Thanks to all the wonderful reviewers of Part One!
Especially Sue Bridehead, kannichtfranz, Christina,
Sheila, Anonymous, nucking_futs (I'm Realanise on
LJ!), aznblubeary, Bethie, Molly, bittelitten, Tryphe,
Pahi, Cap, Alexandra Malfoy, Eldarwen, Erised, Sarah,
Dracoluva, zjk, aka Sailor Mars, tintertyonk, Mynuet,
Corvidae, and Cancertopia.


+++

Yep, it's Chapter Two of the Draco/HBP essay. Partly
because I wanted to reply to some insightful things
people said, partly because I remembered some things I
wanted to say too late for the first chapter, and
partly, well... just because. ;) We're going to put
rumors to rest, clarify information, talk some more
about why Draco will be important, and outline some
possible plotlines. And then we'll look at more D/G
possiblities!

Let's start by debunking some rumors that have been
going around...

It has absolutely NOT been stated by JKR that Draco
ISN'T the HBP. Obviously, she hasn't said that he IS,
but she hasn't come right out and said that he isn't.
One thing she HAS said, though-- to play devil's
advocate-- is that Theodore Nott is just as
pureblooded as Draco is. Now, what does THAT mean?
Interesting choice of words... possibly. After all,
JKR didn't say "Theodore Nott is pureblooded, too."
Nor does she refer to him as "Theodore Nott, another
pureblood..." No, she defines his purebloodedness in
terms of Draco's. I do think there's a reason for
that. It may very well turn out to be that JKR is
hinting at a big difference in the ultimate choices of
the two boys, or foreshadowing that they will end up
leading different factions at Hogwarts. Yet we don't
actually know how pureblooded Nott is, now do we? We
certainly know that everybody who's ever been in
Slytherin is not a pureblood. So I think the
statement she made will turn out to be important, and
it *might* be a clever way of telling us that neither
of them are purebloods.

Then there's that famous paragraph of description JKR
released from HBP:

He) looked rather like an old lion. There were streaks
> of grey in his mane of tawny hair and his bushy
> eyebrows; he had keen yellowish eyes behind a pair
of
> wire-rimmed spectacles and a certain rangy, loping
> grace even though he walked with a slight limp.

JKR has not-- NOT-- said that this is a description of
the HBP. Never, in any way, shape, or form. We don't
know who it is-- yet. I'm not really sure how this
rumor got to be so rampant, but it has confused a lot
of people simply because you do see it so much. But it
is 100% a fanon rumor. Of course, that doesn't
guarantee that it ISN'T a description of the HBP. But
if I had to guess, I would say that it's probably a
description of the new DADA teacher. In fact, I would
even say that the most likely person it fits is
Aberforth Dumbledore.

The part where Draco has his hands on the journal in
CoS goes by very quickly. If you're not looking,
you'll miss it. It's right after Harry gets the unwanted Valentine.

Harry would have given all the gold in Gringotts to evaporate on the spot. Trying valiantly to laugh along with everyone else, he got up, his feet numb from the weight of the dwarf, as Percy Weasley did his best to disperse the crowd, some of whom were crying with mirth.
"Off you go, off you go, the bell rang five minutes ago, off to class, now," he said, shooing some of the younger students away. "And you, Malfoy-"
Harry, glancing over, saw Malfoy stoop and snatch up something. Leering, he showed it to Crabbe and Goyle, and Harry realized that he'd got Riddle's diary. "Give that back," said Harry quietly.
"Wonder what Potter's written in this?" said Malfoy, who obviously hadn't noticed the year on the cover and thought he had Harry's own diary. A hush fell over the onlookers. Ginny was staring from the diary to Harry, looking terrified.
"Hand it over, Malfoy," said Percy sternly.
"When I've had a look," said Malfoy, waving the diary tauntingly at Harry.
Percy said, "As a school prefect -" but Harry had lost his temper. He pulled out his wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" and just as Snape had disarmed Lockhart, so Malfoy found the diary shooting out of his hand into the air. Ron, grinning broadly, caught it.
+++
I've always thought it's strange that more readers
didn't notice this scene, but it's treated like a
throwaway. Whether it's important or not, only time
will tell.

