15 Draco Malfoy Facts You May Not Know If You Skipped Reading The Books

1. Malfoy befriends Moaning Myrtle

It’s unclear if Malfoy ever knew that Moaning Myrtle was the ghost of a Muggle-born witch, but he begins a friendship with her in Half-Blood Prince. Myrtle, who is hurt after Ron makes fun of her and Harry doesn’t defend her, takes a shining toward Malfoy when he visits her bathroom to find solitude.

Myrtle even begins to fall for him because he treats her like a regular person. Malfoy also confides in Myrtle about his fear of potentially failing at his mission, which makes Myrtle a true confidante.

After the duel between Malfoy and Harry in the bathroom, when Harry uses the bloody Sectumsempra spell, it’s Myrtle who screams for help to aid Malfoy because she assumes Harry has killed him.

2. Malfoy is the smartest Slytherin in his year.

Malfoy in the movies is portrayed as something of a nitwit until the sixth film, but he’s brighter in the source material. Although Malfoy doesn’t reach the lofty standards set by Hermione Granger, he’s more skilled than you might think.

The majority of Slytherin students are depicted as unintelligent brutes, including Crabbe and Goyle, but Malfoy is an exception. Tellingly, Malfoy is one of only a handful of Slytherin students to make it to the N.E.W.T. Potions class when other students fail.

He also passes Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts with “Exceeds Expectations” at the O.W.L. level. Malfoy is weaker than Harry and Ron in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but he doesn’t have the advantage of the Dumbledore’s Army lessons the other two did.

3. Malfoy gets beaten up after insulting the mothers of Harry And George Weasley

Malfoy is livid after Slytherin’s match against Gryffindor in Order of the Phoenix because he loses the Snitch to Harry yet again. Knowing that Dolores Umbridge despises Harry, Malfoy begins to provoke the latter by repeatedly insulting Harry’s stay at the Weasleys – he specifically takes shots at Mrs. Weasley, which angers Fred and George Weasley.

Realizing that Harry is restraining himself, Malfoy then insults Harry’s deceased mother, which leads an enraged Harry to pounce on Malfoy.

Malfoy is then attacked further when George joins in; the pair end up breaking Malfoy’s nose before Umbridge intervenes.

Malfoy gets the last laugh when Umbridge bans Harry, George, and Fred from Quidditch permanently.

4. Malfoy becomes Rita Skeeter’s snitch

During Goblet of Fire, reporter Rita Skeeter learns a great deal of inside information about the Hogwarts students’ lives. Harry spots Malfoy talking to his hand at one point and is puzzled by what he witnesses.

Rita is eventually revealed as an Animagus who can turn into a beetle and was perched in Malfoy’s palm when Harry saw them. Malfoy is the one who provides Rita with all the dirt she needs on Harry and his friends that she then twists into libel for the Daily Prophet.

Malfoy has nothing to gain from this arrangement other than satisfaction at causing distress to Harry because Rita’s writing turns the public’s opinion against him and his friends.

5. Malfoy is the fist wizarding student Harry meets.

Harry’s first meeting with a child from the Wizarding World takes place in Diagon Alley, where he runs into Draco Malfoy. Both boys are in Madam Malkin’s shop trying on school robes, and are left by themselves at one point, prompting Malfoy to strike up a conversation.

Harry instantly gets a bad impression from Malfoy because he refers to Hagrid as a servant and sneers at Harry’s friendship with someone who isn’t wealthy.

Malfoy goes on to grill Harry about his parentage, voicing his relief that Harry has magical parents – Harry doesn’t tell him his maternal grandparents were Muggles due to the bad vibe he gets from Malfoy.

Malfoy never gets a chance to learn Harry’s identity because their conversation is interrupted, and it isn’t until they meet on the Hogwarts Express that he learns who Harry is supposed to be.

7. Malfoy attmepts to ambush Harry for sending his father to prison.

Malfoy’s sneering attitude toward Harry is ended for good after his father is captured by the Ministry because Harry successfully outs Lucius as a Death Eater. Malfoy is filled with vengeance and looks for retribution by going after Harry.

Malfoy’s first attempt is thwarted by Professor McGonagall, so he and his pals try again on the Hogwarts Express. Unfortunately for Malfoy, Dumbledore’s Army members are nearby and set upon Malfoy all at once, which results in him getting knocked out with a horrible deformity on his face until the curses wear off.

8. Malfoy mocks Ron’s Quidditch skills with an improvised song

In the books, Malfoy takes advantage of Ron’s lack of confidence in Order of the Phoenix. After Ron’s poor performance in his debut Quidditch match as the Gryffindor Keeper, Malfoy comes up with a song titled “Weasley Is Our King” that features embarrassing lyrics to mock him.

Everyone in Slytherin House sings the tune during Gryffindor’s Quidditch match against them, which causes Ron to fumble on the field. “Weasley Is Our King” becomes widespread around the school, nearly frustrating Ron enough to quit.

