Jk Rowling: Happy 35th Birthday Draco Malfoy
A clever Harry Potter fan realized that Friday is Draco Malfoys, and curious as to how old the character would be, she reached out to the books author on Twitter. J.K. Rowling clarified that Malfoy turns 35 this year, but she wont be celebrating with him .
Im not invited to the party, mainly because I keep telling girls theyre misguided to fancy him, she tweeted Friday.
But why would Rowling steer ladies away from Malfoy? Perhaps she wants to keep them from his bad Slytherin attitude. In a December 2014 Pottermore passage, she warned fans with crushes on the villian that Malfoy is a person of dubious morality.
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. All this has left me in the unenviable position of pouring cold common sense on ardent readers daydreams, as I told them, rather severely, that Draco was not concealing a heart of gold under all that sneering and prejudice and that no, he and Harry were not destined to end up best friends.
Despite that, lets hope Malfoys day is filled with cake, presents, and whatever else Death Eaters do to celebrate birthdays.
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.
Draco Malfoy Actor Tom Felton Made A Documentary About Harry Potter Fans
Feltons proximity to Harry Potter fandom gave him a unique perspective when he set out to make a documentary about Harry Potter fans.
Were not just talking about the fact that he was in the Harry Potter films, although that does help to an extent. His 2015 BBC documentary looks into the lives of the fans who wait in line to meet him and other actors at conventions, and how the books and films have affected them, which opened his eyes to their experiences along the way.
It was a massive insight for me, going behind the ropes and seeing what people actually do to stand behind a railing at an event, Felton told JustJared in 2015. You dont really think about the three hours it took them to stand there and get the best spot.
Although some initially feared that Feltons documentary would misunderstand or mock its subjects , it was well-received by critics, helped in part by Feltons willingness to look deeper.
You can watch Superfans! on YouTube.
Recommended Reading: Usa Harry Potter Marathon
Harry Potter And The Half
Draco is drawn into Death-Eaters’ activities more directly in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Because of Lucius’ arrest and fall from Voldemort’s favour, Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange visit Snape at his home to discuss a dangerous task that Voldemort has assigned Draco. Narcissa, deeply worried that her son will be killed in his attempt to complete it, begs Snape to make an Unbreakable Vow to aid Draco with this task and protect him at all costs, and if Draco fails to complete the mission, he will complete it himself he agrees.
In this book, Draco is, for the first time since being introduced in the series, portrayed as having considerable initiative, ingenuity, and perseverance. However, unlike Harry, who always relies on his friends’ support and help, Draco mostly works alone in the Room of Requirement, refusing to confide in or involve his own circle of friends, whom he treats more as underlings. This, and the realisation of what he is ultimately expected to do, nearly drives him to a nervous breakdown. When Harry walks in on Malfoy crying in Moaning Myrtle‘s bathroom, Draco attempts to cast the Cruciatus Curse. Harry is faster to the draw with an obscure Sectumsempra spell that he learned from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince’s book. The spell cuts deep gashes into Malfoy’s face and chest, resulting in severe blood loss. Snape, alerted by Myrtle’s screams, swiftly arrives and heals Draco’s cuts, then takes him to the hospital wing.
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban
During Hagrid’s debut as Care of Magical Creatures instructor in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the hippogriff, Buckbeak, attacks Draco after he fails to observe proper protocol while approaching it and insults it. He exaggerates the extent of his injury, giving Slytherin a chance to postpone their Quidditch match against Gryffindor until later in the year and as an attempt to have Hagrid fired. Hermione punches Draco when he mocks Hagrid for crying over Buckbeak’s death sentence. Draco, who implies that he is aware of how Sirius Black was supposedly involved in the deaths of Harry’s parents, also taunts Harry about the impending threat of Black: “If it was me, I’d want revenge. I’d hunt him down myself.”
You May Like: What Harry Potter House Are You Pottermore
Vincent Crabbe And Gregory Goyle
- Draco: “I always envied you and them, you know, Weasley and Granger. I had-”
- Ginevra Potter: “Crabbe and Goyle.”