Believe me, I thought long and hard about that
tapestry scene in OotP where Sirius shows Harry the
intricate family background of the Blacks. According
to the tapestry, Draco is indeed a pureblood. There's
only one problem. It's the family tapestry of the
Blacks, not the Malfoys. Harry is the one who tells
Sirius, "You're related to the Malfoys." Kind of an
odd choice of words, when what the scene mainly proves
is that Sirius is related to the Blacks, and I think
it misdirects us into believing we know more about the
Malfoy line than we do. We know all about the
interrelationships of the Blacks. We don't know
anything at all about the Malfoys except that they're
supposed to be purebloods. We haven't found out
anything more about them, though. It's certainly canon
that they SAY they are; they never STOP saying it. But
we don't see the proof, as we do for the Blacks. I
could think of a lot of reasons why the Blacks
swallowed the story that they were, primarily that the
family was clearly in rather desperate financial
straits at the time, and may not have investigated as
carefully as they should have before Narcissa's
marriage. The Malfoys may very well turn out to be
exactly what they appear to be... and they may not.
Now, that's all I'm going to say about that! ;)

Remember the story in the Daily Prophet that quoted
Lucius Malfoy(OotP)? That's where it says that Malfoy
Manor is in Wiltshire. Once again, it goes by very
quickly.

+++

Now, on to the Thoroughly Demented (and Mostly Dark)
Draco/HBP theories.

At this point, I honestly and truthfully don't know
how likely it is that Draco will turn out to be the
HBP. If he *isn't* the HBP, I won't throw a big hissy
fit, jump up and down, burn the books, or live on top
of a pillar for 20 years like St. Simon the Stylite,
who retreated from the world. ;)

BUT...

I WILL be shocked if Draco and his choices aren't
important in HBP. This is for all the reasons laid out
in the first essay, plus three more pieces of
information we didn't have when the essay was
originally written.

First of all, JKR gave us the title of two chapters
from HBP. Out of all the chapters in the book, we do
have only those two titles-- and I believe that they
both relate to Draco.

The first one, of course, is pretty obvious. "Draco's
Detour" is, well, going to be about a detour that
Draco takes. One thing worth pointing out is the
difference between this and a chapter title that was
released early from HBP, "Percy and Padfoot." A lot of
people were rather disappointed when they actually
read the chapter, simply because they'd thought it
would involved Percy and Sirius actually interacting
in some way. But the chapter didn't promise that. It
simply meant that both these characters would be in
the chapter, and they were.

"Draco's Detour," on the other hand, pretty
unequivocally means "The detour that belongs to
Draco." "Draco and the Detour" might mean anything,
but that's not what we have.

The other chapter title is "Spinner's End." Now, at
this point, nobody knows what or where Spinner's End
might be. However, one common opinion is that it's a
place name. JKR already told us that Harry will spend
the least amount of time yet at his aunt and uncle's
house, so a lot of people are wondering if Spinner's
End is the name of the new headquarters of the OotP,
where Harry ends up in this second chapter. For a
variety of reasons, the Order may not want to or be
able to stay in Twelve Grimmauld Place.

One theory is that as the next male heir from the
Black family, Draco inherits Twelve Grimmauld Place,
and that a provision in wizarding law causes even a
place hidden by a Secret-Keeper to become
transferable. If THAT'S the case, then we're obviously
going to have to hear about why and how the Order is
in a new location, and Draco would be the reason.

So in that case, BOTH of the only two chapter titles
that have been released would relate to Draco. And we
already know for a fact that one does.

Then there's the fact that JKR released Draco's
birthday. Now, the really interesting thing about this
is that before the revelation, out of all the
birthdays she's told us about, every single one has
been of a character who's been placed firmly on the
"good" side (yes, even Snape the Snarky.) The first
exception-- the only exception-- is now Draco. And as
for the dubious theory that JKR is only throwing the
Tom Felton fangirls a bone, sorry, y'all.... but I
think that's just plain silly. She's never done that
before; she's gone out of her way to do the opposite
at every conceivable oppportunity.

