OOC: It always baffles me that we judge children characters the same way we judge adult characters. I am not saying children can do no wrong, but sometimes kids don't understand life the way the adults do. They don't tend to understand the long term effects that some of their actions can have... and we just tend to expect them to know everything that we do without any life experiences whatsoever.
I want to use Draco Malfoy as an example. He was a bully and an all around jerk... but keep in mind he was 10-11 years old when we first saw him. 10. That is pretty young. His dad had basically "programmed" his mind to think like he did, because Draco had never known anything else. We think some things should just be "common sense", but this is us judging a CHILD as an adult. As the series continues though, we slowly start to see the cracks forming in his character. He talked the talk but couldn't walk the walk, so to speak. When push came to shove he did NOT like seeing or taking part in killing or death. When reality finally set in, he didn't like it... this was a child seeing reality for the first time. It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.
In the end he does decide to change and attempt to move away from the stigmas that his family name was attached to... and I'm not saying that erases anything that he said or did, because it doesn't... but the things he said and did as a child shouldn't condemn him for the rest of his life either.
