Draco the Chessman

[sistermagpie]

I don't really do predictions, but I've been thinking over what we've got to work with coming into HBP. That is, I think JKR as a writer plays fair, walking that line between giving you enough to figure things out and yet not giving you enough to insure you do, if that makes sense. Hurtling into the last two books, I get the feeling we've been given a lot to work with if we knew how to interpret it--which magical things might come into play, for instance, and more importantly, I think we've gotten to know the people on the chessboard.

See, I tend to think of most of the supporting characters (really, everybody but Harry) as chess pieces who are carved in interesting ways, but are important to look at in terms of their position on the board and what their move is. I don't actually play chess, so I may not be able to talk about this intelligently, but what I mean is that just as different chess pieces move a certain way and can move no other, so do I think we've been shown how the characters in HP move and so can be expected to move in future. The surprises we get about characters do not come in the form of new moves, but in us seeing what they were doing all along. For instance, throughout PoA Peter Pettigrew is described as a sweet but incompetent guy who worshiped MPP. But in the Shrieking Shack, iirc, Lupin and Sirius are able to rip him apart for "always" being the same, sucking up to somebody powerful and hiding behind him. It's not that Peter changed--in the Pensieve he's doing just that. It's that his friends weren't correctly understanding what he was doing when they knew him.

This, btw, is why I don't understand fears that Neville is this generation's Peter. Neville's move has been pretty clear from book 1: he has courage. He is generally timid concerning himself and puts up with a lot of personal abuse, but is prone to wild, reckless acts of bravery to protect his friends, family and house. GoF shows us that Neville's position on the board is more interesting than we thought, but his behavior is fairly constant. I feel like further revelations about characters are probably similarly foreshadowed in earlier books, although with some we may not be able to see the consistency until we get more information. When we do get that information, I think it will incorporate any odd moments the characters had that didn't fit with what we previously thought. (I suspect if we were reading MWPP's era Peter would be generally accepted as that bumbling nerd who worshipped the others, with people skimming over little things that didn't fit.)

Anyway, naturally I wonder how Draco will be used in future, having never understood the idea that Draco is the one character with no place on the board who will spend the endgame lying on the rug under the coffee table, having been knocked off by a careless elbow because he wasn’t interesting,

There are those who figure Draco’s set up to be another Regulus Black, and I can certainly see why people think that. It crossed my mind, of course, when Sirius told Regulus' story. But then, why do we need another Regulus when we have one? Here's what struck me, going over the little we have on Draco. I was reading creamtea's essay on her predictions for HBP and she felt that when Draco speaks of "dogging" Harry on the train in OotP, thus tipping him off that Sirius has been recognized, he's trying to warn him without C&G knowing. Similarly she felt Draco was warning Harry about Hagrid's mission being blown later on. She felt if Draco were just bragging about what he knew, why wouldn't he just come out and say it?

What strikes me about those scenes it that perhaps he doesn’t know enough to say it out loud when he’s bragging. Perhaps his function in the narrative is precisely to Look Guilty. He's been very handy that way in the past. In CoS he gives Harry somewhere to start in his investigation of the heir, and that leads to the introduction of Polyjuice (important for GoF), not to mention the bathroom and Myrtle. Harry also suspects Draco of having told Filch he was getting dungbombs in OotP, which he didn't do, and he's the first person Harry thinks of when wondering who would want to keep him from Hogwarts in CoS--again it's not him.

Another way Draco's guilt helps us out is that people tend not to be concerned about things that happen to "only Draco." So he’s a great way to hide information. Hagrid's shortcomings as a teacher, which are so obvious even Hermione admits to them, are dismissed because "only Draco" ever got hurt. The few times Draco actually causes trouble for any period of time, in fact, are accidental. He doesn't mean to provoke Buckbeak, but it causes trouble for Hagrid (and Hagrid's own responsibility is erased in ways it couldn’t be with, say, Neville). His thoughtless angry insults on the Quidditch Pitch in OotP were hardly meant to get himself attacked, but when Harry and George lose their temper they get kicked out of the game. Had Fake!Moody turned Fred Weasley into a weasel and bounced him violently around for throwing a hex from behind, Fake!Moody would have been a villain from then on. But since it's "only Draco" who of course deserves it, no one thinks twice about it. Certainly not enough to think that hey, if we'd heard that there was going to be a disguised DE teaching at Hogwarts in Book IV, wouldn't we have thought Malfoy would be his favorite? And yet it seems the return of the DEs is not a good thing for Malfoy at all. Crouch's loyalty to Voldemort causes him to be nice to Neville and cruel to Draco.

