How His Father’s Imprisonment Motivated Him In Hbp
In the beginning of Half Blood Prince, Harry uses his invisibility cloak to sneak into the Slytherins’ compartment on the Hogwarts express and eavesdrop on Malfoy and his friends. From there Harry spends the whole year trying to figure out what Draco is up to. His plans and motivations are implied and eventually revealed, but we dont get a clear picture of Malfoys side of things during that year.
Lucius was outed as a Death Eater and captured at the end of Order of the Phoenix. It was a gross humiliation for the Malfoys in the wizarding community and among the Death Eaters since Lucius had failed in his crucial mission for Voldemort. Draco was desperate to free his father and help establish the wizarding world that Voldemort promised. So he foolishly took up the challenge of arranging for Dumbledores assassination, woefully unaware and unprepared for the dangers he would encounter or the consequences he faced for failure.
Draco Is Related To Sirius Tonks Ron And Nevilleand Maybe Harry
The Wizarding Worlds Sacred Twenty-Eight, the list of names that identified 28 pure-blood families released in the 1930s, was designed to help such families maintain the purity of their bloodlines. Its not an entirely accurate listthe Potters didnt make the cut due to their surname being common among Mugglesand some families, such as the Weasleys, resented being on the list.
But for others, it indicated which families were worth associating with or intermarrying with. You dont have to go back very far to discover that many of the characters we met throughout Harry Potter are directly related to one another.
Thats very much the case for Draco, and although our viewpoint on the Malfoy side is fairly limited, we have a far better idea of how wide that spans through Dracos mother Narcissa, whos a member of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Nymphadora Tonks is Dracos first cousin through her mother Andromeda, Narcissas older sister. Narcissa, Andromeda, and Bellatrix were first cousins to Sirius Black, so that would make Sirius Dracos first cousin once removed. Teddy Lupin, who was born in Deathly Hallows to Tonks and Remus Lupin, would be Dracos first cousin once removed, while Delphini from Cursed Child would be his first cousin through his aunt Bellatrix.
If you go back far enough chances are a Malfoy couldve married a Potter at some point. We just dont know yet.
His Wife Astoria Greengrass Was Cursed
In Cursed Child we learned that the woman we saw as Dracos wife during the epilogue of Deathly Hallows was Astoria Greengrass. She was the two-year younger sister of Daphne Greengrass, who was in Harry and Dracos year at Hogwarts. For whatever reason, Astoria grew disillusioned with her Pureblood familys belief in magical supremacy and decided that she would not raise her child with Draco to be prejudiced against muggles. This caused quite a bit of tension with both the Greengrass and Malfoy parents. Even after the events of the last war with Voldemort, the Malfoys werent accepting of Astorias views. Her being a Greengrass, one of the oldest pureblood families known as the Sacred Twenty Eight, probably only disappointed them further.
Astoria was also the victim of an old family curse that made childbirth extra difficult and painful. After her son Scorpius was born, Astoria only lived until the start of her sons third year at Hogwarts. Her death left both Draco and Scorpius heartbroken.
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Harry Potter: 15 Things You Didn’t Know About Draco Malfoy
What else is there to find out about this mean, cowardly twerp, who was once transformed into an amazing bouncing ferret?
Draco Malfoy;ranks highly among the most famous fictional characters that we all love to hate. He is by far the most frequent schoolbound antagonist to Harry Potter and his friends; readers got to endure every act of cruelty, prank and insult Malfoy inflicted, and they loathe him for it. Fortunately as the books continued, he grew to fill a more nuanced role in the story, if not become a more sympathetic person.
Since the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, weve gotten a chance to see Draco as an adult, as a husband and a father. It turns out theres more to Draco than perhaps most Harry Potter readers and viewers realized. Series author J. K. Rowling has produced so much ancillary material about the world, history, and characters of her beloved books, and it’s all just waiting to be unearthed.
