~~ ye olde HBP Draco rant

[reenka]

It's barely been 2 weeks and I'm already getting scared of fandom's new and disturbing twists on canon!Draco (soon to be new-and-not-so-improved fanon!Draco, I'm sure).


Mostly, I'm kind of twitchy at most icons and references to him I see being entirely about crying, and the label emo!Draco and the suchlike... as if sensitive!Draco was basically the only relevant 'message' of the characterization of him this book. This... disturbs me.

    Not that his vulnerability isn't important, because obviously that's what makes him sympathetic as a character in the first place. It's just that... I feel like seeing him as some fanon-type stereotypical 'sensitive boy' is missing the point entirely, which upsets me. Because it's not like he wasted away from his Angest And Pane like some overreactive consumptive 'angel'-- he really was under tons of stress. And he dealt well enough to follow through with his plan. And he stood up to Dumbledore-- as well as Snape-- as well as Harry. Rebellious!Draco is so much more interesting than defeated-and-weepy!Draco, but having both at once is just such beautiful ambiguity that I shouldn't be surprised fandom immediately jumped to one or the other conclusion. (He's Black! He's White! No, he's still pink!!)

I haven't been writing anything about him because while I was happy (and really friggin' smug) about his characterization and overall role in HBP, I don't know what there was to -say-; the book just... seemed to say it. It was right there, on the page. I didn't think there was any way to confuse this new deluge of information! Oh, I'm so naive.
    Naturally, what I took away wasn't H/D was more obvious than ever on the surface level (not quite that delusional, kthnxbi... though it was more possible in that still-pretty-impossible sort of way), it's that we saw post-OoTP!Draco still mattered, at least to Harry. It's that Draco could get something done right under Harry's nose and Harry wasn't even surprised. It's that Draco may have been a pathetic emo loser just like always(!), but I could sense the rage and determination and that stubborn bravado (like around Dumbledore) that passes for self-confidence with him. Why aren't people remembering that?

Why aren't they remembering how he kept insisting he would do it (kill Dumbledore), not as a sign that he's an evil little cockroach but as a sign that he hadn't crumpled at that point, that he isn't actually just a weepy little wimp? At least he still talks big, even at the end. He never stops hoping. When Harry finds him crying, Draco doesn't crumple further-- he tries to Crucio him; Draco doesn't want your pity, reader, and he doesn't want Harry's. Draco wants you to believe he could fucking own your ass even if he couldn't. Draco wants respect, not pity. So it kind of upsets me that I see this focus on his weakness this book. Finally, I think, this book proved Draco's own sort of strength.

    It's not a strength that depends on imperturbability or brute power-- obviously, Draco suffers and fails and flails and has plenty of insecurities about fulfilling a daunting, scary responsibility. He really wants to play with the big boys, but he still just wants to be good enough; he wants to have Snape and Dumbledore and his father (doubt about the Dark Lord, but sure why not) acknowledge his skillz, I think. He was excited about this, according to Narcissa. Draco wanted his chance, his day to shine, and of course he has performance anxiety. Of course. He's never really won before. Some part of him probably thinks he -can't-, but he won't stop trying. He's a resilient little fucker; he has all the strength of his (Slytherin!) ambition to prove himself. He has all the power of his need to be Somebody. Somebody who matters, who chose to follow of his own free will. And of course, unlike Harry, the necessity to grow up and face the music he faced in this book hit him much, much harder than it did Harry. Harry was a -lot- more ready for it. Draco likely could barely keep his neurosis in check long enough to get to the privacy of the bathroom, but his intense desire not to be seen, especially not by Potter, speaks volumes about him not wanting Potter's pity, thank god. That's what I really wanted for Draco post-OoTP, and I got it-- oh, I got it.

    This Draco Malfoy may be weak and ultimately ineffectual, but he's not going down easy. His desire to be taken seriously by Potter & Dumbledore & Snape-- by anyone he respects-- is ultimately stronger than his insecurity & fear, I feel, though not stronger than his actual humanity. That voice inside him that is bloody terrified of werewolves, yeah, but also doesn't want his friends-- or even stupid Gryffindors-- to get torn apart by one because of him.

