Draco

[Anna Black]

Yes, Snape would have died if he did not keep his vow. He vowed to help Draco and, if needed, to do the job himself if Draco were to fail. It was "keep the vow or die."

Draco may not come to the Order (but anything's possible), he'd be too proud to admit he was wrong or to work with the people he's tormented for years. But, he may, in the end, help Harry. Maybe in some split second decision or in giving info. It was clear that Draco did not want to kill Dumbledore. He couldn't do it.

Also, about the caricature thing, yes I am glad that Draco became more than just one-dimensional in this book. We got to see that he is a person with weaknesses and feelings like us all. I would definitely be in tears at some point if I had to kill someone in order for my mother to live.

Another thing, whoever said that all bullies are completely bad. He bullied people, but that doesn't mean that he is capable of cold-blooded murder. He just got in way over his head, didn't realize what he was getting himself into. He was cool with it at first, but when it came down to it, he couldn't pull it off.

[Snow_Crystal]

Yeah, Draco can't be completely bad, after all he really showed his vulnerability when he was talking to Myrtle.

[Mrs. Luca Black]

Yeah, Draco can't be completely bad, after all he really showed his vulnerability when he was talking to Myrtle.

All that shows is that he's a scared little pansy that got in over his head.

[dibble2]

Oh come on, don't you think you're being a little hard on him? Voldemort was going to kill his whole family, after all.

[Person1]

I'm thinking along the lines of

1) He'll go to the dark side
2) He will be nervous about it
3) when harry comes to fight LV, he'll be there
4) when Harry is kinda getting beat up, draco will do something for like a 10 second distraction giving Harry the time he needs to get back on his feet


Thats just the way it works with villains like that.

[Nightcrawler]

Oh come on, don't you think you're being a little hard on him? Voldemort was going to kill his whole family, after all.

I guess some of us are being a little harsh on him. But... he's just not a very likable guy.

And besides, he got himself into that mess, and caused considerable damage when Snape bailed him out of it.

[Mrs. Luca Black]

Well, I guess I would think that I'm being hard on him if I wasn't just as willing to kill his whole family. I despise the Malfoy's. Pure blood mania, killing and torturing innocent people, giving an 11 year old diary posessed by a maniac that will posess her and release a horrible monster in a school. Yeah, great person that Lucius is, huh? I'm sure Narcissa isn't without her own guilt, though we haven't seen or heard of her doing anything.
And then we have lil' Draco. Swaggering, smarmy, horrid little brat that's tried to get an innocent hippogriff executed, tried to get Hagrid sacked, tried to get Harry and crew expelled. Sure those offences are minor when compared to his father and don't necessarily warrant death, but those are just the ones from his strictly school days. He marched up to Voldemort, puffed up chest and head held high, and gave himself to his service. While in that service he Imperiused Madame Rosemerta, nearly killed Katie Bell, poisoned Ron, and brought a whole load of Death Eaters into Hogwarts. Yeah, the little snot rag needs to die after all that.
Such actions are unredeemable. Dumbledore might have accepted any apology if he were still alive and Draco willingly to swallow his pride and accepted Draco heartily into the Order, but he won't get any chance of such treatment now. He's done too much to be forgiven and deserves nothing less than a life sentence in Azkaban.

I'm sorry if anyone is thinking that I'm being overly harsh but I feel strongly about this. They are horrible people. Horrible people do not earn my pity regardless of their circumstance. And don't even bother trying to say that he's just a product of his enviroment. Like his enviroment was any different than Sirius' or Andromeda's, and they turned out to be respectable people.

[Person1]

Well, with Sirus, his father wasn't a killer
With Draco, his father was, he was raised evil, and so he became, but there is still some of him that doens't want to be that evil i think, kinda seems like Sirus actually (Remember, Sirus told Snape to go visit Lupin at werewolf state, and did many cruel jokes on him, eh? nearly got Snape killed w. that werewolf thing)

[Lelie]

draco seems to parallel what we (think) we know about regulus black. being a death eater sounds all gravy until you actually get into the killing part of it, and then uh oh, not so much fun anymore. i think it's 50/50 for draco to turn good. however, it doesn't mean he'll play nice with the others if he does.

[Mrs. Luca Black]

Yeah, I see no connection between Draco and Sirius. Sorry, nope, doesn't exist.

As for Sirius' father, we DON'T know that he WASN'T a killer. He may not have been a Death Eater but he was still a Dark Wizard. He could have been a cronie to Grindlewald or some other dark wizard that didn't make it to such infamy. And you don't necessarily have to be in with some big dark wizard to kill people. He may have just enjoyed killing muggles or something. Sirius might not have known about it either.

We can't conclusively say anything about Sirius' parents except that they're definately evil.


But I must agree with Lelie, Draco seems much more like Regulus than Sirius. At least what we think we know about Regulus. Again, he's one about whom we can only make speculations.

[Beluka]

i think SOME of you are seeing it just black or white...

i find it completely normal for him to cry: not only was his family in grave danger (and no matter how evil they are, they are his family!), but he was under a lot of pressure.
plus, i think draco just wants to fit and be a leader... if his family wasn't evil and he wasn't a slytherin, i'm pretty sure he'd be some kind of harry potter... but he may be realising that the real dark side is not about pranks and hating the people you believe inferior to you... it takes more and i think it's very very important for book VII that he decides if he really wants to hurt people and do anything for status and fame.Why else would snape kill dumbledore? why else would dumbledore sacrifice himself? in his position, draco is an important piece (he's basically the leader of the slytherins! he's a malfoy!) and having him turn definitively to evil so soon in his life would be an important battle lost for the order and the future of the community.

anyway... why is it always SOOO EASY to turn to the dark side???

[Tanuki]

Um, maybe we look at Draco like that because he is an insufferable little biggot. He is not likely to become anything like Harry simply because he has absolutely no concern for others. Slytherin didn't make him like that, he got into Slytherin because he was like that. If you don't recall, he was a bigot even before he got into Hogwarts (read the first book). He was insulting to the other houses and looked at Muggleborns like trash even at 11. the only difference is that he had a reason back then.

[Beluka]

i hate draco as much as any other potter fan, but i understand the attitude.
he's as he's been raised and taught. but some people who are unsufferable and evil when they're growing up sometimes turn out to be great adults. why not him?
the fact of choosing and seeing the world and the situation as harsh as it actually is may make something good of him.
i know he was already stupid before slytherin, but he wanted to be in slytherin, it's an honor for him... so he has to act all slytherin.

He was insulting to the other houses and looked at Muggleborns like trash even at 11

that's what he's learned and seen all his life.

[Tanuki]

If he's seen evil all his life and only known biggotry, how is he supposed to change; especially when he doesn't want to?

[Beluka]

i just think he COULD change, especially after these dramatic events in book 6. i am convinced that's the main reason why dumbledore would sacrifice himself.