fanart (don't worry, no sex, just violence :P)
Anyway, there's this amazing G/PG drawing of Victoir and Teddy all grown up by someone, I forget who. Not a huge fan of the pairing since Victoir is basiclaly given to Teddy for the same reason Ginny's given to Harry, but the art's beautiful, and Teddy looks so much like his dad *sigh*.
And (a rarity!) there's a really nice PG drawing of the so-called 'silver trio' over here (Draco, Pansy, Blaise) along with another one of some DEs. And then, finally,the last drawaing on the page, a probably pg-13/R Snape/Lily for violence, is absolutely beautiful. All by
nami81
Seriously, as much as I'm enjoying the AS/S ship, I'm still saddened by the fact that so little Draco stuff's being produced, especially after the huge influx of Draco stuff right after HBP came out and over the last two yearswhen we thought JKR actually had a plan for his character. I feel like AS/S is where a lot of disappointed H/D writers have gone, and while I'm absolutely loving the awesome stuff that they're producing over there, there's this little nostalgic part of me that longs for the day when those would have been H/D fics. A Snape fan wrote that JKR seems to have done her best to completely wreck H/D in DH by regressing Draco and turning him into this stupid little kid where he should have been more adult and I kind of agree.
I hate it when people say that if you were disappointed with Draco in DH it's because you were hoping for some sort of elusive 'redemption' whatever that means. They're right, Draco didn't need to be redeemed because he had yet to do anything for which redemption was necessary. Why? Because he was a kid. Meaning that what Draco did need to do and what he had every right to do but didn't, was grow up, not unlike James Potter. And there's a huge difference there.
You know, the entire HP series is about growing up. And growing up, as far as I can see it, occurs when a child understands that his choices can have weight in a particular situation, that he's not just a passive spectator anymore, but an adult who can have a measure of control over which way his life is going. And we see that happening with the Trio when Ron and Hermione give up so much in order to go Horocrucx hunting with Harry (whether it's noble or not, it represents a concrete, life-altering decision, made through a thorough understanding of the situation around them), we see it happening with Neville when he starts up the DA again (sorry, I know Ginny did, too, but it's not like she's really ever there covered in cuts and bruises like the rest) we see it with Cho and with Dean, Colin and Luna when they all step up and agree to fight with Harry. And we see it, on the other side, with Snape when he makes choice after choice that no one around him agrees with or understands in order to fight the war in his own way, despite the fact that the choices he's having to make are ones he doesn't like; we see it when Narcissa lies to the Dark Lord, when she encourages Lucius and directs Draco in what to do; and I think we even see it when Lupin runs from Tonks. Despite the fact that the later is a bad decision, it is a decision made. Technically, I think we even see it with Crabbe when he, Draco and Goyle try to capture Harry because even though what he's doing is evil and for Voldemort, in that moment, Crabbe takes control of the situation in the RoR and decides what it is he wants to do after watching people endure months of torture from the Dark Lord; in that moment, he becomes a man, albeit a bad man.
It's not about Draco choosing a side because you see Narcissa make choice after choice without choosing one side or another. It's about Draco continuing the path set for him by Dumbledore in book 6; it's about Draco taking that shit year he had and survived and understanding that he's maybe not so impotent anymore (because that's really what it comes off as at his age, impotence not innocence, because he's not innocent anymore, he's just not doing anything with the knowledge he does have), and that he can PLOT (come on, it's what he did ALL SIXTH YEAR) and plan just like any adult and make choices, even with the ire of the Dark Lord hanging constantly overhead. Honestly, I liked the Draco that still thought he could be a DE a lot more than I liked DH's Draco, because that Draco was able to make concrete decisions by himself, despite the fact that he was completely terrified. Maybe he was unsure about which side he was on, but push came to shove, he had to save his family, and he created a plot all on his own, fixed the cabinets right under Dumbledore's nose, absolutely hated what it was he had to do, but realized also that he had a responsibility to his mother and father. When JKR said that Draco had done a lot of growing up between fifth and sixth year, I totally believed her, and I totally believed that after all of this growing up, Draco would take the next step forward and start exercising his newfound power of choice. Instead we get a Draco who's defined almost entirely by his incompetence and inability to act.
