@foxturned || Morality Meme
🍷 : Would they manipulate someone to get what they want?
Now that entirely depends on the person who would be subjected to the manipulation. Friends? No. The closest thing you’ll get is when Gladion metals in their life to make sure they’re taking care of themselves or somehow up their quality of life.
Example: let’s say his friend was Ron- and Ron wasn’t doing too hot. Has trouble sleeping, looks sickly but refuses to get help. Gladion would just pull some strings to get the school into doing a yearly check-up of sorts with Madam Pomfrey thus having Ron being forced to get help by another person.
Another example would be if a friend of Gladion’s and this other person who Gladion believes would make a fine friend for his friend (since everyone needs a stable team of people to fall back on knowing you can’t put all your emotional baggage into one or two people) he’d just- creates a way for the two to meet. Like maybe in one class the professor suddenly wants seating arrangements and- oh my look at that these two just happen to be seated next to each other! What are the odds? My god, now I’m just thinking of the matchmaker from Fiddler on the roof!
Now strangers or- people Gladion personally loathes and all-around enemies? Yes. Yes, he would manipulate the shit out of them to get what he wants and pushes buttons to get certain reactions from them that will benefit himself.
Another example for this: I headcanon that Gladion and Draco play chess together constantly in the Slytherin common room. People who are unobservant might think that they are friends.
This is far from the case.
Gladion is constantly poking Draco with a stick in attempts to make “the blasted Malfoy heir” make a fool of himself in a public setting. While I see Draco trying to glean information out of Gladion on subjects of dark magic (among many other things) because everyone knows that Gladion’s father was a pioneer in the new age of dark magic, the man having created many a spell while he was alive. So they are basically two snarling dogs sizing each other up while outwardly pretending they are friendly. Gladion can’t make enemies with Draco publicly due to the fact his family name doesn’t hold weight in Britain as it’s a french name.