Draco Malfoy

Draco Lucius Malfoy is a British pure-blood wizard and the only son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy (née Black). The son of a Death Eater, Draco was raised to strongly believe in the importance of blood purity. He looked down on half-bloods and Muggle-borns.
He likes Lyra, eventually falling in love with her, and tries to get her and resents that he cannot.
Draco attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1991-1998. He was sorted into Slytherin House the moment the Sorting Hat touched his head. During his years at Hogwarts, he became friends with Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Pansy Parkinson, and other fellow Slytherins, but he quickly developed a rivalry with Harry Potter.
He was made a prefect of his house and was a member of the Inquisitorial Squad during his fifth year, at the end of which his father was imprisoned in Azkaban following the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. Lord Voldemort charged Draco with making up for Lucius's failure, and he became a Death Eater at age sixteen but was quickly disillusioned with the lifestyle.
Draco was unable to complete his task of murdering Albus Dumbledore, which was later taken over by Severus Snape, and only performed his other duties fearfully and reluctantly. He and his family defected hours before the end of the Second Wizarding War, fearing for their lives.
By 2017, Draco had married Astoria Greengrass and had one child, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.
==History==
===Early Life===
Draco Lucius Malfoy was born on 5 June 1980, to Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy (née Black), who were both born into old, wealthy pure-blood families. Both the Malfoys' and the Blacks had traditionally been in Slytherin House for centuries and strongly disapproved of any relatives who did not follow in this tradition, such as Sirius Black.
Draco was raised in an atmosphere of regret that the Lord Voldemort had not succeeded in taking command of the wizarding community, although he was prudently reminded that such sentiments ought not to be expressed outside the small circle of the family and their close friends 'or Daddy might get into trouble'. The Malfoys' were very proud of their Pure-blood and social status; until 1996, they were able to maintain a respectable public image while being allied with Lord Voldemort. Lucius was a Death Eater who avoided imprisonment in Azkaban following the First Wizarding War by claiming that he had been under the Imperius Curse, while Narcissa merely agreed with the ideology of pure-blood supremacy.
The Malfoys spoiled their son, giving him the best of everything as far as material possessions go. The only two hand-me-down things Draco ever received were the old family prejudice against Muggles, Muggle-borns, half-breeds, and blood traitors — in short, prejudice against anyone who was not a pure-blood wizardkind, or anyone who supports these types of people — and the Malfoy family's vast collection of powerful dark artefacts harking back to the family history.
Preparing for Hogwarts
In his childhood, Draco associated mainly with the pure-blood children of his father's ex-Death Eater cronies and therefore arrived at Hogwarts with a small gang of friends already made, including Theodore Nott and Vincent Crabbe. He visited the school himself when Lucius came to inspect, and his father entrusted Jacob's sibling and Merula Snyde to babysit him, a decision which did not rub off well with any of the three. Lucius had requested the two in particular, as Jacob's sibling was ostensibly the best student in their year, whilst Merula was the daughter of two of Lucius' former Death Eater colleagues and thus considered the 'right' type of person for Draco to associate with. Draco did not endear himself to either student, however, particularly with his snobbish and disdainful attitude towards them and open displays of prejudice.
During the visit, Draco stole his father's wand, as he was too young to have his own and wanted to perform magic after seeing Merula perform the Jelly-Legs Curse on Jacob's sibling. Lucius initially blamed the theft on their House-elf Dobby, as the perpetrator knew he kept his wand inside his walking stick, which wasn't common knowledge. Jacob's sibling investigated, and returned the wand to Lucius.
When the time came for Draco to attend school in 1991, his father wanted him to attend Durmstrang Institute, a school in Northern Europe that taught the Dark Arts and did not admit Muggle-borns. However, his mother did not like the idea of Draco going to school far away, and Draco had expressed interest in Hogwarts after being impressed by his encounter with Merula. Thus they sent him to Hogwarts.
When Draco went to Diagon Alley to shop for school supplies in 1991, he met Harry Potter in Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, without knowing who he was. He made a rather intolerant speech about Muggle-borns and Rubeus Hagrid, but otherwise acted in quite a friendly manner towards Harry Potter.
==Involvement==
===Third Year===
Draco started off his third year by mocking Harry's reaction to the Dementors that were near Hogwarts that year searching for escaped Azkaban prisoner Sirius Black, despite being terrified of them himself. He also hinted at Black's crimes regarding Harry and his late parents, which Harry was unaware of for some time, and told him that if someone had betrayed and got his parents killed — as it was believed Black had done to the Potters — he would seek revenge.
In a Care of Magical Creatures lesson, Draco unintentionally provoked the Hippogriff Buckbeak, and was injured, though he exaggerated how badly he was hurt for attention, and in an attempt to use the incident against Rubeus Hagrid to get him fired.
During the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw, Draco, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and Marcus Flint attempted to undermine Harry's performance by posing as Dementors — Draco standing on Goyle's shoulders — but they were all knocked over by Harry's first successful automatic Patronus Charm, clearly unaware that it was the effect the Dementors had on Harry that he had a problem with rather than the Dementors themselves. Their attempt to sabotage Harry's performance ended up costing the Slytherin House 50 points.
When Draco mocked Hagrid for how upset he became over the case, Hermione slapped Draco in anger. Lucius tried to get the creature executed, and although he was successful in obtaining this sentence, Buckbeak was saved through the efforts of Harry and Hermione with the help of a time-turner, and given to Black when his innocence was proven to Harry, Ron and Hermione. This outcome angered both Draco and his father.
===Fourth Year===
In 1994, Draco attended the 1994 Quidditch World Cup with his parents. They sat in the Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge's luxury box as guests of the Minister, due to Lucius's large donation. He was seated directly behind trio and the Weasleys. He taunted Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger when a group of Death Eaters began terrorising the campers after the game, mocking the Muggles they were tormenting and implying that they would do the same to Hermione because of her Muggle-born status. Harry asked if his father (Lucius Malfoy) was participating in the riot and he responded with 'if they were, I wouldn't be likely to tell you', as the answer was yes. Once on the train to Hogwarts Draco proceeded to mock the trio about their lack of knowledge regarding the upcoming school event.
During his fourth year Hogwarts hosted the Triwizard Tournament, and, much to Draco's dismay and jealousy, Harry was chosen as a champion despite being too young. Draco supported Cedric Diggory, passing out badges that could be made to read Potter Stinks and taunting Harry regularly, such as commenting that he was betting Harry wouldn't last more than a few minutes with the dragons. He was proven wrong when Harry tied with Cedric for first place and succeeded in capturing his golden egg the fastest.
He was also the informer and impetus behind Rita Skeeter writing slanderous, sensationalist articles about Harry, Hagrid and Hermione for the Daily Prophet, due to him knowing that she was an animagus; this assault on Harry's credibility would set the stage for widespread disbelief of Harry's announcement that Lord Voldemort had returned at the end of the school year. Some of the articles that he was partly for was one about Harry and Hermione titled Harry Potter's Secret Heartache.
When Draco tried to cast a spell at Harry early in the year behind his back, the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Bartemius Crouch Junior (disguised as Alastor Moody using Polyjuice Potion) transformed Draco into a ferret and bounced him around the room as punishment. Although Professor McGonagall stopped it, Draco was very embarrassed and other students were highly amused; Ron dubbed him 'the Amazing Bouncing Ferret'. Throughout the year, students would tease Draco by telling him that Professor Moody was behind him, causing him to flinch or shudder. Even Hagrid noted that he had heard that Draco had made a good ferret, making Draco not know what to say. At Christmas time, Draco attended the Yule Ball with Pansy Parkinson.
At the end of the year, Draco mocked Harry about his choice to side against Voldemort and also ridiculed Cedric Diggory's death. Before he could finish, however, he was hit by several curses from Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Fred and George Weasley.
===Fifth Year===
In 1995, Draco became a Slytherin prefect along with Pansy Parkinson. He was sure to mock Harry Potter for not receiving the same honour, as Gryffindor's prefects were Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. He also wrote the lyrics to the demeaning song Weasley is Our King, which mocked Ron's Quidditch abilities as Gryffindor Keeper. It was the invention of this song, as well as insulting Molly and Arthur Weasley and the late Lily Potter to Harry, Fred, and George's faces that prompted Harry and George to get into a fight with Draco. They violently assaulted him, which resulted in the pair (as well as George's twin brother Fred) being banned from all further Quidditch matches, although their bans were later lifted after Dolores Umbridge's sacking from Hogwarts and her being put on suspension for her actions.
Later that year, he joined Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad, and clearly enjoyed the power this gave him over other students. He held this power over Harry and his friends especially. All of the Squad members were Slytherins, as Umbridge was bias and favoured students of her former house. Draco caught Harry running out of the last meeting of Dumbledore's Army, receiving fifty house points, for Slytherin, from Umbridge.
Later, he was among the Inquisitorial Squad members who caught Harry and his friends in their attempt to discover the whereabouts of Sirius Black, whom Harry had seen being tortured in a vision, planted by Lord Voldemort. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood were all brought to Umbridge's office, guarded by the Inquisitorial Squad. Before Umbridge could carry through on her threat to use the Cruciatus Curse to make Harry talk, Hermione told Umbridge that they were trying to contact Albus Dumbledore about a 'weapon' that he planned to use against the Ministry of Magic. Draco had an expression of 'eagerness and greed' at this news that convinced Umbridge not to allow him or any other Squad member to accompany her as she took Harry and Hermione into the Forbidden Forest in search of the alleged weapon.
After Umbridge left, the remaining D.A. (Dumbledore's Army) members used a litany of Stunning Spells and Disarming Charms to escape the office; Draco was hit by Ginny's Bat-Bogey Hex. It was soon revealed that Hermione had been lying about a weapon; Umbridge was carried off by centaurs and the six D.A. members flew to the Ministry, where the Battle of the Department of Mysteries ensued.
Draco's father was seen participating in the battle as a Death Eater and was imprisoned in Azkaban for his crimes. Draco was very upset by this, and mainly blamed Harry, swearing vengeance and attempting to attack him at the end of the school year with the help of Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. However, other D.A. members came to Harry's defence, resulting in Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle ending up looking like ugly slug-like things after being hit by a number of hexes by all D.A. Members at the same time.
===Sixth Year===
By late 1996, Draco joined the Death Eaters, having replaced his incarcerated father. He bragged about having been given a mission to his fellow Slytherin students on his way to school on the Hogwarts Express. However, as the year dragged on, Draco became increasingly afraid that he would fail in his seemingly impossible task — to kill Albus Dumbledore. It is implied that Draco was expected to fail and that Voldemort assigned him the task with the intention of punishing Lucius Malfoy for his failure at the Department of Mysteries. The safety of his family rested on Draco's success with his mission. When Harry overhead some parts of Draco's conversation with his fellow Slytherins about the mission, Draco used a Full Body-Bind Curse to paralyse Harry and stomped hard on his face, crushing his nose, in revenge for imprisoning his father, Lucius, causing Harry to hate Draco more than ever, while disregarding what Harry heard as not important enough to condemn him.
Draco planned to repair a Vanishing Cabinet that Peeves had destroyed four years previously, in order to smuggle Death Eaters into Hogwarts to assist him in killing Dumbledore. In his previous year at Hogwarts a fellow Slytherin, Graham Montague, had been forced into it by the Weasley twins and later managed to apparate out as a last resort to free himself from the limbo-like space into which he had vanished. Montague told Draco that during his time trapped in limbo, he could hear the sounds entering the cabinet from the school, as well as the sounds entering the cabinet's twin in Borgin and Burkes. Draco realised from this that if the broken one was repaired, the cabinets could act as a passageway into the school.
