These facts about Draco will prove that Harry, Ron, and Hermione aren’t the only powerful students at Hogwarts.
When Harry Potter fans start discussing powerful teenage wizards and witches you always hear the same names over and over. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger.
Have you ever stopped to think about the other students? What about the other people who help our heroes out in a crisis? Like Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, or the other Weasleys such as Fred and George? There are many characters that show huge potential for power, but I would argue one of the most underrated of all is Draco Malfoy.
Often overlooked, Draco is actually an incredibly powerful wizard who shows great power both during and after his time at Hogwarts. Although he is often tarred with the same brush as his less than stellar sidekicks, Crabbe and Goyle, Draco is in fact far more powerful than both of them put together.
Throughout the books, Draco manages to prove himself a worthy adversary of Harry and friends, time and time again. He performs complicated magic, crafts cunning plans and is even recruited by one of the most powerful wizards of all time. He is also a really interesting character to follow in terms of his growth. As the series progresses you see more of his skills as well as more of his conscience. These combine to create a powerful combination.
These 25 facts will help prove that Draco Malfoy is actually a force to be reckoned with.
25 He Has A Hawthorne Wand
The first notable proof of Draco’s talent is in his hands, literally. According to Pottermore, Ollivander; considered to be a resounding authority on such things, states that a Hawthorne wand should only be used by
"a witch or wizard of proven talent.”
Ollivander will have sold Draco his wand and his thoughts here echo the fact that he wouldn’t do so if he didn’t feel that Draco had proven talent. To display this at such a young age, with no formal magical training, shows great power and potential.
24 He Proves His Skill At Occlumency Against Snape
Occlumency is considered a difficult skill to master. It involves being able to close down your thoughts and feelings from those who would seek to read them. In The Half-Blood Prince Snape, considered by Dumbledore to be a gifted Legilimens (mind reader), cannot read Draco’s thoughts.
This suggests that Draco has enough power to be able to shut down specific areas of his mind and prevent a very gifted and powerful wizard from reading them. The skill required to do this is great showing that Draco is very powerful in this branch of magic.
23 He Fixes The Vanishing Cabinet
In The Half-Blood Prince, Draco uses the vanishing cabinet in Hogwarts to transport Death Eaters into the building from the cabinet’s pair in Borgin and Burkes. It is noted that it took him around nine months to fix it. Despite the length of time taken he persistently keeps at the task.
Eventually, he masters the spells needed to repair the cabinet.
He also refuses to let anyone else see the cabinet, thus showing he even though he had help from Borgin he ultimately learnt the magic required to fix it. This shows great tenacity as well as a command of powerful magic.
22 He Dabbles In Unforgivable Curses
In The Half-Blood Prince, we see Draco begin to cast Crucio, an unforgivable curse, on Harry.
There are three unforgivable curses and they are considered the most powerful spells in the wizarding world. They are so named due to the fact that they are considered to be “unforgivable”. Using any of the three spells can lead to a life sentence in Azkaban, the wizarding world’s jail.
All three spells require a large amount of skill to use. It is very powerful dark magic that takes a great deal of knowledge and power to use.
21 He Used The Imperious Curse On Madam Rosmerta
We’ve already established that it requires a great deal of power to perform unforgivable curses. The strongest example of this is when Draco uses the Imperious curse on Madam Rosmerta. This allows him to control her actions.
He successfully keeps Rosmerta under the curse for an extended period of time.
This is in order to smuggle banned artefacts into Hogwarts. She also reports back information to Draco to assist in his plans.
The power required to sustain this difficult curse for so long is immense. This is one of the most compelling demonstrations of Draco’s power.
20 He Mastered The Cruciatus Curse
Under Voldemort’s orders, Draco uses the Cruciatus curse on Thorfinn Rowle and Antonin Dolohov as punishment for letting Harry Potter escape.
Even though he is ordered to perform this magic, the fact remains that he can step up and complete the task. This shows not just sustained, but also repeated, use of powerful dark magic.
The spells maybe unforgivable but it cannot be denied that this repeated use of them shows a power you would not expect from a wizard who is still at school.
19 He Performed Other Difficult Magic
One of the charms he uses is the protean charm which we are told in Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix is a N.E.W.T standard spell.
“Protean Charm?... But that’s N.E.W.T standard, that is.” - Terry Boot
Draco’s ability to master high-level charms outside of his current teaching level suggests he also has more powerful abilities than many will think. When Hermione uses the charm for Dumbledore's Army in the same book she impresses all around her, just as Draco could have done if he had performed it for an audience.
18 He's A Prefect
Being made prefect isn’t easy. Hogwarts prefects are students who are considered to be exceptional in their house and have good grades. There are only two prefects, one male and one female, from each house per year. They are chosen in the fifth year and serve as prefect for years five, six and seven.
This means that prefect is a role only given to those who have shown talent and promise, both powerful attributes. As Slytherin prefect Draco must have shown the Hogwarts staff some considerable talent and skill.
17 He Stands Up To His Family
It takes a strong, courageous and above all powerful person to stand up to your family, but Draco does this in his life choices after Hogwarts.
J.K Rowling herself states that “I have high hopes that he will raise Scorpius to be a much kinder and more tolerant Malfoy than he was in his own youth.”
