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(HP:) DH - 07/21/07: DRACO TOPS!
This will hardly make sense to anyone, but since when did making sense stop me from talking?

Yeah, exactly my point.

I really really don't like the Deathly Hallows, for many reasons. But what I do like, is analyzing it. So here we go. Do I even need to mention that there are spoilers here?

After the War (We Could Be Friends?)
Celebrating the Harry/Draco love




While we're in love we'll bleed each other dry
We'll hold each other close
We'll make each other cry
While we're in love we'll get what we deserve
Until we lose our faith
Until we lose our nerve

We know it won't last forever
'Cause we're not meant to be together
Make the best of a bad situation
Face the fear and the desperation
While we're in love
While we're in love

While we're in love we'll drag ourselves around
We'll hold each other up
We'll tear each other down
While We're In Love, Ivy

I can hardly be the first, trying to describe why Harry/Draco is The Greatest Pairing of All. But I’m doing it anyway, because now that the Harry Potter series is over (and Rowling so kindly killed all hope of them getting together forever, I hate you Epilogue), this is my way of dealing with the sadness of never seeing a love story that was there ever from the beginning.

Now, is the time to call me retarded. Now is the time to say, “wtf r u on about mate they were never in love???” And now, is also the time for explanations. Because the love has always been there, you just need to read between the lines, and look beyond what’s obvious.

Remember when they met on the Hogwarts express, how Draco held out his hand, and how Harry so kindly said “no, thanks”? That’s what started it all. Draco, who knows the importance of having a good name and good friends to match it (thanks to Lucius Malfoy, I wonder what bedtime stories he read), wants to strike up some sort of friendship with Harry, the Boy Who Lived, because he knows that by being Harry’s best friend, he can get some credibility too. Harry, on the other hand, is not interested in anything of the sort, and chooses Ron instead, as Ron “can make him laugh” (or something to that effect). This, of course, pisses Draco off, and he will spend the next six years or so trying to make Harry regret his choice. Does he succeed?

I doubt it.

All Draco wants from Harry is his friendship. But Harry doesn’t give him this, because Draco means nothing to Harry. He can survive perfectly fine without him. And Draco cannot – will not – accept this.

In the beginning, Draco is quite harmless, trying to get Harry and his friends into trouble, but the further the story goes, the more desperate are his attempts becoming. Harry never does anything to Draco, other than just being there, and Draco still continues to attack him. This, to me, smells of jealousy. Judging by what we have seen of Lucius and the way he talks to his son, it doesn’t seem as if the two have the closest of relationships. Just because Draco has always been looked after doesn’t mean that everything has been great for him. In fact, things rarely do go the right way for him. He’s fairly good in school, but Hermione out-smartens him. He’s fairly good at Quidditch, but Harry’s better. He seems to have friends, but isn’t all that popular (the other three Houses dislike him). And all the while, he’s trying to impress his father, who is anything but pleased. (See the scene at Borgin and Burkes in “Chamber of Secrets”, where Draco complains about Hermione being favoured, and Lucius tells him to shut up.)

Draco is bound to get jealous of Harry, who is sort of the school’s hero. He has many adults in his life who care for him (Dumbledore, the Weasleys, McGonagall, Hagrid, and later on also Lupin, Sirius, Mad-Eye and Hell, even his dead parents come back to praise him!), while Draco has, well… Snape. And Snape is always on the look-out, trying to save Harry’s sorry ass anyway. Harry’s praised even before anyone has ever met him, he gets privileges everybody else could only dream of (Quidditch, the broom, the way he should’ve been expelled years ago etc.), finds new talents and secret powers he never knew he had, and even though he loses fifty points from Gryffindor under one night, at the end of the day people are still willing to talk to him. Because he’s the Boy Who Lived!

Seriously, if I were at Hogwarts, I’d be pretty jealous too.

And Draco sees how Harry gets everything “the easy way” (if you’d call Harry’s life easy). Of course he hates the guy, of course he tries to harm him, and of bloody course he wants to be his friend! It’s like wanting to be friends with the kid who has the coolest bicycle, or the newest computer game.

What we seem to forget, is that when they meet, they’re eleven years old. They’re kids, and kids don’t think the same way as teenagers or grown-ups. They also have a different way of showing affection. You know how, when a girl says that some boy has been teasing her all day, the natural response is “oh, he probably fancies you”. Is it too unbelievable to think that Draco is only “pulling Harry’s ponytail” (in a strictly non-sexual way)? Some people have said that, “omg that’s sick, they’re eleven, they’re not in love!”