So what else is there to find out about this mean, cowardly twerp, who was once transformed into an amazing bouncing ferret? Here are 15 Things You Didnt Know About Draco Malfoy!
How To Create A Simple Draco Malfoy Wand
Our son is dressing up as Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter series for Halloween this year. ;He paid for the official robe with his own hard-earned money but didnt have enough for the wand. ;Malfoys wand is notably more simple than most of the wands in the series so I decided to try making one for him.
I ended up making two since one acted as a bit of a prototype and the other was the finished version. ;Both look roughly the same, though, so its not clear which is better.
Build Video
Reasonably Pliant
As far as I know, Dracos wand is one of only a few wands for which J.K. Rowling specifically mentions the length. It is Hawthorn and unicorn hair. Ten inches precisely. Reasonably springy .
I dont have access to Hawthorn wood nor anything like unicorn hair, but I do have a 1/2 hardwood dowel. Rowling doesnt say what the diameter of the wands are, but 1/2 seems like a reasonable value for a wand, right? I started by measuring off 10 and cutting it on my rough-cut miter saw:
The majority of the shaping was done on a belt sander. I suppose I could have used a plane or chisels or maybe even a lathe, if I had one. But Dracos wand is possibly the plainest wand in the Harry Potter lore and since it just had a few curves in it, the belt sander seemed like the logical choice.
It already had a very rough grit paper in it maybe 60 or 80 grit and so all I needed to do was clamp it down to a work table.
Brown, One Way or Another
Finishing Up
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Draco Warned Hermione About The Attack
During the Quidditch World Cup, Draco warned Hermoine about the danger with his natural sarcasm. He;said, Hadnt you better be;hurrying along, now? You wouldnt like her spotted, would you? Draco nodded at;Hermione, and then he;explained, Granger, theyre after Muggles. Do;you want to;be;showing off your knickers in;mid-air? Because if;you;do, hang around…theyre moving this way.
Although it;sounded rude, it;was enough to;make Hermoine and her friends go;in;a;different direction to;look for the rest of;the Weasley family.
Jk Rowling Is Often Unnerved By The Draco Fangirl
Draco was obviously meant to be the regular antagonist to Harry at Hogwarts. Hes mean, cowardly, arrogant, and racist. And yet so many Harry Potter fans, particularly female fans, love him. Not just in terms of thinking hes a well-developed character, but in terms of loving and sympathizing with him as a person.
This became an even more pronounced attitude among fans after the movies started coming out with Tom Felton portraying Draco. Felton is obviously a good actor and a heartthrob and the movies didnt have room to include some of the really cruel dick-moves Draco pulls in the books. Its become pervasive enough that Rowling has responded to the attitude in several different interviews. Shes said that she can understand the tendency among young women to sympathize with and want to save a broken person but shes always cautioned that that kind of attitude about people who outwardly project so much cruelty and bigotry is unhealthy.
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The Real Reason Draco Malfoy Tried To Befriend Harry
There was a time, albeit a short one, when;Draco very much wanted Harry to be his friend.
He already knew;several children of former Death Eaters before he stepped onto the Hogwarts Express, so he wasnt necessarily in need or want of friends. It was, according to J.K. Rowling, because he wanted to find out whether Harry was secretly a dark wizard that Voldemorts surviving supporters could rally behind. It had long been one of the more persistent theories surrounding Harry, unbeknownst to him, as to how he survived Voldemorts Killing Curse as a baby. It was also a;theory that Dracos father Lucius supported.
Unfortunately for Draco, Harry wasnt having it. Harry recognized Draco as the boy from Madam Malkin who insulted Hagrid and voiced that Muggle-borns shouldnt attend Hogwarts. By then Harry had;already made a friend in Ron, who Draco insulted for his appearance and familys lack of wealth. After being raised by the uppity;Dursleys,;Harry recoiled at Dracos snobbery.