Eventually, Malfoy’s antagonism turns on him when Ron helps Gryffindor wins the Quidditch Cup, and the school alters “Weasley Is Our King” into a song that praises Ron instead.

9. Malfoy dressed up as a Dementor to disrupt a Quidditch game.

In Prisoner of Azkaban, to ensure that Gryffindor won’t have a chance to win the Quidditch Cup, Malfoy interferes in their match against Ravenclaw by trying to take down Harry, the Gryffindor Seeker.

Malfoy and his pals, aware of Harry’s fear of dementors, don cloaks during the match to pretend to be dementors. Malfoy wants Harry to fall from his broom like he did in a previous game due to a dementor, but his plan backfires when Harry hits him with a Patronus charm.

Malfoy and his crew end up hurting themselves when they’re scared by Harry’s Patronus and Professor McGonagall punishes them.

10. Malfoy gets selected as a Slytherin House Prefect and member of the Inquisitorial Squad

Although Malfoy isn’t the high achiever his father was at school, he does follow in his dad’s footsteps to become a prefect. In Order of the Phoenix, Malfoy sneers at Harry when he learns his rival missed out on the honor (Ron is appointed Gryffindor prefect instead), then tries to give Harry detention for nonsensical reasons.

When Malfoy sees that his powers as a prefect have no effect on Harry and Ron, he sucks up to Dolores Umbridge. His pandering reaps him benefits when Umbridge makes him part of her Inquisitorial Squad.

Malfoy goes on to misuse his Inquisitorial Squad authority by stripping the Gryffindors of their house points for unfair reasons.

11. Malfoy becomes a very powerful Occlumen

Malfoy is inducted into the Death Eaters prior to the events of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, at a point when his aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange, is distrustful of Severus Snape.

Bellatrix encourages Malfoy to protect his thoughts from Snape and teaches her nephew how to use Occlumency. Snape, whose own Occlumency skills are powerful enough to block Voldemort’s Legilimency, is unable to access Malfoy’s thoughts.

Snape realizes Bellatrix has trained Malfoy in Occlumency and remarks how powerful the latter is if he can withstand his Legilimency.

Malfoy’s Occlumency is also notable for the fact that he manages to conceal his thoughts from exceptional wizards like Albus Dumbledore and Horace Slughorn, because no one in the school learns of his attempts to eliminate Dumbledore.

12. Malfoy makes Crabbe And Goyle take Polyjuice Potion and guard The Room Of Requirement

Malfoy realizes he will be busted if anyone sees him exiting the Room of Requirement while he’s repairing the Vanishing Cabinet there, so he enlists the aid of lookouts. He makes Crabbe and Goyle take on the form of girls to stand outside in the hall and alert him should someone pass by.

Harry notices what he assumes to be first-year female students in the area until he deduces they must be Crabbe and Goyle. Despite Harry’s correct assumption, Malfoy is smart enough not to exit the room after Harry scares Crabbe and Goyle off, which ensures that he doesn’t get caught in his plan.

13. Ron punches Malfoy during The Battle Of Hogwarts for trying to play both sides.

Malfoy is inherently a coward who looks to stick with the side in the most dominant position. During the Battle of Hogwarts, he constantly switches allegiances for his own benefit. At one point, he drops, then reasserts his loyalties to Voldemort’s followers in a short span.

Malfoy’s plan to snatch Harry and hand him over to Voldemort in the Room of Requirement doesn’t work, and Harry tries to rescue him when the place burns because of Crabbe’s Fiendfyre curse. Malfoy abandons the Death Eaters here, but returns to Voldemort’s faction a few minutes later when one of the Death Eaters comes close to slaying him for his treachery.

Ron sees through Malfoy’s slimy nature and proceeds to punch him out in anger, which remains Malfoy’s last involvement in the conflict until Voldemort’s downfall.

14. Malfoy almost went to study at Durmstrang

Wizarding children don’t need to attend schools in their native countries; they can choose to study at those abroad as long as they fit the criteria to be enrolled. Durmstrang Institute’s Headmaster, Igor Karkaroff, is a former Death Eater who remains an acquaintance of Lucius Malfoy, and the latter intends to send his son to Durmstrang. But his mother, Narcissa, refuses to send him so far away from home.

Draco says in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire that he would have liked Durmstrang’s style of teaching the Dark Arts, telling his friends, “Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not the defense rubbish we do.”

15. Malfoy recognizes Sirius’ dog form, then threatens Harry with that knowledge.

Peter Pettigrew informs Lucius Malfoy about Sirius Black’s status as an Animagus, which renders Sirius’s dog form a useless disguise because Voldemort’s followers will recognize him.

When Sirius accompanies Harry to the train station in his Animagus form in Order of the Phoenix, Draco spots the dog and confronts Harry inside the train.

Draco, suggesting that his father has told him about Sirius’s Animagus form, tells Harry, “I’ll be dogging your footsteps in case you step out of line.” His taunt unsettles Harry, who then tries to avoid Draco at school because he might learn more about Sirius.