Oh yeah? So tell me, what were you like when you were eleven? Personally, my friends and I were switching boyfriends and girlfriends every week, always falling in love with new people. I even had a crush that took years to get past. I’m surprised I had a heart left after that! Judging by my childhood, I don’t think it’s too difficult to imagine that Draco had some kind of school girl crush on Harry. After all, he’s the Chosen One, which must be a great way to get laid. Who doesn’t want to sleep with the Boy Who Scored… I mean, Lived?

So the years go by, and Draco tries everything to get Harry to notice him. He is, for lack of words, obsessing over Harry. He goes out of his mind trying to get some attention; challenging him for duels, spying, harassing, dressing up as a Dementor, makes threats (sure, they’re all empty, but still), makes badges with Harry’s name, and oh my God, the guy even writes a song for Ron! If that doesn’t show devotion, then I don’t know what does.

And all the while, Harry is oblivious. He just Doesn’t Care About Malfoy. Instead of making Harry fall in love with him, Harry begins to hate him (because it’s Harry, and not Ron, who has the emotional range of a teaspoon and just doesn’t understand that Draco wants to snog him breathless. Oh why, Hermione, couldn’t you analyze this instead of Cho?), which makes Draco even more desperate. What began as a hunt for a famous best friend has turned into a love story, where one hates the other, and it breaks that other person’s heart.

Because Draco Malfoy has feelings and he can love, as he’s not a completely bad person. This shows in “the Half-Blood Prince”, which makes it different from the other books. Here we face a Draco full of emotions, having to deal with issues far too big for him. He’s not just a bully anymore. Suddenly, he’s crying, showing real feelings, and also shows that even though he’s Lucius Malfoy’s son, even though he’s always talking about the Death Eaters and killing off people, when he gets a chance to actually do any of the things he’s talked so much about… he can’t. He’s not a killer.

And Harry sees this. For the first time, he feels for Draco.

Over at the Slytherin table Crabbe and Goyle were muttering together. Hulking boys though they were, they looked oddly lonely without the tall, pale figure of Malfoy between them, bossing them around. Harry had not spared Malfoy much thought. His animosity was all for Snape, but he had not forgotten the fear in Malfoy’s voice on that Tower top, nor the fact that he had lowered his wand before the other Death Eaters arrived. Harry did not believe that Malfoy would have killed Dumbledore. He despised Malfoy still for his infatuation with the Dark Arts, but now the tiniest drop of pity mingled with his dislike. Where, Harry wondered, was Malfoy now, and what was Voldemort making him do under the threat of killing him and his parents?

He sees something in Draco that he didn't think was there before, because he realizes (in one way) that Draco is human, just like him. Which should make it possible for the two to get together, as it’s not a sinking ship (yet). However, Draco’s social skills are still very limited (as they always have been), and all he can ever do is 1) brag about his father, and 2) beat up people. So even though he is human, and even though Harry could start thinking that “oh, Malfoy’s quite alright”, he still doesn’t know how to take that first step. He tried to be friends the polite way, which didn’t work, so is it that strange that he tries to pick fights with Harry every time they see each other? To him, it probably seems like a normal thing to do. Imagine this, for example:

Two people; one’s in love, the other one hates the first person. They meet in the corridor, one is trying to get the other’s attention and does this in the only way he knows of; by picking a fight, and they start wrestling, as they’ve forgotten that they’re wizards and can just hex each other (besides, teachers are always on about how they’re not allowed to use magic between classes, blah-blah, and boys will always be boys anyway), and they’re both trying to do as much damage as possible, letting out all that pint-up aggression that’s inside a teenager’s body, and then suddenly they’re not wrestling, but hugging, no, clinging to each other, as if the world will fall to pieces if they let go, and then they’re kissing, hungrily, and they know that even though it feels good and it feels right, as soon as they break apart, it will hurt, and maybe that’s what they came for. Maybe they’re just there to hurt each other and this is the only way they can think of. Because love hurts, more than any insult you can throw at someone’s mother.

To me, this could (and should) happen, at least once. After all, they’ve been in school together for so many years!

I know it takes a lot of reading between the lines, but then again, that’s what Harry Potter is all about, isn’t it? You need to read between lots of lines for many things to actually work. (For example, would you say that it’s likely for Harry and Ginny to get it on unless you analyze ever little piece of them together?) Besides, the hate/love thing they’ve got going on is a classic. “I love you I hate you I love you” etc. And no matter how open-minded the wizarding community might be, it’s still pretty much impossible for Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy to become an item. And the question is if they ever could, or should, get together. I used to believe that it was possible for them to understand each other, but that was before the “Deathly Hallows”, and now I’m not so sure anymore. They’re on completely different sides, and if say Draco changed his point of views, would he still be Draco? And Harry, he cannot possibly think like the Malfoys, because then everything he has ever believed in falls to pieces. So they fight every time they meet, and it hurts them more than anything has ever hurt before, but what can you do? Then the war comes, and suddenly they’re further away from each other than they’ve ever been before. It’s time to unite, and the Slytherins run for the door “faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo”.

