Draco Malfoy Was Probably In Love With Harry Potter

Serena Manzi
Aug 25, 2017 · 4 min read

Okay so that’s minor clickbait. I don’t think he was actually in love with Harry, although there are some hardcore Drarry shippers out there and who am I to judge, (not to mention that this is a real line from the books):

Anyway, I do think that he envied Harry a whole bunch. Which makes total sense, you know, because Harry was orphaned at the tender age of 1, was almost killed at least 12 times a year, had to save the entire world at age 17, not to mention he didn’t figure out something weird was going on until a giant man busted down his door and said “blimey yer literally a fricken wizard Harry”*. Scratch that. He still didn’t get it (see: “I’m a wot?”).

*quote embellished a tad

Makes total sense that Draco would be envious, right? Actually. Yeah, it does! But not for any of those reasons. Cuz like, sure Draco is super wealthy and has the benefits of coming from a pureblood Death Eater fam (aka safe from all dangers literally ever) but he has no real friends. Crabbe and Goyle are pretty much just using him for his name, because as soon as the Malfoys get on Voldy’s bad side, they drop Draco like a hot potato. For real, they set the whole room on fire. Yikes. He also gets no positive attention from his dad, Luscious Locks, and while his mom defies Voldypants with her lie about dead-but-actually-alive-Harry in HP7, she has a very big mansion to take care of. Also, she is a woman so she only counts 78% as much. That’s how that works, right?

Harry however had all sorts of positive attention (even when he didn’t want it, or think he deserved it), and was a truly good person, something I think Draco wants to be, but is too scared. He has the friends and the Quidditch talent, it makes total sense that sad lil’ Draco is jealous. Then Voldemort asks him to do a special task! Murder Dumbledore. That’s when he feels special.

The way Draco sees it, Harry is this nobody half-blood who gets all this unwarranted attention because he didn’t do anything to deserve it. It’s funny because Harry kind of feels the same way. Except, you know, Harry did do that whole not dying thing when Voldemort tried to murder him (although why Voldemort had to use Avada Kedevra as opposed to throwing baby Harry out the window or something is beyond me. He has a knack for the dramatic, I’d say). All the Malfoys kind of loathe Harry because, well, their boss sort of wants him dead. And by sort of, I mean Definitely, Absolutely Wants Him Super, Super Dead. Caps for effect.

So what’s the point of this? Well if you recall yesterday’s post, we talked about the Malfoys a bit. They offer some perspective into why some people do bad things. In HP6 and 7, we get a good look into the Malfoys lives. They are scared. That’s it. And while they do believe in all the racist garbage that Voldemort believes, they would likely never have leveled up from being low key racists (still really horrible) to murdering racists. All it took was one nose-less wizard to speak up about his hatred. Then dozens flocked to his side, ready to show their true colors because they weren’t scared of getting caught. Sound familiar? Just asking.

I said something yesterday that I’d like to reiterate. Where I am capable of seeing how the Malfoys chose their evilness, I in no way can understand how a person repeatedly chooses hatred. We’ve all chosen hatred in small ways, usually as kids but sometimes as grown humans too. I’m talking like making fun of someone or lashing out. Things that humans do, but can come back from with communication and apologies and changing behavior. We all start out with some pretty bad habits. However being a racist or sexist or homophobe, etc. is not on the same level. That’s what I want to make clear. Sure, we are taught those things as a society and they get really institutionalized to the point where we don’t even see it. That’s privilege by the way. Draco was taught that hatred by his own parents. And while I can feel for Draco and appreciate how his position makes him a dynamic character, it’s not excusable for what he does. Also, he’s a giant coward. He’s scared of doing the right thing, and is equally as scared of doing the wrong one (see: won’t kill Dumbledore but still tries to help Voldypants kill Harry cuz he doesn’t want to be killed).

So it’s up to us to individually reject those notions and change ourselves. Pawning off problematic behavior on society is not a viable excuse. In fact, there are no viable excuses. And if we try, we will aboslutely make mistakes along the way. The proper response to those is to apologize and educate ourselves on how to do better. Have a conversation instead of an arguement. But it is not up to the oppressed groups to educate anyone on how not to be a jerk and treat people with basic human decency. It just isn’t. So let’s remember that and try to do our homework before asking questions. Yeah?

If there’s anything Harry Potter can teach us, it’s that love is the answer. To anything; including but not limited to slaying a basilisk, freeing enslaved house-elves (it’s S.P.E.W. not spew!!!), and ridding the human world of evil guys with the incapibility to love. Which is where we will begin tomorrow.

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Serena Manzi

Written by

I like stories & making people laugh. serenamanzi9@gmail.com

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