Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were natural antagonists in the Harry Potter series. Though by the end of the series they had reached a kind of truce (and built a warmer relationship in follow-up play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), some of their fights were hard - and as the stakes rose and pressures on each intensified, sometimes they were brutal.
Here are the five worst things Draco did to Harry - and five worst things Harry did to Draco.
Draco - Impersonated A Dementor To Try To Give Harry A Flashback
Harry famously fainted on the train to school in his third year at his first encounter with Dementors, and again suffered a high-profile attack on the Quidditch pitch that left him unable to stay on his broom. Draco was not above leveraging Harry’s obvious fear.
Draco and his friends dressed up as Dementors on the day of a Gryffindor Quidditch match in the hopes of causing Harry to lose his composure and the game a second time. The joke was on them, in the end; Harry let loose a Patronus charm designed to combat Dementors that did a number on schoolboys in sheets.
Harry - Repeatedly Publicly Rejected Draco’s Friendship Overtures
When Harry first met Draco, they were both eleven. Draco certainly didn’t make a good impression - he parroted his parents’ prejudiced talking points in Madam Malkin’s, and insulted Harry’s new friend Ron very publicly on the Hogwarts Express (or, in the film version, while awaiting Sorting at Hogwarts).
Harry responded with a total public rejection. Had Harry mustered a softer response, Draco might have been influenced by people other than his parents’ prejudiced circle. Sure, Draco was spoiled and a bit nasty - but at that age, Hermione was bossy, rude, and took ages to grow on Harry as well.
Draco - Encouraged Death Eaters’ Terrorism At The World Cup While Taunting Harry
Draco’s behavior at the Quidditch World Cup was shocking by any measure. In the Goblet of Fire book, Death Eaters began marauding around, floating Muggle victims and menacing game-goers.
As Harry and his friends tried to make their way to safety, Draco stepped in to loudly declare his support toward the violence, sew further fear and confusion, and make it plain that he wished he was participating.
Harry - Knocked Out Draco’s Best Friends And Snuck Into Draco’s Dorm
Harry and his friends may have felt their snooping was justified, but their Polyjuice plot was a huge intrusion on Draco (not to mention the Crabbe and Goyle!)
Harry and Ron knocked Draco’s two closest friends out, stole their clothes, and left them in a cupboard, all in service of sneaking into the password-protected common room of Draco’s house to eavesdrop on him.
Draco - Manufactured And Distributed Potter Stinks Badges
Harry had many troubles during the Triwizard Tournament, not least the stress of enduring constant public rejection by his own schoolmates before the first task. Naturally, Draco was a ringleader of the jeering.
Not content to tease Harry in person, Draco went out of his way to display and distribute Potter Stinks badges across the school. That way, students could constantly remind Harry that he was disliked without saying a word.
Harry - Repeatedly Assulated Draco During Umbridge’s Tenure
Harry wasn’t able to keep his temper - or keep his hands to himself - in Order of the Phoenix. Draco was certainly not blameless - his insults toward the elder Weasleys and Harry’s deceased mother were in very poor taste - but it was Fred, George, and Harry who turned an exchange of insults into a physical brawl.
Later, Draco went off half-cocked after his father was arrested for his part in the battle at the Department of Mysteries. Though Draco started the fight, Harry and friends responded with overwhelming force, leaving Draco and his friends in an almost unrecognizable state.
Draco - Joined The Inquisitorial Squad And Busted Dumbledore’s Army
Draco’s conduct in Year Five was particularly rancid. Draco and his friends wholeheartedly backed the surveillance-state antics of Dolores Umbridge. Draco got plenty of enjoyment out of petty power plays and taking house points - actions that could sympathetically be read as enforcing school rules.
Draco crossed the line in his efforts to root out and break up the D.A., eventually resulting in Harry’s capture. Draco was clearly surveilling Harry and intensified the dangers Umbridge posed to the school gleefully.
Harry - Fed Draco’s Paranoia And Drove Him To Extremes
Seen from Draco’s perspective, Harry’s constant rulebreaking at school that went generally unpunished and often rewarded created an unequal playing field where students like Draco would never be able to succeed. Harry’s periodic forays into surveilling Draco or the Slytherins intensified Draco’s perception that Harry would never be happy unless Draco failed.
Draco’s parents put him under considerable pressure that ratcheted up exponentially after Voldemort became displeased with Lucius. The stress - and often-clumsy interference from Harry over low-stakes conflicts - put Draco under additional pressure to act as something like the other side’s Harry Potter, driving Draco to extremes he might never have otherwise reached.
Draco - Petrified Harry And Kicked Him In The Face
Draco’s actions on the train to school in his sixth year were his cruelest. Harry had crept into the Slytherins’ compartment to eavesdrop. Draco suspected as much and lagged behind his disembarking friends.
Draco fired off a full body-bind curse, rendering Harry totally helpless. Draco then kicked Harry repeatedly in the face and left him on the floor, bleeding and covered in his Invisibility Cloak so he would not be found and helped.
Harry - Slit Draco Open With Sectumsempra
Perhaps the most shocking act Harry every committed was the offhand use of a curse that, unbeknownst to him, Severus Snape had been developing as he made his original slide into becoming a Death Eater.
Ignorance is no excuse - Hermione spent a great deal of time during Harry’s sixth year warning him about the possible pitfalls or evil origins of his oh-so-helpful potions book. Harry might not have known what would happen when he shouted a spell “for enemies,” but he should have known that it was likely to be very unpleasant. Sectumsempra left Draco bleeding, at risk of death, and in terrible pain.
