I Barely Touched His Head

I Barely Touched His Head

Sorting him was the easiest thing I've ever done. Then again, I sorted him before he was even born, before the baby had bought down the dark lord, before anyone had any idea that the dark lord could and would return.

Sorting him was the easiest thing I've ever done because I did not do it. I barely touched his head.

Sorting him was the hardest thing I've ever done because I did not do it. I barely touched his head.

Oh I know what everybody though. Draco Malfoy does not need a complex sorting; he is so obviously a Slytherin. I wish it had been that easy. But no one is that easy to sort no one is that uncomplicated. No, the truth is that I did not read him at all: I could not. The risk was too great, I could not take the chance that I might find ... bravery, daring, nerve and chivalry.

Exactly.

I might have seen he belonged in Gryffindor.

And that could never be allowed.

I could not even have offered him the choice I gave Harry Potter. Nature vs. Nurture. Harry Potter: born to be a Gryffindor, given the talents of a Slytherin, raised as a nobody. The choice was obvious. Nature wins. Draco Malfoy: born to be ... well that would be telling, raised to be a Slytherin. There could be no choice. Nurture would win. He would choose Slytherin but the knowledge that there was another way would have been too much.

There is an old magic, that which protected the baby against the Dark Lord is an example. Another is that law which states that it is your greatest foe, not necessarily the most powerful but the greatest, can turn out to be your greatest strength, greatest ally.

They had to oppose each other because that chance that he was his greatest foe was all too real.

He could be his greatest foe for theirs is an enmity that stems from intimate knowledge and interaction. So they needed to compete, to test each other and themselves. They needed to find boundaries, to find limits and to find respect. For you can not but respect someone who challenges you totally. And from respect might come alliance. And then victory.

Why him? He comes from a long line of Slytherins, therefore there is a long legacy of hatred. He can be the ultimate rival. The ultimate ally. When I read his father I could sense the type of father he would make. He would produce a son who would espouse all he believed in and do so unquestioningly. His son would follow him, obey him but he would also fear and despise him. He would one day question the choices of his father and become free to choose on his own and see it not as faith but his own decision born from his own commonsense. Yes this was the kind of son he could easily produced.

But did he?

I do not know, I barely touched his head.