So yeah... it really frikkin' bothers me thinking that fandom is about to concentrate most on Draco's little break-down without the caveat of his immediate flip-flop when Harry entered the scene. That cut-off Crucio wasn't an accident, I think. He didn't hate Potter enough to try torturing him after he Stupefied him, but he hated Potter seeing him like that-- thinking he was weak-- enough to attempt desperate measures of a whole 'nother sort. This... this really makes me happy. Because even if Draco -isn't- hardcore, obviously, and is ultimately a failed bully, the fact that he -tries- is just as important as the reason he fails.
    The other thing that seems blatant to me is that the attempt at the Unforgivable isn't an instance of 'bullying' anyway, and it's also vastly different than his waffling around Dumbledore. Even though Harry's much more unstable & likely to hurt him than Dumbledore, Draco's not scared of him, is he. Even with the fight so deeply uneven, Draco still tries; I'm tempted to say that getting back at Potter for humiliating him is still much more of an emotional trigger than his promise about Dumbledore. Draco hates and is completely unreasonable about Harry, not Dumbledore, after all.

    Draco wants you to acknowledge he's good enough, and that's so obviously why he stomped on Harry's face in the train and left it at that. Because it was so important to him that he & Potter both knew he could have done more, and didn't. It's that 'could' that made him happy, I think.

Draco could do a lot of things if he threw himself into it. He may drive himself into a nervous frenzy, but he wouldn't stop until the end. And at that point-- well, that was a choice, wasn't it. Small and ultimately of questionable relevance to the final outcome of things, but a choice all the same, and it's all Draco's.
~~

Disclaimer of sorts: I know I um, wrote this of my own free will, because I couldn't help it (and no, I haven't actually been reading Draco meta lately), but man. I'm scared this all sounded largely like rhetoric and projection, and I am really, really burnt out on this subject, and a huge part of me doesn't wanna talk about this at all. Mostly, it's only here as an attempt to organize my thoughts with the purposes of my own fic-writing, if anything. Just sayin'.

Comments

[issyadore.livejournal.com]

how has no one responded with kisses yet?!

i read this an hour ago and then got distracted by the phone before i could comment. anyway, this was really great, very precise and resonable, and I totally agree with everything.

And I'll rec it later/tomorrow. yay.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Eeee, 'precise and reasonable' :D :D :D Thank you, I feel spoiled by implication that I can make sense sometimes >:D Hee.

[malafede.livejournal.com]

Is this about the rec I sent you?

I think you're doing a bit of what these sensitive!emo!Draco folks you're talking about are doing, only in reverse. Yes, Draco is strong, Draco wants to be acknowledged for his skills -- but he's also vulnerable and in thar same scene where he stood up Dumbledore, he did crumble in the end. The novelty of the fact that he didn't want to do it was obviously a big emotional shock, and I think it's clear when you read what descriptions are being used for him (trembling, looking nauseous, yelling). Yes, Draco wants you to acknowledge his skills, but while I do acknowledge his skills, I don't want him to base his whole sense of self on his stupid ability to be a proper Death Eater. That's his delusions of grandeur and it's something he uses to boost himself, not something I'll buy into for a second. It's actually the line of reasoning that makes people conclude he's only a big pussy who chickened out of his mission.

So yes, Draco has his own strenght, but Draco also has big honking vulnerability and weakness and appreciating them doesn't mean cutting off his cock. It's not like when you acknowledge that he's weak you instantly write-off his bravado and his determination; one doesn't exclude the other, as you said. It doesn't mean people are glorifying his wussiness (what?), because I think people are perfectly capable of accepting he's weak without despising him for it.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

It's not about the rec; I specifically said it was about various fandom references & Draco icons. I really liked it, though not necessarily the characterizations in it, even if I couldn't say they were OOC; the H/D itself was, somewhat, merely because I don't see Harry wanking over that without being severaly fucked up about it. And yeah, fine, though the Draco was IC, he wasn't appealing as far as inspiring any Dracolove (though hot with his bare arse, etc).

I acknowledged this might sound like rhetoric and thusly reversing whatever it was a rant -against-. I acknowledged it and said 'whatevers, I don't care, I just wrote this for me'. That's what the disclaimer was -for-.

