Draco and the RoR was Ginny

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 192118

 
> Corey:
> > I think when it came right down to it Draco didn't really know who his friends really were.
> 
> Geoff:
> I don't think Draco had very many real "friends". Crabbe and Goyle were no
> more than minders for him and I believe that most relationships in Slytherin 
> were power plays and jockeying for position and far from being altruistic.

Pippin:


I don't  think that Slytherins are incapable of friendship. Snape is genuinely concerned for Lily of course, but also about Lucius -- remember the sudden motion he made when Harry outed Lucius as a death eater? Slughorn is  heartbroken about Lily's fate and wishes that she could have been in his House. 

I don't think I buy the "minders" role for Crabbe and Goyle either. First of all, what does Draco need minders for? His parents are hostage for his 'good' behavior. Nor has Draco failed in the role that Voldemort chose for him -- ie, being a knife that Voldie can twist in Lucius's guts. 

But mainly it's this scene in the RoR:

[Harry] skidded to a halt and turned around. Crabbe and Goyle were standing behind him, shoulder to shoulder, wands pointing right at Harry. Through the small gap between their jeering faces he saw Draco Malfoy. -- DH ch 31

That shows teamwork, with Draco in charge of the team -- they reveal themselves as one, and  you don't mind somebody by putting them behind you!

Given that Crabbe and Goyle aren't smart enough to think of it themselves, hanging back and hunting for Harry can only have been Draco's idea. The Carrows are prisoners and Snape has fled. Which means that Draco did, after all, accomplish something positive for the defenders. He kept Crabbe and Goyle from joining Voldemort's attack, and before you say, so what, consider what Fiendfyre would have done if Crabbe had let it loose on the grounds. (shudder).

I think Draco and Goyle are genuinely friends while Draco and Crabbe never were -- if you look back to the polyjuice episode in CoS, you will find Harry making  Goyle's face show concern for Draco, while Draco doesn't express any concern at all about "Crabbe's" attack of stomach trouble. 
> 
> Corey:
> > Oh and did anyone notice that he didn't thank Harry or the others meaning Ron and 
> > Hermione for saving him.
> 

Pippin:
Yes, I did notice that. But Draco looks around beaming with gratitude when Ron (from under the cloak) saves him again a few pages later. Ron, still semi-murderous with rage over the death of his brother, punches Draco in the mouth for it, and calls him a two-faced git. 

Though of course whenever *Harry* manages to talk  himself out of a tight spot, Ron thinks it's cool.

And what exactly is the lie, anyway? That Draco is on the Death Eater's side?

It's not, IMO, that Draco doesn't know who his friends are. It's that he doesn't know who *he* is. Is he the person who was going to turn Harry over to Voldemort, or the one who screamed capslock "DON'T KILL HIM!" Is he the one who stretched out his hand to Harry for help or the one who said, "I'm on your side" to a Death Eater? The one who nodded to Harry on the platform or the one who turned away? The one who named his son 'Scorpius' or the one who sent said son to Hogwarts, instead of schooling him elsewhere? 



In  the earlier books, Draco always knows more about what's going on and thinks he's more the insider  than Harry.That begins to reverse itself in HBP, and the process is completed at the victory celebration, where it's the Malfoys who look as if they're not certain they belong.'

Dumbledore would say that Draco's heart really isn't in being the fanatically cold-hearted opportunist he thinks he's supposed to be. But if you've been trained to believe in a fixed mindset, where birth determines everything, the only variable you can control is the amount of effort you put in -- but you've also been taught that effort only counts for a little. So if  Draco makes his choices rather randomly, from the point of view of an outsider, that may be because he's never been taught to think that they mattered that much.

That, to me, explains Harry's attitude towards  Al on the platform. The choice of Houses *is* important, but not for the reason that Al thinks it is. It's important for Al to believe that he has some control over what kind of person he wants to be -- and he doesn't have to believe anything just because someone powerful and important thinks he should -- whether it's the Sorting Hat or his own parents. 

Just a side note on Ginny here: considering that side of the castle was already under attack, she'd have been crazy to wait in the corridor for Harry. Going to join the defenders in a non-combat role was only sensible -- how else could Harry have found her again?

Pippin