It didnt take Draco long to abandon the belief that Harry could possibly be a dark wizard. The rest, as they say, was history.
Tom Felton Auditioned For Multiple Potter Roles
Tom Felton actually auditioned for the parts of Harry and Ron during the casting process for Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. Only after that was he asked to read for Draco Malfoy and his destiny to be the handsome spoiled bully revealed. Felton had reportedly not read the Harry Potter books at all before being cast for the part, but he was undoubtedly one of the most successful casting choices the production made.
Felton has described the early stages of the Harry Potter casting process on several occasions. It seems he, like many of the young actors who auditioned, read for multiple roles, and that there were thousands of children considered for each of the parts. He also claims that on his very first day of auditioning, while thousands of kinds were coming in and out, he and Emma Watson auditioned together. Then of course they both got their famous parts. Dramione fans would surely claim its no coincidence.
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He Was Civil To Harry
The last few moments of The Deathly Hallows fast forward by nineteen years, showing Harry and Ginny escorting their children to Platform 9¾. Down the other end of the platform is Draco Malfoy, who looks at Harry without rage, hatred or aggression.
Considering that a few years ago, Draco had almost directly caused Harry to die multiple times, this seems to be about as good a relationship as we can hope for between the two.
Draco Is Distantly Related To Harry And Ron
Within the British wizarding community, there was a group of families called the Scared Twenty Eight. These families had managed to remain entirely pureblood as of the 1930s. In other words no muggleborn wizards or witches had married into the family by that time. Many but not all of these families prided themselves on blood purity and went so far as to resort to in breeding to maintain the supposed pureblood status. These families included the Malfoys, Averys, Blacks, Lestrange, Gaunt and Greengrass among others.
But they also included families like the Weasleys and the Longbottoms. Harry Potters family on his Dads side is also a Pureblood family, though not considered one of the sacred Twenty Eight for their very progressive views about muggles over several generations. Its stated several times in the books, especially in Order of the Phoenix, that the remaining Pureblood families are all interrelated somehow. Phineas Nigellus Black is in fact the mutual ancestor of Draco, Harry and Ron by marriage.
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Why Draco Malfoys Creator Isnt Comfortable With His Popularity
Pick just about any Harry Potter character with a role to play in the storywith maybe a few exceptions like Dolores Umbridgeand youll find readers and movie viewers who are intrigued, admire, or even root for them. So its not too surprising some fans like Draco.
Hes paired with Harry in one of fandoms most popular ships, but some also like him as a character. Thats not to say they endorse or support every decision he makes; hes prejudiced, was raised to believe he was better than everyone else, snotty, and kind of a coward by Deathly Hallows. But that doesnt take away from the fact that hes a fascinating characterand maybe even one readers may pity.
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In recent years, Rowling has taken issue with how some fans have admired Draco, and she addressed it when she debuted Dracos biography on Pottermore in 2014.;She put part of the logic behind it on actor Tom Felton, who played Draco through all eight films and is basically the polar opposite of his character.
I have often had cause to remark on how unnerved I have been by the number of girls who fell for this particular fictional character , Rowling wrote. Draco has all of the dark glamour of the anti-hero; girls are very apt to romanticise such people.
The Significance Of Dracos Wand
Pretty much every characters wand in the Harry Potter franchise has some significance behind it. At least, Rowling has a reason why each character’s wand is what it is. For example, Harrys wand is made of holly, with a phoenix feather core. According to Mr. Ollivanders notes on wand materials, a Holly and phoenix feather wand combination is an exceedingly rare and powerful combination of mismatched natures, at least according to conventional wisdom.
Dracos wand also carries thematic significance: his is hawthorn and unicorn hair. According to Rowlings own writings on Draco, the unicorn hair was meant to reflect the idea that even Draco has a good, conscionable side to him. Also from Ollivanders notes, wands made of hawthorn tend to be suited for wizards who either have great conflict in themselves or who are going through tumultuous times in their lives. They are also tricky wands to master, calling for a wizard with proven magical talent.
