GUEST POST #5 (PRIYA KARN) "DRACO MALFOY, THE TRUTH BEHIND THE "BAD BOY" LOOK"

We live in an era where appearance is given a higher priority than reality. People judge the “outside” you before even trying to know the real one. Why doesn’t the world at least attempt to know who you actually want to be? Maybe because we are living in a time when it is a lot to ask for a simple candor.

Coming to the “oh-so-perfect-wizard-world,” we see another example of solo appearance judgment: Draco Malfoy. Born in a pure blood family, Draco was taught the importance of being materialistic and to ridicule the muggle-borns from his early childhood. He was never a best friend of the Gryffindor trio. Early in the first year, when he tried to befriend Harry, Harry declined it. This rejection caused Draco to have a strong aversion towards Harry, which lasted till the very end of school. For the first five years of his school, Draco was simply a villain and a coward, who loathed muggle-borns, like Hermione Granger, and wizards born in a lower social status than he was, like Ron Weasley. He even went as far as calling Hermione a “mudblood,” a term truly despised in the wizard world. He helped Professor Umbridge find the whereabouts of the Dumbledore Army by being a member of the Inquisitorial Squad. But behind all these nefarious deeds, somewhere deep inside, laid the real Draco. We come to see this in the sixth year when Draco became a member of the Death Eaters, and Voldemort gave him the task of killing Dumbledore. In order to do this, he had to first repair the Vanishing Cabinet through which he could let the Death Eaters enter Hogwarts who then assist him in killing Dumbledore. He was going through a lot of changes during this phase, both physically and mentally. He turned from being a potent boy with blond hair and gray eyes to being quite thin and having dark circles under his eyes. Although I have to admit, he was still immensely attractive and always will be. He was also so stressed out about his task that we went on to confessing this to Moaning Myrtle in the bathroom. This is when we see “he’s sensitive…and he’s not afraid to show his feelings and cry” as Moaning Myrtle said. Up on the Astronomy Tower, when he had a solid chance of killing Dumbledore, Draco did manage to disarm Dumbledore (making Draco the apparent holder of the Elder Wand) but ultimately lowered his wand unable to kill Dumbledore. Only a fool would question the virtuousness of Draco now. In the seventh year, Draco helped Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the Malfoy Manor by not making their identities obvious when called upon by his family. The Gryffindor trio escaped and Harry succeeded in disarming Draco, making Harry the true holder of the Elder Wand now. It is safe to say that Draco helped in making Harry the master of the Elder Wand, in a way. Just when one of Draco’s friend, Crabbe, was about to kill harry even though Draco kept telling Crabbe not to do so, a Fiendfyre broke out because Crabbe was not able to control his spell. The Gryffindor trio saved Draco, but Crabbe was killed in the process. Despite of Crabbe not obeying Draco, Draco still mourned for his lost friend deeply and was mortified because of his death. One can’t call this compassion “coward.” It was a sign of immaculate friendship.

Draco acted like a villain in the early years because that is what he was raised to be. He can’t help it if he was born in such surrounding. He tried to get out of the wicked zone, and he was quite successful. That eye capturing blond hair and his drooling gray eyes hid the sensitive Draco for years, but he let it out. Astoria is a very fortunate girl to have him as her husband. The playful Draco Malfoy, and yet so magnificently charming is and will always remain a prince from heaven in the Harry Potter series.