Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus

We all know Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus means "Never tickle a sleeping dragon", but I wonder if this is more than just a school motto....

In a recent audio clip of Stephen Fry (the narrator of the HP audio books in the UK, as well as a hilarious comedian from shows like Jeeves and Wooster and Black Adder) he says he can't give anything away. Duh. But then he repeats the school motto.

The big questions here are:

What is this dragon?

Who's doing the tickling?

What actually happens if you tickle the sleeping dragon?

For the first question, we could think of the dragon who is shown on the cover of the deluxe edition of DH. Then we could say Harry might have tickled him. And then we might suggest tickling a sleeping dragon could give you some power over the dragon, allowing you to order it around, at least for a while. But, then, why warn people not to do such a thing? Seems very odd to me.

So, what if the Dragon is not really a dragon? What if it's a person named Draco? Now it gets harder to answer the other questions. Is Harry provoking Draco when it's not wise to do so? Has Voldemort's punishments of the Malfoys been enough to provoke Draco to actively switch sides?

Or what if Snape is the "dragon"? He's definitely a powerful wizard who you wouldn't really want as an enemy. Who provoked him so badly when his guard was down? James, Harry, Dumbledore, his own parents, Voldemort, Wormtail? And what happens if you cruely provoke Snape? Well, back in HBP there was mention of how everyone Snape hates tends to turn up dead....

And what about Harry? He was innocent (and perhaps actually sleeping) when Voldemort attacked the Potters. Since then Voldemort has provoked Harry several times, even invading his dreams... mentally tickling him with false images, like the one that sent Harry to the DoM looking for Sirius. Snape has also provoked him on several occasions. What happens would be Harry seeking revenge... big time.