However, I don't see where I denied he was vulnerable. In fact, I kind of repeated things to the effect of 'while he might be a pansy weepy little loser', etcetc, several times. Or vulnerable or weepy or emo-- I acknowledged multiple times there was definitely truth to that, I just didn't want that to be the only recognized truth or the one most focused on.
As in, Rebellious!Draco is so much more interesting than defeated-and-weepy!Draco, but having both at once is just such beautiful ambiguity-- that's a direct quote. Where am I denying the existence of trembling & nauseous!Draco there?

As for reader -response-, that's a different issue, somewhat. It has no great relevance whether one loves him or despises him for his weakness, as long as one sees him semi-objectively for the purposes of my rant. In other words, I don't care. It matters more -to me- to acknowledge that Draco doesn't want pity, but people could knock themselves out and love/pity him till they drop, no skin off my back.

It's not about his ability to be a proper Death Eater at all; I was never talking about that, I don't think. I wasn't equating 'respect' with 'respect as a Death Eater'. Sure, that's his delusions of grandeur, but one should acknowledge those delusions as important to note as aspects of his personality & characterization in HBP-- that was my main point. This has nothing to do with him being a pussy who chickened out, because I was purposefully focusing on his 'rebellion' being bravado (thus of course he 'chickened out', it only being talk), but that bravado in itself seems important in any characterization of him. It also makes him palatable to me personally, but that's not the point. It's false & delusional, but it's Draco as much as the vulnerability is.

Sure, people (I dunno if you mean 'most people' or 'most people in fandom', 'cause I haven't seen either to be true) might be capable of 'accepting his weak without despising him for it', but I wasn't talking about despising weakness but rather pitying it and focusing on it in the first place, which isn't the same thing.

[mizbean.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I agree with all of this. And I'm so grateful that I've been too busy too read any of the new post-HBP fics because emo!Draco, or even emo!Harry, is a big no-no for me.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, yeah, I love emoness (is that a word??) but like, more of the intellectual wanking sort (teenage Snape!! ahahaha) rather than the, uh, oblivious rageful teenager obsessed with his Angest and Pane sort. If there is actually a difference :D

[likethemodel.livejournal.com]

*Kisses*

I'm really glad that you wrote this rant. Because, yeah Draco did cry and freak -out but he also kicked ass (or at least, tried to).

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

:D :D Draco always tries to kick ass (...and fails... but this time he kinda failed less than usual, yeah). I sort of love him for that. And the Mudblood smell comment <3 hehe

[shatterglass.livejournal.com]

Like this one? I just took it because it makes me laugh--reducing anything to black and white makes me laugh, and this is so ridiculous that I thought it was fabulous.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Nah, not the ridiculous ones :)) I mean, I have one too. *points*
Oh, I don't know anymore. I just-- go off on rants based on lots of little things that don't add up to much alone. I think it's the fear that people seriously think he's just a limp noodle now. I'm like, noooooooo :(( Haha, that's my worst nightmare, in a way. -.-

[miss-charmed.livejournal.com]

Draco's role was what really made HBP a complete LOVE for me. I still cannot believe that Rowling, with all her talks that seem to disregard Draco, actually put the boy in such light. It's wonderful.

What we've seen in this book was majorly Draco's capabilities, and the fact that it was from Harry's POV was what made it all the more significant. That bathroom scene showed a lot, and none of which should be that of a wimpy!Draco. It showed Harry that this schoolmate of his is actually human in the sense that he'd never given much thought of in the past 5 books. Draco's capabale of having emotions and the task given to him by the Dark Overlord has given him enough right to breakdown and all that. Unbelievable that we got that from canon, really. I'm beyond glad. :D

*♥!*

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Hehe, I was happy too :D Well, for many reasons, but yeay Draco :D Yeay, face-stomping! Yeay, whoop-of-victory! Yeay, showing his human side :D :D

Yeah, I just. Don't see crying as necessarily wimpy, I guess that's it. You could also be angrily crying, or hysterically crying, or just-- overwhelmed and stressed. Some people bang their heads against the wall, some wank, some have tearful talks with Myrtle... ;))

[notrafficlights.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of twitchy at most icons and references to him I see being entirely about crying, and the label emo!Draco

Um, I've never seen the labels/icons used seriously, so I just thought it was a little in-fandom joke.