During the summer break between his fifth and sixth year, Draco questioned Borgin, the owner of Borgin and Burkes, on repairing the cabinet and ordered him to keep the other one safe. As a proof of his allegiance to Lord Voldemort, Draco showed Borgin the Dark Mark now branded on his arm whilst threatening to set Fenrir Greyback to attack the shop-owner, should he disobey his commands. This meeting was also overheard by Harry, Hermione, and Ron, but while Harry started to suspect Draco of Death Eater activities, Ron and Hermione dismissed such possibilities, and believed Draco was merely bluffing, a choice that they would much later regret.
In preparation for such a dangerous mission, Draco trained and improved his own skills, and became capable of blocking jinxes nonverbally. He also became accomplished at Occlumency through the training of his maternal aunt Bellatrix Lestrange, and was able to perform the very difficult Protean Charm, though he could not yet produce a corporeal Patronus.
In focus for his mission of fixing the Vanishing Cabinet, Draco experienced many visible changes in his life. He seemed to have lost interest in Quidditch, and allowed (and possibly paid) Harper to take over instead. He was also becoming more neglectful in his school-work, as he missed two Transfiguration homework assignments and received detention, as well as not attending to his prefect duties, which he would usually happily abuse as he did in the previous year. Another change was that he no longer trusted Snape and was willing to speak ill towards him point-blank, no respect.
Socially, Draco forced Crabbe and Goyle to assume the forms of other people with Polyjuice Potion, to help him keep watch outside the Room of Requirement, while refusing to tell them anything, and seemingly to distance himself from them. Draco also spent less time mocking Harry and his friends, despite the many opportunities. Even his physical appearance showed the stress, with greying skin, weight loss and bags under his eyes. Most of this frustrated Harry, who was unable to discover exactly what Draco was up to despite his persistence and effort.
Twice during the school year he feared he would be unable to repair the cabinet, and resorted to desperate assassination attempts, such as trying to smuggle in a cursed necklace and trying to send Dumbledore poisoned mead. Both these attempts failed and resulted in innocent people getting injured, though since they both survived Dumbledore was not forced to apprehend Draco. The stress began to affect Draco adversely, and he confessed his fears to Myrtle Warren, one of the school's ghosts. On one such occasion, Harry stumbled on him. Draco reacted by starting to cast the Cruciatus Curse, but Harry sliced his skin open with his wand right before he could complete the incantation. Draco was hospitalised and Harry was given detention by Snape for every Saturday until the end of term.
Eventually, through copious amounts of work Draco managed to repair the Vanishing Cabinet and used it to let at least six Death Eaters into the castle: Corban Yaxley, Alecto Carrow, Amycus Carrow, Gibbon, Thorfinn Rowle, and the vicious werewolf Fenrir Greyback. Proceeding to the top of the Astronomy Tower, Draco was able to corner a significantly weaker Dumbledore, disarming the latter the same instant he had, unknown to Draco, bound Harry Potter with a Full Body-Bind Curse. It was also at the moment when he disarmed Dumbledore that he unknowingly gained the allegiance of the Elder Wand, one of the three Deathly Hallows.
However, when Draco was finally given the opportunity to kill Dumbledore, who had just expressed his willingness to protect Draco and his family were they to 'come over to the right side', he could not bring himself to commit murder; considering that they spent the few minutes of alone time to discuss how Draco smuggled his accomplices into the castle, Dumbledore concluded that Draco would find committing murder impossible. As predicted, Draco ultimately was unable to do it, instead lowering his wand. Snape, who had made an Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa to step in if Draco failed in his task, used the Killing Curse on the Headmaster. Snape then promptly led Draco out of the school grounds, presumably to safety, but really to get to a safe distance to disapparate to Lord Voldemort.
After the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, Draco could no longer return to Hogwarts, as he was an accomplice, however reluctantly, in the revered Albus Dumbledore's murder, mainly by being the one who let Death Eaters penetrate the castle's walls. The official criminal status placed on him, alongside his fear of the Dark Lord's wrath, led him to seek refuge, along with his family, with Voldemort, in the hopes of satisfying his orders to prevent any more negative highlights.
His abrupt departure from the school left Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle surprisingly lonely, despite the two being hulking boys, as Harry described during Dumbledore's funeral.
===Seventh Year===
Draco reluctantly participated in Death Eater activities before the beginning of the 1997–1998 school year. Due to Draco's helpful role in Dumbledore's death, Voldemort liberated Lucius from Azkaban. He witnessed the murder of Charity Burbage and tortured Thorfinn Rowle on Lord Voldemort's orders. Judging by later remarks made by Vincent Crabbe, it seems that the Malfoys had lost much of their influence in the Death Eater circles. This is due to Voldemort no longer holding Lucius in high esteem and shifting his favour to Draco's maternal aunt Bellatrix Lestrange and Hogwarts teacher Severus Snape. When Thorfinn Rowle and Antonin Dolohov failed to capture Harry, Voldemort forced Draco to torture them via the Cruciatus Curse as punishment, with the threat of Voldemort's wrath if Draco failed to comply. Harry, who saw this scene via his mental link with Voldemort, was disgusted at what the Dark Lord was forcing the young Death Eater to commit.
Draco attended his seventh year of Hogwarts that year. During the Easter holidays, Draco was seen at home in Malfoy Manor. He was called upon by his parents and aunt Bellatrix Lestrange to confirm the identities of Harry, Ron and Hermione, who were caught by a group of Snatchers led by Fenrir Greyback, but Draco showed great hesitation in doing so. When Hermione lied to Bellatrix under torture about Godric Gryffindor's Sword, Draco was sent to fetch the goblin, Griphook, from the dungeons to get confirmation of the story, which he did by lying saying it was a fake, but the truth was it was the true sword. Later in the evening, the prisoners managed to escape, and Draco's wand was taken by Harry. Afterwards, Draco and his family were detained to the Manor by Lord Voldemort. Narcissa would lend Draco her wand; it was powerful, yet it didn't 'understand' him, as he had not won its loyalty.
==Battle of Hogwarts==
Later that same year, during the Battle of Hogwarts, Draco, along with Crabbe and Goyle, chose to remain in the school as their fellow Slytherins evacuated in order to bring Harry Potter to Lord Voldemort. Given Lucius' previous remarks alluding to 'forgiveness', it is likely that Draco was doing this in an attempt to redeem his family in Voldemort's eyes. He along with Crabbe and Goyle followed the Trio into the Room of Requirement where he would attempt to capture Harry and retrieve the item Harry was trying to locate. However, he no longer exercised the same degree of control over his friends, particularly Crabbe, that he once had.
Despite Draco telling his friends that Harry was to be brought back alive, Crabbe attempted to kill him by conjuring Fiendfyre. Since Crabbe was unable to control the curse, the Room of Requirement quickly filled with fire. Draco went out of his way to try to save both of his friends, but he only managed to get Goyle, who had been stunned by Hermione during the fight, onto Ron and Hermione's broom before he let Harry fly them out. Crabbe was killed in the fire, leaving Draco very upset.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron later spotted Draco pleading with a Death Eater that he was on his side. Harry stunned the Death Eater and Ron punched Draco and called him a 'two-faced bastard', as this was the second time they saved his life that night.
Although Draco was unaware of this, his act in disarming Dumbledore before his death and mastering the Elder Wand ultimately resulted in the Dark Lord's final defeat at the hands of Harry. This is due to the fact that Voldemort was unable to fully understand the Elder Wand's power and Harry disarming Draco of his wand resulted in him mastering the Elder Wand himself.
After Voldemort's defeat, Draco and his parents sat in the Great Hall, looking uncertain of their place during the victory celebrations.
==After Hogwarts==
The events of Draco's teenage years forever changed his life. He had the beliefs in which he had grown up challenged in the most frightening way, had experienced terror and despair, witnessed his parents suffering for their allegiance, and had witnessed the crumbling of all that his family had believed in.
Draco and his family avoided imprisonment in Azkaban due to their last-minute switch in allegiance. Lucius found his son as affectionate as ever, but refusing to follow the old pure-blood line.
Draco eventually married Astoria Greengrass, the younger sister of fellow Slytherin classmate Daphne Greengrass, who had gone through a similar (though less violent and frightening) conversion from pure-blood ideals to a more accepting and tolerant way of life. This was something of a disappointment for Lucius and Narcissa, who had higher hopes of someone whose family featured on the 'Sacred Twenty-Eight'.
Raising Scorpius Malfoy (2006–)
The two had a son together, named Scorpius Malfoy, who was raised by his mother not to believe that Muggles and Muggle-borns were scum; as such, family gatherings were fraught with tension. Draco raised Scorpius to be a much kinder and more accepting Malfoy than he was in his youth.
On 1 September 2017 while sending his son off for his first year at Hogwarts, Draco greeted Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny at King's Cross Station with a curt nod. The relationship between Harry and Draco was much better than it had been when they were students together, but they were still not considered to be anything at all near friends.
Independently wealthy without any need to work, Draco inhabited Malfoy Manor with his wife and son. His hobbies — which included keeping the family's old collection of Dark artefacts (which he did not use and kept in glass cases) and studying alchemical manuscripts — were indications of his dual nature, and hint at a desire for something more than wealth.
Draco also teamed up with his former enemies to fight Delphini at St Jerome's Church in order to stop her from preventing Lord Voldemort's death.
==Physical Description==
Draco was a slender boy with sleek white-blond hair, cold grey eyes, a pale complexion and rather sharp, pointed features. He was described to have haughty good looks. As an older man, his hairline was receding, making his features look even more pointed. In his first and second years his hair was slicked tightly back. Draco was noted to strongly resemble his father throughout his life. When Draco joined the Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort had the Dark Mark burned into his left forearm, which has since faded to a mere scar upon Voldemort's death.
During the first five years of school Draco maintained a relatively healthy look. However, in his sixth year onward, when the stress of his mission was getting more intense, Draco's smug countenance was lost, and he became quite thin, with dark shadows under his eyes and a greyish tinge to his skin.
As an adult, Draco let his hair grow long and started wearing it in a precisely placed ponytail.
==Personality==
Draco was, in general, an arrogant, spiteful bully for most of his early years. Like Dudley Dursley, his narcissistic nature most likely stemmed from his being spoiled by his parents throughout his childhood, though according to Harry himself, Draco was even less sympathetic than his cousin. He believed himself superior to most people because of his family's pure-blood lineage as well as great wealth and social standing. He frequently behaved cruelly to Muggle-borns, blood traitors, Gryffindor students, and anyone who was a supporter of Harry Potter or Albus Dumbledore. For much of his youth, Draco took after his bigoted father, Lucius Malfoy, as a role model, and frequently boasted about his family's influence and wealth.
Draco was intelligent, cunning and quick-witted, capable of deducing things and coming up with clever plans based on a small amount of information; his father had expected him to obtain top marks in school after his first year, and showed disappointment that Hermione beat him. He figured out through Montague's experience that the Vanishing Cabinets in Hogwarts and Borgin and Burkes were linked and that he could use that passage to his advantage. However, his plans could have limitations based on his own arrogance when dealing with people. When he attempted to sabotage Harry during the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw Quidditch match in their third year, his whole plan was based solely around the idea that the Dementors' appearance scared Harry, ignorant of the fact that it was the effect the Dementors had on him that caused Harry problems. Draco was also adept at compartmentalising his emotions, as is evidenced in his success with Occlumency.
However, something began to change in Draco's psyche in his sixth year at Hogwarts. After Lord Voldemort made him a Death Eater, he gave Draco the task of assassinating Albus Dumbledore by the end of the year, something that Draco was very eager to do at first. After a number of feeble attempts, Draco began to crack under the enormous pressure that Voldemort was putting on him. He was uncertain of his ability to fulfil the mission and was terrified that he and his family would pay the price for his failure; the stress led him to be reckless as his two feeble attempts were noted to be foolish by Snape, and he attempted a Cruciatus Curse on Harry, despite the consequences of a life sentence in Azkaban.
