Sorry I left this hanging -- this week was a bear workwise Today was like an early Xmas--so many BD comments! Weeee!
I love that you brought up that Rememberall scene because it always stands out in my mind and I'm never sure why. Part of it is while Harry responds to it immediately as bullying, and I can see why, it never quite feels that way to me. What you're describing here is along the same lines--you're saying that Draco is trying out a type of behavior that's not supposed to be exactly negative. When I read it that's kind of what it sounded like too. He's not starting a fight--as you say, he's in front of teachers and besides, he's not angry. We've seen him when he's actually trying to make Harry or someone angry.
When I read it it almost felt like just trying to aggressively insert himself into a conversation. Almost like in GoF when he appears in the Gryffindor's train car--not to fight but to talk about the Tournament. He arrives with an insult, but a different boy could pull off that kind of casual dominance (and he's smoother in GoF). But it felt like that's what he was trying to do.
Draco can't pull it off and because Harry won't allow him to try. He immediately goes straight to actual dominance. Had Harry reacted a little more cautiously and seen where he was going it might not have been as bad as he imagined. When Draco actually takes the Rememberall later Harry also immediately makes it into a fight for dominance--when Harry says, "Give it here!" when Draco's picked up the forgotten Rememberall for his own type of show, Draco can't give it to him or he'd be showing total submission. His actions in that altercation are kind of trying to just get out of it with as little trouble as possible.
Often enough Draco really is pretty suave, in his own way -- he's spontaneous, funny, verbally fluent, clever and effective about scoring his points
Yes--getting into my PR thing (which I will link to when it's posted because I would love to get your thoughts if I can go over what I'm thinking) there's some comparison of him and Dudley and looking at just how much Draco is connected to a certain kind of social success/fighting. Through Harry's eyes he never looks too good, but even then we sometimes get some these odd things like how Malfoy was "holding court" at the Slytherin table. So maybe, as you say, Draco actually is a fun guy to be friends with in other ways that Harry would never see. I have always noticed that certainly he works for his friends. Where Harry kind of draws people no matter what he does for them (in OotP friendship with Harry is particularly one-sided-Ron's all on his own with his Quidditch woes). Draco's usually working hard to entertain with his friends--he tells stories, tells jokes, does impressions.
That's not what he's ever doing with Harry--though there's still a couple of places with Ron where his insults, as you say, are more sophisticated. With Hermione he's crude, with Harry he's sometimes stupid but sometimes more clever. I genuinely liked, for instance, his comeback to Ron's bragging about Harry's Nimbus in PS by putting down Malfoy's Comet (something like: Weasley, do you even have a broom? I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig?). It's withering, but it's also funny and not too much given Ron's own attempt to put him down.
If his friends more often see him being funny they could have more of a sense of his weak spots--particularly since they're not always around when Draco's at his worst in front of Harry. You don't want to make it all a Daddy issue, but damn it makes sense given the Lucius we've seen. Ironically, Draco might do okay just trying to be Lucius' public face, schmoozing and donating money. But he's totally missing some of the other core Lucius qualities. And Lucius can't teach him because he kind of sucks that way.
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Re: (Corrected version of comment)
Date: 2006-12-17 01:08 am (UTC)Today was like an early Xmas--so many BD comments! Weeee!
I love that you brought up that Rememberall scene because it always stands out in my mind and I'm never sure why. Part of it is while Harry responds to it immediately as bullying, and I can see why, it never quite feels that way to me. What you're describing here is along the same lines--you're saying that Draco is trying out a type of behavior that's not supposed to be exactly negative. When I read it that's kind of what it sounded like too. He's not starting a fight--as you say, he's in front of teachers and besides, he's not angry. We've seen him when he's actually trying to make Harry or someone angry.
When I read it it almost felt like just trying to aggressively insert himself into a conversation. Almost like in GoF when he appears in the Gryffindor's train car--not to fight but to talk about the Tournament. He arrives with an insult, but a different boy could pull off that kind of casual dominance (and he's smoother in GoF). But it felt like that's what he was trying to do.
Draco can't pull it off and because Harry won't allow him to try. He immediately goes straight to actual dominance. Had Harry reacted a little more cautiously and seen where he was going it might not have been as bad as he imagined. When Draco actually takes the Rememberall later Harry also immediately makes it into a fight for dominance--when Harry says, "Give it here!" when Draco's picked up the forgotten Rememberall for his own type of show, Draco can't give it to him or he'd be showing total submission. His actions in that altercation are kind of trying to just get out of it with as little trouble as possible.
Often enough Draco really is pretty suave, in his own way -- he's spontaneous, funny, verbally fluent, clever and effective about scoring his points
Yes--getting into my PR thing (which I will link to when it's posted because I would love to get your thoughts if I can go over what I'm thinking) there's some comparison of him and Dudley and looking at just how much Draco is connected to a certain kind of social success/fighting. Through Harry's eyes he never looks too good, but even then we sometimes get some these odd things like how Malfoy was "holding court" at the Slytherin table. So maybe, as you say, Draco actually is a fun guy to be friends with in other ways that Harry would never see. I have always noticed that certainly he works for his friends. Where Harry kind of draws people no matter what he does for them (in OotP friendship with Harry is particularly one-sided-Ron's all on his own with his Quidditch woes). Draco's usually working hard to entertain with his friends--he tells stories, tells jokes, does impressions.
That's not what he's ever doing with Harry--though there's still a couple of places with Ron where his insults, as you say, are more sophisticated. With Hermione he's crude, with Harry he's sometimes stupid but sometimes more clever. I genuinely liked, for instance, his comeback to Ron's bragging about Harry's Nimbus in PS by putting down Malfoy's Comet (something like: Weasley, do you even have a broom? I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig?). It's withering, but it's also funny and not too much given Ron's own attempt to put him down.
If his friends more often see him being funny they could have more of a sense of his weak spots--particularly since they're not always around when Draco's at his worst in front of Harry. You don't want to make it all a Daddy issue, but damn it makes sense given the Lucius we've seen. Ironically, Draco might do okay just trying to be Lucius' public face, schmoozing and donating money. But he's totally missing some of the other core Lucius qualities. And Lucius can't teach him because he kind of sucks that way.