Character Analysis
(Click the character infographic to download.)
Affiliation: Death Eater
House: Slytherin, 7th Year
Draco Malfoy is an interesting young man – though he always seemed like a clear-cut villain, in Book 6 he started developing an unusual trait for villains: a conscience. Here, his conscience is working overtime, and whenever we see him, he appears tortured by what the Death Eaters are making him do. In the Room of Requirement, he does what he's supposed to do and tries to capture Harry, but he seems a little uncertain about how to go about it – he's got some qualms that he didn't used to have about inflicting pain and damage.
So… what does this mean for Draco Malfoy? Well, basically, it means he's been cut some slack. He's allowed to get out alive, and seems to have learned a lesson – in the Epilogue, Draco's a father, and we see that he and Harry seem to have a relationship of rather chilly mutual respect, which indicates that Malfoy has changed his evil ways, and put the past behind him. Of Malfoy, Rowling says, "I think Malfoy would go back to being an improved version of what he was but we shouldn't expect him to be a really great guy any time soon" (source). Well, hey, we can settle for a little bit of personal development for now.