Why aren't they remembering how he kept insisting he would do it (kill Dumbledore), not as a sign that he's an evil little cockroach but as a sign that he hadn't crumpled at that point, that he isn't actually just a weepy little wimp?

Well, he is a wimp, just a wimp that's all talk and no action, unless it involves Harry :D.

See, he's a total pussy. A little wimpity wimp unless the situation is guaranteed to swing in his favour. Dumbledore's death doesn't guarantee him anything, because he knows there's a chance the Fluffy-Bunnies-and-Light side might win, and he's probably become a little disillusioned with his master who's threatening to kill him and his family if he doesn't do it.

And I don't think it was a choice, since that choice was removed from him through Dumbledore & Snape's plotting.

The other thing that seems blatant to me is that the attempt at the Unforgivable isn't an instance of 'bullying' anyway, and it's also vastly different than his waffling around Dumbledore. Even though Harry's much more unstable & likely to hurt him than Dumbledore, Draco's not scared of him, is he. Even with the fight so deeply uneven, Draco still tries; I'm tempted to say that getting back at Potter for humiliating him is still much more of an emotional trigger than his promise about Dumbledore. Draco hates and is completely unreasonable about Harry, not Dumbledore, after all.

I see the bathroom Unforgivable as more of a natural reaction of having your teenage enemy walk in on you in such a humiliating position. Dude, if that had happened to me in certain years of my high school, I probably would have attacked said enemy as viciously as I could as well. It's because he's scared that he does it, notsomuch scared of Harry but scared of what will happen if it gets out what harry's seen. Reputation is an important part of the Slytherin psyche. ;P

Draco wants you to aknowledge he's good enough, and that's so obviously why he stomped on Harry's face in the train and left it at that. Because it was so important to him that he & Potter both knew he could have done more, and didn't. It's that 'could' that made him happy, I think.

I thought it was because he ran out of time whilst gloating, and so had to nip off the train before he had a chance to do anything else. XD

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Yeah, um-- I kinda knew I was overreacting (again), but hit post anyway with the disclaimer that, uh, I was kinda overreacting, so. I know the icons aren't serious-- it's more a built-up reaction to hearsay and half-read Draco posts & things I'd seen referred to and several post-HBP fics, and so on. And largely to my own paranoia about Harry pitying Draco that started when I first heard the spoiler about HBP. I was like "...." and waited till I read it to cast judgment, but then it was okay.

Anyway, I wasn't trying to deny he's a wimp or what have you, just to say-- the thing that seemed different this time wasn't that he was a wiener but that he did get a few hits in, that he (just barely) held it together and got back at Harry somehow, and that made me happy. I am always on the razor's age of being to like canon!Draco when I think about it, though my first reaction is either to snort & roll my eyes or sort of squee whenever he says something or does something mean. Like, Peter Pettigrew is 'just a wimp', and so is Fudge-- Draco's different. He has rage issues, therefore I like him. That is, his denial is important to me; like yeah, he's a wimp, but he tries even when things may not work out in his favor, and doesn't fold immediately, not the way he just ran away from blood-drinking!Voldemort in first year. If he did, I'd just... meh.

Like, it seems important to me that Narcissa said he was -excited- about helping out the Dark Lord; it seems to give some sort of edge to his character. Without that edge, he's just a limp noodle-- just a wimp, and god, I have no sympathy for him at all in that case. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But no, he has his idea of 'dignity' or yeah, 'reputation', something that keeps his back straight at least for a while, and that keeps him from being a total wimp in my eyes.

Like, he listened to Dumbledore & started to lower his wand-- it wasn't like Dumbledore brainwashed him. That's a choice; not a great one and like I said, of questionable relevance, but... he was in a position where he liked to believe he had power, and he was able to -think- for a moment, even a little, even while half-crazed with nerves/fear and such. That's something, to me.

