J.K. Rowling was very surprised to learn that the main baddie in the Harry Potter book series, Draco Malfoy, had a lot of fans. But later, she explained this phenomenon by saying, “Draco has all the dark glamour of an anti-hero. Girls are very apt to romanticize such people.”
Bright Side is sure that not only is Draco handsome but he also committed a handful of good deeds — and we’ve found 9 pieces of evidence that prove it to be true! In the bonus section, we’ll show you that J.K. Rowling never doubted that Draco would end up on the good side.
1. Draco wanted to be friends with Harry.
Since the first time these 2 characters met, Draco was very interested in Harry and offered him his friendship right away. But Draco didn’t make the best first impression, so Harry abruptly declined his offer. There’s a theory that Draco started to bully Harry because of his wounded pride.
By the way, in the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which tells a story of the grownup characters, Draco reveals that he always envied Harry because he had real friends.
2. He was a good student.
After all, his house, Slytherin, won the first House Cup getting significantly more points than the rest of the houses. Draco’s professor, Severus Snape, also celebrated this victory — although, he was very stingy with praise.
3. Draco warned Hermione about the attack.
During the Quidditch World Cup, Draco warned Hermoine about the danger with his natural sarcasm. He said, “Hadn’t you better be hurrying along, now? You wouldn’t like her spotted, would you?” Draco nodded at Hermione, and then he explained, “Granger, they’re after Muggles. Do you want to be showing off your knickers in mid-air? Because if you do, hang around...they’re moving this way.”
Although it sounded rude, it was enough to make Hermoine and her friends go in a different direction to look for the rest of the Weasley family.
4. He didn’t want to kill Dumbledore.
In the sixth book, it looked like Draco initiated Dumbledore’s murder on purpose. Hogwarts’ headmaster noted himself: “Forgive me, Draco, but they have been feeble attempts... So feeble, to be honest, that I wonder whether your heart has been really in it.” In the movie, Draco was putting his magic wand down, but Snape came in and finished what Draco started.
5. Draco took care of his parents.
Draco agreed to complete Lord Voldemort’s dangerous task to save his family from revenge for the mistakes of his father, Lucius Malfoy. Draco said to Dumbledore, “I haven’t got any options! I’ve got to do it! He’ll kill me! He’ll kill my whole family!”
6. He was friends with a mudblood.
In the sixth book, Draco became friends with Moaning Myrtle even though she was a mudblood when she was alive. This means that she was born to a family of ordinary people and not wizards.
Myrtle said that Draco is very sensitive. When she met Harry, she described her new friend by saying, “He feels lonely and hasn’t got anybody to talk to, and he’s not afraid to show his feelings and cry!”
7. Draco was trying to save his friends from Lord Voldemort too.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Draco pretended that he didn’t recognize Harry, who was mutilated by the spell, to win some time and save him from Voldemort. Draco also didn’t let his friends kill Harry in the Room of Requirement where he was looking for one of the Horcruxes. It looks like Draco wanted to help Harry finish what he started.
8. He loved his wife.
Draco turned out to be a good husband. In the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, he loses his wife and becomes a widower. He’s a single father who takes care of his son and often tells him about how much he misses his wife, Astoria.
He told his son, “You know what I loved most about your mother? She could always help me find light in the darkness. She made the world — my world, anyway — less — what was the word you used — murky.”
9. 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 father’s 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.
Bonus: Draco Malfoy’s wand
The important magical item, the magic wand, proves that Draco has always been on the bright side. Malfoy's wand with a core of unicorn hair can barely be used for the Dark Arts, according to J.K. Rowling.
What other positive qualities do you think Draco Malfoy has?
