In Harry Potter, there are many characters that start out on the side of the dark arts and have somewhat of a redemption arc. One notable example of this is Draco Malfoy. While his redemption arc doesn’t get as much attention as Snape’s, he was also quite young when he got pulled into the side of the Death Eaters because of his parents. He grows up to be not nearly as bad as he was raised to be. And, even during the series, he has some heroic moments.
However, Draco also has a lot of inherent flaws and can be quite harmless in how he acts. So, we’ve collected a list of the five times Draco was totally shameless and the five times he was actually heroic.
SHAMELESS: SENDING THE SNAKE AT HARRY DURING THE DUELING CLUB
Draco Malfoy has it out for Harry as soon as Harry rejects his friendship. From there on, he is always looking to get him in trouble or hurt him. One of the most shameless things he does toward Harry happens in their second year. When these two go up against each other in the dueling club, Draco does something shameless and out of line when he sets a live snake on Harry.
HEROIC: NOT KILLING DUMBLEDORE
When Draco is tasked by Voldemort to kill Dumbledore, it’s clearly because he’s trying to punish Luscious Malfoy. This isn’t something that Draco would normally do, but he’s very much trapped as he would be killed if he just outright said no. However, even when he had Dumbledore in front of him and had the chance to kill him, he couldn’t do it. While this might not exactly be heroic, it at least shows that Draco doesn’t have murder in his heart.
SHAMELESS: FEEDING INFORMATION TO RITA SKEETER
Most of Draco’s most shameless moments have to do with him trying to screw Harry over. He is always shamelessly and overtly trying to make fun of Harry or get him into trouble.
So, when he starts telling private information about Harry and the people Harry cares about, it’s kind of par for the course. He is super brazen about sharing private information and thinks it’s funny that this information hurts people and messes up their lives.
HEROIC: WHEN HE (MISGUIDEDLY) TRIED TO BE HARRY’S FRIEND
Draco as a young kid is someone who has been raised to be extremely spoiled and arrogant. He’s been taught his whole life to see himself as better than others and to be judgmental and bigoted. So, while he might be rather misguided in how he approaches Harry and puts down Ron, there is a part of him that wants to have friends. Maybe in a different family situation, he would have turned out much better.
SHAMELESS: BEING VERY BIGOTED AND A BULLY SUCH AS WHEN HE CALLED HERMIONE A MUDBLOOD
One of the things that Malfoy does in the Harry Potter series that’s really hard to forgive is when he calls Hermione a mudblood. He also displays a lot of bigoted behaviors towards her and other Muggle-borns, but this is the most overt single example.
He has no shame about calling her this, and he doesn’t expect to face any consequences for it. It’s clear he thinks it’s fine to act like this.
HEROIC: BEING A BETTER PARENT THAN HIS PARENTS WERE
While we don’t actually see that much about Draco as a parent in the actual series, even in the epilogue it appears that he’s a kinder father than his father was to him. And, the portrayal of Draco in the Cursed Child play shows that he is a better parent. He has at least tried to be better than what he was raised to be. This shows that he at least has some part of him that’s not bad.
SHAMELESS: BECOMING A MEMBER OF THE INQUISITORIAL SQUAD
Of all the shameless things that Draco does while he’s at Hogwarts, joining the Inquisitorial Squad is one of the worst. Draco clearly enjoys being able to be overtly awful and bully his fellow students.
He is thrilled to be able to get people like Harry in trouble and to take points away from any students that he doesn’t like. He is someone who shamelessly gets excited by any amount of power that allows him to abuse other people.
HEROIC: WHEN HE HELPED THE TRIO DEFEAT DELPHINI
Now, this is something that happens after the series is over. But, when looking at content that was produced after the series, it’s clear that Draco has come a long way from the person he was as a kid. During the events of Cursed Child, Draco joins up with the trio to help defeat Delphini, the daughter of Voldemort and Bellatrix. This is definitely a big change from how he was as a kid and what he was taught to be by his parents.
SHAMELESS: BEING FINE WITH MUGGLES BEING TORTURED AND OPPRESSED
While Draco might grow to care more about fighting dark witches and wizards, as a kid he totally supports them. He thinks it’s funny when the Muggles are tortured at the Quidditch World Cup, and he also talks about hoping that the Heir of Slytherin will kill Muggle-borns when the Chamber of Secrets is opened. He has no shame about talking about these things in front of many of his classmates.
HEROIC: NOT TELLING THE DEATH EATERS WHO HARRY, RON, AND HERMIONE WERE
When Harry, Ron, and Hermione are captured by Bellatrix, Draco is there. He is asked to identify if Harry, who has been disfigured so he isn’t easily identifiable, is actually Harry. It’s clear that Draco knows who Ron and Hermione are, and he also seems to know quite clearly who Harry is. However, he doesn’t give them up or confirm this. While this might be done out of apathy, it does end up saving them, so, at least in some sense, it’s a heroic move.