Over the course of the year, the mission also led Draco to neglect other aspects of his school life that he would previously have abused or enjoyed: he rejected his Prefect duties that he once would happily abuse; he feigned illness and paid another student to take over his stead in order to avoid playing Quidditch himself, as opposed to three years earlier when he would ensure the entire match was postponed by exaggerating a minor injury in order to suit the team's interest; he missed two Transfiguration homework assignments; he would distance himself from his friends Crabbe and Goyle and order them to be on lookout without telling them anything; and he would also spend less time mocking Harry and his friends despite the many opportunities. Ultimately, Draco was unable to kill Dumbledore, lowering his wand and being tempted to take Dumbledore's offer of protection for his parents.
For the rest of the Second Wizarding War, Draco became disillusioned by the Death Eater lifestyle. He reluctantly participated in Death Eater activities and by the end of the war, remained on the fence. When Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were captured in his home, Draco showed great hesitation in identifying them before the Death Eaters. Also, during the Battle of Hogwarts, he showed genuine concern for Crabbe and Goyle, something he rarely did.
By the time Draco become an adult, he had became a noticeably changed man, due to his regret over joining the Death Eaters and the vile deeds he had to perform, even if only limited compared to his parents, and any of his old bigotry was lost, refusing to follow in line with the old pure-blood beliefs after having seen first-hand what happened to him and his parents for that. Due to this, he fell deeply in love with Astoria Malfoy despite the disappointments of his parents over her failing to meet their hopes of someone from one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. As a husband, Draco was very loving and devoted and was even fully willing to let the Malfoy bloodline end to protect her from her family's curse as it made childbirth dangerous and detrimental to her health, which he maintained even despite Lucius's dislike, only relenting after Astoria said she wanted to leave behind a child for him and not for family beliefs. His wisdom shone by the fact that even though the temptation of using his family's secret Time Turner to see his wife just for one more minute was admittedly great, his respect for her desires and memory were too great to risk jeopardising the timeline for his beloved, showing how deeply Draco had fallen in love with her, as even though he had the power to alter time to be with her, he was able to, even if barely, resist such overwhelming temptation, showing how much his character had changed by the age of forty.
Although Scorpius's birth would cause Astoria's death, Draco's love for his son was clearly great, considering the day he was born the greatest day of his life. Having seen how his parents spoiled him had caused him to become such a horrible man in his younger days, Draco strove to do better and henceforth he raised his son to be a better person. He did not let his histories with Harry, Ron and Hermione hamper his judgement towards Scorpius's bond with Albus Potter and crush on Rose Granger-Weasley, children of his former rivals, fully supporting his son instead. His love for Scorpius was shown by how he showed no hesitation to give any Malfoy Family objects to his rivals if it would help in his son being found. In fact, he actually trusted Albus greatly, as he allowed him to connect with Scorpius when he couldn't after Astoria died, and genuinely care for the boy for what he meant to his son. Draco even went as far as to protest to Harry for having made Albus distant from Scorpius, showing how much he valued the friendship between Albus and Scorpius. Draco was more strict with Scorpius than his parents were to him, accepting that his son must be punished for having brought the wizarding world back to the times where Voldemort was in power.
His personal relationships with his old school rivals has also changed from antagonistic to being civil and tolerating. While he continued to mock Harry's friends for them only being so popular because of Harry and didn't trust them fully with matters regarding his son, as he gave a cold reply letter to Ginny's offer to having Scorpius stay in the Potter House, particularly being enraged at them for the rumours that Scorpius was Voldemort's son, he was more than willing to team up with Harry, Ron and Hermione to save both Albus and Scorpius and worked with them effectively to dispatch Delphini, despite her being the daughter of Voldemort and his aunt Bellatrix. This defiance of Delphini showed that even having the Dark Lord's daughter being a blood relative was a repugnant notion to Draco, wanting little to do with his Death Eater past, further shown by how he would attend and help his rivals in defeating what remained of the forces of darkness. By this time, Draco also began referring to Voldemort by his name rather than the 'Dark Lord' as he did in his youth due to his self-redemption.
Draco had came to trust the luck and instincts of both Harry and Hermione, taking the orders of the Minister For Magic without hesitation, even expressing he was impressed with her battle commands, albeit in a mildly amused manner, acknowledging Harry was always ready to solve the thickest of situations, and he even went as far as to confess to Harry that he never truly craved power like his father and that his ambition was actually to become a star Quidditch player, but he wasn't good enough, and mainly he just wanted to be happy along with the truth of Astoria's death, and his envy of Harry's friendships, as he only ever had Crabbe and Goyle, outright acknowledging Harry as a friend and showing respect for him, which was mutually returned by Harry.
==Tropes==
* Academic Athlete: Draco is the Seeker of the Slytherin team and also usually one of the students getting high grades. He scores high enough in his exams to qualify for the very exclusive NEWT Potions class in the sixth book.
** It should be noted, however, that a fair amount of this comes from Draco's family's money and connections. Snape's preferential treatment of Draco as a result of Snape's friendship with Lucius also meant that Draco never had to struggle in Potions the way other students who suffered Snape's biases did, but he is proficient enough on his own as he passed his O.W.L. examination in the subject with a mark of at least 'Exceeds Expectations' or an 'Outstanding', a test carried out by an objective third party. He also advanced to the N.E.W.T.-level class in DADA and Transfiguration.
** Draco managed to teach himself how to repair the Vanishing Cabinet, something not taught in school.
** It is assumed he bought his way onto the team by having his father purchase new Nimbus Two Thousand and One broomsticks for the entire Slytherin team, after which he notably never won a single match against Harry, although no other seeker ever beat Harry either. And Harry also begrudgingly admits to himself that Draco is in fact a good flyer in the first book.
** He was able to cast the Leg-Locker Curse in his first year, something Hagrid said no first year would be able to do.
** Was able to cast the very difficult and advanced Protean Charm. The only other known student in his age group able to do this as well is Hermione. Draco is also good at Occlumency and preformed two Unforgivable Curses, something very difficult even for adults: The Cruciatus Curse and the Imperius Curse (which he held for nearly a year).
** This is a bit downplayed by Half-Blood Prince where his mission to kill Dumbledore for the Death Eaters causes his school life to suffer. He feigns sickness to get out of playing Quidditch and Professor McGonagall mentions that she put Draco in detention at least once due to failing to turn in his homework multiple times. Although, due to the amount of stress he was under, it's understandable that school work was not his first priority.
* Adaptational Heroism: Averted Trope. While the movies attempted to give him a heroic scene, which didn't make it into the final cut, of throwing the wand to Harry, it never happened in the books.
* Adaptational Nice Guy: Draco gets a little bit of this in the movies. A few of his nastier moments are removed in the fourth and fifth movies. A good example is him paying his respects and looking genuinely sad at Cedric's funeral, having seemingly made good friends with the Durmstrang students, and running to the heroes' side and giving Harry his wand during the final battle in a deleted scene. This moment is kept in the video game, which took inspiration from both the books and movies. Draco did have a few canon moments though, like worrying about Goyle's bite from Scabbers and saving his life from the Fiendfyre at the risk of his own life.
* Always Someone Better: Heavily implied throughout the books, confirmed by Word Of God on Pottermore that this partially fuels his antagonism towards Harry. He's jealous of the constant attention and admiration Harry receives, resents Harry's superior broomstick flying skills, and is miffed that Dumbledore favours Harry as much as he does. The second book also indicates he resents Hermione for getting better grades despite being Muggleborn, something his father demeans him about, which might fuel his dislike for her even more. Probably unironically, he only starts antagonizing her in the second book.
* Animal Motifs: Draco has been associated with ferrets after being magically turned into one in Book 4.
* Anti-Villain: By the final two books, he's become more or less forced into fighting on Voldemort's side. Before then, he was merely a bully and a jerk.
* The Atoner: Post-Second Wizarding War. Word Of God says Malfoy raised his son to be a better person than he was. Confirmed in the "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child".
* Babies Ever After: Has a son with Astoria Greengrass in the end.
* Barely Changed Dub Name: His first name in the French translation is changed to Drago Malfoy.
* Be Careful What You Wish For: After openly hoping for Voldemort's return, when it actually happens things quickly go badly for Draco and his family.
* Berserk Button: At the end of Order of the Phoenix and continuing to Half-Blood Prince, his father's imprisonment becomes this. He tries attacking Harry twice when the latter brings it up and later storms away from Snape after he mentions it.
** Insulting his mother is also a big one. He once attempted to fire a hex at Harry In the Back for this and seemed to be on the verge of attacking Harry in Madam Malkin's Shop when he insulted her and taunted her about Lucius's imprisonment.
* Big Bad Wannabe: He's actively antagonistic to the Trio from the moment he meets them, insulting them and mocking them at every turn. But for all of his tough talk, he can't back it up. Draco is genuinely talented; he's just not as talented as he thinks he is nor is he as cold hearted as he was raised up to be. Plus, he's a coward. Come Half-Blood Prince, when he joins the Death Eaters, you can't help but feel sorry for the guy when he realizes just how hopelessly out of his league he is.
* Blue Blood: Actual blood purity aside, he's descended from two of the more well-known wizarding families in Britain. He was born into the old money of the Malfoy family, but he is also a Black on his mother's side (although the glory and numbers of said house have largely faded in the last generation or two).
* Break the Haughty:
** During the first five books, he never passes an opportunity to insult and demean Harry and/or his friends. But in Book 6, his arrogant behavior starts to get less and less prominent to the point he is even crying because of his failure to execute Voldemort's orders which will result in the execution of him and his family.
** He also becomes noticeably less boastful about his role as part of the Death Eaters. He gleefully hinted at this in the beginning of Half-Blood Prince but by Deathly Hallows his sheer terror in Voldemort's presence during the meeting at Malfoy manor makes it clear that he had no idea what he was getting himself into, and he's far more concerned about trying to save his family and his own skin than uphold ideals of blood purity.
* Brilliant, but Lazy: A lot of things he does - in Half-Blood Prince in particular - imply that he's actually an extremely skilled young wizard that simply finds it easier to coast on his family's money and connections.
* Broken Pedestal: He comes to have this for both of his parents (his father especially), especially for their teachings of Slytherin's greatness and glorification of Voldemort. He and his wife take it upon themselves to ensure that his son isn't raised with any of his family's nonsense much to his parents' distaste. Draco came to regret his entire upbringing, much like Dudley, spent on hating Dumbledore and Harry, the same people who saved him despite mutual distaste.
* The Bully: He is very savvy about finding Berserk Buttons of hot-headed Gryffindors and pressing it to get a rise of out his opponents.
* Bullying a Dragon: A hippogriff, specifically. Even after being told that hippogriffs are proud animals that don't take kindly to insults, Malfoy calls Buckbeak a "great, ugly brute" and is promptly attacked. Although, he did manage to befriend him properly before off handedly throwing that comment.
* Butt-Monkey: In the film series, Draco's role gets greatly reduced, and a lot of the scenes kept (Hermione slugging him, getting transformed by Moody) are of him being made to look like a fool. Not that he does much better in the books, where despite his more proactive role he often winds up humiliated or cursed.
* Catchphrase: "Wait 'til my father hears about this!" A Beam Me Up, Scotty! as far as the books go, but he does say variations of this three times in the films. (And there's a fourth time when it's said by Cormac McLaggen instead.)