This is all leading up to a pattern, for the essence of which I'm going to jump to Lucius for a moment. We know Draco goes on and on about his father all the time, though we have very few insights into what Lucius' real plan is with him, particularly concerning the main storyline. The few things we do know are actually pretty consistent. In Borgin & Burkes Lucius tells Draco not to appear to hate Harry. In GoF during the QWC DE attack Draco is sent far into the woods, away from trouble (he taunts the others with "I suppose your daddy told you all to hide?"--like Lucius did?). Most telling, for me, are Lucius' words to Draco about the Heir of Slytherin, as quoted by his son. Lucius will not tell Draco much about the Heir because it will "look suspicious if he knows too much." He tells Draco to "keep his head down" (daddy's telling him to hide) and next says something easily applicable to the story in general: "He says the school needs ridding of all the Mudblood filth, but not to get mixed up in it." Isn't that the essence of what we've seen of Lucius' advice to Draco? That he teaches him the world needs to be purged but advises him not to get "mixed up in it" himself as Lucius has? This also throws light on the tidbit about Lucius wanting to send Draco to Durmstrang. People assume Lucius preferred Draco to go to a DE-friendly school to get more involved with Death Eaters, while Narcissa hoped to exert a better influence. Could not Lucius have actually been trying to keep Draco *out* of trouble, given that Hogwarts is much closer to the center of the action, and the school to which Harry Potter would go? Not to mention his father's alma mater?

Here's where I get back to Draco's hints about Sirius and Hagrid. Creamtea asks why, if Draco is bragging about what he knows, does he not tell Harry straight out? Perhaps he can't tell him straight out because there’s nothing to tell. That's where I get back to exactly what Draco's "move" is--what is he known for doing? The answer, at least one of them, is that Draco bluffs. He's quite good at bluffing. He makes Harry hate him straight off bluffing about his bullying of his parents and his broom. He draws a lot of suspicion to himself as the Heir of Slytherin (Lucius warns him it will "look suspicious if he knows too much" and Draco falls under suspicion by pretending he knows more than he does). He bluffs to Harry about knowing about Sirius in PoA, but turns out not to know the true story. Draco has a talent for finding weak spots in people and annoying them with them--he's figured out money taunts hurt Ron and how to make Harry furious, totally to his own destruction. But this does not have to suggest any real knowledge on his part. He accidentally hits Neville's sore spot in OotP, has no idea why Harry is truly bothered by Dementors. (He is, of course, bluffing about his own courage around them as well.) He just sees the reaction he gets and bluffs further, sometimes thus proving how little he actually knows.

He's also always careful to hint rather than say much straight out, when he's getting into an area he's unsure of; that way you let the other person feed you the information you need. Draco's line about "dogging" Harry in OotP, for instance, could be something Lucius told him to say without explaining why, or he may be repeating a joke that Lucius made at the station without understanding it. He may just know the dog is important, somehow. Or perhaps he does know that the dog is Sirius still without knowing half the real story. Sometimes he just repeats things other people say with conviction (his early lines to Harry and Ron are a lot like this). Draco also bluffs to Ron that he’s going to tell about the dragon in Book 1 but only tattles when he has to. He bluffs about his injury to Pansy in PoA and tells long stories about being chased by Muggles and escaping in helicopters as a kid. Probably the reason Harry makes a note of Malfoy’s not having been lying about being able to fly is that he’s already gotten used to assuming he’s fibbing. His lines to Harry in the QWC forest are classically vague. When asked if his parents are “out there wearing masks” he simply says that if they were he’d hardly tell Harry, putting all the burden on Harry’s imagination.

Small aside here is that Draco brags to fake!C&G about the secret chamber under the Malfoy drawing room floor, after which the scene ends. This seems to reference Mr. Borgin's allusion to stuff hidden in Malfoy Manor, which Harry overhears in B&B. Overhearing things is very important in this universe, and usually people overhear things that are important but misunderstood or misinterpreted. Since these things hidden in the Manor are referenced twice (in fiction mentioning something twice is like saying it three times, saying it three times is like saying it five times) and nothing comes of it, I think it may be important in the future. Ron claims he's going to write to his father and tell him to look under the drawing room floor, but we never hear of him doing it, unless I've forgotten. Perhaps we're supposed to assume he did it, or else he was distracted by Hermione's transformation. Draco and Ron’s lines about the Malfoy’s chamber are both interrupted by a distraction. Anyway, Draco's bragging possibly brings trouble to Lucius' door.