I’m quite shocked that Rowling didn’t let any Slytherins (that we know of) stay behind for the final fight. Not every student in that house is “the child of a Death Eater”, believe it or not! Just because Pansy Parkinson is a fucking moron does not mean that the rest of them would not stand up to Voldemort, given the chance. I always thought Draco would tell his old man to can it, and then do some good, and probably get killed while doing said good deed, and you can only guess my frustration and sadness when he didn’t. (Of course I’m glad he lived, but it would’ve been nice to see him make some difference. Anyhow, if he had died, he’d probably gotten a lame death, just like poor old Snape.) He turned into a wimp, and disappeared out of the story. (By the way Rowling, I still haven’t forgiven you for the way you’ve treated Draco.)

As many parts of the book are just clichés, telling kids to “be good, stay in school and don’t hang out with Death Eaters” I think it’d be a nice touch to see Draco do some good. But no, even Rowling can’t keep an open mind. But I’m not here to discuss Draco’s ability to do good deeds, even though I’d love to.

So the war is over, the good people win (hello? It’ a children’s book?), and Ginny is still there, waiting (“Ah crap!” says Ron, Draco and ten thousand fan girls – me included -, plus Dan Radcliffe who adds “now I have to stop snogging that sweet Asian, life is not fair”), but Harry just can’t take it. He’s the Boy Who Lived Once More, and needs to get away from everything. So he takes off, and travels around under hidden names. Being Harry Potter can be great, if you like writing autographs 24/7, but all Harry has ever wanted is a normal life. And right now, he’s further away from a normal life than he has ever been.

Enter Draco who, after the war, lost everything. His father probably got sentenced to some prison, and for his mother, well she was on Voldemort’s side too, wasn’t she? So here we have Draco, who’s without parents, without friends, and the name “Malfoy” is no longer worth anything. For someone who has always hidden behind a good name, to lose that name is like the end of the world. His only chance of getting a normal life is to run away, to go into hiding for awhile. (I doubt they’ll put a seventeen year old boy in prison.)

So the two meet again, not as school boys anymore, but as grown-up wizards. And maybe one of them picks a fight with the other, or maybe they accept that they’ve both lost things, and that they’re both on the run, for once not so different. And maybe they strike up some kind of friendship, some sort of relationship. It is, to me, very likely that they sought each other for comfort on nights too cold and lonely to survive them on their own.

But this can’t go on forever, and Harry knows he has to return. So he does, and Ginny is still there, for she knew he’d come back. And they go off and marry, because Harry wants a normal life, and Ginny can give him that. She can give him comfort and a family, and everyone expects him to marry her anyway. He’s comfortable, and it’s enough. She can make him smile and she cooks him three meals a day, and life is good, because he’s normal, and that’s all he’s asked for. And Draco, well, he goes home, finds someone to marry too, and forgets all about Harry Potter.

Then, one day in September, they’re both at platform nine and three quarters to send their kids off to Hogwarts. And there they meet again, and they look into each other’s eyes, and they’re okay with the other one being there. Only then Draco turns away from Harry, and I think this is important. Why did he do that? (And now you go, “MERLIN’S PANTS, JUST STOP IT!”, but let’s think about it. This is so typically Rowling. For example, she’ll write that like, two people glance at each other and then three books later they’re getting married, and when people whine about it not being possible, she just says “hey, read page 235 in Chamber of Secrets, I put some clues there”, and then it all makes sense! Reading between the lines is your best friend, mate.) Was it, perhaps, because his own family isn’t as happy as Harry’s? Was it because he doesn’t have a best friend like Ron by his side? Or, was it maybe because it hurt too much to look into Harry’s eyes? Because they reminded him of what he could’ve had, if things had been simpler, if life wasn’t such a bitch, if he had only had the courage to do something, while he still could.

So on they go, in different directions, but still tied together through those nights when all they had was each other, and they can pretend all they like that they’re happy like this, but we know they’re not.

Well, at least Draco’s not. Harry probably likes banging that red-hair, and pretending it’s Ron.



Hmm, okay, I did not say that last part.



Anyhow, what’s great about Harry and Draco is that they can be together (and really, they should be), but it will never end happily, because they’re too far apart. They could be friends, but never truly happy with that arrangement. Which, I think, makes it heartbreaking and just. Pure. Awesome.







On a completely different matter, my dad turns 57 today so congrats to him etc.