So where this relates to H/D is not about Draco's being repressed (though it's a fun thing to play with, surely!), it's about his function as a character. HBP is really unique in the way it gives a student other than Harry a transformative storyline--and I mean transformative, not just one where he gains strength and confidence, like Ron or Neville. Draco had everything about himself attacked in HBP--the dark night of the soul type stuff I'd always hoped for! And I think to really write the character at this point you have to acknowledge his role as a real protagonist in his own story because of it.

You always manage to write such thought-provoking comments and this one has made me go "hmmmmm" and reconsider Draco. The things that happened in HBP have really rocked Draco's worldview and your comment about thinking of the two boys journels as separate books does make one wonder more and more about how Draco's story has progressed.

One of the moments for me that often sums up the moment of change for me by his conversation with Myrtle. I think that at the beginning of HBP Draco was really happy with his task - he'd been given something by the Dark Lord to do. I think at that point if Voldemort had told him that failure would mean the death of his family, Draco might not have really thought Voldemort meant it. As the year progresses and Draco struggles with repairing the cupboard he's come up with more and more plans to kill Dumbledore, neither of which work. I wonder when the realisation that failure meant death finally struck him?