I like to think, I guess, that he wanted to curse Harry because he was scared but also angry at being humiliated; without that tinge of desperate anger, even at being cornered and trapped, fear alone might have led him to run away. I dunno. It's mostly interpretation that could go several ways, I just honestly hate 100% pitiful Draco. He's just so... a victim. I really don't deal well with victims; Draco's public refusal to see himself as one even if he feels quite sorry for himself privately has got to be the second major reason I like him as a character besides his dorky snark.

So yeah-- I want to believe. Want to... like Draco, even if just a little. -.-

[lumos-p-nox.livejournal.com]

Yes, there is just so much more to Draco than people are giving him credit for. He really is an interesting character.
Have you ever checked out Unredeemed.net? You'll get enough canon!Draco discussion in the forums there. :D

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Haha, like I said in my end-note disclaimer: I'm really burnt out on talking about Draco. I've written so much about him by now I sometimes think I'll literally be sick if I write one more Draco post. But... er, thanks for the info-- yeah, I've heard of it.

[aidenfire]

WORD.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it's important to realize why he's crying at that point. Like, there's a part in Voyage of the Dawn Treader, I think, where Prince Caspian is described as crying over his father, but not like a little boy crying, but like a man crying.

I wouldn't go so far with Draco-he's a boy crying. But he's not just sobbing as a child because wah! this is hard! I think JKR is really putting him through the wringer and he's having to deal with actual STUFF, you know? That he'll be killed, that his family will be killed, that he's done these horrible things, that he can't do horrible things. He's focusing on the cabinet and maybe just channeling stuff into that, though underneath that's just putting things off anyway.

So the crying is funny, fandom-wise, because it's such the cliche and it's great having people who always thought the character was flat and lacking all feeling say, "Hey, I felt sorry for the guy!" But I think this storyline actually gives him more dignity than fanfic usually does. Harry doesn't comfort him in the bathroom--it's the first time Draco's able to fight him. That quick turn from despair (it's despair-yes, that makes it more than just pitiful emo!Draco, I think, crying over Daddy) to protecting himself and presumably thinking Harry's there to gloat, slices him open on purpose and then doesn't care.

For me, that's what leads up to the end when he makes his choice-and he does make it. He starts to lower his wand after verifying that he has kind of proved something to himself or others. He got farther than anyone thought he would, so he's not just an idiot kid. He breached Hogwarts defenses. Because he really does have Dumbledore at his mercy, he can decide to show mercy and accept DD's plan as his best course of action. He's interrupted, but he seems to have accepted that he's not a killer in a way he didn't before.

Yeah, I go on and on about this...:-)

[malafede.livejournal.com]

He's interrupted, but he seems to have accepted that he's not a killer in a way he didn't before.

Yes, I really think that's the point of the scene -- that he can't accept to be someone who wouldn't kill Dumbledore, since say, his Dad would and his Dad is the coolest, but in the end he does and that's the emotional shock. It's kind of funny because the reminders of who holds power on him or can do something for him really don't enter in the equation, meaning they are external factors who should sway him but don't: what stays unchanged is his not casting the AK, even after the Death Eaters have come and are goading him and the only possible result of not casting it at that point would be death for him and his family.

Oh, I am kinda repeating myself here (yes, I could talk about this for hours too), but I wanted to clarify that I really don't disagree with any of this, obviously, I just don't think that it made Draco make such a jump up in the coolness scale that feeling sorry for him since he is, after all, a trapped teenager isn't such a weird, castrating feeling. I mean, I still think Draco needs all the compassion he can get. I was glad that Harry had some mixed with all his contempt by the end of the book. I don't think Harry thinks Draco's a wet-noodle, I think he's showing he can both see the damage Draco did and "his fascination with the Dark Arts" and have empathy for his situation.

[nothingbutfic.livejournal.com]

YES YES YES OMG YES.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Hee! I know you feel me on the importance of Draco's pride :>

[cellia.livejournal.com]

Draco doesn't want your pity, reader

And yet I somehow remain unconcerned enough with Draco's desires to pity him anyway. :D

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Hee! I didn't think the day would come when you're nicer to Draco than me :D


...but yeaaaah, that whole post was me taking it a widdle too personally :))
The major part of it is that if I found Draco truly pitiful (which seems different from 'pathetic'), I just couldn't like him either alone or with Harry, who's just not really the pitying type & that's partly why I like him. He's so... brutal in a lot of ways, and compassionate in others. But more brutal than compassionate.

