Draco Malfoy: Shades of Grey

[Erin Jacobson]

No: HPFGUIDX 32942

This is something I jotted down in a notebook of mine. I call it an essay, 
but it's more just ramblings. I say this because there are some things in 
here that would make most die-hard Potter fans say, "Well, duh!" :)


After reading all of the "Harry Potter" books about a million times, I've 
begun to have sympathy and real sorrow for Draco Malfoy. It's obvious what a 
sad person he really is. He was very spoiled growing up, from his parents. 
And yet, it shows that they never showed Draco love. Not the kind of love 
that could have saved Harry Potter's life from Voldemort, or the kind of 
love Ron Weasley gets from his parents. Or even the love Hermoine Granger 
gets from her Muggle parents. Narcissa, Draco's mother, showed her love 
through material things. Draco probably looked for acceptance from Lucius 
Malfoy, his father, but did not receieve any. His evil attitudes emerged 
from the prejudice his parents, former Death Eaters (followers of Lord 
Voldemort), but also from copying his father's attutide, to impress him.

We get the first clues of Draco's troubled home life in "Chamber of 
Secrets". Harry has landed in a Dark Arts store by mistake, and he Draco and 
Lucius arrive. This is the first time the reader has been introduced to 
Lucius, and the first time we see Draco with family. While at the shop, all 
Lucius can do is critisize Draco. Even though Draco got some of the highest 
grades in his year, he did not surpass Hermione, a "filthy Muggle born" 
girl, according to the Malfoys.

So now we can pretty much assume that Draco gets no acceptance from Lucius 
at home. The only other place Draco has to gain self-worth is at Hogwarts 
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, among his Slytherin crowd. The only 
friends Draco has at Hogwarts are Crabbe and Goyle. From the looks of it, I 
doubt that they are true friends. Draco probably has no one he can really 
talk to there. Most everyone knows of the Malfoy family, and of their 
connection with Voldemort. Just as Draco is prejudice against Hermione and 
Ron at first glance, others are prejudice against Draco, simply because of 
what family he was born into. No wonder he doesn't want to go to Hogwarts!

Also at Hogwarts, Draco is filled with huge amounts of pain. He is upstaged 
by Harry Potter. When Harry and Draco meet again, on the Hogwarts Express, 
Draco tries to pursuede Harry to joining his group. Knowing Draco, this is 
for personal gain. Just think of the glory Draco could have with Harry 
Potter in his group. But Harry declines, saying he knows the right sort of 
friends to be with. This angers Draco, as has now been rejected by the most 
famous boy wizard in the world. He realizes he will now have someone to 
compete against.

Draco is jealous of Harry in other ways, besides Harry's easy gain in 
popularity. For, even though he has a nasty disposition and is in Slytherin, 
Draco (almost) always follows the rules, and gets top notch grades. Time 
after time, though, Harry breaks the rules and seems to get promoted for 
them. In "Sorcerer's Stone", Draco sets Harry up by stealing Neville 
Longbottom's Remembrall, and Harry falls into his trap by chasing him on the 
broomstick---a feat he was not supposed to do and could have resulted in 
grave consequences. Harry is caught, but instead of being punished, Harry 
gets a spot as Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Not only is he the 
Seeker, but he's the youngest Seeker the school has seen in 100 years and he 
gets the greatest broom, the Nimbus 2000, by Prof. McGonagall! Just earlier 
in the novel, Draco commented on how he wishes for a spot on the Slytherin 
Quidditch team. Draco doesn't make it until Chamber of Secrets, a full year 
later. For a child whom gets spoiled his whole life, this is a devestating 
blow. As would be anyone who has high expectations.

I don't hate Draco the way others do. Kids in Harry's age group look at 
their peers in terms of black and white: they're either good or bad. Sure, 
there are times when Draco goes too far, like when he makes Hagrid's first 
teaching period a living Hell in Prisioner of Azkaban, or his uncaring and 
viscious remark about Cedric Diggory at the end of Goblet of Fire. But we 
must understand that it's not easy being Draco, a child born into an evil 
family, whether he wanted to or not. Now that Lucius Malfoy has joined 
alliances with Voldemort, it won't get any better for Draco. He's not a good 
kid, by any means. But he isn't a bad kid, either. There's more to meets the 
eye when it comes to an "evil" kid like Draco Malfoy.


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