The Malfoys are a wealthy and fantastically arrogant pure-blood family. They are the foils to the main heroes, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who hail from more humble backgrounds. There’s also the little fact that the Malfoys were big supporters of the fiendish and powerful wizard Lord Voldemort. As Voldemort slowly regained his power throughout the series, so too did the Malfoys become more serious threats to our heroes and the Wizarding World.
However, the end of the final novel, Deathly Hallows, left the Malfoys in a strange place. Sure, they could not be considered heroes in the traditional sense, but the psychological mistreatment Voldemort inflicted upon them in the last two Potter novels meant that the Malfoys were captives more than anything else. And if not for Narcissa Malfoy’s unconditional love for her son, Draco, Harry Potter would probably not have succeeded in bringing down Voldemort for good. But, it’s undeniable that the Malfoys were driven purely by self-interest until the end. With the threat of Voldemort’s wrath no longer hanging over their well-groomed platinum blond heads following Deathly Hallows, they could’ve renounced their old ways or slithered back into the shadows to plot more sinister deeds. Did Draco and Harry’s fundamental mutual enmity change following the relatively happy ending of Deathly Hallows, especially considering that Harry saved Draco’s life? Did Draco manage to leave behind the tainted Malfoy and become his own man? And how did they manage to avoid Azkaban?
Here are 20 Weird Things The Malfoys Did After Deathly Hallows.
They Managed To Avoid Azkaban After The Battle of Hogwarts
As fans know, the Battle of Hogwarts was the exciting climax to Deathly Hallows. It was a prolonged scene of magical warfare between Voldemort, his followers, the Death Eaters, Harry Potter, and the students and teachers of Hogwarts. Naturally, the good won out in the end thanks to Harry defeating Voldemort with the remaining Death Eaters fleeing the school.
With the Malfoys reluctantly being a part of the Death Eaters, with even Draco and his flunkies being active participants during the battle, just how did they manage to avoid imprisonment in Azkaban? It’s true that Narcissa and Draco were more innocent than Malfoy patriarch Lucius, however, Lucius managed to avoid sentencing by naming names and providing information to the Ministry of Magic on the whereabouts of the surviving Death Eaters.
Draco Married A Pure-Blood Witch
Most of the main characters were paired up and, perhaps a little too predictably, remained happily married even many years after Deathly Hallows: Hermione married Ron and Harry married Ginny. However, Draco Malfoy married pure-blood witch Astoria Greengrass. We never got a glimpse of Astoria throughout the main series, but she was in the background somewhere as a Hogwarts student only a couple of years below Draco.
Although Astoria Greengrass is not present all that much during the events of TheCursed Child, set decades after Deathly Hallows, it’s obvious that this marriage had a profoundly positive impact on his character and general temperament. It’s a marriage that should certainly be explored somewhere down the line as it marks a positive turning point for a character who heretofore had only been an unsavory antagonist.
Draco Had A Tense Relationship with His Family
With Narcissa Malfoy’s love for her son being her only redeeming trait, and with Draco’s constant mutterings of: “My father will hear about this,” it’s obvious that, for all their numerous flaws, the Malfoys were a very close family throughout the Harry Potter series.
Amusingly, their familial bonds weakened when Draco married Astoria Greengrass. While she was a pure-blood witch, and definitely a mate with the right genes for a Malfoy, her views on Muggles and Muggle-borns made the elder Malfoys extraordinarily uncomfortable, especially during family dinners. Even those who aren’t explicit magical partisans in the Wizarding World tend to harbor some opinion against Muggles and generally regard them with condescension. In this way, Astoria is a unique person. Consequently, Lucius and Narcissa didn’t factor in Draco’s life.
Draco and Astoria Had A Child
Draco and Astoria named their child the faintly sinister-sounding Scorpius. Much like Draco and Lucius, he had blonde hair, gray eyes, and a pointed noise. Unlike Draco, though, and most likely Lucius too, Scorpius led somewhat of a sad life prior to his first year at Hogwarts; he was isolated in Malfoy Manor and had no interactions with kids his own age, leaving him socially ill-equipped. He spent much of his childhood learning about the history of the Wizarding World and reading much about Harry Potter and his part in the Second Wizarding War.
