Why is Draco an only child

[mfterman]

No: HPFGUIDX 127036



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "B.G." <hambtty at t...> wrote:
> His character is a bit of a wimp in the last film but I don't read
> him that way in the books.


Draco isn't precisely a wimp, but up until the end of book five he has
been kept on a tight leash by his father. Remember that Draco
volunteered to help the Heir of Slytherin in the second book but his
father told him to keep his nose clean.

The Malfoy family, up until the end of book five, has always been
about respectability. No doubt Lucius wasn't pleased with his son's
getting detentions now and then for some of his pranks, but he could
tolerate that since he was building his reputation among his fellow
Slytherins. But Lucius I expect drew the line at being expelled. Draco
was dead meat if that happened, and Lucius would not hesitate to use
the Unforgivable Curses on his boy in that case.

In short, Draco knew that his father would give him hell for doing
anything that could get him expelled and so he kept his nose clean.
Harry was always the one forced into positions where he had to put
everything on the line. Draco was never under those pressures. If
anything, the pressure was on him to play it conservative. As long as
he kept his grades up and his nose reasonably clean, he would inherit
the Malfoy fortune in time.

That promptly ended with Lucius Malfoy captured by the Aurors and
revealed to be a Death Eater. Even if Draco keeps his nose clean and
graduates with a good number of OWLs and NEWTs, who cares? The Malfoy
name is in the mud and no one will deal with the son of a Death Eater
who clearly has been following in his father's footsteps.

At this point, the only hope of restoration of the Malfoy fortunes is
a victory by Voldemort. Draco Malfoy, like his father, now is utterly
dependent on Voldemort for a restoration of what they have lost. And
frankly, it doesn't matter now if Draco gets expelled from Hogwarts so
long as Voldemort wins. Once Voldemort wins, it won't matter how
dubious Draco's history is, as long as he has Voldemort's backing.
Both Draco and Lucius, not to mention Voldemort realize this now.

While this could be the fork on Draco's life, I think he made which
fork he was on clear at the end of OotP. Draco clearly loves his
father (he used the emotionally laden word "dad"). He's going to
commit himself to the path of darkness now, and thanks to his father's
capture, Draco has very little to lose now doing things that can be
very dangerous.

The only reason that he won't be expelled is because Dumbledore will
no more allow Draco to be expelled any more than he would have let the
Ministry expell Harry before. But his Prefect badge is not so secure.
Even Dumbledore might decide that Draco can't carry out that position
anymore, and Snape isn't going to back Draco at this point. His
position on the Quidditch team is also going to be gone. His
popularity among his peers is dead. Few will associate with the son of
a Death Eater other than the other children of Death Eaters.

So we have a boy who's lost almost everything at school, doesn't
particularly care if he's expelled or not, and no longer has to hold
himself back for respectability's sake. I expect that Draco is going
to be persuing the dark arts and becoming a much more dangerous
character for the last two books. I can see him being expelled in book
six for various actions and arriving on the school grounds in the
company of Death Eaters in open battle at the end of book seven.

mfterman