So when I step back and stop caring about Draco & Harry & the whole mess overly much-- I can see how pity is the normal reaction, I guess, in a lot of ways. Even Harry sort of got that. It's just that him not wanting pity is why I like him-- I didn't mean it has to stop people from feeling sorry for him, just that his pride is something that keeps him halfway likable to me, is all :>

[demeter918.livejournal.com]

Draco wants you to believe he could fucking own your ass even if he couldn't.

Possibly one of the best lines about Draco ever. =)

Mostly agree. I was just glad Draco had something added to him. After that, it was all about Snape. =P

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :> Man, I feel ya with the Snape. Mmmm, ambiguity & hatred & tragic figures doing what they have to do-- right up my alley :D

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with you. I do *not* want to see thousands of stories that star Emo!Draco.
HBP also shows us that he is intelligent; he also puts all the means he has to creative use, e.g. polyjuicing Crabbe and Goyle into little school girls.
I find it very impressive that he just does not give up despite having noone he can confide in.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm pretty proud of Draco in HBP. He did well, all things considered, even though he probably gave himself an ulcer. And also, I can't think of the Myrtle thing without smirking at him. I mean, really. Myrtle? He will definitely be pretty damn embarrassed whenever he remembers that, I think :D

[fayaslam.livejournal.com]

Can I get an Amen?
amen.
Can I get an Amen?
Amen.
I said, can I get an AMEN!!!!!
AMEN!!!!! Halleluja!!!!

Reenka has spoken, and her word is truth!!!!

Fandom is a bit unstable at the moment, everybody is trying to fit in the new canon. I love essays like these because they help artists see the characters in a different light.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

*giggles*
Yeah, I noticed that about the fandom :> It's kinda been driving me a bit insane, but then I think new canon made me a bit happier than is apparently normal. Er :> I'm sure things will settle down soon and people will go back to writing sophisticated-yet-manly!Draco in no time ;)

But thanks :D It's great thinking I made anyone think clearer, makes me all warm & fuzzy :>

[lunesque.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU.

Everything I've been thinking, with the essayist skills to pull if off. Bravo.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Hee :> Essayist skills! :">
I'm glad I made sense for once, is all I'm sayin' ;))

[balfrog.livejournal.com]

okay. next time, I'm waiting two days before I ask about deleting journals. You okay?

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

You asked...?
Ah yes... um... not that much drama, I just wanted to leaveleaveleave fandom and then malafede freaked out and then.... I was peer-pressured into returning ^^;; But yeah, I'm okay. *hugs8

here via the daily_snitch - part I

[latxcvi.livejournal.com]

First of all, just ... Yeah. To a lot of what you're saying here. Yes, yes, yes, Draco breaking down in the bathroom is a good dose of his humanity for any who doubted the character actually possessed any, but it's not *all* there is to the rich characterization we got of him in HBP. So focusing on that aspect - the isolated crying jag in a bathroom that Harry only found him in *because of the Maruaders' Map* (in other words, Draco didn't go into one of the commonly traveled bathrooms at the school to do this; he wasn't hanging out in the *Prefects'* bathroom, for Christ's sake; he was somewhere where it probably *wasn't* likely that anyone would just walk in on him, ergo, he didn't *want to be seen* like this) - does strike me as somewhat, um, missing the point. Or maybe focusing too exclusively on one of the points to the extent that you miss all others.

So yeah... it really frikkin' bothers me thinking that fandom is about to concentrate most on Draco's little break-down without the caveat of his immediate flip-flop when Harry entered the scene. That cut-off Crucio wasn't an accident, I think. He didn't hate Potter enough to try torturing him after he Stupefied him, but he hated Potter seeing him like that-- thinking he was weak-- enough to attempt desperate measures of a whole 'nother sort.