Lastly, we now have a clue that might hint at MAJOR
importance for Snape in HBP. We now have the two
British book covers, and the American book cover. The
adult British cover is a closeup of a Potions
textbook. Now, nobody can be 100% sure, but a pretty
logical conclusion seems to me to be that Harry is
going to be in Advanced Potions in his sixth year.
Taught by Snape, of course! And as noted in the first
chapter of the essay, Snape and Draco have always been
tied in all the books. More importance for Snape is a
pretty powerful argument, all by itself, for greater
importance for Draco.

Actually, there's a popular theory that *Snape* will
turn out to be the HBP. I think it's a whole lot more
likely than most of the HBP theories out there (I hope
the rumor that JKR said it's not Hagrid turns out to
be true, don't you??) The biggest thing against it is
that the idea of a "prince" seems to imply someone in
Harry's age group. But there's no way to be sure that
would be true. Remember, too, that canon Snape *is*
quite a bit younger than the impression we get from
the movies, as are all the Marauders. The casting
department made a deliberate decision to cast actors
who were at least ten years older than the canon
characters. (And it's a good thing they did-- an actor
who was really 33-34 years old would have looked very
weird playing Remus across from Dan Radcliffe in PoA.
He definitely wouldn't have looked like someone from
Harry's parents' generation.) Nevertheless, canon
Snape is a lot younger than Alan Rickman. So that's a
possiblity to consider seriously. Although quite
honestly I don't know how in the world it might impact
the plot if Snape WAS the HBP, I do think that this,
too, would lead to increased importance for Draco.

All right. So Draco's going to be important. But
whether he's the HBP or not, what might this
importance actually lead to in terms of plot? What
might happen in HBP?

Warning: we're now headed into the realms of wild and
weird speculation. Hold tight...

+++

When asked if Arthur Weasley will be the new MoM, JKR
told us:

Alas, no.

I think it's very significant that she phrases the
reply in that way. It does seem to imply that not only
will the new MoM not be Arthur, it won't be anyone
good from Harry's point of view, or Dumbledore's point
of view. So that would rule out Amelia Bones, too.

We obviously don't know who the new MoM will be. But
there's a fascinating theory that history itself can
give us a clue. St. Cornelius (251-53) was succeeded
by St. Lucius I (253-54) in the papacy of the Roman
Catholic Church.

I didn't come up with this theory, I guarantee.
However, I did check it out, because there are a lot
of weird theories out there. (Ever hear the one about
Ron and the yellow rat and Bilius the general... it
was so confusing that I don't even remember how it
went. Anyway, it turned out to be fake.)But, take a
look at this:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm

So the rumor in this case turns out to be true. And
the best part is that it's more than just a
coincidence of names. Cornelius was banished, which
could refer to what might happen to the disgraced
Cornelius Fudge. St. Lucius was sent into exile, but
allowed to return after a short time. Could this refer
to Lucius Malfoy getting out of Azkaban quickly? A
really interesting detail is that St. Lucius always
had to be followed around by two priests and two
deacons "to bear witness to his virtuous life." The
author of the entry about the pope describes this as
"incredible," and to tell the truth, it sounds to me
more like someone was following St. Lucius to make
sure he didn't do something he wasn't supposed to.
Which sounds like something that could happen to
Lucius Malfoy. Eventually, St. Lucius was murdered,
but many people did not acclaim him as a martyr. And let's not forget that St. Lucius was a Roman. A lot of people have thought that Lucius Malfoy's name refers to Lucifer, but it could just as easily refer to the fact that Lucius was a very, very common Roman name.