- Draco: “Two lunks who wouldnt know one end of a broomstick from another. You, the three of you, you shone, you know? You liked each other. You had fun. I envied you those friendships more than anything else”
- Draco admits the shallowness of his “friendship” with Crabbe and Goyle
Draco Malfoy and his cohorts
Dracos 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.
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Draco becomes the new Seeker for the Slytherin Quidditch team after his father, Lucius Malfoy, donates new, high-quality Nimbus 2001 broomsticks. When Hermione Granger comments that the Gryffindor players made the team through talent and not bribery, Draco responds by calling her a Mudblood. This provokes an immediate, violent response from Ron Weasley. Because of Draco’s contempt for Muggle-borns, Harry, Ron, and Hermione suspect that Draco is the Heir of Slytherin, who has recently reopened the Chamber of Secrets. Harry and Ron disguise themselves as Crabbe and Goyle with Polyjuice Potion and infiltrate the Slytherin common room in an attempt to collect additional information, whereupon they realise that their initial suspicion about Draco is incorrect.
You May Like: How Do Harry Potter Interactive Wands Work
Relationships With Other Characters
Malfoy’s greatest nemesis is Harry Potter, who was instrumental in Lord Voldemort’s downfall. He was insulted when Harry spurned his offer of friendship after their first meeting, Harry preferring Ron Weasley’s company over his. Draco also resents Harry’s fame and may be jealous over his greater power as a wizard. Draco equally despises Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, Hermione because she is Muggle-born and a superior student, and Ron, who, despite being a pure-blood wizard, is poor, and whose family dares to advocate Half-blood and Muggle-born wizards as equals to pure bloods, and that Muggles also have rights.
Draco lacks true friends, even among his fellow Slytherins, but his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, who Draco treats as minions, continually trail him about, following his orders. He does, however, appear to have emotional connections with the two, as he is upset when Crabbe is killed, and he tries his best to keep Goyle alive. Crabbe, Goyle, and others who gravitate to Draco, mainly seem attracted to his family’s wealth and status. Draco generally considers most students outside Slytherin as inferior. This attitude also extends to many Hogwarts teachers and staff, though he apparently admires Professor Snape, while considering Professor Dumbledore foolish and ineffectual.
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.
READ MORE:
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.
Don’t Miss: When Is The Next Harry Potter Marathon
Harry Potter And The Cursed Child
In the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Draco appears with his son Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, who became best friends with Harry‘s second son Albus Severus Potter. It was revealed that during the fourth year of Scorpius’s time in Hogwarts that Draco became widowed, as his wife Astoria Malfoy passed away due to a inherited blood curse, which could shorten her lifespan and disallow her from growing into old age.
After he was married, Draco initially contemplated letting the Malfoy bloodline to end with him to allow Astoria live longer , as he was aware of Astoria’s family blood curse and that childbirth would weaken her further. Astoria, however, persuaded him from doing so as she wanted a child not for the pure-blood beliefs, but for him so that he will not be alone should she died some day, which culiminated into the birth of Draco’s first and only child Scorpius. Draco had once considered the birth of his son as the greatest day of his life, even though Scorpius’s birth had led to Astoria’s health to be further weakened and eventually caused her to die fourteen years later.
During the events of the play, Draco slowly made amends with Harry and his friends as they all embarked on a journey to save their sons from Voldemort‘s daughter Delphini, demonstrating his slow, but gradual acknowledgement of Harry as a friend and his outright denouncement of his Death Eater past.
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Draco is named a Slytherin prefect along with Pansy Parkinson. He gets Harry and the Weasley twins banned from the Gryffindor Quidditch team when they attack him during a postmatch brawl after Draco insults their families following Gryffindor’s win over Slytherin. He later joins Dolores Umbridge‘s Inquisitorial Squad, with whom he plays an important part in the exposure of Dumbledore’s Army. As the D.A. flees the Room of Requirement, Draco earns Slytherin fifty points after catching Harry, and helps hold several members captive in Umbridge’s office, letting them free only after Ginny Weasley performs her famous Bat Bogey Hex. After his father and other Death Eaters are captured and sentenced to Azkaban following the events at the Department of Mysteries, Draco twice attempts to get revenge on Harry, but Snape and Minerva McGonagall thwart his first effort, and while returning home on the Hogwarts Express, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle are transformed into giant slugs by a barrage of hexes cast by several D.A. members coming to Harry’s defence.
