What are your opinon about Draco being EEEVVVIIILLL or not?

[Soren Lowrensen]

Well, it seems there is a consensus among us, that Draco Malfoy is not evil.

And I think when we all started reading the books when we were younger, we were convinced that he was.

Obviously, he's not.

In fact, I think that Draco is a very sad character.

As you all seemed to mention, he has his father, and Voldemort to deal with, and fears to cross. He was expected to be the Prince of Hogwarts! But it was taken from him by Harry. And when he tried to be Harry's friend, he was rejected. Only to be replaced by Ron, who Draco obviously saw beneath Harry, and himself.

Harry has become more and more of a judgmental little a** through out the series, and this just shows that he is less and less likely to accept Draco, or any Slytherin at that, as an ally; much less a friend.

But really irks me about the canon relationship between Draco and Harry is that as soon as they had met, Harry had instantly grouped Draco with his cousin, and therefore thought of him as a bad person. He didn't eve give Draco a chance. But in the first book, Harry was so accepting it's hard to accept that he would just instantly not like Draco, just because he reminded him of Dudley. But then Harry did have to have a peer rival, and that was an effective way to provide one.... if not cheap and opposite of the persona she had provided Harry.  

[thatdrncat]

I think he's a good person, but just pressured into things by his parents. He was very hesitant to do Dumbledore, so Snape had to do it himself. It reminds me of Regulus Black, in a way, because he was pushed into the Death Eaters (probably) by his parents. Just speculation, but I think that's the only reason Draco's getting into it. I don't think he would go for it by himself. domokun  

[velvetshadow]

After reading through all six pages of this topic, I have a few things to say.

First off, Don't flame me for my opinions. That's all they are, opinions. I know many of you will disagree with me, and I welcome open debate and such, but don't be rude about it. After all, I haven't flamed any of you. That being said.....

It seems as though I'm the only one here who's not a Harry/Draco shipper. If I were to ship Draco in slash it would be with Snape....after Draco is of age.

As for Draco being evil....Evil is a very strong word with very strong connotations. Draco is a child. Children are very rarely "evil", with the exception of Tom Riddle. He is, however, a spoiled, slimy little git who is used to getting his way. Once he starts school, the only place he is favored is in Potions and in Slytherin in general.

Second year, we begin to see the ignorance of prejudice in Draco with the mudblood comments. Unfortunately, this is something that he could only have learned from his parents. It's obvious that he was raised in a "dark" wizarding home. I don't hink his attitude and beliefs that we see are so much "expected" of him, as they are engrained in him. That just shows me that he is weak of character, though. Compare his upbringing to that of Harry's and Sirius'. Especially Sirius....he was raised in a dark home and was expected to follow his parent's beliefs, but he didn't. He broke out of all of that pureblood mania and defied what he was taught before school. Harry was brought up to believe that there was no hope for him, that he was nothing. He was treated cruelly at the hands of the Dursley's, but he has never been cruel to anyone. He and Sirius had the strength of mind and heart to break the cycles of ignorance and intolerance that they were both raised with. Draco, on the other hand, just sits back in his little bubble and believe's whatever his parents tell him. Even though tolerance is upheld and taught at Hogwarts, Draco is one of the few who refuse to give it a chance. On a side note, I think he secretly has a crush on Hermione. *ducks*

In the 6th book, Draco is not crying to Myrtle because he doesn't want to kill Dumbledore. He's crying because he can't get the vanishing cabinet fixed. He's scared that he's going to be killed by Voldemort because he can't get the job done, because it's taking so long.

During the confrontation with Dumbledore we finally get to see Draco getting a mind of his own. I believe if Snape and the others hadn't showed up when they did, he would have accepted Dumbledore's help. Left on his own, he might show some strength of character, but when the others came, he immediately falls back into the person THEY think he should be. He could have told them to leave. He could have told them that he would finish the job and when they were gone he could've worked with Dumbledore. After all, they all saw that Dumbledore was weak and wandless. But he didn't. His strength fled him.

Basically, I think that Draco just wants to be on the winning side. Alone with the most powerful wizard alive, he was ready to switch sides. With other DEs to back him up, he reverts to the dark side. He is, in essence, a fence walker.

As for speculation about what's going to happen, I think Draco and Snape both will suffer, but they will suffer while helping the Order. Snape will have some proof that he and Dumbledore had planned it all out, and he will convince Draco that Voldemort is wrong.

*This does NOT mean that I support Snape. I heart Alan Rickman, but I HATE Snape.  

[Pearls of Dimond]

No, I don't think Draco is evil. Voldomort is evil. Severes and Draco are misunderstood and/or just selfish.
But I also don't believe it's Ron's fault. After all, Draco was the one teasing Ron from the start (Ron has some comments about him too before Harry and Draco have the chance, but obviously Draco and Ron just don't get along.) I think Draco is just controlled with an iron fist by Voldomort and Lucius (Who he fears enough to wet himself) and was raised to be a brat. (And I agree with velvetshadow that this shows poor character. He has no backbone and that's a shame.) Which is why this thing with Ron started anyways- Malfoys and Weasleys are raised to hate each other.
I can't say it's Ron OR Draco's fault. I rather think that it had more to do with Draco's father, upbringing,situation and need to please and Ron's father and overall family.
I'm sure Sirius and James must have had problems with each other as well at first simply because the Blacks were well-known for being snobby, rich, pureblood lovers. If Draco and Ron had given each other a chance they would probably not have as many problems as they do. Same with Draco giving Hermione a chance.
I used to think everyone sorted into Slytherin was evil, (And I'm afraid Harry has fallen into this and started to be just a prejudiced against purebloods as a good deal of purebloods are against muggleborns just because of Hermione's experiences) but this is a stereotype. Most are evil or at least cruel. A few are more just people who do anything in their power to get what they need and stay alive.
I believe both Snape and Draco fall into this category. And I like them both. And I am a HarryDraco supporter- but this doesn't mean I think they will EVER be together. Plus I agree with poof_ur_gone here. I mean, I personally LIKE them hating each other. They can have all the secret crushes on each other in the imaginations of all the HD fangirls!
And just to add this in here: I have always thought maybe Draco was raped by his father.  

[Nolas]

I don't think he's 'evil' necessarily. Just a bully. And that's all he'll ever be because he won't want to go through anything else that Voldemort tells him to do. Not after what happened with Dumbledore. That moment was like an awakening to how real everything was.

So now, he'll try to run from it all and Voldemort will probably kill him(but I'll cry if he does crying ) I think there's going to be something to where either Draco dies in the process of trying to save Harry, thus proving he has become good, or Harry will just try to stop Voldie from killing Draco.  

[LilMeady]

Draco is too much of a crybaby to be evil. He's barely even pseudo evil since all he did was to keep his family alive and well. However, I do think he is a spoiled brat with a little bit of 'bad' in him. Evil is simply too strong a term.