# Lord Draco Malfoy

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 2, 2013, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420 "2013-07-02T04:13:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/21 "2013-07-02T23:17:00Z")

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> [@MLS](#):
>
> I always wondered how Draco got any followers at all considering what a sniveling coward he was.

A snivelling coward who outsmarted the whole of Dumbledore’s Army and the Order of the Phoenix as well. Before HP - HBP, his finest moment was “Weasley is our King!” I’m assuming he invented it and it was brilliant. His dumbest moment was getting slashed by a hippogriff.

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**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/22 "2013-07-02T23:22:14Z")

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> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> How can you be a natural leader if you lack courage and ambition, but have plenty of off-putting arrogance?

Nearly all good leaders I know were like that. The brave ones either died early or got fired for recklessness. Alexander is one of only two lead-from-the-front leader I know. The other’s Dick Marcinko.

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**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/23 "2013-07-02T23:28:30Z")

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> [@the\_diego](#):
>
> Nearly all good leaders I know were like that. The brave ones either died early or got fired for recklessness. Alexander is one of only two lead-from-the-front leader I know. The other’s Dick Marcinko.

The good leaders you’ve known lacked AMBITION?

Nah. Not buying it.

Also, I suspect the leaders you’ve known weren’t living in circumstances in which combat was a likely possibility. Being a sniveling dastard of the Draco mold, in a a world like that of Potter’s, is not going to lead to success .

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**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/24 "2013-07-02T23:42:44Z")

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You did get my qualification for the phrase “lacking ambition”, right? It was only because no death eater would dare cross Voldemort when he was alive than non of them had ambitions of styling themselves beyond “his most trusted and loyal servant.” Just that, so don’t build on and around the issue.

Technical knowledge, creativity, decisiveness, knowing how to tap other people’s bag of tricks, and being an asshole just like the Malfoys is the business aspect of leadership (just from my own experience.)

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**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/25 "2013-07-02T23:45:38Z")

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> [@the\_diego](#):
>
> A snivelling coward who outsmarted the whole of Dumbledore’s Army and the Order of the Phoenix as well.

Huh?

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**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/26 "2013-07-02T23:50:07Z")

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^  
The debacle at Hogwarts in the HBP book of course. Best story of sureptitious entry since the Illiad.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/27 "2013-07-02T23:54:30Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Quoth **cmkeller** :
> 
> That’s a shame. I’d like to have thought he endangered his life for the wizarding world quite enough already and could enjoy a leisurely adulthood as, say, a pro Quidditch Seeker.

Harry wasn’t good enough to go pro. He was very good _for his age_, but he was still absolutely dumbstruck by how much better than him Krum was.

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**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/28 "2013-07-03T01:25:35Z")

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After Sirius’ death, Harry must have been rich enough to bum around for the rest of his life. Just don’t get 12 mouths to feed. With a population of less than 10,000 most wizards in the UK are either unemployed or self-employed. Not enough numbers to spur demand for 400 new Hogwarts graduates each year.

Regarding Kwidditch, I’ll hold judgement there. He lost only two games while playing seeker (both due to extraneous causes.) They say he was as decisive to his team as Charlie Weasley who could have played pro. Both Bagman and Krum praised his flying skill.

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/29 "2013-07-03T02:34:51Z")

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> [@MLS](#):
>
> I’ve often wondered what sort of jobs HP & friends had during the years that followed? Did HP ever become an auror? If not, what? Did they go back and complete their Hogwarts schooling?

Here’s a chat with Rowling that answers all your questions and more:

> **[J.K. Rowling Web Chat Transcript - The-Leaky-Cauldron.org](http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/30/j-k-rowling-web-chat-transcript/)**
>
> J.K. Rowling has just answered a whole onslaught of post-DH question in a Web chat on Bloomsbury.com. We have reordered the questions so that it reads top-down; answers are here about the characters’ future lives, the state of the wizarding world,...

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**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/30 "2013-07-03T03:47:10Z")

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Chronos:

> [@](#):
>
> Harry wasn’t good enough to go pro. He was very good for his age, but he was still absolutely dumbstruck by how much better than him Krum was.