Also unlike Draco and Lucius, Scorpius wasn’t raised to harbor the same views toward Muggles and Muggle-borns. He grew up to be uncomfortable in social situations, but otherwise, had a keen emotional intelligence that even the golden trio of Ron, Harry, and Hermione lacked.
Draco Became A Widower
Astoria’s life was doomed to be cut short before she was even born. Astoria’s ancestors were stricken with a blood curse for unknown reasons, which meant that Astoria would inherit a frail body. It’s a kind of wizard cancer (do wizards even get cancer in Harry Potter?).
Astoria knew she wasn’t going to live long in the world and didn’t want her husband Draco to be left alone. This was a huge motivation for them to conceive Scorpius. However, in a tragic twist, the birth of Scorpius likely sped up her demise. During her son’s third year at Hogwarts, Astoria passed away, leaving Draco and Scorpius heartbroken. For his part, Draco never remarried or showed any interest in another potential mate. He poured all of his energies into raising Scorpius right.
Draco Proved to Be A More Stable Father Than Harry
This one might sound a little unfair. After all, Harry didn’t love his son, Albus, any less than Draco loved Scorpius. But, Harry struggled mightily with Albus in ways that Draco never did with Scorpius.
Albus Potter, Harry’s middle child, and seemingly unable to get out of his father’s shadow, often clashed with his father. Harry, in one surprising instance of poor impulse control, told Albus during one of their many fights that he sometimes wished Albus wasn’t his boy. And while Draco is all for the Malfoy/Potter friendship that Albus and Scorpius have going on, Harry is hesitant and tells Albus he isn’t to hang around Scorpius anymore, who at this point, is Albus’ only friend. This is a move that causes Draco to clash with Harry again, only this time, righteousness is on Draco’s side.
Draco and Harry’s Reconciliation
Fans can agree that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child missed the mark in more ways than one. But, one storytelling choice that enriched the mythos was Harry and Draco moving past their feud. In many ways, The Cursed Child was the story of Draco Malfoy’s redemption; the redemption through the good kid he raised and through simply being a kinder person.
For example, when Draco and Harry are forced to work together to find their missing sons, Draco offers Harry some good advice, urging him to make up with Albus before it’s too late. Keep in mind that he really gains nothing from giving his former arch-nemesis some advice, it simply struck him as the decent thing to do. The man has come a long way since sneering at everyone he considered beneath him.
Scorpius Hero-Worshipped Harry Potter
Although he was an arch-rival of his father back in their school days, Scorpius unabashedly hero-worshipped Harry Potter before he even met his son, Albus Potter, on the Hogwarts Express.
This isn’t totally surprising, considering Harry Potter became a huge celebrity for merely surviving Voldemort as an infant. Harry would be in all of the books, many of which Scorpius read as a young boy, no doubt, for vanquishing Voldemort for good as a 17-year-old. This also implies that Draco never spoke ill of Harry, which in and of itself, is sort of remarkable, considering they weren’t close to being friends at that point in time. Later on, Scorpius even mentions to Albus that simply being friends with Harry Potter’s son is an amazing thing.
Scorpius and Albus’ Friendship
In almost every way, Albus Potter was designed to be the inverse of Harry Potter; he was a Slytherin, he never considered Hogwarts to be his home, and his best and only friend was a Malfoy.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s enduring, and sometimes complicated, friendship was part of what made Harry Potter so appealing. The Cursed Child wisely picked up and expanded on this thread, making Scorpius Malfoy and Albus Potter’s friendship the heart of The Cursed Child’s time-traveling shenanigans and father-issue storylines. Though Albus and Scorpius are dealing with the different complicated legacies of their respective father’s, their solace in each other is as uncomplicated and pure as it gets. Their fraternal bond runs so deep that, somewhat regrettably, it’s a rare thing in the realm of fantasy fiction.
