Draco Malfoy

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Draco Malfoy
Harry Potter character
Image:Draco.JPG Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Gender	Male
Hair colour	White-blond
Eye colour	Grey
House	Slytherin
Blood Purity	Pure-blood
Loyalty	Death Eater (presumed)
Film portrayer	Tom Felton
First appearance	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Draco Malfoy (born 5 June, 1980¹) is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books.

Draco is in Slytherin House, as were all of Malfoys mentioned so far. He is described as a pale-faced boy with white-blond hair, pointed features, and cold grey eyes. As the only child of the family, he is often spoiled.

Draco's first name may be a reference to Draco, the first lawgiver of Athens who created a harsh legal code. Draco also means "dragon" or "snake" in Latin, which is more likely the inspiration for the name. Fittingly, it is also the name of a constellation, in keeping with the tradition of the Black family for naming their children after stars and constellations. The name Malfoy is derived from the French mal foi or mal foy, meaning "evil" and "faith" respectively.

Draco is played by Tom Felton in the films.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 Background
2 Role in the stories
3 Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter fandom
4 References
5 External links

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Background

Draco's parents are Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy (née Black).


       Phineas Nigellus Black                  
                  :
              Mr and Mrs Black
         _________|________________
         |                        | 
     Mr Black + Mrs Black      Mr Black + Mrs Black      
      ________|_________              __|_______________________________________
      |                |              |                    |                   | 
Sirius Black   Regulus Black    Bellatrix + Rodolphus  Narcissa + Lucius   Andromeda + Ted
                                    Black   Lestrange     Black | Malfoy       Black | Tonks
                                                                |                    |
                                                          Draco Malfoy         Nymphadora Tonks

The Malfoy family is old, aristocratic and clannish, very affluent, and extremely proud of being pure-blooded sorcerers with a very intense dislike for Muggle-born witches and wizards.

Draco first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and unfortunately for him, his attitude strongly reminded Harry of Dudley Dursley, Harry's stupid, bloated cousin. Their dislike for each other became official when Harry refused Draco's offer for friendship: "You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." They have since been very bitter enemies.

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Role in the stories

Draco is a bully who is constantly accompanied by two obtuse Slytherins who follow his every order, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. He is also constantly fawned over by Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin girl in his year.

Draco also enjoys making fun of Ron Weasley for his family's poor financial situation and treats Hermione Granger with utter disdain for being Muggle-born, calling her by the derogatory term Mudblood.

He holds the position of Seeker in the Slytherin Quidditch team, mainly because of his father's generous donation of seven high-quality Nimbus 2001 brooms. He is highly favoured by Severus Snape, the Potions master of Hogwarts, and because of this, Draco often gets away with everything.

In the fourth book it is quite likely that he made, or at least designed, the "Support Cedric Diggory" badges, as he is the first one to show them to Harry.

Draco and Harry tangle repeatedly throughout the series. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Draco joins the Inquisitorial Squad and plays an important part in the discovery of Dumbledore's Army.

Image:Dracocrabbegoylepansy.jpg

Draco Malfoy plays a more important role in Half-Blood Prince. Lord Voldemort orders him to murder Professor Dumbledore, a task at which he ultimately fails (see Battle of Hogwarts). He spends most of the year mending the Vanishing Cabinet at Hogwarts in the Room of Requirement to create a passage between this cabinet and the other in the Wizarding shop Borgin and Burkes, enabling Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts to ensure Albus Dumbledore is killed. Although Harry has always seen Draco as evil, in Half-Blood Prince Draco is seen crying in fear and despair in the lavatory, sure that his failure to carry out Voldemort's orders will result in the murder of his own family. Draco's ultimate inability to commit murder is evidence that he still retains some innocence, according to Dumbledore. It was also revealed in Half-Blood Prince that Draco has become quite proficient in Occlumency, a skill which Harry has so far remained unable to master.

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Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter fandom

Draco Malfoy has developed a cult following amongst some Harry Potter fans for his cunning, ambition, and arrogant streak. He is a popular figure in fan fiction, where he is often portrayed as an anti-hero.

J. K. Rowling has attributed Draco's popularity to Tom Felton and the "bad boy" persona he has on celluloid. Rowling has expressed many times that she thinks fans like the character too much (similar complaints often exist in adapations of books to film, where fans cite a book is 'true' canon). Critical fans agree, feeling Draco is clearly supposed to be an antagonistic force the reader isn't supposed to be fond of and that fans are merely projecting appealing traits onto him. This cynical view may have inspired the derisive term leather-pants Draco. A particular popular story idea involves Hermione and Draco in romantic relationships, but Rowling has noted quite clearly that this would never happen. On the other hand, he has gained some fandom sympathy due to the events in Half-Blood Prince, which imply he is not completely evil.

It is perhaps relevant that, while many adult wizards and witches in the series have names that might be deemed unusual by "Muggle" standards (Albus, Rubeus, Alastor, Nymphadora, etc.), Draco appears to be one of the few Hogwarts students (Luna Lovegood being the only other one) who has such a name; even his followers Crabbe, Goyle, and Parkinson have "conventional" names such as Vincent, Gregory, and Pansy. Though his unusual name is not brought up very often, it probably explains why most other kids refer to him as Draco.

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