Draco Lucius Malfoy

Parents

• Family: Married
  • Father: Lucius Abraxas Malfoy
  • Mother: Narcissa Black

Analysis

Draco is a coward, a bully, and a very conflicted young man. Over the course of the last two books, he is essentially forced to face the fact that a world under the rule of a "Dark Lord" is not the utopia that he has been raised to believe it would be. This is not to say that he wakes up and actually reforms though, nothing about Draco is ever that simple.

To understand where Draco ends up, you have to contrast the last two times, not counting the epilogue, that we see him.

• In Chapter 23 of the Deathly Hallows we see this picture of Draco:

  “I can’t — I can’t be sure,” said Draco. He was keeping his distance from Greyback, and seemed as scared of looking at Harry as Harry was of looking at him.¹

  The passage continues, and Draco refuses to definitively identify either Ron or Hermione, even though neither of them are in any way disguised, and his parents have already tentatively done so.

• In Chapter 31, we see a somewhat more assertive version of Draco.

  He had already stretched out his hand, though he remained ten feet away, when a voice behind him said, “Hold it, Potter.”

  He skidded to a halt and turned around. Crabbe and Goyle were standing behind him, shoulder to shoulder, wands pointing right at Harry. Through the small space between their jeering faces he saw Draco Malfoy.²

  Here Draco does act as a restraining influence on Crabbe and Goyle, but they would not have been there at all if not for him. He is the instigating force behind this act, looking for revenge for the slight of having his wand taken from him.

Why is Draco so hesitant in the first case, and so much more assertive in the second? Is it really just that he is upset about the personal "insult" of losing his wand? If so, there is no true turning away from the violence and torture his family has embraced, for surely he must know that the situation has not changed for the target (Harry).

In the first scene, Draco's family is oppressed, his father is struggling for control with his aunt, and both (his father and aunt) in fear of Riddle's disfavour. In the second scene, Draco has a clear shot at personally winning that same favour. The path to victory seems clear, and his self confidence is back.