Oh, but it gets EVEN BETTER. Y'all aren't going to believe this... In OotP, Albus Dumbledore was clearly set up as a rival power to Cornelius Fudge. Some people in the wizarding community supported one, and some supported the other. Well, guess what. St. Cornelius had EXACTLY the same kind of thing happen!!! His rival was the "antipope" Novitian, who was (according to the Catholic church at the time, anyway) a heretic. However, a considerable number of people did support Novitian as the true leader of the church, against Cornelius. Novitian's heresy was rather complicated, but the most important thing about it was that he believed in severe treatment for those who had been apostates and now wanted back in the church... just as Dumbledore didn't believe that a lot of wizards who said they acted under the Imperius curse should be allowed back in. Wow! This is WEIRD. Here's more about Novitian:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11138a.htm

In this capacity, Lucius Malfoy would have a lot of
power, and would be able to do things he was perhaps
constrained from doing before. Some of these things
might involve dark magic (we know from CoS that the
Malfoys have a lot of Dark items in their house.) (And remember, too, that from the point of view of the Novitian heretics, what the orthodox church was doing was, well, pretty much dark magic.)

Then, too, there's the matter of the discovery. A
really important thing to notice is that the HBP
storyline does not necessarily relate to a discovery
Harry made IN the Chamber, but a discovery he made at
some point in the book. A very big difference. If we
knew the discovery had to have happened in the CoS,
the Godric Gryffindor-as-HBP theory might carry a lot
more weight. But that's not what JKR tells us.

Under this theory, she might mean Harry's discovery
that
Lucius Malfoy was the one who slipped the diary into
Ginny's cauldron. Well, Lucius got the diary back at
the end of CoS, of course. So here's a theory... what
if he was able to raise the shade of Tom Riddle
through dark magic, using his power as MoM to feel
safe in doing it? If Riddle really does choose Draco
as his HBP, that's when he would do it.

And, as promised, here's how Ginny fits in.

Lucius Malfoy tried to use her for the purposes of
Dark magic before. In fact, that's the entire plot of
CoS-- a dangling plotline that remains unresolved up
to now. If he really does dabble in dark magic again,
and if he tries to call up Tom Riddle again, he would
have every reason in the world to try to get at Ginny
again. But how would Lucius have the opportunity? The
answer is that he wouldn't have to. Draco goes to the
same school as Ginny and has every opportunity to make
her kidnapping or luring out of Hogwarts possible.

We don't know exactly how this would work, but the
really fascinating fact is that we've seen this
plotline before. In GoF, Barty Crouch-as-Moody was at
Hogwarts for that exact, specific reason (triggering
the "kidnapping" of Harry.) And when JKR uses a theme
once, she has a habit of using it again (as, indeed,
she did with Polyjuice potion in CoS and GoF.)In a
way, we could even say that this plotline was used in
OotP, since the dreams of the DoM were "sent" to Harry
to lure him out of Hogwarts. So we definitely know
that it's possible to get people out of Hogwarts

Would Draco do it, and why? Well, aside from anything
else, look at the end of the last canon we have to
date. Draco has actually got to be out for revenge
against two people by the end of OotP: Harry, and
Ginny. Ginny defeated and humiliated him in front of a
lot of people with the Bat-Bogey hex, and from the
comments she makes in OoTP we know that she sees the
incident as being very important (it’s her
justification for why she should get to go to the
DoM!) So it’s pretty meaningful D/G interaction. And
there are really only two places where we’ve seen
Draco and Ginny interact meaningfully in canon: in
CoS, and in OotP. Their OotP interaction is basically
a setup for whatever happens next between them,
because it is completely unfinished and leaves Draco
itching to correct the balance of power between them.
So it’s got to be resolved in HBP. If the issue of the
CoS also has to be resolved in HBP-- as I've argued--
that would help to explain some of the seemingly
conflicting things JKR has said about whether there’s
a link between CoS and HBP.So, again... there's your
D/G. Not real fluffy, though.

To end this thing, on a happier note, Creamtea has an
incredibly elegant theory about Draco in HBP. She made
me promise not to tell anybody about it before the
book came out, though. It's such a beautiful theory...
so well constructed... I'm in awe of it... still, my
lips are sealed until the third chapter of this essay.
Yep, there's going to be another chapter as
Kannichtfranz suggested, but it won't come out until
after HBP. It'll deal with how well any of these
predictions actually held up!

I will say, though, that Creamtea also believes in
Draco's importance in HBP, and she has some
fascinating theories as to how that might play out.
Although I have to say that she's more optimistic
about Draco's choices than I am.