Draco and his wife Astoria refuse to raise their son Scorpius to hold the same views as the older Malfoys about muggles and half-bloods. This shows Draco able to break the power his family hold over him, a powerful act in itself.
16 He Didn't Have Useful Help
Harry has some of the most powerful backup possible. He has Hermione Granger, often described as the best student in the year, and Ron Weasley a child of a wizarding family with a history of prefect worthy siblings.
Draco has Crabbe and Goyle.
Portrayed as total buffoons who are more muscle than magical. We can be pretty certain that they weren’t much help when it came to him mastering some of these powerful curses and spells.
This means Draco was on his own. Every spell he casts in school has been done through his own hard work and determination.
15 He Has Power Over Other Students
Draco’s background and family history also gives him a different kind of power. He is well respected within Slytherin and often looked up to by other students in his house. Many of them know (and often fear) his father which gives him a form of power.
He often exploits this for his own ends.
Draco is not afraid to use his family connections to get ahead and make himself look better. We see many examples of this across the books as he boasts about his circumstances, especially his mission from Voldemort which he brags about on the Hogwarts Express.
14 He Got Close To Removing Dumbledore
Although his plans were not successful, I would argue that it showed power to carry them out. Tampering with some mead may not be the most sophisticated plan admittedly but this was not his only attempt.
The smuggling of the cursed necklace into Hogwarts did require some power. Dark artefacts are very dangerous and although he did manage to curse the wrong target he didn’t curse himself or Madam Rosmerta, his courier.
This feat in itself would have required some skill as we are told the artefacts has claimed many lives before.
13 He Formed An Ingenious Plan
Although his earlier attempts to defeat Dumbledore were thwarted, his plan to smuggle Death Eaters into Hogwarts succeeded. We’ve already discussed the power required to repair the vanishing cabinet, as well as that needed to keep Rosmerta under the Imperious curse.
The skill required however isn’t just limited to these two instances.
The entire plan required skill, timing, and precision to execute. It certainly isn’t a task that could be pulled off by your average teen. It needed powerful magic alongside knowledge and understanding of the dark magic employed to carry it out.
12 He Performs Spells That Aren't Taught
Although not always the most powerful spells, Draco frequently performs magic that isn’t taught in class. He is seen to perform a variety of random charms hexes and jinxes, specifically, the dancing feet spell in his second year.
Although not officially credited with the task it is also widely suspected that Draco was the person responsible for bewitching badges which read “Potter stinks” during the Triwizard tournament. He certainly seems capable enough to do so and definitely has the motive.
11 He Performs A Complicated Spell At Duelling Club
Encouraged by Snape, Draco casts a spell which summons a snake. This spell may even have been unknown to him before Snape whispered it. Even if it was familiar, that kind of transfiguration spell would not usually be seen used by students so young, especially in such circumstances.
This demonstrates Draco using powerful magic under pressure.
The dueling club incident happens in The Chamber of Secrets, meaning Draco is still only in his second year. Command of such a spell, especially with an audience and under scrutiny, shows both power and potential in the young wizard.
10 He Maintains A Collection Of Dark Artefacts
Pottermore also states that Draco maintains, but never uses, his family’s collection of dark artifacts in Malfoy Manor. Having, but not using, such a powerful collection of magical objects shows strength in his character.
Sine dark artefacts are often shown to be unstable, I think we can assume that it would require some strong magical skills just to ensure that no one got hurt by them. It also requires strength of character to continually resist their power, something which is powerful in itself.
9 He's Gifted At Potions
Snape is known to set the bar high for admissions to his potions class and Draco makes the cut. This shows an aptitude for potions. In The Half-Blood Prince it reads “When they arrived in the corridor they saw that there were only a dozen people progressing to N.E.W.T. level.”
Draco is one of these students. Despite Snape’s obvious prejudice towards Slytherin students he would not have been allowed to bend rules to admit Draco onto the course without him having achieved the required grades.
8 He Shows Skill In Other Areas As Well
Draco is accepted into several N.E.W.T (nastily exhausting wizarding tests) courses which proves that he must have passed his O.W.L (ordinary wizarding level) exams.
The books frequently state that only students who perform well at O.W.L. level and gain the grades of Exceeds Expectations or Outstanding will be accepted onto the N.E.W.T courses.
Although we have somewhat limited information on the exact subjects Draco took we know he was in Defence Against The Dark Arts and Transfiguration classes, alongside Potions.
7 He's A Talented Flyer And Seeker
Although many consider Harry Potter to be the most gifted flyer in the series, Draco is also skilled in this area. It is often his arrogance which lets him down, rather than his ability.
He is a multitalented wizard.
Flying is just one of many skills he displays. In several matches, he actually finds the snitch first, with the notable exception of his first match in The Chamber Of Secrets. Being able to master multiple disciplines can be the mark of a powerful wizard.
6 He Probably Has Years Of Spellcasting Experience
His upbringing also likely gave him a powerful advantage in terms of his ability to perform magic before he even took a class. The Ministry of Magic has to trust parents to enforce the rule of not performing underage magic outside of school. With his contempt for the rules and his sway at the ministry I think we can be pretty sure that the Malfoy’s were unlikely to abide by this rule.
Being taught at least the basics before Hogwarts even began gives Draco a powerful advantage.