Draco is a character very much associated with *performing*--which puts him in the illustrious company of Gilderoy Lockhart and Sybil Trelawney, both frauds. And what happens to frauds in Rowling's universe? Well, they usually wind up getting shoved into the role they've been playing for real. Lockhart is expected to go after the basilisk, and proves to be not just a bluffer but something more sinister. Trelawney finds herself giving a real prophecy that puts her life at risk--she gets what she wanted and it's maybe not so good. I think it's quite possible that something will turn on Draco's apparent guilt and empty boasts about helping the Dark Lord. The foundation for this may have been laid in OotP where Draco was drawn into the Voldemort story along with the rest of the school. We don't hear about the Slytherin reaction to the DEs' escapes from prison, but we do see Draco, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle "with their heads together" in the library after Harry's Quibbler article (possibly the first real information on Voldemort Draco’s ever gotten). And then, of course, Lucius is jailed and Harry even taunts Draco with his own boasts: "He's a mate of your dad, isn't he? Not scared of him, are you?" and of course he is scared, scared enough to look "stricken" at the sound of Voldemort's name.

Comments

[mahoni.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is very interesting! Good observations, and I think I agree, generally. It will be interesting to see if things play out as you speculate.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

*is nervous and excited to see what happens, whatever happens...*

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

I agree with most of this essay - Draco does a good job of bluffing and hiding what he doesn't know, and it does seem clear that he's being kept ignorant by his father (on the other hand, what would you tell a 12 year old boy?)

I do take issue with a couple of things you said early on.

The few times Draco actually causes trouble for any period of time, in fact, are accidental. He doesn't mean to provoke Buckbeak, but it causes trouble for Hagrid (and Hagrid's own responsibility is erased in ways it couldn’t be with, say, Neville).

I just don't see Draco as an innocent victim of events. That requires a level of disbelief I can't muster.

Draco did not choose to be injured even to the extent he was, and Hagrid was negligent in bringing a dangerous creature to his class. However, every other student obeyed Hagrid's instructions on how to deal with hippogryffs. Draco was injured, in fact, because he decided that, as no other student was harmed, Hagrid was wrong. He deliberately acted in a way he had been told would provoke Buckbeak. More than that, the evidence in the book was that Draco magnifying the extent of the injury - it's not conclusive, but that's the conclusion we're meant to draw. I am not saying Draco deserved to be injured, or trying to absolve Hagrid, but Draco does bear some responsibility.

As for the fight on the Quidditch pitch - I'm sorry. The game had ended badly for Gryffindor and Draco had spent it taunting Ron. He's no fool. He knew their tempers were up. And he chose words that would cause *any* boy to attack. He knew exactly what he was doing, and the end results were better than he could have expected - at most he was probably expecting detentions all round (not that detentions weren't pretty horrific anyway.) This was no accident, and to say that makes Draco less intelligent than the number two person in his year should be.

Otherwise, though, yes. I do agree with the essay.

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

He deliberately acted in a way he had been told would provoke Buckbeak.

Actually, he didn't, if memory serves. (I don't have the book with me to check.) Draco does everything right, to the point that Buckbeak lets Draco pet him. At that point Draco says something insulting, but he was still speaking in a respectful voice, and Hagrid never told them that Buckbeak could understand English.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I just don't see Draco as an innocent victim of events. That requires a level of disbelief I can't muster.

I didn't intend to make him an innocent victim of events--the opposite, really. In both those cases Draco does something to make these events happen, but I don't believe he intentionally got attacked by an animal or wanted to get beaten up for the positive (for him) results--both those things would require a much braver character than Draco, imo, and he's never taken credit for those plans either. With Buckbeak, as was stated below, Draco does follow instructions--he doesn't even hear the line about insults. He's putting on a show and being cocky, but I think he's completely surprised by being hurt--in fifth year he's jumpy in Hagrid's class and when he misses something Hagrid says he nervously asks others to repeat it. He takes advantage of the situation in PoA, but I don't think he planned to get attacked.

On the Quidditch Pitch yes, he provokes the attack, but again I don't think his goal is to get himself hurt as much as it is to ruin their victory by insulting them. I think he wanted to make them angry, but not specifically so that he'd be hurt. I didn't mean to imply their response was shocking or that Draco didn't provoke it at all. He did provoke it, but interestingly, Draco never even gloats about what happened that I recall. It's played as a victory for Umbridge, not Draco.

But my point in general is exacty that, that Draco isn't an innocent victim of events even when he's innocent. He's always doing something to provoke the feelings against him. People don't just unfairly suspect him of being the Heir because he's a Malfoy or he's a Slytherin, he actively encourages the association.

[latxcvi.livejournal.com]

The game had ended badly for Gryffindor and Draco had spent it taunting Ron. He's no fool. He knew their tempers were up. And he chose words that would cause *any* boy to attack. He knew exactly what he was doing, and the end results were better than he could have expected - at most he was probably expecting detentions all round (not that detentions weren't pretty horrific anyway.) This was no accident, and

I agree. While it's certainly arguable that an *ideal* plan would never result in the planner suffering any negative consequences, I do think that canon bears out the position that if Draco's primary goal in a lot of his schemes is to be a pain in the ass for Harry and Harry's friends, then he succeeds far more often than he fails, even when he himself also sometimes suffers repercussions. If his plans are sometimes less than ideal in their execution with regard to their repercussions for *him*, well, he's a kid. He's got time to perfect that.

to say that makes Draco less intelligent than the number two person in his year should be.

*Thank* you. Granted, you and I might very well be doing a reading of Lucius' line in CoS that is only shared by the two of us, but I've also always took that to mean Draco is second to Hermione in their year. Hermione's not the only Muggle-born student in their year. If Draco were beaten by multiple Muggle-born students, then Lucius wouldn't have restricted the comment to Hermione, and if Draco had been bested by multiple students period, then Draco wouldn't have only mentioned Hermione as being favored by the teachers. Now sure, it's totally possible that Draco's slacked off academically since first year (although I doubt it, given that (a) he wouldn't want to further disappoint Daddy, and (2) Snape doesn't strike me as someone who'd tolerate mere competence in a student he'd regard enough for Harry to infer said student was Snape's favorite), but I've always read that exchange in CoS as meaning he was second only to Hermione in their year, which means that academically, he's probably neither a slacker nor untalented. There's a lot about fanon!Draco that drives me nuts, but bad-student fanon!Draco is near the top of the list.

[latxcvi.livejournal.com]

Er, not that the issue of Draco's academic standing was relevant to this discussion. It's just one of my pet peeves in fanfiction, so I vented a bit. *g*

In general, I agree with both you and Sistermagpie re: the subtantive points of her essay.

[gillieweed.livejournal.com]

Small aside here is that Draco brags to fake!C&G about the secret chamber under the Malfoy drawing room floor, after which the scene ends. This seems to reference Mr. Borgin's allusion to stuff hidden in Malfoy Manor, which Harry overhears in B&B. Overhearing things is very important in this universe, and usually people overhear things that are important but misunderstood or misinterpreted. Since these things hidden in the Manor are referenced twice (in fiction mentioning something twice is like saying it three times, saying it three times is like saying it five times) and nothing comes of it, I think it may be important in the future. Ron claims he's going to write to his father and tell him to look under the drawing room floor, but we never hear of him doing it, unless I've forgotten. Perhaps we're supposed to assume he did it, or else he was distracted by Hermione's transformation. Draco and Ron’s lines about the Malfoy’s chamber are both interrupted by a distraction. Anyway, Draco's bragging possibly brings trouble to Lucius' door.

I've heard a very similar theory about the never-fail squeak of one particular stair at the Dursleys. Someone pointed out that in each book, every time F&G toted Harry's trunk down the stairs that same step creaked. This person believes there's something hidden under that stair, and in the light of Dumbledore's surprise Howler to Petunia, and Vernon's "have you been in contact with those people?" demand, seems more and more likely.

[impinc.livejournal.com]

Huh! I've never heard that one before. Interesting . . .

[balfrog.livejournal.com]

I love how you pointed out how Draco was the scapegoat that covered a multitude of problems - in justice, and fairness. That while he's a bit of a loud (and not very savvy) braggart, the accidents that happen to him don't quite put the other party in the clear. But yes, that it's more easily overlooked because he is offensive in the books.