* Cerebus Syndrome: His Butt-Monkey status in the films serves to make his descent into true villainy and madness even more jarring in the sixth film than in the book. Everyone, except Harry, finds it hard to accept that Draco is a Not-So-Harmless Villain.
* Character Development: By his adulthood, Draco has stopped with instigating fights with the trio, even being on civil terms. He also is raising his son to not be a prejudiced brat like he was.
* Class Representative: He's elected as a Slytherin prefect by Book 5, as his father was before him. Almost predictably, he abuses his powers in his first year. The following year, he shirks his Prefect duties among others because he's busy sort of trying to assassinate the Hogwarts headmaster.
* Deconstruction: On Pottermore, J. K. Rowling noted that Draco eventually became a Take That! on the "sexy bad boy in the fans' eyes" cliche that he named. She realized that Draco had a "dark glamour" of the Troubled, but Cute variety, that made people idealize or downplay his real flaws. In the end, even when Draco ultimately turns out to be not as bad as others thought, the book doesn't present it as a full Heel–Face Turn so much as a bully facing up to the real consequences of his actions and cowardice. Draco spends the rest of his life living in regret of the phony Death Eater ideas that he was raised on but becoming in the end, simply, a better version of his parents. Many fans and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child disagree with her.
* Defeating the Undefeatable:
** Inverted. He's pushed as Harry's number one Quidditch rival, but in their head-to-head matches between Books 2 and 3, doesn't manage a single victory against him. Makes sense, seeing as Draco may have gotten on the team not because of his skill, but because his father bought the entire team fancy new broomsticks. Important to note that Draco's replacement in the 6th year also didn't manage to win against Harry, nor did any Seeker of any other house either. Harry is just that good.
** Played straight when he manages to disarm Dumbledore, one of the most powerful wizards to ever live, laying claim to the most powerful wand in existence for about half a year. To be fair to Dumbledore, he was already fried from drinking that horrible potion and fighting an army of Inferi, and wasn't into dueling Draco in the first place.
** Draco still managed to catch both Dumbledore AND Voldemort (the two most powerful wizards in the world) off guard by getting his plan to penetrate Hogwarts to work.
* Dirty Coward: He talks a big game, but prefers to do so with backup. In later books, this is played for drama as Draco starts to realize how hopelessly out of his league he is, going along with Voldemort only for the sake of saving his own ass and his family's ass.
* Disproportionate Retribution: He keeps antagonizing Harry just because Harry didn't accept his offer of friendship. His antagonizing of Hermione may have to do with her beating him in exams as well as her blood status, while his dislike of Ron started with Ron laughing at his name when he first introduced himself. The bad blood between their families probably helped spur this animosity as well.
* The Dragon: Draco is this to his family and to the Slytherin house.
* Establishing Character Moment: Draco's first direct appearance paints him as an insensitive, unlikable bigot, talking smack about Muggles and Hagrid in Harry's presence. Draco later attempts to befriend Harry, but Harry will have none of it, as Draco was condescending towards Ron (someone Harry quickly made friends with), and obviously only giving him the time of the day due to his fame. To Draco's defense, at 11-year-old during their first meeting, he was being as nice as he can be to Harry despite the fact that he was wearing dirty and ill-fitting muggle clothes, and spoke in a way he and many other children think is acceptable: Parroting what they hear at home. Had Harry been a pureblooded wizard, the conversation might have been deemed appropriate. Also, to be fair, Ron was condescending towards Draco first when he laughed at his name, not that Draco's response to it was any better.
* Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Really didn't appreciate Harry making a rude comment about his mother. It's also implied that his motivation for going to the extremes he did toward the end of the series were less because of his belief in Voldemort's ideals and more because he was afraid of what Voldemort would do to his parents if he failed.
* Even Evil Has Standards: Near the start of the sixth book, Draco threatens a shop owner by name dropping Fenrir Greyback, a werewolf known for attacking children. However, when Fenrir makes it into Hogwarts at the end of the book, Draco looks disgusted and makes it clear he had no hand in Fenrir coming.
* Evil Counterpart:
** He initially seems to be to Harry, being the only son of a famous/infamous Wizard and Witch and Seeker for their respective Quidditch teams Gryffindor and Slytherin and are set up as rivals for the first five books. Both Harry and Draco are eager to prove their worth for their respective groups: Harry for Order of Phoenix and Draco for the Death Eaters. Even Malfoy's actor Tom Felton cheerfully Lampshades this, suggesting his character is trying to be "The Harry Potter of the Dark side", however the emphasis is on trying as unfortunately for Draco he can never exceed Harry in skill or popularity, which is also a virtue as he is also unable to commit murder.
** Draco is also one to Ron. Both are members of pureblood families but while the Malfoys are blood-supremacists, the Weasleys reject notions of blood purity. Moreover they are sons to Member of the Order of the Phoenix and Muggle-lover Arthur Weasley and Death Eater and Muggle-hater Lucius Malfoy respectively. Also like Draco, Ron felt much bitter jealously at Harry for most of his school life.
* Evil Is Not a Toy: Realizes this thanks to Dumbledore at the climax of the sixth book. By the seventh book, it is fairly clear that he does not want anything to do with the Death Eaters anymore, and only remains on Voldemort's side out of fear of what will happen now if he runs for it.
* Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Downplayed. Draco was an Anti-Villain at worst who only did such deeds because he wanted to protect his parents. As an adult, he has decided to become a better parent than his were by not passing down the same prejudice beliefs his did to him.
* Fantastic Racism: In his very first scene, he tells Harry he thinks Muggle-borns shouldn't be admitted to Hogwarts because they haven't been raised in wizarding culture. That's the nicest thing he says about them, as he goes on to be the first person to call Hermione a "Mudblood" in Chamber of Secrets and becomes the main voice for all Pureblood ideology at Hogwarts for the rest of the series.
* Final Boss:
** In the GBA adaptation of Prisoner of Azkaban. For want of a proper final confrontation in the source material, he jumps you at the end.
** He's part of the Wolfpack Boss fought at the end of Deathly Hallows - Part 1, along with his parents and aunt.
* Foil: He has two.
** Severus Snape: At least during their school years. Both are the rival of a Gryffindor, a Potter to be exact. More often than not getting the short end of their rivalry. The difference is Severus Snape was a man with endless courage, Draco Malfoy is famous for his Dirty Coward act. Finally, they both joined the Death Eaters, but when the push came, Snape did perform a Heel–Face Turn. Although, it was only AFTER his love interest was in danger and not due to his own morals. It also didn't stop him from later on bullying children as an adult, including his love interest's son, unlike Draco who taught his son not to be prejudiced and he was forced to join the death eaters (even if he was enthusiastic at the start).
** Regulus Black: Both of them are descendants of ancient Magical families (They are actually second Cousins) raised to believe in both Pure-Blood supremacism and in Voldemort's ideals. Both grew disillusioned with Voldemort. But once again the difference is that Regulus had the strength of character to perform a Heel–Face Turn. Again, much like Snape, Regulus's heel face turn only came about when his self-interest was at risk (his house elf), not due to conflicting morals and values. Draco changed his entire worldview and made sure to pass that on to his son and he also very clearly didn't approve of torture and murder, while we don't know that Regulus didn't.
** James Potter: Yes, shocking but true. Both are only children to rich and pure-blooded families, both had rivalries with the opposing house members (Harry and Severus), both were spoiled and arrogant bullies, both played Quidditch, both held the same biased rhetorics and both redeemed themselves to become better men and marry women who changed them. Draco: Imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I’d leave, wouldn’t you? James: Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?
* For the Evulz: Malfoy's preferred motivation for bullying. His actions might not benefit him, but they do make others suffer, and that's enough. Particularly noticeable in Prisoner of Azkaban where he plays up his injury from Buckbeak in order to get Hagrid sacked, and again in Order of the Phoenix when he taunts Harry into attacking him, resulting in Harry being thrown off the Gryffindor Quidditch team. So, it wouldn't really be for laughs as much as for having an end goal in mind, and a rather nasty one too.
* Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric — Arrogant, rude, and can be downright cruel while also extroverted, ambitious, and likes to take the lead.
* Good Parents: To his only child/son, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy. Draco made extra sure that Scorpius didn't become like he was as a child. And he succeeded.
* Green-Eyed Monster: Word Of God on Pottermore confirms that this is part of the basis for his feelings towards Harry. He is jealous of the attention and admiration Harry receives from other students and resents that Harry is better than him at flying on a broomstick. Colin Creevey even calls him out on this in Chamber of Secrets.
   H-Y 
* Hate Sink: Naturally, with his role as the stuck-up bully to Harry and all his friends, putting them down every chance he gets. It takes up to literally the end of the final book to show some positive character growth, eventually killing whatever hatred you might have had for him.
* Heel–Face Turn: Downplayed. It is not so much that he changes sides, but more of him surviving the final battle and stumbling over to the winning side alongside his parents. He does a full heel face turn at the end of the books and the sequel by committing to making sure his son won't repeat his mistakes and bettering his relations with the trio.
* Hidden Depths:
** He shows a great deal of patience, holding information back until it suits him to use it. When he learned Harry Potter had an invisibility cloak, he feigned ignorance and sat on the information for three years before putting it to use, leaving Harry Petrified on the train when he tried to spy on him. Later, when Harry was taken prisoner to Malfoy Manor, Draco concealed his recognition of Harry. Justified when Snape comments that Draco has been learning Occlumency from Bellatrix. Draco also managed to connect the dots and figure out that the vanishing cabinet creates a passage by merely listening to Montague's experience with it. He then goes on to teach himself ways to mend the magical cabinet for nearly an entire year.
** In the Cursed Child, Draco likes to study alchemy, and according to JK: "...from which he never attempts to make a Philosopher’s Stone, hints at a wish for something other than wealth, perhaps even the wish to be a better man." She also adds about this hobby: "I see in his hobbies further confirmation of his dual nature."
** Has strong aversions to murder and torture even though he was raised his whole life in the presence of it or at least with people who condoned it: His father was suspected of murder back in the first war along with his friends' parents (like Crabbe and Goyle Seniors, also death eaters) and his aunt and uncle are in Azkaban for torture. Shown with the analogy of his unicorn core wand, said to be: "The most difficult to turn to the Dark Arts."
** The last time Draco saw Harry, Harry was busy slashing Draco to pieces, yet when harry was brought to Malfoy Manor, Draco risked his life along with his parents' lives to try and shield Harry and pretended not to recognize him (he even tried to deny Hermione's and Ron's identities, despite the fact that they were undisguised and had been seen by his parents and Bellatrix before). He did this knowing full well that delivering Harry to Voldemort will be to his benefit, and after living at least a year with him, he knew the danger he was in. In the end, the Malfoys were indeed punished for that, to the point Lucius had visible marks even weeks afterwards and even Voldemort's favorite death eater, Bellatrix, suffered retribution. This small, yet understated moment of bravery from Draco, decided the end of the war and doesn't get enough credit.
* Hypocrite: Has no problem insulting the parents of Harry, Neville, or the Weasleys (keep in mind that Harry's parents are dead and Neville's are permanently driven insane), but the minute anyone insults his mother or father he begins firing curses.
* I Am Your Opponent: He declares this to Harry when he is made the Slytherin Seeker. This blows up in his face as he loses every time they play each other.
* Implied Love Interest: With Pansy. Although it's never outright stated they're dating, she's shown to be extremely fond of him and they go to the Yule Ball together in the fourth book. They become prefects together in Book Five, and there's a chapter in Book Six that shows Draco resting his head on Pansy's lap on the train. However, this ultimately goes nowhere, since he marries Astoria Greengrass instead of her.
* Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: By the end of the sixth book, Harry actually feels a bit of sympathy for Malfoy. Harry and the gang even save Malfoy in Deathly Hallows a couple of times. Ron says it best: "That's the second time we've saved your life tonight, you two-faced bastard!". Draco makes sure to try and save them as well in the last book.
* Irony: Spends most of the second book callously joking about the prospect of his muggle-born classmates being killed by the Basilisk. When he winds up in a tough spot himself, the only one willing to offer him a shoulder to cry on is said monster's first victim, the type of person he'd have mercilessly harassed a few books ago (and markedly not his previously preferred piece of arm candy, Pansy Parkinson). Apparently, kindness doesn't look as weak and silly when it's directed at you.
* Jerkass Has a Point: While he clearly has it out for Hagrid for racist and classist reasons, the fact remains that nearly every criticism he has of Hagrid's teaching methods is completely valid, and the trio will even begrudgingly admit as much from time to time. Most notable among these are his stupefied shock that Hagrid thought it was a good idea to assign them a living textbook with the mind and teeth of a violent predator beast, and his repeated complaints about the illegally hybridized jet-propelled giant scorpions that Hagrid makes them take care of in their fourth year.
* Jerk Jock: Becomes a Seeker in Book 2, which only serves to feed his already huge ego of himself.
* Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Post-Deathly Hallows, Draco has mellowed out and while he does still have condescending moments towards Harry, he has put his racist beliefs behind him, he refuses to have Scorpius anywhere near his parents who haven't redeemed themselves.
* Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He does have a few sympathetic moments in the later books, but despite that, is still an unrepentant Upper-Class Twit Dirty Coward school bully until the war against Voldemort begins raging. Subverted in Cursed Child.
* Karma Houdini:
** For all the crap he pulled during Harry's school years, he gets no retribution. A good example is when he insulted Harry's dead mother and did not get any punishment for this, while Harry received a ban from Quidditch for punching him. Though, one could argue that being given a suicide mission from Voldemort himself with his parents' lives also on the line is enough punishment for him.
** More seriously he used Unforgivable Curses more than once, including putting Rosmerta under the Imperius Curse and attempting to use the Cruciatus Curse on Harry. Even when it's established that he was behind putting the Imperius Curse on Rosmerta in particular he never faces repercussions for using curses that warrant a lifetime sentence in Azkaban. Although, it seems non of the characters who used Unforgivable Curses suffered any consequences, including Harry.
* Karmic Butt-Monkey: Malfoy is constantly suffering some over-the-top misfortunes like being smacked in the face by Hermione or turned into a ferret, and he gets hexed on the Hogwarts Express by several different students at the end of two subsequent books. Considering that he's a racist bully and all-around Jerkass and his suffering is usually the result of him provoking or outright attacking his classmates, it's hard to have much sympathy for him.
* Like Father, Like Son: Like his dad, Lucius, Draco is arrogant, a pureblood supremacist, and uses his connections and riches to bully others into doing what he wants.
* Like Father, Unlike Son: Word Of God says he goes out of his way to invoke this in his own son and succeeds.
* Minor Injury Overreaction: More than once in Prisoner of Azkaban.
* Morality Pet: His parents genuinely love their son.
* Moral Myopia: He sometimes insults Ron's mother, but can't stand to hear someone insult his. He also won't take kindly to anyone who talks smack about or otherwise criticizes his father.
* Names to Run Away From Really Fast: His whole family has this going for them.
* Never My Fault: Whenever anything goes wrong for him, Malfoy refuses to take responsibility for his mistakes, particularly in Prisoner of Azkaban, where his actions nearly result in Hagrid losing his professorship and Buckbeak being executed when the only reason Draco was injured was that he ignored Hagrid's instructions on how to approach a hippogriff. Actually, Malfoy DID listen to his instructions and even managed to pet Buckbeak, but he intentionally insulted Buckbeak despite Hagrid insisting on how dangerous it would be. while Hagrid tends to underestimate the danger of some of his creatures, this time he made a point to warn his student.
* Not-So-Harmless Villain: In the first five books, he was The Bully, but not even a pawn in the central conflict of Harry versus Voldemort. In the sixth book, however, Harry will get serious trouble because of him, and it turns out that he is trying to assassinate Dumbledore, and nearly kills two others in the process.
* Oblivious Mockery: In his conversation with Harry at Madam Malkin's in Philosopher's Stone, Draco says Muggle-borns shouldn't be allowed into Hogwarts because they haven't been raised as wizards and probably didn't even know magic was real until the letter arrived, unaware both of these characteristics apply to the boy he's speaking to.
* Odd Friendship: With Moaning Myrtle, the ghost of a muggle-born.
* Old Money: The Malfoys, being the series' most visible Blue Bloods, have also been fabulously rich for generations and have connections in the highest echelons of government, business, and high society.
* O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In Half-Blood Prince, he skips out on the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match, claiming to be feeling unwell. Harry mentally notes that the last time he was 'feeling unwell' (in Prisoner of Azkaban, having been slashed by a Hippogriff), he had the whole match rescheduled and made Gryffindor face Hufflepuff first.
* Pet the Dog:
** When he refuses to abandon the incapacitated Goyle in the burning Room of Requirement, even though the latter just intended to screw him over in hopes of gaining Voldemort's favor. Though admittedly, he's not as aggressive about it as Crabbe.
** Earlier, he didn't tell Bellatrix that it was indeed Harry they had caught. It gets somewhat Subverted though, since he tries to capture Harry in the Room of Requirements. It's hard to say if it was his idea or if he was going along with it to survive, as Crabbe has become more aggressive and dismissive towards Draco and Draco does seem conflicted. He was also trying to keep Crabbe from outright killing them all.
** Draco looks genuinely sad at the deaths of Cedric, Charity Burbage and Goyle, though only in the movies. In the books he's sad about Crabbe and is disturbed about Charity Burbage, but skipped Cedric's funeral out of disrespect.
* Politically Incorrect Villain: He's the first character to use the word "mudblood", which is basically the Harry Potter equivalent of the N-word.
* Princely Young Man: The Spoiled Brat type. He throws around his wealth and background like they're spells.
* Privileged Rival: Harry starts the series as an outsider to the wizard world, and resists the temptation to spend his trust fund on anything but school supplies. Malfoy, by contrast, grew up in a rich, well-connected pureblood family and loves to brag about it.
* Psychic Block Defence: Rowling notes that Malfoy is a natural Occlumens, since a major part of Occlumency is the ability to suppress your emotions. He was good enough at it to block Snape and later survive living with Voldemort, despite not being loyal to him any longer.
* The Resenter: Draco wants to hang out with the famous Harry Potter at the start, but gets rejected because he takes about five seconds to prove he's a haughty, mean little twit. He spends most of the rest of the series tormenting Harry over all the unwanted fame and attention he's getting and failing to match him in things like Quidditch.
* Right for the Wrong Reasons: He's technically correct when he accuses Snape in Half-Blood Prince of aspiring to take his father's place as The Dragon to Voldemort. Except Snape isn't seeking glory or prestige among the Death Eaters. As Dumbledore's mole in the Death Eaters he wants to make sure that he's Voldemort's preferred servant over a truly loyal one like Lucius. It might have been Bellatrix's own suspicions of Snape influencing Draco, especially since he spent the entire summer with her practicing occlumency.
* The Rival: To Harry, although it ends up as more of a subversion; he is rarely all that much of a threat or challenge for Harry, usually ending up as the loser. Doesn't stop Harry from constantly worrying about what Draco will think of him when he is about to embarrass himself.
* Rival Turned Evil: Deconstructed. He tries to become this by joining the Death Eaters to avenge his father's incarceration following Voldemort's exposure, but it very quickly becomes too much for him. By the final book, it's clear he's only doing it because he absolutely has no alternative.
* The Runt at the End: Malfoy is remarked as easily being the smallest on the Slytherin quidditch team, who are often much bigger than he is.
* Sanity Slippage: Starting from Half-Blood Prince, he slowly but surely descends into unhinged territory. He's a shivering mess and only shakes more when given out commands by his superiors. You can tell this even extends to his parents, though they hold it a little better than him. He does recover after the end of Deathly Hallows.
* Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: He frequently relies on his family's wealth to get his way. It was even commented on in-universe when Draco got on the Slytherin Qudditch team not because of skill, but because his father bought the whole team new broomsticks.
* Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Frequently uses his father's high status to get what he wants.
* Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In the Deathly Hallows film version, he and his parents abandon the battle.
* Shadow Archetype:
** To Ron. They both come from old pure-blood families, but Malfoy looks down on Muggle-borns and considers them inferior, while Ron is just as accepting of Muggle-borns and half-bloods as his father.
** To Harry. Both have high status in the wizarding world (albeit for different reasons), but Malfoy exploits his riches and his family name to put himself on a pedestal while Harry remains a generous Humble Hero.
* Sixth Ranger: In The Cursed Child, he spends a significant chunk of his screentime helping Harry and Co. deal with the mess that Albus and Scorpius have accidentally caused.
* Small Name, Big Ego: During the first five books, Draco thinks rather highly of himself despite the fact that whenever he does have a confrontation with Harry, he loses. By the time of Half Blood Prince, Draco is made into a Death Eater, and he quickly realizes he's in way over his head.
* Smug Snake: He believes himself superior to most people because of his family's pure-blood lineage as well as great wealth and social standing. He gets over it after a vicious bout of Break the Haughty throughout the last two books.
* Spanner in the Works: A plan he worked on for nearly a year as well as good timing completely derailed the long-term plans of both Dumbledore and Voldemort. Specifically, Voldemort figured he'd become the owner of the elder wand by killing Snape who had killed Dumbledore, thinking murder is the only way for ownership to pass, and Dumbledore planned to have ownership of the wand die with him when Snape killed him, as that was prearranged between the two. However, Malfoy disarmed Dumbledore against his will, meaning ownership of the wand passed to Malfoy unbeknownst to everyone. And then Harry later disarmed Malfoy, claiming ownership of his wand as well as the Elder Wand secretly. So Harry was ultimately able to defeat Voldemort because the Elder Wand refused to kill its owner.
* Spoiled Brat: Pretty much all of his negative qualities stem from his upbringing, where he coasted through life on his family's money, power, and prestige.
* Starter Villain: Acts as a foil to Harry and serves as his main adversary most of the time, since Voldemort isn't always around. It's even lampshaded sarcastically by Harry right after Voldemort comes back into the open. Harry: I s'pose Lord Voldemort's just a warm-up act compared to you...
* Stellar Name: He is related to the Black family through his mother, which has a tradition of naming its members after astronomical objects. As such, he is named after the Draco constellation. He also named his son Scorpius, continuing the trend.
* Strong Family Resemblance: With his father and his son.
* Teacher's Pet: Of Snape, to the point where Malfoy 'gets used to preferential treatment from him. Harry bitterly notes several times instances where Malfoy's behaviour is brushed off by Snape, whereas if anyone else did it they would get detention. Averted in Half-Blood Prince where Snape becomes a Broken Pedestal to Malfoy.
* Thou Shalt Not Kill: Played With. Seemed to be fine with the idea of muggle borns being murdered in second year, but finds out he doesn't like to commmit it himself.
* Token Good Teammate: Played with. He went along with whatever he thought will insure his survival, including seeking out to capture Harry during the battle (although considering how uncontrollable Crabbe was, hard to tell if his participation was willing), but was also the only Death Eater to hate torture or murder, tried to save the Trio and Goyle to the best of his abilities at the risk to his own life, stopped supporting blood supremacism.
* Took a Level in Jerkass: In the sixth book, when he breaks Harry's nose and later tries to use the Cruciatus Curse on him. Of course, this is before he gets in over his head and discovers the hard way that Evil Is Not a Toy.