Exactly. For the rest of the book when Draco and Harry have run into each other? It's *Harry* who's had to say something first; Draco's been so busy and focused on his plans that he really didn't have time or inclination to jockey for Harry's attention. Draco hasn't felt the need to goad Harry or pick at him. That it's Harry catching him crying that finally makes Draco act out against Harry isn't a mistake on JKR's part; Draco's horrified to have *Potter* see him like that. He'd be bothered if it was anyone, but that it's his most hated enemy at the school? Hell yeah, he's going to react badly to that (and if people really think Harry wouldn't have had a bad reaction to the situation if their roles were reversed in that scene, well, I don't know what to say to them, because they've obviously got a different understanding of Harry than I do).

This... this really makes me happy. Because even if Draco -isn't- hardcore, obviously, and is ultimately a failed bully, the fact that he -tries- is just as important as the reason he fails.

Draco's not hard-core in the sense that he wouldn't/won't kill someone. But casting an Unforgivable Curse isn't all that soft or weak. And let's call a spade a spade here - that Cruciatus only fails because Harry *cuts him off in the middle of it*; for all we know, in that moment, Draco could very well had enough rage and anger in him, he could have *meant it enough*, that if Harry hadn't interrupted the incantation by casting Sectumsempra then Draco totally would have had him writhing on the floor in abject pain. I ultimately agree with a lot of what you say in this post, but if HBP shows us anything about Draco, it's that while he might have been ineffectual before, he's *not* ineffectual now: He *breached Hogwarts' defenses*. He fixed a magical artifact that the *staff* of witches and wizards at the school apparently threw their hands up over and were all "Oh, we'll get to it later." He's able to master Occlumency to a point that a skilled Legilimens like Snape can't read him, a magical skill *Harry* can't pull off. And in that bathroom scene, Draco was actually giving as good as he was getting right up until Harry cast Sectumsempra. Sure, he isn't able to disarm Harry, but Harry *isn't able to disarm him either* until Harry reaches for the scary spell the effects of which he didn't even know when he cast it.

part II

[latxcvi.livejournal.com]

The other thing that seems blatant to me is that the attempt at the Unforgivable isn't an instance of 'bullying' anyway, and it's also vastly different than his waffling around Dumbledore. Even though Harry's much more unstable & likely to hurt him than Dumbledore, Draco's not scared of him, is he.

No, he isn't, and I loved that. I loved the contrast between the bathroom scene, where Draco really is holding his own with Harry (go back and re-read it and you'll see what I mean: they're both successfully casting non-verbally, and Harry isn't any more able to hit Draco with his spells - in fact, Harry even notes Draco's successful block of one of them - than Draco is able to hit Harry with his) and their confrontation in OotP on the stairs, where Harry notes that Draco's voice quavers at one point after Harry's drawn his wand.

I don't get calling the bathroom fight scene "bullying" on Draco's part. It's definitely an overreaction of sorts - even if it's an overreaction that's completely understandable within the context of their relationship and history - but it's hardly *bullying*. At this point in the series, Draco knows he doesn't have any power over Harry. He's probably just as surprised as any of us at his (1) triumph over Harry on the train, and (2) his holding of his own during their bathroom duel until Harry uses Dark Magic Draco's probably never heard of; you can't bully someone you have reason to believe is more powerful than you are *and* capable of using that power against you.

Even with the fight so deeply uneven

I've already articulated why I actually don't think the bathroom fight is uneven. Really, if it had been, then Harry wouldn't have needed to resort to Sectumsempra/a potentially dangerous spell he knew was meant "for enemies." I think the very fact that it gets that far shows both Harry and us that he and we are dealing with a much different, much-more-worth-being-taken-seriously Draco than we ever have before.

Draco still tries

I totally agree with the point that one of the best things about Draco and one of the keys to who he is as a character is his resiliency. For all that people go on about his being a coward, and for all that that criticism is appropriate in *some contexts* (although not in every instance where it's been used against the character), Draco's got a certain degree of ... inner toughness and steeliness that *is* appealing, at least to me. It takes a certain inner hardness to keep getting up and to keep trying even when every time you have in the past, you've gotten smacked down/humiliated/punished in some way. Also, as Maya pointed out on her great review, that Draco managed to keep himself more or less together all year despite the daunting task before him, despite the frustration of trying to fix a magical dark artefact without the benefit of any of the witches and wizards around him, despite being sick with worry for himself and his family, says a *lot* about Draco's capacity to Deal With Shit even though he's only 16. As much as I call bullshit on JKR's claim that he's been able to compartmentalize his emotions since, like, birth, I do think she's got a point that he's developed it into a pretty effective defense mechanism, and compartmentalizing *is*, IMO, a form of willful toughness.