Yes, Hagrid being a not very good teacher (Hermione though Grubblyplank was better) being obscured by the fact that Draco made trouble for him, that Moody was Barty Crouch but that was shadowed by his abuse of a student (McGonagall points out they do NOT punish students like that), that he taunted Harry and the Weasleys after Quidditch, but they beat him up two to one (again, McGonagall notes "the lack of sportsmanship" on both parties, but moreso with her Gryffindors). And the first year housecup - Slytherin had the housepoints before Harry and friends were rewarded for saving the Stone (heroic and important, but not school points). Draco's disappointed and dejected, but Dumbledore's decision is less faulty than if he took it away from "hard working Hufflepuffs."

Great point, yeah, that the complicated portrayal of problems (JKR never goes out to flatfootedly turn story into allegory) are shaded by having Draco come to harm, and thus hoodwinking the reader's sympathies (the readers that are not overt Slytherins).

♥ ♥

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Yes, even the students are basically *forced* to support Hagrid as a teacher because Draco's so obnoxious. Harry himself has to admit that he prefers G-B's classes and that they don't carry the threat of physical harm, but when Malfoy mentions getting hurt he's always sure to jump in with, "Only because he wasn't paying attention!" Ron could very easily have made a joking remark and gotten attacked by Buckbeak, but it would play very differently.

On the Quidditch Pitch I don't think anybody denies that Draco starts the fight. McGonagall seems to see it as typical sour grapes and scolds Harry and George for being goaded by him. She says something like, "Of course he insulted you--he'd lost the game!" Like it's just typical petty brat behavior (which Harry sees it as as well before Malfoy says something that presses his buttons). But when Umbridge comes in and uses it for her own agenda McGonagall's more sensible outlook is lost. Harry and George (and Fred) become the victims 100%. It's not that I think we should be sympathizing overmuch with Malfoy--he does something stupid and pays for it. I just brought it up as one of those times when, as usual, he's not the one in control.

[kylandra.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Heh, Draco really is full of crap, isn't he? It will be interesting to see how that effects things later on, for him and for everyone else.

You know, I hadn't been thinking all that much about the secret chamber of the Malfoys, but now I'm interested in that again. Would be fascinating to find out what's really there.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Heh--full of crap pretty much sums it up. I do wonder what's in there. We haven't heard much about Dark Artefacts, really.

[mizbean.livejournal.com]

Interesting essay!!

Draco is a character very much associated with *performing*--which puts him in the illustrious company of Gilderoy Lockhart and Sybil Trelawney, both frauds. And what happens to frauds in Rowling's universe? Well, they usually wind up getting shoved into the role they've been playing for real. Lockhart is expected to go after the basilisk, and proves to be not just a bluffer but something more sinister. Trelawney finds herself giving a real prophecy that puts her life at risk--she gets what she wanted and it's maybe not so good. I think it's quite possible that something will turn on Draco's apparent guilt and empty boasts about helping the Dark Lord.

I hadn't thought of Lockhart and Trelawnely's roles like this, but I had thought of Draco along these lines. In fact, I'm pretty certain that Draco will attempt to help Voldemort in some way. I say this because I think that Draco has a rather "romantic" view of the DEs. Even though he is afraid of Voldemort, he looks up to his father, who's a DE, and he hates mudbloods, the DE cause. Joining up with the DEs is also anti-Harry, revenge is sweet.

And I'm speculating that he's never seen up close how truly horrific the DEs are. He's heard stories now, but it's easy to cast aside those stories as fiction. I doubt, for example, that he's seen anyone put under the crucio like Harry has (and someone his own age, no less), seen anyone killed (Cedric, Sirius), seen up close the results of DE crimes (the Longbottoms' brain damage, the Potters' murder), or even taken trips in Dumbledore's penseive to see the DE trials.

I think it's very likely that Draco will do something foolish in an attempt to help his father and I think he will only be "redeemed" if he learns the consequences of his actions and those of the DEs. And maybe that will only happen if he causes real damage to the school or someone he's close to, a fellow Slytherin, perhaps.

[impinc.livejournal.com]

And I'm speculating that he's never seen up close how truly horrific the DEs are. He's heard stories now, but it's easy to cast aside those stories as fiction.

Exactly!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_rp_zeal_/]

Had Fake!Moody turned Fred Weasley into a weasel and bounced him violently around for throwing a hex from behind

*pauses to bathe in that happy thought*

I completely agree with your analysis of Draco's bluffing tendencies, how things would appear *very* different had they not happened to 'just' Draco, and that when he got people seriously in trouble he often did so unintentionally. So I could definitely imagine his role being reversed in the coming two books: no more empty threats, seriously wanting/scheming to hurt people, and maybe being portrayed in a light that is not 'just' Draco (as if he's an entirely different creature on his own) but more like 'one of us'.