* Took a Level in Kindness:
** Surprisingly. He becomes more grudgingly civil to Harry as grown-ups, even though they're not friends until the end of Cursed Child.
** Also, Draco took a level in maturity with regards to his son, Scorpius. He made sure that he didn't become another Draco.
* Ungrateful Bastard: After Harry saved his life even though Draco tried to capture him, Draco tries to go over to the Death Eaters again, imploring a masked Death Eater that he is one of them. This gets him punched by Ron (after the Golden Trio saved him again). This might have been to try and prevent the Death Eater from killing him. From the conversation in the room of requirement, looks like Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were tasked with retrieving the diadem to Voldemort, not kidnap Harry. Draco was silent for most of the interaction except for when he asked Harry to return his wand and tried to urge Crabbe not to kill Harry. He even dropped his wand during the argument with Crabbe but didn't try to find it, he instead focused on making sure Crabbe doesn't murder Harry.
* "Well Done, Son" Guy: More so in the film adaptations. Draco obviously worships his father and is constantly trying to live up to his considerable reputation. It is also hinted in the books when his father degrades him in front of a shop keeper for not having higher grades than a muggle born.
* White Hair, Black Heart: Described as having white-blond hair, and he's definitely not a good person before his atonement.
==Relationships==
===Lyra Black===
They are very similar in that they are closed off and damaged. He is forced to treat her like an equal due to family and blood status. She challenges him, and they slowly and reluctantly show each other their vulnerabilities. They were betrothed by their grandparents when they were children, and neither are happy about it. He slowly began to fall into a one-sided love with her, but kept it to himself so as to not be hurt. He eventually moves on and marries Astoria Greengrass. They both played along with their families wishes until they found an opportunity to break it off when she was revealed as an enemy of the Dark Lord and his family turned on her. He would have married her, not wishing to defy his parents and disappoint his mother.
===Noor Hakim===
===Kim Hyejin===
===Petra Njomane===
===Paul Yadav===
===Alejandro Alvarez===
===Alain Volant===
===Elan Langly===
===Crabbe and Goyle===
Draco's two constant companions throughout his Hogwarts years were Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. Crabbe and Goyle were often involved in Draco's confrontations with Harry Potter and his friends. Though Draco often made it clear that he considered both of them rather stupid — a legitimate claim — and treated them more like lackeys than friends, he showed genuine concern for them and the rest of his gang on a few occasions; when Goyle was bitten by Scabbers the Rat, Draco waited for Goyle before leaving, and he also showed concern for Goyle when he was hit by Harry's Curse, when Dumbledore expressed his disgust with Draco for allowing Fenrir Greyback 'into the school where his friends live,' Draco denied knowing he would be there, clearly disturbed by the sadistic werewolf's unexpected presence. Draco's abrupt departure from his criminal activities left Crabbe and Goyle looking oddly lonely to Harry, as Harry was used to seeing Draco in between the two hulking boys, bossing them around.
By the final confrontation between Draco and Harry in the Room of Requirement, during the Battle of Hogwarts, Draco no longer exerted much control over his friends; Crabbe, in particular, responded harshly to Draco's attempts to prevent them from killing Harry. Draco tried desperately to save both of his friends from the cursed fire Crabbe unleashed, helping pull Goyle onto Ron and Hermione's broom before letting Harry fly the two of them out, and was very upset by Crabbe's death. Although it was Ron and Hermione who saved Goyle from falling into the fire, if it wasn't for Draco who dragged Goyle to safety, Ron and Hermione would never had saved Goyle, so it can be considered that Draco saved Goyle's life.
In 2020, an adult Draco admitted to Harry and his wife that his relationship with Crabbe and Goyle could never really have been called friendship, as they had little in common except the prejudices they had inherited from their families, and Crabbe and Goyle were far too stupid to be reliable cohorts in much. Draco also admitted that he had always envied Harry's close friendship with Ron and Hermione, in stark contrast to the emptiness of his relationship with his two 'best friends' at Hogwarts.
===Sirius Black===
Draco was not close to his aunt Andromeda Tonks, who had been disowned for marrying Muggle-born Ted Tonks, or their daughter, his cousin Nymphadora. Like much of the rest of his family, Draco likely held these relatives in contempt; Andromeda was considered a blood traitor and Tonks was a half-blood. In addition, Tonks had married Remus Lupin, a werewolf, which the Death Eaters scorned to humiliate Draco. Since Draco was too scared of Voldemort to respond, his feelings on the subject are unknown. Tonks referred to him as 'The Malfoy boy', indicating she either did not know his name or despised him too much to care. Neither so much as mentioned their relation to one another. Similarly, Draco was indifferent to his first cousin once removed, Sirius Black.
===Astoria Greengrass===
Sometime after the end of the war, Draco married Astoria Greengrass, whose older sister was in the same year as him at Hogwarts. They eventually had a son named Scorpius.
Draco and his wife evidently loved and cared for their son, raising him to be a better person than himself, proven when Scorpius has a crush on Rose Granger-Weasley (daughter of Draco's former rivals) and is best friend of Albus Potter (youngest son of Draco's former arch-rival) he and his wife considered the day their son was born the best day of their lives. Astoria's death has caused Draco to be heartbroken, and he even considered using the illegal 'true' Time-Turner he received from his father as a means to see her again, though he barely resisted the urge. Draco would have gladly let the Malfoy family line end with him if it were to preserve Astoria's health, disregarding Lucius' wishes, but Astoria did want to leave behind someone for her husband, not for the sake of family beliefs. Draco certainly raised Scorpius more strictly than how Lucius and Narcissa raised him, as when Scorpius was to be punished by Minerva McGonagall for utilising the Time-Turner to corrupt reality to the point of reviving Voldemort, Draco stated he was prepared to listen to how his son is to be punished.
===Lucius Malfoy===
Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy both spoiled their only child. In 1991, Narcissa sent packages of sweets daily to her son. In 1992, Lucius bought broomsticks for the entire Slytherin Quidditch team when Draco was made Seeker, and Narcissa often sent care packages to her son. She also refused to send Draco abroad to Durmstrang Institute, as Lucius originally wanted, insisting he stay closer to home by attending Hogwarts, despite Lucius's desire to keep Draco away from the influence of Muggle-borns in Hogwarts and also because Durmstrang Institute was known to teach dark arts rather than just the defences which was why Lucius Malfoy had wanted Draco a place in that school, but, finally fulfilling Narcissa's wish for him to study somewhere not too far from home.
Lucius was colder and more demanding than his wife, criticising his son for getting lower school marks than Hermione Granger who was Muggle-born. Despite this, Draco greatly admired his father, often boasting about his influence and striving to be like him. Also, as Draco attempted to use his grandfather's name, Abraxas, to charm Horace Slughorn, Draco may have had a similar level of respect for his grandfather as for his parents.
It became clear during the Second Wizarding War that the Malfoys cared about one another more than they cared for following Lord Voldemort. Draco carried out the task he was assigned by Voldemort in his sixth year because his parents' lives were threatened, and appeared to be close to accepting Dumbledore's offer to keep them safe before Severus Snape interceded to kill the Headmaster. During the Battle of Hogwarts, Lucius and Narcissa did not even attempt to fight, instead frantically searching for their son. Narcissa went so far as to lie directly to Voldemort about Harry Potter being dead, in order to be allowed to return to Hogwarts and search for Draco, which also follows the saying that Harry Potter had been saved by a mother's love more than once.
Like his parents, Draco possesses the formidable skill of duelling, Occlumency, and the Cruciatus and Imperius Curses and is smart, quick and a smart retorter.
However, after the war, Draco's relationship with his parents may have somewhat faltered, as his marriage with Astoria led them to think she is a somewhat disappointing daughter-in-law, mainly because Astoria's change of belief after the atrocities brought by Death Eaters' ideology, something they find unfitting for a fellow member of one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight clans. Draco himself has lost his bigotry for less-than-pure wizards, and his willingness to let the Malfoy bloodline end at himself in order to preserve Astoria's health due to her blood-bourne curse earned Lucius' dislike. Regardless, he did not lose favour of his parents, as he inherited the Malfoy Manor and Lucius' collection of artefacts (which included the 'true' Time-Turner that proved instrumental later).
===Bellatrix Lestrange===
Bellatrix Lestrange was Draco's maternal aunt, being the sister of Narcissa. When Draco was younger he didn't have much contact with his aunt because she was imprisoned in Azkaban for torturing the Aurors Alice and Frank Longbottom (who were the parents of Neville Longbottom, a Gryffindor in the same year at Hogwarts as Draco), into insanity. However, Draco did not feel any shame in his aunt's crimes against the wizarding world law that many would label as disgraceful. After Bellatrix escaped in Draco's fifth year at Hogwarts, she fought in a battle against Harry Potter and his friends and was the only Death Eater who wasn't captured; Draco's father, who had also fought, was imprisoned. After Draco was given a mission as a Death Eater, Bellatrix helped him and taught him Occlumency, nonverbal spells, and the Dark Arts. She also thought that Narcissa should be proud that her son became a Death Eater.
In 1997, Bellatrix lived for some months at Malfoy Manor, to be closer to Voldemort, who was also staying there. Bellatrix and Draco both participated in the Skirmish at Malfoy Manor; Draco reluctantly watched Bellatrix's torturing of Hermione Granger. During the Battle of Hogwarts, Bellatrix was killed by Molly Weasley.
It is unknown how Draco reacted to her death, but it is likely he may have felt sadness as Bellatrix seemed to have some affection with Draco. However, given that Draco and his family regretted their allegiance with Voldemort, and that Draco abandoned his prejudice against non-pure bloods after the war, it is possible his opinion on Bellatrix changed considerably as she was fanatically loyal to, and obsessively in love with, Voldemort. Also, despite Delphini being Bellatrix's daughter, Draco did not hesitate to assist in her arrest after she had threatened his son's life.
===Pansy Parkinson===
Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin girl in Draco's year, was a close friend of Draco's at Hogwarts. She often fawned over him, laughing loudly at his snide jokes, showing great concern when Draco was injured by Buckbeak in their third year, and accompanying him to the Yule Ball in 1994. Draco and Pansy were both members of the Inquisitorial Squad and Prefects in their fifth year, which is indicative of their leadership roles in Slytherin House. They are noted as being particularly cosy in their sixth year at Hogwarts, seen in the Hogwarts Express with Draco's head in Pansy's lap, Pansy stroking Draco's hair, and wasted no time in vilifying Harry for (unintentionally) slashing Draco with a deadly curse. Sometime after this period, however, Pansy and Draco's friendship waned. Whether she was ever his girlfriend is unknown, but Draco eventually married Astoria Greengrass.
===Theodore Nott===
Draco was also friends with Theodore Nott, one of the few people whom he considered an equal, given that Theodore was just as pure-blooded and somewhat cleverer than him. However, Theodore was a solitary person who did not feel compelled to join any gang, including Draco's. Theodore and Draco did laugh together at Hermione's blood-status once, and Nott was also seen with Draco and his gang after Harry listed their fathers names in a Quibbler article. It is also said that they had known each other prior to their arrival at Hogwarts.
===Marcus Flint===
Draco also appeared to be friendly with Marcus Flint, as shown when Flint defended Draco against Fred and George Weasley, and again when he assisted Draco and his gang in their attempts to psych Harry out during a Quidditch game by disguising as dementors. Flint however did not hesitate to shout at Draco after he failed to catch a snitch despite it flying within his reach (he was too busy making fun of Harry to notice).
===Blaise Zabini===
He was also friends with Blaise Zabini during their sixth year, as they sat together at Hogwarts Express, where they discussed Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, and Ginny Weasley, who had all become members of the Slug Club. Blaise was also one of the few people Draco had told about his mission, however he didn't seem to think highly of Draco's new position.