Draco and Harry Duel Again
The old enmity between Draco and Harry is reignited in The Cursed Child, albeit briefly, when Harry implies to Draco that Scorpius might not be his son. They draw wands in Harry’s house and begin firing jinxes at one another.
It’s an interesting little rematch, even though it’s more about the two men expressing frustration with each other rather than fighting in a life or demise situation. They were about evenly matched in school, despite Harry now being the Head of Magical Law Enforcement and becoming Head Auror at 26, they remain evenly matched in a duel. It’s a funny little scene that ends up a little too real when Harry just ends up throwing a chair at Malfoy. Professor McGonagall would be super displeased at this example of “Muggle Dueling.”
Scorpius Had A Crush On Rose, Ron and Hermione’s Child
People often give Star Wars a hard time for having everything be so interconnected and small. However, the most fiendish man in the galaxy being the father of the hero, and Leia being revealed to be Luke’s long lost sister has nothing on the interconnectedness of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World post Deathly Hallows. It stretches credulity to say the least, even in a world of magic.
For instance, Draco’s son Scorpius harbors a crush on Ron and Hermione’s child, Rose Weasley, while also being best friends with Albus Potter, Harry and Ginny’s middle child. This situation is a little too cute for its own good, though The Cursed Child was wise enough not to pair them up, with Rose Weasley hilariously regarding the eager Scorpius with disinterest.
The Reason For Scorpius’ Outcast Status
When Scorpius Malfoy first attends Hogwarts, he’s mistreated and shunned for a very strange reason. Rumors can be wicked and untrue, but nothing seems more harsh than saying Draco Malfoy used the time-turner so that Voldemort could impregnate his wife Astoria. It’s a laughable assumption. For one, Scorpius is the spitting image of Draco, and secondly, why would Voldemort ever consent to such a thing? Is he even capable? Does he have the necessary, um… equipment? (That particular question is actually answered in the climax, much to the consternation of many Potter fans).
It’s an effective plot device to get the reader/audience to sympathize with Scorpius very quickly, but the logic of it is so pretzel-shaped and odd that it makes it difficult to take The Cursed Child seriously as a Harry Potter sequel.
Draco Still Lives In Malfoy Manor
The Malfoy Manor served as Lord Voldemort’s headquarters during the Second Wizarding War. Although it was undoubtedly a happy home to grow up in, who wouldn’t love to be raised in a mansion?, but it was the site for an endless parade of difficult experiences for Draco in his seventh year at Hogwarts as he was being forced to watch one of his Hogwarts teachers get Avada Kedavra’d and then removed by a large snake.
With Draco making more strides away from his family, it wouldn’t be surprising if he never made visits to the old manor again. And yet, oddly enough, he opted to live there well into his adulthood with Astoria and Scorpius.
Draco Collects Dark Artifacts
It’s true that as an adult, Draco doesn’t harbor the same views his family did and proved to be a much better man and father than Lucius ever was, but there was nonetheless a few nefarious aspects to Draco’s character.
Aside from living in Malfoy Manor, Draco has kept up the family tradition of collecting Dark Magic artifacts. The artifacts in Harry Potter are unquestionably dangerous and can only be used to inflict pain. Examples include Voldemort’s Horcruxes, the Crushing Cabinet from Borgin and Burkes, and Umbridge’s Quill. Why Draco continues to collect objects like these is never answered, but it does add some necessary mystique and is a tantalizing hint that the Malfoy trait isn’t out of the man completely.
Draco Felt Weird That Harry Saved His Life
In The Cursed Child, Draco had no problem with healthily confronting or sometimes chumming around in a rival-like way with Harry Potter. Similarly, Harry Potter had no beef with Draco and treated him with a degree of cordiality in their interactions.