Draco is a character very much associated with *performing*--which puts him in the illustrious company of Gilderoy Lockhart and Sybil Trelawney, both frauds.

Hmmmm, but Draco has other important attributes to him (his blood, family and house) that are important to the story, unlike Gilderoy and Sybil whose only relevance seems to be just their actions, not their backgrounds/relationships with other characters. I would think what happen to Draco next have more to do with his place in the moral story Rowling is trying to tell, than he being a performer? Unless I completely misunderstood what you were saying, in which case I'm sorry ^^;;;

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm, but Draco has other important attributes to him (his blood, family and house) that are important to the story, unlike Gilderoy and Sybil whose only relevance seems to be just their actions, not their backgrounds/relationships with other characters. I would think what happen to Draco next have more to do with his place in the moral story Rowling is trying to tell, than he being a performer? Unless I completely misunderstood what you were saying, in which case I'm sorry ^^;;;

Oh yes, there's definitely more to him than that--that's what I would think of as his placement on the board, which is more important than those two characters. The last book solidified his position even more by making him a Black. He was now related to all those other characters and Kreacher and Grimmauld Place, and his father was in jail and all that. And that doesn't even get into the way he's connected to Snape and that Dumbledore set up Snape/James reminding him of H/D. Oh yeah, there's much more stuff there.:-)

[earth-magic.livejournal.com]

Very interesting piece. I love the way you manage to draw on things like this.

Regarding Ron telling his father. There is nothing in canon that actually says he did. Of course that doesn't mean either he did or didn't and it could turn out that in HBP something might come of this. After all, with Lucius out of the way the Ministry might just go poking around at the manor.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

The fact that Draco's interrupted just as he's talking about that chamber, and Ron's line about telling his father are right before we find out about Hermione, makes it seem like that might be something dropped in and then covered up so we don't ask about it too soon.

[parthenia14.livejournal.com]

This is a great essay and pulls together a number of things I was wondering - namely, that it seems very obvious to make Draco the baddie. It's got to be more complicated than that, because JKR doesn't go for the totally strightforward. So I very much like the idea that he will try to get involved and come horribly unstuck. Or Lucius will try him out in some way, now that he's not operating..

*shivers deliciously*

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Yes, the thing about making him the baddie is that it's hard to expect anyone not to suspect him. If Harry were to suddenly not think about him as somebody out to get him it would seem pretty convenient for him, and his motives are just so laid bare to the world there's not much surprise there.

[scarah2.livejournal.com]

I was reading creamtea's essay on her predictions for HBP and she felt that when Draco speaks of "dogging" Harry on the train in OotP, thus tipping him off that Sirius has been recognized, he's trying to warn him without C&G knowing.

It could be possible to consider Draco's taunts in the woods outside the QWC the same way, as a warning.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Ah yes--I have heard his taunts in the woods described as a warning too.

[lavinialavender.livejournal.com]

Very intersting - very good, and it sounds very plausible. I especially like your theory about perhaps Draco heard Lucius make a joke about Sirius at the train station, and then repeated it to Harry without understanding.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

It's definitely left open to that, since Draco himself is being intentionally vague, and is known for fishing around.

[cheshyre.livejournal.com]

Very interesting.

I've been working (intermittently) on a Percy/Draco (http://www.osmond-riba.org/lis/fanfic/Taken.htm) story. And as the two of them were trying to figure out how to work together, I started realizing that Percy would have the more chess outlook (assuming he used to play at least some family games with Ron) which allows him to anticipate a few moves ahead if given time, but doesn't prepare him for sudden surprises. Draco has much more of a poker outlook, better at bluffs and quick reactions, but without as much longterm planning.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Oh, what a great analogy.:-) What an interesting idea for a story, they're such two different types of outlook...

[impinc.livejournal.com]

Isn't that the essence of what we've seen of Lucius' advice to Draco? That he teaches him the world needs to be purged but advises him not to get "mixed up in it" himself as Lucius has? This also throws light on the tidbit about Lucius wanting to send Draco to Durmstrang. People assume Lucius preferred Draco to go to a DE-friendly school to get more involved with Death Eaters, while Narcissa hoped to exert a better influence. Could not Lucius have actually been trying to keep Draco *out* of trouble, given that Hogwarts is much closer to the center of the action, and the school to which Harry Potter would go? Not to mention his father's alma mater?

