A couple people have noted that Draco is Snape's godson.

I though that was fannon.

Where does it appear in cannon?

 

In book6, Narcissa mentions it when she goes to Spinner's End to get that Unbreakable Vow.

 

Even if Snape didn't teach Harry properly, the fact that Voldemort had access to his mind to the point of being able to give him visions and control his dreams should have been a big enough impetus to attempt to learn Occlumency on his own. That and the fact that Harry should have wanted to learn Occlumency just to stop Snape from thoroughly humiliating him and viewing his most personal and secret memories. I'm sure there are books in Hogwarts' library that discussed the theory and methods behind Occlumency and Legilimency (they might be in the restricted section, but still). Set aside that fact, he could have asked Hermione or Sirius (or some other trustworthy person) for help. Hell, he could have fucking owl ordered books from Flourish and Blotts or went searching for books about them in Hogsmeade.

Instead of doing that, he just fucking angsts and whines like a little bitch and wallows in his own feelings of self importance and righteousness and ignores Dumbledore and everyone elses advise on learning Occlumency. We can probably just blame this on JKR for writing an exasperating pussy!Harry that doesn't have a shred of common sense. You don't have to be a genius though to figure out that it is imperative to learn Occlumency when the big bad Dark Lord can access your mind at will like a skillful hacker, and when Snape fucking mind rapes you and sees your most humiliating and private thoughts.

The reason why I wrote this response to your post is because you seem to think it's Snape's fault that Harry didn't learn Occlumency. While he was partially at fault for not explaining Occlumency more thoroughly than 'clear your mind', the blame mostly rests on Harry for being a little bitch and not seeking out alternative sources of information and ignoring those who have his best interests in mind.

 

I sincerely doubt that there were books in the library about occulmency. Isn't it a ministry restricted art? If it is, I highly doubt that there'd be books about it in a school library. Hogwarts library isn't a plethora of all magical knowledge. It's just a library. A tool that was put there to help students with there homework.

 

Polyjuice.

 

You seem to be forgetting that the book Riddle read which instructed him in making Horcruxes was in Hogwarts' restricted section. If they had (Dumbledore removed it) books on Horcruxes and books such as Magicks Moste Evile (or whatever), they most likely have books on Occlumency. Nowhere do I recall reading that Occlumency is a ministry restricted subject, just that is a really rare and obscure art. Even if it was ministry restricted, there most likely would be books about it in the Hogwarts restricted section (see above).

 

I swear, sometimes it seems that the Hogwarts Library would challenge the Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana. But in this case, I suspect that the polyjuice recipe is in there legitimately. It probably wasn't in the stacks that were open access. Polyjuice might be "Ministry controlled," but Slughorn had the stuff in unsecured cauldrons right in the office. Draco was stealing it by the quart to feed to Crabbe and Goyle.

I know I keep hammering at this point - but Draco managed to get the DE into Hogwarts. An Attacking Force, Dark Marked and hostile and including Greyback, who is a psychopath even among werewolves. He conceived of using that Vanishing Cabinet set, he *recognized* that they were a pair, he repaired at least one of them, he hid his plan from EVERYONE (and you can bet that Snape was TRYING to get information from him,) the entire plan was his.

 

The book with the polyjuice recipe in it (Most Potente Potions) was in the restricted section. Hermione got a signature from Lockhart to check out the book. I get the impression that the Hogwarts' Library has alot of 'illegal' or 'ministry controlled' books in it. I mean, it is called the restricted section for a good reason, with all of it's books on the Dark Arts and similar restricted information.

 

Because Tom Felton's legion fangirls forced JKR into doing it.

His intelligence itself is out of character.

 

If anyone needed books on the Dark Arts, it's Harry.

He should have had a free pass from fifth year.

 

Agree. I love a good Dark Harry done right.

And fuck the free pass, he should just sneak in with his cloak whenever he wants, like when he went searching in the restricted section in PS only to be a dumbass and knock open the one screaming book in the whole fucking section, only instead of being a dumbass and getting caught, actually make out with some of the good books. If he had a pass that would mean at least one teacher would know what he's up to (and that's never good if you are Dark!Harry).

 

Snape probably just rubber-stamped the Restricted Section passes for post-OWL Slytherin students. And let's face it, Harry wouldn't have USED an unrestricted library pass - he didn't even bother to check the Library for books on Occlumency. Any of the rest of us would have *tried* to find out about it, if only in the hope that we could use it against Snape. Or make it stop hurting.

 

This just goes to show how flawed Harry is, which I guess is necessary for JKR's little deux ex to defeat Voldemort. I guess it wouldn't mesh well with the themes in her books if Harry was actually smart, studious, and/or powerful.

*sigh*

This is why there is fanfiction. I think it would be pretty cool if JKR would stop being a bitch and sell the license/rights to the HP series and let other authors (eg better authors) write books in the HP world. Chances are they would be better than JKR's series.

 

He didn't hide his plan from everyone. Those on the attacking force at least knew. So it's fair to say he only hid his plans from Snape and Hogwarts students. That Draco fixed the cabinet points to him being a skilled wizard, but I wouldn't push it to being a brilliant one. Snape *should* have just ripped the information from his feeble little mind. Or maybe he did....

Therefore, if you beleive Dumbledore's opinion of himself then Draco letting the deatheater's into Hogwarts was all part of Dumbledore's ineffable master plan to ensure Voldemort trusted Snape and the Light Side wins in the end. Thus not an accomplishment by Draco at all.

 

Well, if you let a child climb up stairs, the child still climbs up the stairs. It's a silly analogy, but regardless of if Snape or Dumbledore knew what he was doing, he still had to do it. So I'll give Draco some props for a good plan and aligning the two vanishing cabinets.

We have no idea how difficult the spellwork was. So we can't say anything definitively about his power level for that. He did keep the barmaid under the imperious for a year, so he has some power. She was a barmaid though, so she couldn't have been a powerful witch. But at the end of fifth year, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna escaped from Malfoy and his goons.

JKR also really didn't do anything to make me believe that power and ability had any meaning. The ending shouldn't have surprised us with all the crap she wrote in terms of power. Six kids played keep away from the 12 death eaters, and a year later Harry is smacked around like a toddler. Some of those same death eaters played bob the muggle at the world cup and got away clean. Bella beats Kingsley, Tonks, and Sirius (after years in Azkaban) and then loses to Righteous mother?

Anyway, back to Malfoy. If you actually read the books, his plans are actually a bit more competent than anyone but Hermione. So from that he's brilliant. Of course, the rest of the cast are morons, so he's somewhere in between moron and brilliant. Just throw powerful out the window. He was crying his eyes out to Myrtle. Talk about emo bitch.

 

Draco is a spoiled brat with delusions of his own importance. Period.