But between Deathly Hallows and The Cursed Child, how they related to one another was weird indeed. Although they were nowhere near being friends, considering their history together, they could no longer be so bitter to one another after they saved each other’s lives in Deathly Hallows. A curt nod of acknowledgement was all that could be summoned in the Deathly Hallows. It was a crucial stepping stone for Harry and Draco to put aside their troubled history and become the mature fathers who would save their sons in The Cursed Child.
Draco Never Got A Job
The Malfoys have generational wealth and not much of a need for traditional jobs. Well, Lucius Malfoy had a kind of “job” as a governor on the school board (i.e. an influencer with the money to back it up) and was said to have given “very generous donations” with regards to Minister Fudge’s regime. His job appeared to have been to sow seeds of corruption.
But, Draco Malfoy isn’t entirely resistant to the Malfoy legacy; he likes the money and the fancy houses well enough and supports his own family through these means. However, just because he doesn’t have a job doesn’t mean Draco doesn’t have his ambitions (he is a Slytherin after all). In addition to collecting Dark Magic artifacts, he does pursue several hobbies that may hint at something important.
Lucius Invented A New Time-Turner
In The Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione Granger used an object called a time-turner that allowed her to fulfill her overstuffed school timetable. The rules of time travel weren’t explored in too much detail, but the consequences of messing with time irresponsibly were dangerous, and the time-turners could only be used to go back in time by five hours.
With the remaining stock of time-turners smashed during the Battle at the Department of Mysteries, it seemed like J.K. Rowling had put a cap on the time-traveling shenanigans. For anyone who knows even a cursory fact about The Cursed Child, you know that time traveling plays a major role in the plot. And in fact, Lucius Malfoy, in true Malfoy fashion, was revealed to have created a gold-plated time-turner that could go back years in time.
Draco Studied Alchemy Intensely
Draco Malfoy was always a talented wizard. In school, he proved particularly adept in the art of potions, dueling, and even Occlumency: the art of shielding your mind from mind readers, which is a skill many adult wizards have difficulty mastering. He usually gave Harry a run for his money with regards to one-on-one battles, too.
Post Hogwarts, Draco’s study only intensified. Far from slacking off and enjoying the Malfoy money, Draco took to studying the art of alchemy. However, according to J.K. Rowling, his study of alchemy has less to do with attaining power for himself and is more about “a wish to become a better man.” What this means isn’t exactly clear, but aside from Nicolas Flamel, alchemy is one of the few unexplored areas of magic in the Harry Potter series.
Draco Became Enormously Talented In Transfiguration
The type of magic that alters the form of objects or creatures, Transfiguration, is more scientific than other forms of magic; it takes hard work and a keen mind. Many passages in the earlier Harry Potter books were devoted to Harry and Ron being unable to perform a Transfiguration spell, while Hermione would usually figure it out by the third go.
But, it’s clear that in the years after Deathly Hallows, Draco became talented in this branch of magic. At the climax of The Cursed Child, with a complicated plot involving Harry Potter having to disguise himself as Lord Voldemort, Draco proves very useful by transfiguring Harry into a reasonable representation of the Dark Lord himself. Considering Voldemort’s inhuman features, this is an impressive feat of magic indeed.
Draco Admitted to Being Jealous of The Golden Trio’s Friendship
In one of the instances of Malfoy proving his uncharacteristic maturity, he professes his envy at Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s enduring friendship.
It isn’t surprising, considering Draco had a friend in two personality-free dolts, Crabbe and Goyle. He explicitly says to Harry: “You, the three of you, you shone, you know? You liked each other. You had fun. I envied those friendships more than anything else.” It’s a worthy bit of character development and it kept with the continuity in ways other aspects of The Cursed Child didn’t. If Draco’s arc in Deathly Hallows hammered any point home, it was that having “followers” like Crabbe and Goyle was a pitiable substitute for friendship; considering his followers nearly had him eliminated and it was the three friends who saved his life.
–
Are there any other facts about the Malfoys post Deathly Hallows that we missed? Comment and let us know!