And I'm not saying that everyone in the HP series 'grows up' in the way that JKR means. It's why Sirius died, it's why Bellatrix died; neither of them ever really understood the full weight of their decisions or, more importantly, the full impact of those decisions on the people around them. To Sirius the whole thing was a game, and the same with Bellatrix. It's a hard thing to say, actually, what it means to grow up or not grow up, and I know I'm defining it in the shallowest of terms, but at the same time, I feel like it's something we could reasonably have expected out of Draco. Don't get me wrong; I'm torn between beng disappointed in Draco's role in DH and loving the way the Malfoys came together as a family. I love that Narcissa played a larger role, and I love that that role was so Slytherin; but at the same time, I feel like it was sort of a cop out on JKR's part. For Draco to have been around for the entire series, and for JKR to have taken him as far along the road to adulthood as she did in book 6, only for him to then end up little more than a frightened child while Narcissa, who's been around as a character since book 6, makes every important decision and hovers over him like a mother hen, was disappointing. And while I can maybe see it happening in a different version of the book, one in which you didn't have other children who've been through much less than Draco has (Cho Chang, Colin Creevey, even James Potter) suddenly taking these huge leaps forward and making the choice to join the battle like that, I can't see it happening here, right after Draco's been allowed to grow up so much.
Speaking of James, that's sort of where this whole thing came from. JKR's constantly saying 'you can't change a man!' when people ask about the buried good qualities they see in Draco; only then she turns around and does just that with James. Except she doesn't actually change him, she matures him. Through Lily's love, we're supposed to believe, James somehow grows up, and in growing up he does a 180 and cultivates all those buried good qualities. And I'm wiling to believe this because it does happen and it's a beautiful thing to have happen. I just don't understand why the same principle can't have applied to Draco. I don't understand how James could suddenly have become twice as mature as Draco at the same age after going through much less than he went through 6th year, or how what Draco went through in sixth year couldn't have done the same for him that Lily's love did for James. I know they're two different characters, but all that really means (at least to me) is that they should have grown up in different ways.
And so, yeah, this is just to say, I’m one of the people who was disappointed with what JKR did with Draco in DH. And it has nothing to do with redemption, it has nothing to do with side, it has to do with Draco’s not growing up with everyone else in a series that was about growing up.
ETA: And if you were able to guess this was Dan Radcliffe right off the bat, you have better eyes than I do, considering he looks about 30 and kind of unatractive. It's from My Boy Jack in which he's secretly not a Nazi, though the picture is still somewhat terrifying...
And (a rarity!) there's a really nice PG drawing of the so-called 'silver trio' over here (Draco, Pansy, Blaise) along with another one of some DEs. And then, finally,the last drawaing on the page, a probably pg-13/R Snape/Lily for violence, is absolutely beautiful. All by
nami81Seriously, as much as I'm enjoying the AS/S ship, I'm still saddened by the fact that so little Draco stuff's being produced, especially after the huge influx of Draco stuff right after HBP came out and over the last two years
I hate it when people say that if you were disappointed with Draco in DH it's because you were hoping for some sort of elusive 'redemption' whatever that means. They're right, Draco didn't need to be redeemed because he had yet to do anything for which redemption was necessary. Why? Because he was a kid. Meaning that what Draco did need to do and what he had every right to do but didn't, was grow up, not unlike James Potter. And there's a huge difference there.
You know, the entire HP series is about growing up. And growing up, as far as I can see it, occurs when a child understands that his choices can have weight in a particular situation, that he's not just a passive spectator anymore, but an adult who can have a measure of control over which way his life is going. And we see that happening with the Trio when Ron and Hermione give up so much in order to go Horocrucx hunting with Harry (whether it's noble or not, it represents a concrete, life-altering decision, made through a thorough understanding of the situation around them), we see it happening with Neville when he starts up the DA again (sorry, I know Ginny did, too, but it's not like she's really ever there covered in cuts and bruises like the rest) we see it with Cho and with Dean, Colin and Luna when they all step up and agree to fight with Harry. And we see it, on the other side, with Snape when he makes choice after choice that no one around him agrees with or understands in order to fight the war in his own way, despite the fact that the choices he's having to make are ones he doesn't like; we see it when Narcissa lies to the Dark Lord, when she encourages Lucius and directs Draco in what to do; and I think we even see it when Lupin runs from Tonks. Despite the fact that the later is a bad decision, it is a decision made. Technically, I think we even see it with Crabbe when he, Draco and Goyle try to capture Harry because even though what he's doing is evil and for Voldemort, in that moment, Crabbe takes control of the situation in the RoR and decides what it is he wants to do after watching people endure months of torture from the Dark Lord; in that moment, he becomes a man, albeit a bad man.
