Harry Potter - Draco's redemption
i read the essay Draco Malfoy is Ever So Lame (???, 2002 wheretf is the link?!) and then Sabershadowkat's essay on H/D. the first, however, was what really stuck in my head.
and then, of course, what Draco might think if he knew.
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Draco's (true) redemption
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The essay was anonymous, but after reading it he understood its meaning all too clearly. He set charms to warn him of spying and hid sneakascopes in the manor rooms he most frequented, all to no avail. Apparently, someone knew everything about his life that Harry Potter did, and Draco couldn't figure out how Harry was feeding so much information to this mysterious third party.
Soon after the letter came the books (public post owl--it could've been anyone), from which he learned the identity of the third party: J.K. Rowling. She claimed to be a muggle, but Draco had his suspicions, especially after he read the five books and reached the same conclusion as the essay: he, Draco Malfoy, was marked for death.
Not death as in Death Eater (though what with his father such a future was certain). Death as in, he wasn't going to live long enough to get a mark burned onto his arm, death. He was going to die before his nineteenth birthday. Die shortly after his seventh year ended, if he even had that long. And the only way to keep from dying was this so-called "redemption" (humph--as if he needed redemption), turning to the "side of Light" (a bit pretentious of them, wasn't it?) and joining Harry Potter, the bane of his Hogwarts existence, and possibly even befriending the misshapen little wanker.
Once he found out Draco barely even had time to rage at Potter for what he'd done to his father, sending the man to Azkaban and shaming the Malfoy name yet again. Instead, Draco's summer had to be divided between consoling his beloved mother, and pouring over the books and essay--not to plan his revenge, but rather planning ways to counterfeit his "redemption." He had to somehow worm his way into the annoying, do-gooder trio's group of confidantes, and think up a failsafe method to not be ill while playing nice to so many mudbloods, mudblood-lovers, and Gryffindorish idealists.
It would be painful, but Draco could do it. That essay made him out to be a muck-up, and from a book standpoint it seemed Draco was, but that would all change. He wouldn't mess this plan up. He was a Malfoy and he was a Slytherin, and he would do what it took to survive book seven and beyond. Draco refused to be sacrificed on the altar of Rowling's reader sympathies, or Potty's coming-of-age victory. Draco was going to live.
Right under their noses, right through their fingers, Draco Malfoy was going to live.
It was the only--true--redemption he could believe in.
and then, of course, what Draco might think if he knew.
*
Draco's (true) redemption
*
The essay was anonymous, but after reading it he understood its meaning all too clearly. He set charms to warn him of spying and hid sneakascopes in the manor rooms he most frequented, all to no avail. Apparently, someone knew everything about his life that Harry Potter did, and Draco couldn't figure out how Harry was feeding so much information to this mysterious third party.
Soon after the letter came the books (public post owl--it could've been anyone), from which he learned the identity of the third party: J.K. Rowling. She claimed to be a muggle, but Draco had his suspicions, especially after he read the five books and reached the same conclusion as the essay: he, Draco Malfoy, was marked for death.
Not death as in Death Eater (though what with his father such a future was certain). Death as in, he wasn't going to live long enough to get a mark burned onto his arm, death. He was going to die before his nineteenth birthday. Die shortly after his seventh year ended, if he even had that long. And the only way to keep from dying was this so-called "redemption" (humph--as if he needed redemption), turning to the "side of Light" (a bit pretentious of them, wasn't it?) and joining Harry Potter, the bane of his Hogwarts existence, and possibly even befriending the misshapen little wanker.
Once he found out Draco barely even had time to rage at Potter for what he'd done to his father, sending the man to Azkaban and shaming the Malfoy name yet again. Instead, Draco's summer had to be divided between consoling his beloved mother, and pouring over the books and essay--not to plan his revenge, but rather planning ways to counterfeit his "redemption." He had to somehow worm his way into the annoying, do-gooder trio's group of confidantes, and think up a failsafe method to not be ill while playing nice to so many mudbloods, mudblood-lovers, and Gryffindorish idealists.
It would be painful, but Draco could do it. That essay made him out to be a muck-up, and from a book standpoint it seemed Draco was, but that would all change. He wouldn't mess this plan up. He was a Malfoy and he was a Slytherin, and he would do what it took to survive book seven and beyond. Draco refused to be sacrificed on the altar of Rowling's reader sympathies, or Potty's coming-of-age victory. Draco was going to live.
Right under their noses, right through their fingers, Draco Malfoy was going to live.
It was the only--true--redemption he could believe in.