Ooh, ooh, ooh! Fanon often, as you say, has Narcissa trying to keep Draco out of trouble and Lucius pushing him to become a Death Eater, but what if it were the other way around? What if, in fact, Lucius originally became a Death Eater to impress Narcissa, and now he wants to get out but can't because of her influence over him? So he's subtly trying to keep Draco from becoming a Death Eater, while not letting Narcissa notice what he's doing! *plot bunnies*

Anyway, I agree that Draco is a bluffer and a scapegoat. Frankly, I've always seen him as a rather ineffectual braggart. I think he may be smart, but he has absolutely no common sense.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I think he may be smart, but he has absolutely no common sense.

*snerk* Or that there are just too many situations where his emotions completely overrule that common sense.

Narcissa's one of those characters that fandom's probably gotten too complacent on, since we've never met her. People probably naturally see her as Not!Lucius and I know there were a lot of stories with abused Narcissa or a Narcissa who was really good in some way--so much so that some people were very pleased at her helping Kreacher in OotP.

[cs-luis.livejournal.com]

This is a fascinating essay - your insights into Draco continue to enlighten me. :-)

*rereads*

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

:-D

'Course, it could all be bollocks. There's always that.

[moonlitpages.livejournal.com]

Most telling, for me, are Lucius' words to Draco about the Heir of Slytherin, as quoted by his son. Lucius will not tell Draco much about the Heir because it will "look suspicious if he knows too much." He tells Draco to "keep his head down" (daddy's telling him to hide) and next says something easily applicable to the story in general: "He says the school needs ridding of all the Mudblood filth, but not to get mixed up in it." Isn't that the essence of what we've seen of Lucius' advice to Draco? That he teaches him the world needs to be purged but advises him not to get "mixed up in it" himself as Lucius has?

You know, this touches exactly on something of a theory I've been mulling over for some time now. Everyone assumes that Lucius would want Draco to follow in his footsteps-- that he has been sending Draco to Junior Death Eater Camp since he was wee and will come back from Azkaban and expect Draco to join him, etc. But the more I think about this.... there's really not that much canonical evidence. Lucius has never, to our knowledge, openly involved Draco in his Evil Plots. Despite being behind the Diary Incident in CoS, did Lucius involve Draco in his plans at all? No. At fourteen, was Draco involved in the Muggle-baiting at the Quidditch Cup at all? No. One could argue that perhaps Lucius is just waiting for Draco to come of age, but I'm not entirely convinced this is the only reason.

The more I think about it-- why would Lucius want Draco to follow in his footsteps at this particular moment after all that has happened? Lucius was living high before Voldemort came back. He had the Minister's ear, and all the influence money could buy. He had a place in society, money, influence, power-- what more could a Dark Lord offer him that he hasn't already gained for himself before Voldemort's second return? The Death Eaters are described in GoF as fleeing from the Dark Mark in the sky at the World Cup-- Lucius included, I presume-- and earning Crouch Jr's contempt. Most of the former Death Eaters seem terrified of Voldemort, who has likely lost all of his former splendor and zeal that drew so many fanatics to him in the first place. He's a shell of what he once was, and most of his followers have moved on from the place they were over fifteen years ago when they were probably young and full of Voldemort's promising ideals, especially when it looked like he might actually win and deliver on his promises.

Now, Lucius Malfoy has been landed in Azkaban, outed as a Death Eater, and lost his place in Wizard Society (I can only assume, heh). Lucius was able to bounce back last time, but if Voldemort is defeated yet again-- I doubt he will ever truly regain in place among 'polite' society. So again I ask... what would Lucius get from Draco following in his footsteps? Wouldn't it be a much wiser move for him to advise his son to 'keep his head down', and wait to see which side wins the war? If Voldemort wins, Lucius could easily bring Draco in at his side... and if Voldemort loses, Draco at least has a shot at restoring the Malfoy Name. This doesn't necessarily mean that he is a loving father, though I think he is in his own (extremely controlling) way-- but really, I think it would be more in the line of protecting his assets.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

You know, this touches exactly on something of a theory I've been mulling over for some time now. Everyone assumes that Lucius would want Draco to follow in his footsteps-- that he has been sending Draco to Junior Death Eater Camp since he was wee and will come back from Azkaban and expect Draco to join him, etc. But the more I think about this.... there's really not that much canonical evidence.