It's not about Draco choosing a side because you see Narcissa make choice after choice without choosing one side or another. It's about Draco continuing the path set for him by Dumbledore in book 6; it's about Draco taking that shit year he had and survived and understanding that he's maybe not so impotent anymore (because that's really what it comes off as at his age, impotence not innocence, because he's not innocent anymore, he's just not doing anything with the knowledge he does have), and that he can PLOT (come on, it's what he did ALL SIXTH YEAR) and plan just like any adult and make choices, even with the ire of the Dark Lord hanging constantly overhead. Honestly, I liked the Draco that still thought he could be a DE a lot more than I liked DH's Draco, because that Draco was able to make concrete decisions by himself, despite the fact that he was completely terrified. Maybe he was unsure about which side he was on, but push came to shove, he had to save his family, and he created a plot all on his own, fixed the cabinets right under Dumbledore's nose, absolutely hated what it was he had to do, but realized also that he had a responsibility to his mother and father. When JKR said that Draco had done a lot of growing up between fifth and sixth year, I totally believed her, and I totally believed that after all of this growing up, Draco would take the next step forward and start exercising his newfound power of choice. Instead we get a Draco who's defined almost entirely by his incompetence and inability to act.
And I'm not saying that everyone in the HP series 'grows up' in the way that JKR means. It's why Sirius died, it's why Bellatrix died; neither of them ever really understood the full weight of their decisions or, more importantly, the full impact of those decisions on the people around them. To Sirius the whole thing was a game, and the same with Bellatrix. It's a hard thing to say, actually, what it means to grow up or not grow up, and I know I'm defining it in the shallowest of terms, but at the same time, I feel like it's something we could reasonably have expected out of Draco. Don't get me wrong; I'm torn between beng disappointed in Draco's role in DH and loving the way the Malfoys came together as a family. I love that Narcissa played a larger role, and I love that that role was so Slytherin; but at the same time, I feel like it was sort of a cop out on JKR's part. For Draco to have been around for the entire series, and for JKR to have taken him as far along the road to adulthood as she did in book 6, only for him to then end up little more than a frightened child while Narcissa, who's been around as a character since book 6, makes every important decision and hovers over him like a mother hen, was disappointing. And while I can maybe see it happening in a different version of the book, one in which you didn't have other children who've been through much less than Draco has (Cho Chang, Colin Creevey, even James Potter) suddenly taking these huge leaps forward and making the choice to join the battle like that, I can't see it happening here, right after Draco's been allowed to grow up so much.
Speaking of James, that's sort of where this whole thing came from. JKR's constantly saying 'you can't change a man!' when people ask about the buried good qualities they see in Draco; only then she turns around and does just that with James. Except she doesn't actually change him, she matures him. Through Lily's love, we're supposed to believe, James somehow grows up, and in growing up he does a 180 and cultivates all those buried good qualities. And I'm wiling to believe this because it does happen and it's a beautiful thing to have happen. I just don't understand why the same principle can't have applied to Draco. I don't understand how James could suddenly have become twice as mature as Draco at the same age after going through much less than he went through 6th year, or how what Draco went through in sixth year couldn't have done the same for him that Lily's love did for James. I know they're two different characters, but all that really means (at least to me) is that they should have grown up in different ways.
And so, yeah, this is just to say, I’m one of the people who was disappointed with what JKR did with Draco in DH. And it has nothing to do with redemption, it has nothing to do with side, it has to do with Draco’s not growing up with everyone else in a series that was about growing up.
ETA: And if you were able to guess this was Dan Radcliffe right off the bat, you have better eyes than I do, considering he looks about 30 and kind of unatractive. It's from My Boy Jack in which he's secretly not a Nazi, though the picture is still somewhat terrifying...