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How The Malfoys Were Scorned Even After Dumbledore’s Death
As several characters expected, Draco didnt ultimately deliver the deathblow to the weakened and cornered Dumbledore. Even though he succeeded in his plans to bring Death Eaters into Hogwarts, Draco didnt succeed in returning his family to prestige in Voldemorts inner circle. Voldemort knew that Snape ultimately killed Dumbledore. Snape himself apparently tried to cover for Dracos shortcomings. He emphasized Dracos ingenuity and cunning that let the Death Eaters get into the castle and murder Dumbledore.
Even though Lucius was freed and allowed to return home, the Malfoys had become the pariahs of the Death Eaters. Lucius and Draco were both weak failures in Voldemorts eyes. Its not hard to fathom that Voldemort might have made the Malfoy manor his headquarters partially to humiliate the Malfoys even further, keeping them physically close as ever but taunting and barring them from service at the same time. Dracos commitment to Voldemorts cause was certainly not as enthusiastic from then on.
Severus Snape Isnt The Only Character With A Theorized Supernatural Alter
The theory that Severus Snape was secretly a vampire circled among Harry Potter fans for years before Rowling debunked it in 2014. But vampires, unlike the supernatural creature Draco has become associated with, never played much of a part in the series.
Some fans believed that Draco didnt become a Death Eater prior to Half-Blood Prince but was instead turned into a werewolf by Fenrir Greybackthe same werewolf that bit Remus Lupin as a young boy. According to the theory, Draco was bitten as punishment for Lucius Malfoy failing to obtain the prophecy about Harry and Voldemort at the Department of Mysteries in Order of the Phoenix.
With this, Dracos arc throughout Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows could be seen through a much different light. Dracos visibly sickly appearance is because of his lycanthropy, not due to the amount of stress hes under to complete the nearly impossible task of murdering Dumbledore. He didnt show Knockturn Alley shop owner Borgin the Dark Markas Harry suspectedbut rather his werewolf bite. It wouldve fit into the larger Malfoy family narrative that, when it came down to it, they would choose blood over loyalty to Voldemort.
Unfortunately for fans, Rowling debunked this one too.
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He Strove To Be A Better Father And Husband Than Lucius
Perhaps the unprecedented deluge of sympathy for Draco Malfoy did become a factor in the depiction of the character that we got in Cursed Child. Probably in no small part to his traumatic experiences as a junior Death Eater and his cold family, Draco grew up to be a much more caring husband and father than Lucius. We hear from Scorpius that he was able to rely on and confide in his father Draco, especially after Astoria died.
For all their arrogance and prejudice, the Malfoys have shown genuine concern for one another as family. The most famous example was when Narcissa Malfoy investigated Harrys body after Voldemort tried to kill him once again in the Forbidden Forest. Narcissa risked lying to Voldemort so she might get a chance to go to the castle and see Draco. As an adult Draco took that familial concern beyond mere regard for their familys status, putting up with plenty of unfounded rumors about his son.
The Malfoy Manor Is Located In The English County Of Wiltshire
Even though the wizarding world is meant to exist alongside our real world, many of the exact locations of magical places in the books are kept ambiguous or vague. But the longstanding family home of the Malfoys is actually meant to be in a real world place in Britain.
Malfoy Manor exists in the English County of Wiltshire, a well-to-do, landlocked county with several points of interest. Wiltshire contains the archeological Neolithic circles of Stonehenge and Avebury, as well as several prominent public country houses.
Draco spent his whole childhood growing up in this opulent manor, tended on by servants and constantly reminded of his familys prestige and sense of self-importance. His childhood was solitary, somewhat like Harrys, but in contrast he had every privilege imaginable. The Malfoy Manor would eventually feel more like a prison when Voldemort co-opted it as his headquarters towards the end of the second wizarding war.
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