved that 
he and Harry did help each other in various ways towards the end and 
also that he was indirectly responsible for his mother keeping the truth 
about Harry's condition away from Voldemort in the forest confrontation.

But, at the end, it's fiction. It's nice to indulge in a little "What if?" session 
from time to time (I do the same with LOTR sometimes). It also helps to 
remind me that people's backgrounds and, as a result, their actions do 
not fall into pure white or black categories; there is a lot of grey. We can 
pick out such occurrences for pretty well  for everyone in the Wizarding 
World.

And isn't that just like real life?