Yes, it makes much more sense, tactically, for Lucius to want Draco out of it. Voldemort himself describes Lucius as 'slippery' and Crouch doesn't consider him a true believer. It really fascinates me, actually, to think of Lucius' good intentions even here backfiring on him, because he's raised Draco to have all of these Pureblood prejudices but also kept him innocent. It does seem like whatever Draco is Lucius has had a big hand in creating him, so his desires to be seen as a badass like his father and stupid behavior to that end, his inability to perhaps have any real discretion, could be partially the result of Lucius trying to keep him out of things.

In the one scene where the two of them are together there is every indication that Lucius is not in as much control of Draco as he would like, so whatever Lucius hoped to create here he may have just gotten a wild card. That seems very believable given their interactions. Draco, to me, seems like somebody who *does* respond to people when handled correctly, but Lucius perhaps is more the type who doesn't think he should have to figure out the best way to handle him. I admit I tend to imagine Snape doing a good job.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think you are on to something about "getting what you asked for" in Draco's case. ANd I think you are dead on with Lucius trying to keep Draco out of it. All of it.

Draco is in an awkward position in that his role was absolutely essential at the opening of the story (apparantly you cannot *have* a "school story" without the Draco role somewhere in it) but as less and less of what really matters in the story is limited to the school, Draco becomes progressively more irrelevant and easilly dismissable.

He still needs to be watched, because he can do a degree of damage, just by being in the way, but he is the least of Harry's worries by now.

Random comments

[anehan]

last Draco babble before HBP

You know, I don't think you ever gave us that long treatise on Fudge.

He doesn't mean to provoke Buckbeak, but it causes trouble for Hagrid (and Hagrid's own responsibility is erased in ways it couldn’t be with, say, Neville).

I've been re-reading the HP books during the last month in preparation for HBP, and it struck me that Dumbledore actually assured the Board of Governors that Hagrid was not responsible for the Buckbeak debacle. Now, I could understand Dumbledore trying to downplay Hagrid's responsibility, or saying that he'll talk about the matter with Hagrid, in an attempt to avoif Hagrid's dismissal, but his statement to the Board is outright lying. I simply cannot believe he is stupid or blind enough not to see that Hagrid indeed is responsible. Or perhaps he is that blind, I don't know.

Isn't that the essence of what we've seen of Lucius' advice to Draco? That he teaches him the world needs to be purged but advises him not to get "mixed up in it" himself as Lucius has?

I sometimes wonder what Lucius's game actually is. During the Department of Mysteries debacle he is curiously ineffective. I could expect the kind of gloating and bragging from Bellatrix, or even Voldemort, but it doesn't sound like Lucius at all. Of course, it could be that he just needs to be that ineffective for the children to get off and get all the necessary information. I mean, has anyone else thought it rather pathetic that the DE at the DoM used something like the Impediment Jinx against the children when they were defenceless rather than something more effective like stunning or killing them?

Just randomly wondering.

Re: Random comments

[slinkhard.livejournal.com]

Dumbledore actually assured the Board of Governors that Hagrid was not responsible for the Buckbeak debacle.

That always bugged me, not in the least because Dumbledore had no way of knowing.
I mean, if Snape walks in to a room and immediately assumes the Gryffindors are causing trouble and deducts points with no evidence, it's considered unfair; whereas with Dumbledore it's just loyalty.

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

Ah, my darling Draco. He'd be so good at poker, right up until he... really, really wasn't.
Oh God, I wish I thought Neville was this generation's Peter, I truly do, then I might find him less mind-numbingly dull. If Draco was born to bluff, Neville was born to prove that initially unprepossessing people are really Brave and Noble and Good and True ad nauseam, and I think we both got the memo in Philosopher's Stone.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly. We get it, thank you. Please stop making this character the broccoli of the HP-verse!!

spoilery?

[shusu.livejournal.com]

Quite honestly I'm wondering where you are. lol

But this is probably one of the coolest spot-on predictions. And what happens to frauds in Rowling's universe? Well, they usually wind up getting shoved into the role they've been playing for real.

I want to wave this around and go hah! this is what you do with a lit degree!

Re: spoilery?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

There are so many things in this book that I was smugly patting myself on the back for predicting--and of course I will do so in an upcoming post.:-D

[cressida0201.livejournal.com]

Now that we've seen HBP, we know you were absolutely right! Draco does get asked to "put his galleons where his mouth is." Kudos to you for the excellent analysis!

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Hee-And I was totally surprised to hit something so close. Thanks!