Anyway, I've rambled, but I really enjoyed this post. You've said a lot that makes sense to me.

Re: part II

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I haven't um... actually been thinking very hard or looking at the scene (or the book in general) when I wrote this, but now I do remember that yeah, they were blocking each other's spells enough so that I wouldn't call that fight uneven upon greater thought (though I still assume Harry's more powerful than Draco in terms of sheer spellcasting strength, but in that sense, I suspect Harry's just got more magical power than most, as as you said, he'd frequently demonstrated his power over Draco, at least). I'd just gotten so used to the idea of them most definitely -not- being equals in OoTP and prior that it's hard to know just how far to retract that image, y'know?

But yeah, I think it's a great point to say that Draco -himself- probably didn't expect himself to win those times-- he seemed to be suffering from a whole lot of insecurity and fear of failure issues (the anxiety shows a lack of real cockiness if nothing else, no matter what he tries to project), and thusly I'm glad he did get those moments of 'glory'. Draco needed to prove to himself as much as Harry or anyone (the readers?) that he could do it-- could start a difficult, intimidating project & follow through & ignore his need to show off to Potter, which has always held him back in the past.

As much as I call bullshit on JKR's claim that he's been able to compartmentalize his emotions since, like, birth, I do think she's got a point that he's developed it into a pretty effective defense mechanism, and compartmentalizing *is*, IMO, a form of willful toughness.

I totally agree about the odd kind of toughness (resilience? something like it, though he's a whiny bugger and doesn't hold up that well physically, ehehe). I've been thinking about the 'compartmentalizing'-- which at first seems too much like bad fanon!Draco fic, though it makes sense if you use it to explain why he didn't appear to dwell on his more serious humiliating defeats or even take them into account, why he never seems to know when to quit, and why he only seems to show a narrow range of emotion to Harry previously (ie, anger, disdain, semi-faked amusement, etc). As long as it's instinctive (an unconscious defense mechanism) and not some sort of conscious self-control, I can live with it. If anything, it allows Draco to be more psychologically messed up, and I'm all for that :>

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Perfect! *takes a picture and hangs it on the wall*
Thank you for saying this now, before every sappy fangirl starts simpering about how "sensitive" poor little Draco is. I think I need to hug you now. Or have your children. But then, I hate little kids, so I'll stick with the hug.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Hehehe >:D I almost feel tempted to say, 'well, it's not as if he's really a hardass, that's Harry', but yeah >:D I'm glad this half-assed rant worked for you :>

No need to have any unwanted pregnancies, either! >:D

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

I know, this is the latest comment you have ever seen and I am so lame, only I read it at work first and my agitation was so evident that people began to look concerned.
BECAUSE I COULD CRY WITH HOW RIGHT YOU ARE.
'Cause, yeah. The people who are like 'emo!Draco, my god, hand him a tissue and put him out of your minds for the rest of the war' are just as wrong as the 'Draco was too much of a COWARD to kill Dumbledore' folk.
Because - ahhh, you just said the whole thing omg. I remember Sister M calling Draco a rubber ball once, and I was all 'yes!' because he *is.* He's a big spaz who never stops trucking! No pity!
(okay, no, yes, I do want to give him a hug, but I realise I would be unlikely to emerge unscathed.)
Oh, Draco. The thing is, I don't really care what fandom thinks, it's that Draco must think he's a big weepy loser. Because he didn't kill Dumbledore and Potter saw him cry and all his accomplishments are like ashes! ashes!
Becoming agitated at work again.
SO MUCH LOVE.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, yes! He must think he's a big weepy loser :(( Why that makes me so happy, I don't know, but it just means he'll strive harder and omg, how I love that :> I think it's possible he'd start beating himself up like Lucius must have, now that his father's not around to prod him on, and he has to prove himself again and again & it's not enough, of course it isn't, OMG :(( *DEDZ* <3333333

SUDDENLY I AM ALSO INSPIRED TO WRITE DRACO FIC, SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE :((