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'Draco Malfoy' is a fictional character in J.K. Rowling's ''Harry Potter'' series.
He is a Slytherin student in Harry Potter's year. He is described as a tall boy with a pale, pointed face, sleek white-blond hair, and grey eyes. He is the only child of Lucius (a Death Eater) and Narcissa Malfoy. He is related to the Black family through his mother, a first cousin of Sirius Black, which makes him a nephew of both Bellatrix Lestrange and Andromeda Tonks. He is, therefore, the scion of two old magical families. Three of Draco's grandparents are known: Abraxas Malfoy, Cygnus Black, and Druella Rosier. Draco is also Nymphadora Tonks's first cousin through his mother.
Draco is Slytherin's most visible adolescent representative and is frequently accompanied by Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, who act as his bodyguards. Although Draco is often regarded as a cowardly bully who uses psychological manipulation and verbal taunts to denigrate his victims, he reveals an ability to wield magic cunningly in order to attain his objectives.

Contents

Character development

Appearances

''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''

''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets''

''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban''

''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''

''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix''

''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince''

''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows''

Nineteen Years Later

Etymology

Film portrayal

References

External links

Character development

In addition to serving as the counterpart foil of the hero, Draco was loosely based on bullies Rowling had encountered during her school days.^[1] The Malfoy family was also devised in order to introduce the topics of intolerance and bigotry into a setting where people are sometimes judged by their blood status rather than their abilities or personalities. Harry is first aware of Draco's bigotry and snobbiness after their initial encounter at Madam Malkin's, where Draco expresses his view that a Hogwarts education should be restricted to those from non-Muggle families. According to Rowling, Harry's impression of the wizarding community being a ''"magical wonderland"'' is instantly shattered. ''"[Harry] found out that many people in power in the wizarding world are just as corrupt and nasty as they are in our world."''^[2]
Draco is also an insecure bully much like Dudley Dursley, the difference being that he opts to hurt his enemies through psychological warfare rather than with his fists. A case in point is his usage of his elitist upbringing as a weapon with which to belittle the less prosperous Ron Weasley. He also insults the Muggle-born Hermione Granger's blood status. As Rowling explained in 1999, ''"He’s a bigot and he’s a bully, and as I say, in the most refined sense, he knows exactly what will hurt people."''^[3]
In a July 2005 interview, Rowling added that Draco, unlike Harry, never felt any kind of remorse for his actions: ''"I thought of Draco as someone who is very capable of compartmentalizing his life and his emotions, and always has done. So he's shut down his pity, enabling him to bully effectively. He's shut down compassion — how else would you become a Death Eater?"''^[4]
Draco, ironically, functions as the basis of a pivotal turn in the storyline and as an example of a rare moment of redemption late in the series. Harry himself takes pity on Draco when he grasps the gravity of the expectations, including murder, with which Draco was coping as one of Voldemort's minions: ''"...suddenly, having talked the talk, he's asked to walk it for the first time and it is absolutely terrifying."'' ^[5]

Appearances

''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''

Draco makes his first appearance in the series when he and Harry meet while being fitted for robes at Madam Malkin's. He does not recognize Harry yet tries to befriend him, but he promptly alienates Harry with his arrogance. He asks whether Harry's parents are ''"our kind"'' (pure-bloods), then tells him that he thinks ''"the other sort"'' (Muggle-borns) shouldn't be allowed at Hogwarts because ''"they've never been brought up to know our ways."'' The two boys part without introductions, but meet again on the Hogwarts Express. After Draco ridicules Ron Weasley's family, Harry rejects his offer of friendship, and their mutual antagonism is born. The Sorting Hat places Draco in Slytherin as it barely touches his head, and he becomes the instant favorite of Potions teacher and Slytherin Head of House Severus Snape. He attempts to get Harry expelled by tricking him into participating in a midnight wizard's duel after secretly informing Argus Filch in advance, but the plan fails when Harry evades Filch and safely makes it back to his dormitory.

''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets''

In his second year at Hogwarts, Draco becomes the new Seeker for the Slytherin Quidditch team after Lucius donates new, high-quality Nimbus 2001 broomsticks. When Hermione comments that the Gryffindor players made the team through talent and not bribery, Draco respons by calling her a Mudblood. This provokes an immediate, violent response from all of the Gryffindors present, except Hermione and Harry, who, having been raised by Muggles, do not know what the epithet means. Because of his contempt for Muggle-borns, Harry, Ron and Hermione automatically suspect that Draco is the Heir of Slytherin who has recently reopened the Chamber of Secrets. Harry and Ron disguise themselves as Crabbe and Goyle with Polyjuice Potion and infiltrate the Slytherin common room in an attempt to collect additional information, but they also realize that their initial suspicion of Draco was incorrect.

''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban''

During Hagrid's debut as Care of Magical Creatures instructor, the hippogriff Buckbeak attacks Draco after he insults it. He exaggerates the extent of his injury, giving Slytherin a chance to postpone their Quidditch match against Gryffindor until later in the year, and as an attempt to get Hagrid fired. Although Hagrid is cleared, Buckbeak is sentenced to death. Hermione slaps Draco when he mocks Hagrid for crying over Buckbeak's sentence. Draco also taunts Harry by needling him about the impending threat of Sirius Black: ''"If it was me [being pursued by Black], I'd want revenge. I'd hunt him down myself."'' Though irked by the comment, Harry does not give it much thought.

''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''

After Harry is unexpectedly chosen as one of the Triwizard Tournament champions, Draco shows off a ''"Support Cedric Diggory"'' badge to Harry, then presses it so that the phrase is replaced with ''"Potter Stinks."'' When Malfoy says that he didn't ''"want a Mudblood sliming it up"'' in reference to Hermione, both Harry and Draco whip out their wands at the same time and simultaneously fire off spells, which ricochet off each other and hit Goyle and Hermione instead. Draco also gives malicious and often false information about Harry and Hagrid to muckraking ''Daily Prophet'' journalist Rita Skeeter. When Draco attempts to curse Harry behind his back, the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Alastor Moody (actually Barty Crouch, Jr. in disguise via Polyjuice Potion) humiliates Draco by transforming him into a ferret and repeatedly slamming him against the ground. Draco later attends the Yule Ball with Pansy Parkinson.

''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix''

Draco is named a Slytherin prefect along with Pansy, and causes Harry and the Weasley twins to be banned from the Gryffindor Quidditch team after they attack him during a postmatch brawl following Gryffindor's win over Slytherin. He later joins Dolores Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad, with whom he plays an important part in the exposure of Dumbledore's Army (the D.A.). As the group flees the Room of Requirement, Draco earns Slytherin fifty points after catching Harry with a Trip Jinx, and helps hold several members captive in Umbridge's office. After Lucius and several other Death Eaters are captured and hauled off to Azkaban following the events at the Department of Mysteries, Draco twice attempts to get revenge on Harry: he is first thwarted by the arrival of Professors Snape and McGonagall, and on the Hogwarts Express at the end of the term, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle are all turned into giant slugs after being hit with a barrage of hexes by several D.A. members.

''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince''

Under the Invisibility Cloak, Harry, Ron and Hermione spot Draco at Borgin and Burkes. Draco harasses Mr. Borgin about repairing one item and keeping another safe for him. Draco shows Mr. Borgin something on his arm that Harry correctly deduces to be the Dark Mark. On the Hogwarts Express, Harry invisibly spies on Draco and overhears him discussing with several other Slytherins a task given to him by Voldemort. Draco realises that Harry is listening, and once alone in the compartment, immobilizes him and breaks his nose. Draco leaves Harry stranded on the train until he is rescued by Tonks.
Harry spends much of the year attempting to discover Draco's whereabouts, but loses track of him once Draco enters the Room of Requirement. When Katie Bell is nearly killed in Hogsmeade after handling a cursed necklace and Ron is nearly poisoned by tainted mead, Harry suspects Draco is behind both attacks. Harry walks in on Malfoy crying to Moaning Myrtle in her bathroom. When Draco is aware of his presence and attempts to cast the Cruciatus Curse, Harry is faster to the draw with an obscure ''Sectumsempra'' spell that he learned from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince's book. The spell slashes Malfoy's face and chest and results in blood loss. Snape is alerted by Myrtle's screams of ''"Murder in the bathroom!"'' and swiftly arrives to take Malfoy to the hospital wing.
Near the conclusion, Draco ambushes and disarms a gravely-weakened Dumbledore at the Astronomy Tower. Dumbledore calmly converses with Draco, persuading him to explain how he was supposed to, according to Voldemort's orders, kill the headmaster through the cursed necklace and the poisoned mead. Malfoy reveals that he had mended the broken Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement so that it could act as a portal enabling Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts. Draco is extremely hesitant to kill Dumbledore, to the point that he gives up and lowers his wand. Snape arrives, dispatches Dumbledore himself, and then flees Hogwarts with Draco. Harry feels a twinge of compassion for Draco when he realizes that he was forced to do Voldemort's bidding under the threat of his and his parents' deaths. As revealed during his confrontation with Dumbledore, Draco had been a terrified boy incapable of cold-blooded murder.

''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows''

The Malfoys remain reluctant followers of Voldemort, who now uses their home as his headquarters, and Draco witnesses the death of Charity Burbage. Harry has visions of Draco participating against his will in various Death Eater activities. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione are captured and taken to Malfoy Manor, Draco is asked to identify them as Harry (whose visage was altered by Hermione's Stinging Jinx) and his friends. Draco gives only the ambiguous reply, ''"It might be."'' During the successful escape attempt headed by Dobby, Harry disarms Draco and steals his wand. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione seek Ravenclaw's diadem in the Room of Requirement, Draco, reunited with Crabbe and Goyle, tries to capture Harry alive and preserve the diadem. Crabbe defies Draco's orders and attempts to kill the trio by casting Fiendfyre, but he dies in the blaze while Draco and Goyle are rescued. During the final battle of Hogwarts, Draco is seen pleading with a Death Eater who seems on the verge of murdering him but is again saved by Harry and Ron under the Invisibility Cloak.
Although Draco does not directly take part in Harry's final confrontation with Voldemort, he does influence the outcome. After Harry is hit with the ''Avada Kedavra'' curse, Narcissa is asked by Voldemort to ensure that Harry is actually dead. She feels his heart beating but rather than give him away, she quietly asks Harry whether Draco is still alive in the castle. When Harry answers, "Yes," Narcissa chooses to lie to Voldemort, knowing that she will be allowed to search for her son only if the Death Eaters return to Hogwarts ''"as part of the conquering army."'' A plot twist reveals that Draco became the unwitting master of the Elder Wand when he disarmed Dumbledore prior to his death, even though Draco had never actually possessed the wand. The allegiance of this wand passes to whoever disarms its former owner, so Harry, having taken Draco's wand at Malfoy Manor, is its new master; this prevents Voldemort from accessing its full power. When Voldemort attempts to kill Harry once and for all, the wand causes the spell to rebound and kills Voldemort instead. In the end, Narcissa's lie to Voldemort concerning Harry's death enables the Malfoys to avoid prison time in Azkaban.^[6]

Nineteen Years Later

In the epilogue, Draco is married and the father of a young son, Scorpius. Draco's hairline has receded, making his face look even more pointed. Though they are still not friends, he gives a brief, curt nod to Harry while both are seeing their children off to school at King's Cross. Although it doesn't say who he married, we can only guess that it was Pansy Parkinson.^[7]

Etymology

He was named "Draco Spungen" in the earliest drafts of ''Philosopher's Stone.''^[8] "Spungen" also appeared on her pre-canon classlist, but it was crossed out and replaced with the surname "Spinks", while "Malfoy" was later added after the completion of the list.

Film portrayal

Tom Felton has played Draco Malfoy in all of the ''Harry Potter'' movies as of 2007. His disturbing character traits notwithstanding, Malfoy grew into one of the series' most popular characters due to Felton's performance, and Felton quickly became synonymous with the character to many female fans, much to Rowling's dismay. ''"I'm trying to clearly distinguish between Tom Felton, who is a good looking young boy, and Draco, who, whatever he looks like, is not a nice man. It’s a romantic, but unhealthy, and unfortunately all too common delusion of girls...it actually worried me a little bit, to see young girls swearing undying devotion to this really imperfect character...I mean, I understand the psychology of it, but it is pretty unhealthy."''^[9]

References

1. [1]
2. [2]
3. [3]
4. [4]
5. [5]
6. [6]
7. J.K. Rowling Web Chat Transcript
8. [7]
9. [8]

External links

★ Draco Malfoy at the Harry Potter Lexicon

★ Mugglenet: Role in the Books

★ The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part II

★ JKR's Quotes: The Younger Generation

★ The JKR Audio Transcription Thread - SugarQuill.net