Another happy note! (I guess.) Whatever happens
between Draco and Ginny and no matter how dark it is,
I personally don’t feel that romantic H/G will happen.
There is just too much going against it in too many
different directions. And I don't think that way
because H/G interferes with my OTP, since I firmly
believe that although the seeds of romantic D/G lie in
canon, it can only walk a dark path there.

So anyway, there I was on the CS H/G thread on FA, and
someone asked this question:

[quote]
What chapters do you think will contain something that
will continue to sink H/G?
[/quote]

And here was my reply... and the reason for the rating
on this entire chapter of the essay.
+++



Chapter 10
Flight From the Ministry

Harry ran down the corridor towards the Room of
Requirement, praying he would make it in time, knowing
that it was his last chance. Since Lucius Malfoy had
become the new Minister of Magic, security trolls
roamed the halls of Hogwarts, and tapioca custard had
replaced all other puddings at dinner. Life had become
rather difficult. He flung open the door,
breathlessly. Unfortunately, he hadn't bothered to
check whether anyone was there.

A large four-poster bed took up almost every inch of
available space, although there seemed to still be
some left for bottles of massage oil, bowls of
chocolate mousse, and several dubious products that
Mr. Ollivander kept quite decidedly behind the counter
of his shop. Harry's horrified eyes took in the fact
that Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley were in the
four-poster bed. It's impossible to describe what they
were doing without going over a PG-13 rating, but
Chapters 10-99 of the Kama Sutra, deluxe wizarding
edition, were definitely involved.

"Eep," said Harry, at a convenient break in the
action.

"Oh dear," said Ginny.

"Can't you read, Potter?" snarled Draco. "There's an
"Occupied" sign on the door."

"Ginny," said Harry hopelessly. "I always thought you
were so sweet and innocent."

"Er, well, not anymore," said Ginny, blushing
slightly.

"Out, out, Scarhead!" said Draco. "We have this room
for five more hours!"

"No, no," said Ginny. "I think we'd better tell him
now."

"I suppose you're right," said Draco, lighting a clove
cigarette.

Harry began to cough. "I'm allergic."

"Good," Draco smirked.

"How did this all begin?" Harry asked Ginny in a
befuddled fashion.

"Well, remember the time I disappeared at the
Halloween feast and wasn't seen for three days?" said
Ginny. “And then I turned up, and couldn’t walk
straight until the following Monday? Remember how
Hermione was convinced I was smoking Mandrake weed,
because I couldn’t stop smiling all through November?”

Harry put his hands over his ears. "That's enough! I
don't want to know any more."

"Don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way
out," yawned Draco, putting out his cigarette and
turning back to Ginny.

Harry trudged disconsolately towards the door. He
couldn't say, on reflection, that he was terribly
disappointed. More than anything else, he was reminded
of the time his aunt had given him a Hershey's Kiss
for his tenth birthday in a burst of generosity, and
Dudley had stolen it. He'd always vaguely thought that
Ginny would be there when he finally decided he would
get around to her, rather like a half-opened can of
tuna fish left in the back of the refrigerator.

But he turned back just before leaving the room,
although when he saw what Malfoy and Ginny were
already back to doing, he rather wished he hadn't.
Also, he wondered how on earth Malfoy had got so
flexible. It couldn't be only the exercise a
Seeker got, because Harry himself knew that he
couldn't have wrapped his left leg around his head
half so well.

"Does this mean you're not going to Hogsmeade with me
on the next weekend, Ginny?" he asked plaintively.

A leather thong thrown at his head was the only
answer.

As he began plodding down the hall, trying to find
somewhere else to hide from the homicidal security
troll that had been chasing him, he heard Malfoy's
muffled voice coming from behind the closed door.

"Hey! That was my favorite thong! I thought you loved
seeing me in that one."

"I do," purred Ginny. "But I love ripping it off with
my teeth even more. "

That was about when Harry decided that he'd just let
the troll catch him.


+++

That's all, y'all! Be sure to catch the third chapter
after the release of HBP. :)
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