Recommended Reading: Voldemort Actor Harry Potter
Harry Potter: 20 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Draco Malfoy
Draco Malfoy may be one of Harry Potter’s biggest rivals, but things aren’t always as they seem.
From the outside looking in, Harry Potter‘s Draco Malfoy seems like the kind of character everyone simply loves to hate. He’s a pure-blood wizard born of the Malfoy family – the son of a Death Eater. He is raised to hold strong beliefs that pure-bloods are the only worthy wizards, and that anyone else simply doesn’t deserve the time of day. While he may come off initially as a one-dimensional character who is simply out to make Harry’s life hell, as his story unfolds, we find out more and more about our favorite dysfunctional Slytherin.
J.K. Rowling herself is often confused at her fans’ love for Draco. Is it because of Tom Felton’s charm that we fell in love with Draco even more in the movies? Or is it something about the “bad boy” trope we just can’t get enough of? Either way, Draco has always polarized audiences. While he is definitely one of Harry Potter’s biggest rivals throughout the series, it turns out that things aren’t always as they seem.
Here are 20 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Draco Malfoy.
That Infamous Deathly Hallows Moment Wasnt Planned
Chances are you know exactly what that means but well set the scene up for you anyway.
Toward the end of Deathly Hallows Part 2, Voldemort returns the grounds of Hogwarts to reveal to everyone that he killed Harry while Harry, unbeknownst to Voldemort, survived the attack. Having been separated prior, Dracos mom Narcissa called for Draco to come over to herand to the side of the Death Eaters. When he did, Voldemort gave him a very uncomfortable but highly memorable hug.
A couple months after Part 2s release, Felton addressed the hug at DragonCon. According to his recollection, he and Ralph Fiennes filmed around 25 takes of that scene. Out of all of those takes, only one included the hug it was a one-off thing Fiennes did. And as strange as he found the moment, he was even more surprised that it made the cut.
Its really interesting because theres definitely a difference with the audience, how they take it. In England, its considered a very chilling moment, a very sort of, the whole audience goes quiet and they dont know what to say or do. Over here , its hilarious.
You May Like: Harry Potter Vibrating Broom Amazon Reviews
Draco Married Astoria Greengrass And Had One Child
The epilogue of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” flashes forward 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts.
In that scene and in additional interviews, Rowling has shared details about Draco’s future, including that he married Astoria Greengrass. They went on to have a blond son named Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.
The Malfoys Mental Instability May Be The Result Of Their Pure
The Malfoys believe in pure-blood supremacy, and according to Rowling, that contributed to some of the mental instability in the later generations of the family.
Their commitment to marrying pure-bloods left them with an increasingly small gene pool to choose from, so the Malfoys, along with the Gaunts and Lestranges, became enfeebled and unstable.
This may be why some of the characters we encounter in the series, like Bellatrix Lestrange and Draco, seem mentally unbalanced at times.
Read Also: Harry Potter Marathon Schedule
The Name Malfoy Tells Us A Lot About The Family
The Malfoy family is known for being powerful and conniving with very little regard for others, and the last name practically tells the reader to expect this from them.
According to Wizarding World, Malfoy comes from the old French words “mal” and “foi” .
Even Voldemort’s trust in the Malfoy’s ends up being in bad faith because they run and hide at the first sign of trouble.
Draco Became A Good Father
In the play, Draco accepts his son, Scorpius, just the way he is and takes care of his happiness. He tries not to repeat his fathers mistakes and behaves in a different way, compared to Lucius. Once, Draco shared some of his memories with his son. He said that he had never dreamed of working at the Ministry, even when he was a child. But this was the only thing his father had ever wanted. Draco shared that he just wanted to be happy.
Read Also: Who Gives Harry Potter The Nimbus 2000