Draco's Allegiance

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

God, I feel an idiot. When I was writing "Protean Charm" I looked very carefully at evidence for Draco's having started working against the Dark Lord. But I totally missed the biggest clue of all.



When the Trio, Dean, and Griphook were thrown into the basement of Malfoy Manor, Luna used a nail to untie the new prisoners.

And Draco fully expected her to.

When Draco was sent to fetch the goblin, he ordered the captives, "Stand back. Line up against the back wall. Don't try anything or I'll kill you!"

He expected them to be free, not tied together in a clump. And sure enough, they were; he was able to seize "the little goblin by the arm and back[] out again, dragging Griphook with him" without untying him first.

And he didn't warn his fellow Death Eaters that the prisoners were unbound, or cast Incarcereous on them to remedy the matter.

For that matter, how did Luna get hold of that conveniently large nail, anyhow? It's a weapon as well as a tool.

Comments

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was so much 'trust that he would be heard out' as pure desperation - turning to literally the only powerful person he could be certain wasn't secretly on Tom's side for help because his other clear alternative was to do nothing. He may have held little or no hope or trust of actually being heard out, and done it anyway because when someone you love is at risk, trying and failing, or trying even when you're certain you'll fail, is better than not trying at all. The fact that he went to Dumbledore doesn't necessarily indicate *trust* on his part, not at all. Desperation and courage, yes.

And as to other Death Eaters getting cold feet: Regulus felt dying in the cave and thus giving up the chance of directly doing anything further to help his family himself - in a situation in which he knew they were dealing with a monster worse than they knew, and who deliberately targeted family members as punishment - was better than whatever price Dumbledore might exact from them (not Regulus himself, his family, according to your own words? And Dumbledore is still supposed to be a figure who inspires trust and at least has the reputation of treating the genuinely repentant with some measure of consideration? See, those two things seem to me to be contradictory. That Regulus felt better about dying and leaving his parents, unknowing, to chance and the possibility of Voldie's wrath with only Kreacher to help them, than he did about asking help from Dumbledore says everything right there about how far Dumbledore's compassion extended, at least as far as those best placed to know it knew. So no, not every DE who got uncertain could run to Dumbles. Only a DE who was willing to risk everything *for someone else* might run to him - and notice the key fact here that that other person was a Gryffindor and already one of Dumbledore's own, and thus probably less likely to face demands for 'payment' herself than any Slytherin would.

Also, Severus wasn't running to Dumbledore in order to get out himself; he volunteers no such request. He was going to Dumbledore because one of Dumbledore's people was in danger in way that Dumbles (Severus assumed) didn't know about. And he was surprised (as was I) to discover that Dumbledore expected payment for protecting one of his own fighters - but paid anyway.

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

gah hmtl fail. Sorry.