===Severus Snape===
The teacher Draco initially respected the most was Severus Snape, Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House. Snape, in turn, took Draco as his favourite student and showed him undeserved lenience on several occasions, which likely had something to do with Snape's long-time comradeship with Draco's father, or on the pretext of it, given that Snape defected from the Death Eaters. Draco even stated that Snape should apply for the position of Headmaster, after Dumbledore was suspended.
However, after Lucius's imprisonment in Azkaban, Draco came to resent and mistrust Snape, believing him to have usurped his father's place in the ranks of the Death Eaters, and that he was trying to take Draco's chance of glory as well. As such, Draco avoided Snape most of the year, refused any assistance, and even verbally assaulted him. However, Snape continued to protect him as when Draco was caught lurking outside of Professor Slughorn's Christmas party, and did not punish Draco when the boy refused to answer his summons to the office, something other students would not get off with so easily and which Draco took advantage of. Snape continued to protect Draco even after they fled from the Battle of the Astronomy Tower together; when questioned by Voldemort about Draco's actions during his attempted murder of Dumbledore, Snape lied and told the Dark Lord that Malfoy hadn't lowered his wand and emphasised the young student's ability to get Death Eaters into Hogwarts as well as cornering Dumbledore, which allowed Snape to kill him. Snape's defence of Malfoy saved the boy's life and convinced Voldemort to free Lucius Malfoy from Azkaban, for which Draco reconciled with Snape.
It is unknown how Draco reacted when he learned about Snape's death by Lord Voldemort in 1998, during the Battle of Hogwarts, or of his true loyalty to the Order of the Phoenix due to his love for the Muggle-born mother of Harry Potter, Lily Evans. However, given Draco's own disillusionment with the Death Eater cause and subsequent rapprochement with Harry, it is likely that Draco came to sympathise with his late teacher. In addition, it is possible that Draco's aforementioned detente with Harry as adults might have been motivated, at least in part, to avoid having a similar relationship that Snape had with Harry's father and his friends after their own Hogwarts years.
===Lord Voldemort===
Although Draco originally admired and respected Lord Voldemort, he came to fear him after having his family's safety threatened.
Draco joined the Death Eaters at age sixteen, when Lord Voldemort threatened to kill his parents if he failed in his mission to assassinate Albus Dumbledore. In fact, Voldemort wanted to punish Lucius Malfoy for not retrieving a Prophecy from the Department of Mysteries in his assumption that Draco would fail and have to be punished accordingly. Draco fought in several battles for Voldemort, including the Battle of the Astronomy Tower and the Skirmish at Malfoy Manor. After Voldemort's final defeat, Draco was not imprisoned, as he and his family had deserted the Death Eaters prior to Voldemort's defeat.
Although it is unknown if Draco ever learnt this, it was ironically his act in disarming Dumbledore before his death and unknowingly mastering the Elder Wand which prevented Voldemort from fully mastering the wand's power. Draco, in turn, was disarmed by Harry of his wand during the Skirmish at Malfoy Manor, thereby giving Harry mastery of the Elder Wand. When Harry told Voldemort these facts, the latter simply dismissed them, arguing that they made no difference and that Voldemort threatened to 'attend to [i.e., kill]' Draco, likely as punishment not only for Draco's unintentional meddling but also for Draco's parents' disloyalty to Voldemort. Fortunately for the Malfoys, this arrogant indifference ultimately resulted in his final defeat at the hands of Harry Potter,
By 2020, Draco had become so disillusioned from the Death Eater cause due to his experiences with Voldemort that he (Draco) helped the Trio defeat Voldemort's daughter Delphini in her plan to save Voldemort from his first downfall back in 1981. What was rather remarkable about Draco's involvement in this escapade was that Delphini was the illegitimate daughter of Draco's aunt Bellatrix, and therefore Draco's cousin. This defiance of Delphini and Voldemort demonstrated that Draco wanted so little to do with his erstwhile master that even having the Dark Lord's daughter being a blood relative was a repugnant notion to him. Draco also might have been motivated by a desire to redeem himself from his Death Eater past. During this period in his life, Draco also began referring to Voldemort by his name rather than the 'Dark Lord' as he did in his youth, which might have been motivated by his self-redemption.
==Skills & Abilities==
Draco was a powerful and talented wizard from a young age and possessed several impressive magical abilities. His wand was made of hawthorn, which one should only ever consider placing in the hands of a witch or wizard of proven talent. Following his training from his aunt Bellatrix Lestrange, Draco grew to be an accomplished wizard for his age.
* Love: Although not a prominent ability for Draco, it should be noted that he was one of the few Death Eaters who was capable of genuine love. He deeply cared about both his parents to the point that he would protect and defend them when necessary, to the point that he was pushed to attempt to murder Professor Dumbledore in order to protect them when Voldemort threatened their lives after Lucius's failed attempt to retrieve the prophecy. Despite this and his dislike for Dumbledore, he was extremely reluctant to kill Dumbledore and in the end, his love for his parents made him almost accept Dumbledore's offer to help protect them. Additionally, Draco was also extremely reluctant to identify Harry, Ron and Hermione when they were captured by the Death Eaters, despite his personal enmity with them and spent the most of the Second Wizarding War reluctantly following Voldemort's orders to protect both his family and himself. His ability to love was more prominent later on in life, giving him the strength to abandon his old prejudice against non-pure bloods and become a better person compared to his youth after seeing how much damage and devastation it caused to him and his family along with his regret over ever becoming a Death Eater. This was evident as he raised his son away from that prejudice to be a better person than him and maintained a more civil relationship with his old school rivals to the point that he trusted their instincts while they searched for Albus and Scorpius. He even claimed that he would have willingly ended the Malfoy bloodline with himself if it meant protecting his wife and helped his old school rivals capture Delphini after she had threatened his son's life, even though she was the daughter of both his aunt Bellatrix and Voldemort.
* Potions: Draco was proficient in this area of magic. This could be because Snape favoured Draco and might have given him extra help in his class. Draco was able to pass his O.W.L. examination in the subject with a mark of at least 'Exceeds Expectations' and most likely 'Outstanding', since he was apparently not lacking a book or ingredients in Professor Slughorn's first class. When Professor Slughorn was teaching the subject, Draco seemed to have lost his edge. He was covered in 'something like cat sick' during a mixed antidote composition, and producing a 'merely passable' Hiccoughing Solution. This of course could have been due to the immense stress and anxiety Draco was feeling throughout that year.
* Defence Against the Dark Arts: Draco advanced to the N.E.W.T.-level class, meaning he achieved either an 'Exceeds Expectations' or 'Outstanding' mark on his O.W.L. exam. He showed the ability to proficiently defend himself against dark magic.
: "He hadn't been lying, he could fly well."
: — Harry admitting Draco's talent in flying[src]
:
* Flying: He was quite a fine Quidditch player and broomstick flyer. He started flying at a younger age showing his skills in his first year. He made the team as a seeker in his second year, which was a very difficult position to acquire. Although his entrance into the team is enhanced due to his father bribing the team with the new Nimbus 2001 broomsticks, he also had sufficient talent, although Harry still surpassed him in pure skill despite Draco's alleged experience and superior broomstick in their first game against each other. When Draco refused to play during his sixth year, his team suffered greatly due to the fact that his replacement did a poorer job, suggesting that no Slytherin during his time was more skilful than him.
* Duelling: Draco had been a very competent duellist for quite a while before starting Hogwarts, a skill probably inherited from his parents. He was able to cast the Leg-Locker Curse in his first year, something Rubeus Hagrid said no first year would be able to do. The very next year, he could cast such a powerful Everte Statum that it threw his opponent across the room and even while subjected to a fit of laughter caused by the Tickling Charm, was able to hit Harry with the Dancing Feet Spell accurately, the round ending in a standstill as a result. He later on was able to once again match Harry in their one-move duel, casting a spell as quickly as Harry did and causing their spells to ricochet everywhere. By his sixth year, having been trained by Bellatrix, Draco's duelling skills had improved to fare well against Harry, who had by the time faced much more experienced Death Eaters, delivering multiple spells nonverbally with ease and astonishing speed, something that most sixth years weren't able to do, and countering Harry's attacks, but Harry was ultimately able to cast a curse quicker than him, exploiting the brief opening left by Draco when he was preparing to use Crucio to inflict what would have been mortal damage had he not been quickly treated. He was also beaten by Ginny Weasley in his fifth year and by Hermione Granger in his seventh. At the age of forty, from what he himself admitted to having been years of practice, Draco's skills had greatly improved and despite his age he remained a very formidable duelist, capable of fighting Harry, who had been the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and Auror Office for several years by the time, to a draw, managing to land and dodge spells as much as his opponent managed to land on him, although Harry had not been fighting at full capability against Draco as he had no intentions to hurt or kill him but even Harry openly acknowledged his improved skills, and helping in overpowering Delphini.
* Transfiguration: Draco was shown to be talented in this field from a young age, as by his second year he was already capable of conjuring a snake, an advanced form of transfiguration learned in the sixth year and above, and a reasonably impressive feat even if said conjuration is rather simple. He would also successfully qualify for the N.E.W.T.-level Transfiguration, meaning he achieved either an 'Exceeds Expectations' or 'Outstanding' mark on his O.W.L. exam. By 2020, he easily used the Incarcerous Spell when duelling with Harry and was capable of aiding Hermione, Ron and Ginny to successfully transfigure Harry into a doppelganger of Voldemort, displaying his high level of skill in the area, as Human Transfiguration on the level of complete impersonation is a very demanding feat.
* Charms: Draco was talented in charms, as by his sixth year, he was able to cast the very difficult and advanced Protean Charm, something that the only known student of the same age capable of was Hermione (albeit, he was known to have mastered it one year later than she could). He could cast the Dancing Feet Spell, which he successfully used against Harry Potter at the Duelling Club in 1992. In 1997, he successfully disarmed Albus Dumbledore of the Elder Wand with the Disarming Charm. Draco was capable of casting a successful Shield Charm to block Harry Potter's spells in a duel. By his seventh year, he was able to cast the Disillusionment Charm on himself to the point where Harry, Ron and Hermione could not see him and remain undetected, a highly advanced piece of magic. He was also capable of casting a charm which animates a paper bird to make it fly like a real bird. By 2020, Draco displayed remarkable improvement in his skills in charm-work, making effective use of it in combat in his duel with Harry, notably able to rival Harry's Disarming Charm, easily pushing a chair to block one of Harry's spells and later on stopping a chair flung at a high speed by Harry, along with being even able to use Mobilicorpus easily on Harry, making him bounce up and down on the table. Later on, he effortlessly used the Levitation Charm to levitate Delphini out of the air and out of sight and proceeded to swiftly silence her with the Silencing Charm.
* Dark Arts: Draco demonstrated a proficiency for dark magic from a young age, as he was quickly capable of casting numerous dark charms to humiliate others during his Hogwarts years, such as the Leg-Locker Curse, Tongue-Tying Curse, Knockback Jinx, the hex Densaugeo, Melofors Jinx, Trip Jinx, Full Body-Bind Curse as well as an unspecified dark charm. In this sixth year, Draco learned how to successfully cast at least two of the Unforgivable Curses, the Cruciatus Curse and the Imperius Curse, following his transformation into a Death Eaters, allowing him to become a fully-fledged Dark Wizard. Both of these are extremely difficult and powerful dark curses that not even many adult wizards can perform; his incredibly skilful Aunt Bellatrix might have taught him those while she was teaching him Occlumency and non-verbal spells. His Imperius Curse was strong enough to hold down Madam Rosmerta for almost an entire year, while he used the Cruciatus Curse to punish Thorfinn Rowle. It is possible he has the capability (but not the willingness) to perform the Killing Curse as well. Whilst duelling Harry Potter in 2020, he was able to swiftly and successfully perform a number of dark charms against him with ease, such as the Levicorpus jinx along with Densaugeo and the Knockback Jinx, showing his skills in dark magic were still adept long after abandoning the Death Eaters. He even offered to be the one to disguise himself as Voldemort when he and the others went back in time to stop Delphini due to his knowledge and abilities in dark magic, suggesting he was assured he could engage in dark magic activities well enough to convince Delphini of his identity.
