luleh @ April 26 2003, 21:31:21 UTC

Lucius's reaction is totally puzzling me. Is it genuine? Or is it posturing? A combination of both?

Is Lucius gay and married Narcissa for appearance? Did Draco's actions hurt him personally? And because of that, is he now feeling guilt for how he's rasised his son?

Or is he acting this way because he thinks his reaction will reflect well on him? On Narcissa?

Gad, he is totally baffling me.

sheron @ April 26 2003, 21:44:02 UTC

His one comment that I'm still mulling over was "When casting aspersions blindly, and reviling others for what they are, you might consider that such aspersions hit far closer to home than you realize."
That has a lot of possible implications.

Whatever his reasons for the response he's showing though... well, I don't believe in pure evil, but Lucius seems to come the closest to that definition out of all NA characters.

luleh @ April 26 2003, 21:57:49 UTC

Whatever his reasons for the response he's showing though... well, I don't believe in pure evil, but Lucius seems to come the closest to that definition out of all NA characters.

*nods* Agreed.

Is it also a reaction to the loss of Draco's prefect badge and all the points from Slytherin?

Is this his PR attempt to show that he does not agree with his son?

Yet Draco has said plenty of nasty, hurtful things before, why comment now? Why step in now? Why wonder about parenting skills now?

sheron @ April 26 2003, 22:01:15 UTC Re:

I think that prefecture has to do with it some, at least.

I personally feel that Lucius wants Draco to be the prince of Hogwarts. Maybe not loved, but...certainly important to know.

Actually I don't have too many thoughts on the subject. I'm going to see what other people say :)

Anonymous @ April 26 2003, 22:06:35 UTC

It's possible that Lucius is a DeathEater, that he's been involved in plots to murder Harry, AND that he still cares for his son and wife.

Being an "aristocrat" he may have no problem with looking down on the inferior and crushing the impure, but getting so worked up about sexuality...? How gauche.

sheron @ April 26 2003, 22:08:04 UTC Re:

I actually prefer the idea that Lucius loves Draco. ...In his own way. In his own very twisted way.

Everyone's worked up over the sexuality it seems.

sistermagpie @ April 26 2003, 22:27:40 UTC

I'm torn. It sounds genuine, though that means little.

The way it seems at the moment, which bothers me, is that it's almost like ps is being revealed as the big demon who's just awful for no good reason. Suddenly Lucius and Narcissa aren't so bad, nobody's really bad, he's just decided to viciously attack Harry for no reason, he's so responsible for his own behavior that there's no logic to it at all. But that, to me, sounds more like a Message than a real character or a story (like Don't Assume Evil Has A Good Side--Learn to Recognize the Devil or something). Draco's behavior has always been nasty and I don't look to excuse that. But at base here and in canon it has always seemed to me to be logical from his own pov.

If Lucius and Narcissa are genuinely puzzled I have to think there is something very important that they don't know concerning this issue. They're smarmy complimenting of each other about how they're both the best parents they could be is just too easy, especially given Lucius demand that Draco justify his own existance. Is it just their carelessness and Lucius' strict upbringing that have made Draco angry? It seems too much. And this is too much about SEX, dammit. Not H/D sex, just issues of sex all coming from D.

Anonymous @ April 26 2003, 23:02:49 UTC

I think it's possible that the Malfoys didn't give Draco the parenting that he needed, despite being not-of-the-devil parents.

In fact, I think they probably spoiled him way too much. Look at the time Lucius buys new brooms to get Draco on the team. It seems like a wonderful gift from Father, but really isn't it bad parenting? Handing Draco everything he wants?

Draco hasn't ever really had to get by purely on his own talent to get by, or even his own charisma/charm to have companions. (really, would his Slytherin friends still be there if he didn't have such $ and social standing?)

What's really crippling Draco in dealing with others is mainly his sense of entitlement, and the idea that all attention should be on him, him, him. He is the center of the universe, other people's feelings don't matter etc etc

Seems very classic, only spoiled child syndrome.

Remember who Draco reminds Harry of on 1st meeting? Dudley.

They were probably strict about 1 or 2 things, but except for that indulged him and let him behave horribly way too much. As a result he hasn't had to mature and, although he has a wonderfully self-important childish charisma, he's got some growing up to do.

sistermagpie @ April 27 2003, 08:49:41 UTC

Actually, I have a very different interpretation of Draco in canon.L-) I think he is spoiled at times, sure. That's a big part of him. But at base he's very much not like Dudley--Harry's mistaken. Dudley actually can bully his father into buying him a broom (the remark that makes Harry think of Dudley) but Draco doesn't get the broom. A year later we see his father has finally relented to buy him one and refuses Draco's request for any other present. He insults Draco's worth in front of a shopkeeper and seems totally disinterested in Draco's whining about not getting on team. Lucius completely dominates Draco--he's a much more imposing and effective figure than Vernon.

Given that Draco is a good Seeker (he has to be for plot purposes, really, because it wouldn't be interesting otherwise and he wouldn't end up in important matches against Harry) and that the Seeker controls the game and he plays for Slytherin, the ambitious house, it just makes no sense to me that he bought his way onto the team. He has to have the ability otherwise he'd have been kicked off by now or at least the whole school would know he was only there because of his father's money. From the little we see of Lucius and Draco it makes more sense to me that Lucius bought the brooms as a reward for Draco doing something right in making the team. So it's still a form of spoiling but not one that let's Draco off of having to prove himself to Lucius. It's essentially a contradiction: on one hand Lucius tells Draco he doesn't have to prove himself because as a pureblood he is already superior. In that way he isn't judged on his merits. But on the other hand when Draco doesn't measure up grade-wise Lucius tells him so. He doesn't make excuses or claim as a pureblood it doesn't matter.

The idea that Draco has friends because of his money and social standing seems very fanfic to me. In canon we see him putting on little shows to entertain the other Slytherins--he's very eager to please. He and Pansy seem perfectly suited to be friends. I'm not saying Draco's money has nothing to do with it and certainly he seems to think it's a big part of what makes him important, but I don't think Crabbe and Goyle are with him because they're after he's a Malfoy. On the very few occasions we see any emotion from them they seem to me to be genuine friends of a sort who hold Draco over their own immediate social standing. He seems, in his snobby way, exceptionally social.

Of course none of this contradicts your other points--he is allowed to behave horribly and hasn't had to mature. What interests me about Draco, though, is that Draco's parenting seems to be made up of equal parts of fawning/coldness, telling him he's superior to others/telling him he's a disappointment and worthless, giving/witholding. It makes him, imo, a lot meaner and unstable.

sheron @ April 26 2003, 23:03:33 UTC

The way it seems at the moment, which bothers me, is that it's almost like ps is being revealed as the big demon who's just awful for no good reason.

Oh I hope that notion is not going to stick around!