It's significant, I think that in CoS he's all 'HAHAHA a Mudblood died!eleven!' and in HBP we see him amicably accepting comfort from that same Mudblood. He may know and see them (as Myrtle sees them) as kindred spirits in victimhood, he may not know - but even if he doesn't know, it means he didn't ask. Didn't occur to him to check. It's not a religion with him the same way it is with others - it's an opinion, and it's not even an opinion he came up with on his own. With that fact (and with the Hermione arc, which I utterly agree exists) Draco is the Man Most Likely To Change.
I also agree that it would be a cheat to see anyone else change sides because Harry is our main character, and his development is vital to the book. He can't be told 'you were right about everything! Everything! Snape and everything!' by the narrative. He's got nothing much against Slughorn. He'd have very little against, say, Theodore Nott the Good Slytherin ('guess not all of Slytherin is evil... but Malfoy's evil overshadowed everyone so much, I cannot be blamed for thinking so! btw, what did you say your name was again? Excellent!') Harry's arc is as important as Hermione's arc - chiefly because apparently when Draco is minding his own business (mending cabinets for evil) Hermione doesn't give a damn what he's doing. If he's not in her face endangering Hippogriffs, he's not really on her radar. She had no idea in CoS what Draco was calling her. If he'd said it to Harry and Hermione by themselves, they would have just been like '...well, I am rubber and you are glue, I guess...'
It would be really, really interesting to see Hermione learn Draco'd copied her and be sort of flattered. (It'd be even more interesting if the parallel between Hermione copying the Death Eaters as she does in OotP and Draco copying her made them meet in the middle because of her bad choices and his unexpectedly good ones...) But Harry's already watching, and because what he sees is what we the readers see, that more than anything makes Draco the character who could reform, given the catalysts of Dumbledore and Hermione.
This was a terribly long and involved way to say, great essay! Call me and I will buy you a drink!
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Part 2
Date: 2005-12-03 06:19 pm (UTC)I also agree that it would be a cheat to see anyone else change sides because Harry is our main character, and his development is vital to the book. He can't be told 'you were right about everything! Everything! Snape and everything!' by the narrative. He's got nothing much against Slughorn. He'd have very little against, say, Theodore Nott the Good Slytherin ('guess not all of Slytherin is evil... but Malfoy's evil overshadowed everyone so much, I cannot be blamed for thinking so! btw, what did you say your name was again? Excellent!') Harry's arc is as important as Hermione's arc - chiefly because apparently when Draco is minding his own business (mending cabinets for evil) Hermione doesn't give a damn what he's doing. If he's not in her face endangering Hippogriffs, he's not really on her radar. She had no idea in CoS what Draco was calling her. If he'd said it to Harry and Hermione by themselves, they would have just been like '...well, I am rubber and you are glue, I guess...'
It would be really, really interesting to see Hermione learn Draco'd copied her and be sort of flattered. (It'd be even more interesting if the parallel between Hermione copying the Death Eaters as she does in OotP and Draco copying her made them meet in the middle because of her bad choices and his unexpectedly good ones...) But Harry's already watching, and because what he sees is what we the readers see, that more than anything makes Draco the character who could reform, given the catalysts of Dumbledore and Hermione.
This was a terribly long and involved way to say, great essay! Call me and I will buy you a drink!