* Nonverbal magic: Draco mastered nonverbal spells before his sixth year, which included blocking jinxes non-verbally. This took a lot of skill and concentration to do and only a few in his year had done it, given the high level of difficulty and precision required in the casting of spells this way.
* Magical repair: Draco managed to repair the Vanishing Cabinet in his sixth year with some assistance from Borgin, though it did take him the majority of the year. The cabinet was smashed by Peeves in his second year and Draco repaired it despite the fact that the magical link between the two cabinets might have been damaged.
* Occlumency: In his sixth year, his Aunt Bellatrix taught him Occlumency to prepare him for his mission. As Draco had already shut down his compassion to become the bully he was, it was much easier for him to close his mind and disassociate from his emotions. He had enough skill in Occlumency that he was able to block out Severus Snape's (a powerful Legilimens) attempts to read his mind.
* Alchemy: After graduating from Hogwarts, Draco began studying Alchemy as a hobby.
==Weaknesses==
==Possessions==
* Wand': Draco's wand was 10" long, made of hawthorn wood, and had a Unicorn hair core. The wand was manufactured by Garrick Ollivander and was described by him as being reasonably pliant'.
* Comet 260: Draco owned this model of broomstick , which he owned prior to starting his first year.
* Nimbus 2001: Draco's father bought the entire Slytherin Quidditch team Nimbus 2001s in exchange for his son being played as Seeker.
* Dress robes: Draco wore dress robes while attending the Yule Ball with Pansy Parkinson in 1994.
* Eagle owl: Draco owned an Eagle owl, or Bubo bubo. During Malfoy's first year at Hogwarts School, the owl delivered daily packages of sweets from his mother.
* Prefect badge: Draco owned a Slytherin Prefect badge, which he gained after becoming a Prefect in 1995.
* Potter Stinks badge: Draco owned one these enchanted badges during the Triwizard Tournament, for the purpose of mocking Harry Potter.
* Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder: Draco possessed some of this magical, darkness creating powder sold by Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, which he used in 1997 to smuggle Death Eaters into Hogwarts castle.
* Hand of Glory: Draco bought the Hand of Glory from Borgin and Burkes sometime after the end of his second year and before the start of his sixth, he used it to guide himself and the rest of the Death Eaters outside the Room of Requirement after he used the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder.
* Time-Turner: Draco possessed a Time-Turner, passed down by his father. Unlike the Ministry-issued devices that were bound by a five-hour safety travel, this was a genuine device that allowed one to travel far back into the past. Also unlike the prototype possessed by Theodore Nott, it was not limited by a duration stay of five minutes before returning to the present, as that one was produced with inexpensive metal. Draco kept the device as he thought of using it to see his late wife again, and Harry noted that keeping such a dangerous artefact could land him in Azkaban. Nevertheless, this Time-Turner was pivotal in saving the original timeline from Delphini's interference.
==Quotes==
==Etymology==
* Draco's name, like those of many members of his maternal family, the House of Black, is derived from that of a constellation. Draco is also known as the Dragon; Draco translates into 'dragon' in Latin and 'serpent' in Greek. The constellation is connected to multiple legends in Greek mythology, most notably as symbolising the hundred-headed dragon Hercules had to get past during his Twelve Labours, or the dragon killed by Cadmus before he founded the city of Thebes. In Roman legend, Draco the dragon was killed by the goddess of wisdom, Minerva, and tossed into the sky. Another connection with him being a Death Eater, is the fact that Lucifer/Satan is referenced as a Dragon in Christian Theology. In addition, Draco was the name of an Ancient Greek legislator whose laws were notoriously harsh. The word draconian, meaning 'unusually severe or cruel,' is derived from his name. However, this Ancient Greek legislator simply wrote down laws that were already in existence. These harsh laws were already in existence in an oral tradition. He did not actively try to change these laws as they were written down for the benefit of the common people. This mirrors Draco's role as he introduces us to pure-blood mania, which is a philosophy he inherited from his family.
* The name Lucius may come from the Roman dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who extra judiciously executed his rivals. His name could also be a reference to the Roman Emperor Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also known as Nero. Lucius is a name that derives from Latin meaning 'bright' or 'intelligent' and is related to the name Lucifer, the first name of Satan, which may reference Lucius Malfoy being bright but evil, or just evil.
* His surname, Malfoy, in French (mal foi) means 'bad faith.'
==Trivia==
* Draco is technically part French, seeing as his ancestor Armand Malfoy was from France.
* Technically, Draco was responsible for Harry missing two of his three Quidditch Cups at Hogwarts. In their fifth year, Harry was banned from the Quidditch Team by Umbridge for attacking Malfoy after he insulted Harry's mother and Ron's family. The second time, in their sixth year, Harry was forced to miss the final Quidditch match by Snape for using the Sectumsempra curse on Malfoy in their duel.
* The first time Draco saw Voldemort was in the Forbidden Forest, when the latter was sharing a body with Professor Quirrell. Draco fled from him in horror, despite the fact that his father served Voldemort in the First Wizarding War. It is presumed Voldemort did not know who Draco was at the time, or if he remembered him when he became part of the Death Eaters. Draco also probably didn't recognise Voldemort for who he was, since he was on the back of Quirrell's head, and that he was cloaked.
* Draco would have attended Durmstrang Institute, a school that does not admit Muggle-borns and teaches the Dark Arts, but his mother didn't want him staying so far away from home.
* Ironically enough, it was Draco's wand that Harry used in his final duel with Voldemort, though it had changed its allegiance to Harry by that point. However, as it was the rebounding spell of the Elder Wand that killed Voldemort, Draco's wand did not vanquish Riddle.
* Draco is portrayed by British actor Tom Felton in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and Part 2 and so is one of the 14 characters to appear in all 8 film adaptations.
** Tom provided the voice of Draco Malfoy in the video-game adaptations of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
* Draco is portrayed by British actor Alex Price in the Original West End production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
* Jax Jackson, the actor portraying Yann Fredericks in the Year 3 Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, portrayed Draco Malfoy, voicing him in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 6 (The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters) for the Harry Potter At Home project.
* Jon Steiger, the actor portraying Scorpius Malfoy in the San Francisco Curran Theatre production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, also portrayed Draco Malfoy, voicing him when the cast of Cursed Child read aloud Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 5 (Diagon Alley) together, organised by Bloomsbury Publishing for the 2021 Harry Potter Book Night.
* In J. K. Rowling's early drafts of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Draco's surname was 'Spungen', 'Spinks', or 'Smart'.
* Draco's wand is notable in that his wand is one of the few that have the same look throughout all eight films, though the prop in the last two films is all black instead of brown with a black handle.
* Rowling has expressed some worry over fans of Draco: 'People have been waxing lyrical [in letters] about Draco Malfoy, and I think that's the only time when it stopped amusing me and started almost worrying me. 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...'
* In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Draco does notice the Golden Snitch just after Harry does and chases after him for it only to get knocked off his broom and injured unlike the book where he never noticed it because he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. Also for the film, Draco's injuries cause him to be sent to the Hospital Wing, though Madam Pomfrey impatiently tells him that his injuries were not severe enough to be kept overnight.
* In the the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Draco's arm injury does not last as long as it does in the book.
* It is shown that he is somewhat more respectful in the films than the books. In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Draco is seen at Cedric's memorial feast. However, instead of talking and disrespecting the feast, he is seen looking down solemnly, mourning for Cedric.
* In the films:
** Draco seems to be less antagonistic towards Hagrid than in the books.
** Draco seems to have a fondness for green apples, since he is seen eating one in Prisoner of Azkaban and putting one in the vanishing cabinet in Half-Blood Prince.
* In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2:
** Draco receives a hug from Voldemort and is the only known follower of his to receive this 'honour'. This scene was improvised by both actors, adding the 'awkward' element.
*** This atmosphere actually makes sense, as Voldemort had never known love, and this act of hugging would seem strange to him.
** In the final climatic battle, he and his family depart from the battle and were not seen in the Great Hall during the recovery from the battle.
* In the video game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Draco appears to give his wand back to Harry to duel with Lord Voldemort. This was also filmed for the film, but it was cut.
* He never referred to Ron or Hermione by their first names during the course of the original seven books. He did, however, refer to both of them by their first names by the events of The Cursed Child.
: "He's shut down compassion — how else would you become a Death Eater? So he suppresses virtually all of the good side of himself. But then he's playing with the big boys, as the phrase has it, and suddenly, having talked the talk he's asked to walk it for the first time and it is absolutely terrifying. And I think that that is an accurate depiction of how some people fall into that kind of way of life and they realise what they're in for. I felt sorry for Draco. Well, I've always known this was coming for Draco, obviously, however nasty he was."
: — J. K. Rowling regarding Draco's character[src]
:
J. K. Rowling has commented that Draco is very capable of compartmentalising his life, which makes him skilled at Occlumency and at bullying others.
She also compared Draco to his first cousin once removed, Regulus Black, in that they were both initially attracted to the Death Eater organisation, but 'the reality of what it meant was way too much to handle'. Rowling also compared Draco to Dudley Dursley; in addition to both being bullies, Draco was also 'raised as a pampered only son, indoctrinated with his parents' beliefs'. She has stated that there is 'a real moral cowardice to Draco', but that he is not 'wholly bad'.
==Scenes==
-"Can you imagine if you weren't born a Malfoy? Poor little Draco, a muggle-born nobody." She gave a crooked smile, she was teasing him, and she loved it.
He made a disgusted face, aghast she would suggest such a thing. "No, I don't suppose you'd be Draco then, would you?" She pondered wistfully. He scowled, tired of her nonsense.
-"Why do you act like we're friends, Black?"
"Because I think we go well together, don't you?" She gave an inscrutable full smile.
He hesitated..."You know I don't want to marry you."
"Nor I you, but I know better than to rebel...publicly."
She was pretty enough, more striking than beautiful. The Black nobility and bone structure, muddled a bit by her slight plushiness. But she didn't look at him like the other girls did, she looked at him and saw a person, just...him.
"You do the same you know, just with less...conviction." She looked him square in the eyes, no trace of malice.
"But I like you, Malfoy, you've as much to hide as I do I reckon." He flinched at that, she noticed. He left her briskly without a word. She looked at him go, like it was her own self leaving, a sideways reflection. She frowned, I know that anger, Blondie, but I've had no luck with it either.
-"You're cruel and a bloody narcissist!"
"I'm a Black."
"Oh, is that your excuse?"
She wrinkled her eyebrows, and opened her mouth, closed it, and looked down. "Is it?" She asked him hesitantly.
He stiffened, suddenly diffused, but wouldn't back down. "Then allow me my excuse." He said sharply, but the venom was gone, he was almost asking.
She said nothing, just looked at him like she was torn. He looked back and didn't want to fight anymore, he wasn't sure of the answer either.
-He knew that look, "Shut up, Malfoy", and smirked.
- She had that evil look in her eye and he shuddered. "What are you planning this time, Black?"
"You'll see." Is all she said.
Category:Characters
Category:Male
Category:Slytherin
Category:Pureblood