You know, I came across a story today that made me think about this again--it was about a guy who confronted his childhood bully and got a big surprise. The thing was that he had wanted to know why the bully picked on *him.* The bully did turn out to have been abused at home at the time etc., but it was his reason for picking this kid that was really striking to him. It made me think about how it seems so off to me when people describe Draco as "the bully," because that obviously implies he's just the bully of everyone when in reality he clearly has a grudge against this one kid. Somebody recently mentioned JKR calling Draco "shallow" and that's just what he really can't be. If he were shallow he'd have been distracted from this fight a while ago. Instead he's focused on two things: loving his parents (deeply) and hating Harry (deeply). Nothing shallow there. So I just think it's only logical that Harry stepped into Draco's real emotional issues in the way he rejected him.
I also think he can't be dismissed because of exactly what you described--as much as people like to say Harry doesn't care about him or notice him, the fact is he's always been helpful to the plot because he goads Harry into action when other things don't. Harry always looks better dealing with Draco, I think, because he always seems like such a badass when dealing with him. When he's face to face with Draco Harry always knows who he is. Other times he dodges that, I think, focusing on how he's nothing special or it's just luck he's survived so far, but with Draco he throws his weight around, even brags about facing Voldemort. Ron and Hermione are obviously important to him, but it's never as intense. When Harry throws that badge at Ron, I really feel like he's showing himself the way he sometimes does with Draco. He hits Ron hard and Ron has no comeback. Draco tends to take it and still not back down.
So you just get that mirror quality...just as Harry "owns" the role of hero when he's facing Draco, Draco plays the part of villain when he faces Harry. Is he just trying to scare Harry with the idea that he's got Voldemort on his side? That's probably part of it, but then Draco has, at the same time, always been shown to be properly fearful of Voldemort. Like when Harry jokes that V is a "mate" of Draco's Dad, he's calling the very bluff Draco's always tried to hint at--and it turns out to be an empty bluff. But then Harry himself has also just bluffed Draco when he acted like facing Voldemort was something he just handled well (when it was Dumbledore who turned up there anyway).
But at the same time Draco is also the one that can get him to reveal all that anger--I said somewhere else that one of my favorite and most surprising moments in OotP was when Harry had the memory of watching Dudley with his tricycle and "burning with jealousy." I thought...waah? Our Harry? Burning with jealousy? Cool! Draco does tend to bring that out in him in a very personal way--Bellatrix is an authority figure, like Snape, so I think they tap into Harry's sense of injustice that way. But Draco is a completely different story--he, too, is under the thumb of an authority figure and has no authority over Harry like Dudley did at home. Yet he makes Harry angry anyway, just "because he exists" sometimes. That's another thing I think people overlook--many times Harry *is* angered by Draco's existance because he and his friends seem to spend their existance laughing at him. Whatever the opposing viewpoint is it almost always seems to center around Malfoy. If he's in the room, Harry usually can't completely ignore him.
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I also think he can't be dismissed because of exactly what you described--as much as people like to say Harry doesn't care about him or notice him, the fact is he's always been helpful to the plot because he goads Harry into action when other things don't. Harry always looks better dealing with Draco, I think, because he always seems like such a badass when dealing with him. When he's face to face with Draco Harry always knows who he is. Other times he dodges that, I think, focusing on how he's nothing special or it's just luck he's survived so far, but with Draco he throws his weight around, even brags about facing Voldemort. Ron and Hermione are obviously important to him, but it's never as intense. When Harry throws that badge at Ron, I really feel like he's showing himself the way he sometimes does with Draco. He hits Ron hard and Ron has no comeback. Draco tends to take it and still not back down.
So you just get that mirror quality...just as Harry "owns" the role of hero when he's facing Draco, Draco plays the part of villain when he faces Harry. Is he just trying to scare Harry with the idea that he's got Voldemort on his side? That's probably part of it, but then Draco has, at the same time, always been shown to be properly fearful of Voldemort. Like when Harry jokes that V is a "mate" of Draco's Dad, he's calling the very bluff Draco's always tried to hint at--and it turns out to be an empty bluff. But then Harry himself has also just bluffed Draco when he acted like facing Voldemort was something he just handled well (when it was Dumbledore who turned up there anyway).
But at the same time Draco is also the one that can get him to reveal all that anger--I said somewhere else that one of my favorite and most surprising moments in OotP was when Harry had the memory of watching Dudley with his tricycle and "burning with jealousy." I thought...waah? Our Harry? Burning with jealousy? Cool! Draco does tend to bring that out in him in a very personal way--Bellatrix is an authority figure, like Snape, so I think they tap into Harry's sense of injustice that way. But Draco is a completely different story--he, too, is under the thumb of an authority figure and has no authority over Harry like Dudley did at home. Yet he makes Harry angry anyway, just "because he exists" sometimes. That's another thing I think people overlook--many times Harry *is* angered by Draco's existance because he and his friends seem to spend their existance laughing at him. Whatever the opposing viewpoint is it almost always seems to center around Malfoy. If he's in the room, Harry usually can't completely ignore him.