It's funny since I'm just re-reading PS for DTCL and honestly, Harry whips up a lot of hatred at Malfoy early on--I think more than Malfoy actually has for him. Because Malfoy's hatred for Harry seems like it could be (we're not in his head so I can't say for sure) less intense. He likes Harry fine as a person upon meeting him--it's Harry who dislikes Malfoy just for being himself. And once they get to school Malfoy dislikes Harry of course for rejecting him, but Harry's hatred of Malfoy, to me, seems much more impossible to overcome. He really has the "because he exists" thing down with Malfoy so that any time his attention falls on Malfoy the scene escalates to a red state of alert.
Malfoy's own baiting of Harry almost starts to make a different type of sense when you look at it. It's just so often fandom takes for granted that Harry is the "hated" in the situation since Malfoy does bait him, but reading it from the beginning I actually feel like Malfoy is more hated by Harry more completely and more quickly. I can almost start to make more sense of the way Malfoy keeps poking him. Especially in HBP where to use it feels like things are reversed--ah, now Harry's the one obsessed with Malfoy! But Malfoy's own response isn't quite that. He's not, like, suddenly disturbed by Harry's interest. I'm not explaining it well, but...obviously Malfoy knows that it's usually him (Malfoy) who's trying to figure out what Harry's up to and bug him. That's a change. But after reading as far as I have in PS I can see the idea of Potter glowering at him 24/7 as kind of normal. Harry always notes places where Malfoy gives him looks, but his own bad feelings about Malfoy he thinks of as more private.
For instance, in the first flying lesson Harry's totally not looking forward to "looking like a fool" in front of Malfoy--yet in the lesson itself he and Ron are "delighted" when Hootch tells Malfoy he's been holding his broom wrong. So there's that (totally common) disconnect. It's only if you put yourself in Malfoy's shoes (which Harry wouldn't) that you think that not only does he have every reason to feel insecure in front of Harry as much as Harry does in front of him, but that Harry and Ron are doing *exactly* what Malfoy does in delighting at his failures.
It's obviously not that Malfoy is the better person, but I actually do see a more James-like attitude in Harry's hatred of Malfoy than in Malfoy's of Harry. Malfoy seems to mostly hate Harry himself (maybe with a little of Lucius frustration thrown in). Harry slots Malfoy into the ENEMY box much earlier, and Harry's enemy box is serious.
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Malfoy's own baiting of Harry almost starts to make a different type of sense when you look at it. It's just so often fandom takes for granted that Harry is the "hated" in the situation since Malfoy does bait him, but reading it from the beginning I actually feel like Malfoy is more hated by Harry more completely and more quickly. I can almost start to make more sense of the way Malfoy keeps poking him. Especially in HBP where to use it feels like things are reversed--ah, now Harry's the one obsessed with Malfoy! But Malfoy's own response isn't quite that. He's not, like, suddenly disturbed by Harry's interest. I'm not explaining it well, but...obviously Malfoy knows that it's usually him (Malfoy) who's trying to figure out what Harry's up to and bug him. That's a change. But after reading as far as I have in PS I can see the idea of Potter glowering at him 24/7 as kind of normal. Harry always notes places where Malfoy gives him looks, but his own bad feelings about Malfoy he thinks of as more private.
For instance, in the first flying lesson Harry's totally not looking forward to "looking like a fool" in front of Malfoy--yet in the lesson itself he and Ron are "delighted" when Hootch tells Malfoy he's been holding his broom wrong. So there's that (totally common) disconnect. It's only if you put yourself in Malfoy's shoes (which Harry wouldn't) that you think that not only does he have every reason to feel insecure in front of Harry as much as Harry does in front of him, but that Harry and Ron are doing *exactly* what Malfoy does in delighting at his failures.
It's obviously not that Malfoy is the better person, but I actually do see a more James-like attitude in Harry's hatred of Malfoy than in Malfoy's of Harry. Malfoy seems to mostly hate Harry himself (maybe with a little of Lucius frustration thrown in). Harry slots Malfoy into the ENEMY box much earlier, and Harry's enemy box is serious.