I assume you’re talking about the Quidditch World Cup scene in book 4. I think you’re mis-remembering. He was dumbstruck by how good (specifically, how fast) the CHASERS were (and I guess by extension that means the Keepers had to be better also), but not necessarily Krum. Krum himself praised Harry’s Wronski Feint after the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. I think that he (possibly) could have gone pro as a Seeker.

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**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/31 "2013-07-03T05:01:35Z")

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> [@FriarTed](#):
>
> After I saw him in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I imagined him demanding that his agent “Get me a part where I’m not an asshole!”

Play the villain correctly and you will never want for work again in your entire life. Just ask the very talented and not so famous before Silence of the Lambs Anthony Hopkins.

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**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/32 "2013-07-03T05:25:36Z")

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> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> Did they really? I don’t remember their parents being close to Lucius.

I got the impression from HP:GOF that Lucius was pretty much the leader of the non-imprisoned Death Eaters, so he knew Crabbe and Goyle (seniors) and with Lucius’ position, arrogance, money, and air of command, they were probably comfortable with a subservient position towards him. And the roles were repeated in Draco’s generation.

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**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/33 "2013-07-03T05:31:33Z")

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> [@the\_diego](#):
>
> After Sirius’ death, Harry must have been rich enough to bum around for the rest of his life. Just don’t get 12 mouths to feed. With a population of less than 10,000 most wizards in the UK are either unemployed or self-employed. Not enough numbers to spur demand for 400 new Hogwarts graduates each year.

Your math is different than mine. I reckon it this way: There were 5 boys in Harry’s year in Griffindor. And 5 girls. That’s 10 for a total. So I extrapolate there were a total of 40 students throughout all the houses in Harry’s year. So I figure Hogwarts is going to turn out 40 graduates a year. Of course, do we really know how many wizards/witches from Great Britian never made it to HW?

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**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/34 "2013-07-03T05:40:39Z")

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> [@the\_diego](#):
>
> Best story of sureptitious entry since the Illiad.

Did you read the Iliad? Because I did, and I recall no mention of surreptitious entry.

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**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/35 "2013-07-03T06:07:39Z")

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> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> Your math is different than mine. I reckon it this way: There were 5 boys in Harry’s year in Griffindor. And 5 girls. That’s 10 for a total. So I extrapolate there were a total of 40 students throughout all the houses in Harry’s year. So I figure Hogwarts is going to turn out 40 graduates a year. Of course, do we really know how many wizards/witches from Great Britian never made it to HW?

My bad. 280 to 400 students enrolled, 40 graduate each year. Ok, how long do 40 grads each year have to pound the pavement before landing a job in a 3,500 - 10,000-wizard population?

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**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/36 "2013-07-03T06:08:58Z")

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> [@For You](#):
>
> Did you read the Iliad? Because I did, and I recall no mention of surreptitious entry.

Ummm… it involved a horse whose name I’m trying to recall.

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**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/37 "2013-07-03T06:13:33Z")

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The Iliad does not, in fact, contain the Trojan Horse story. It’s mentioned in the Odyssey, but even then, only barely.

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**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/38 "2013-07-03T07:19:48Z")

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^  
Correct, but it happened during the Trojan war. Imagine how many people will jump at me if I say “… from the Odyssey.”

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**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/39 "2013-07-03T07:34:11Z")

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> [@FriarTed](#):
>
> After I saw him in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I imagined him demanding that his agent “Get me a part where I’m not an asshole!”

He’s a blond male in movies, I don’t think it’s possible for him to get non-evil roles.

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**Author:** ![Rala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Rala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rala)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-draco-malfoy/662420/40 "2013-07-03T15:37:14Z")

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> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> Your math is different than mine. I reckon it this way: There were 5 boys in Harry’s year in Griffindor. And 5 girls. That’s 10 for a total. So I extrapolate there were a total of 40 students throughout all the houses in Harry’s year. So I figure Hogwarts is going to turn out 40 graduates a year. Of course, do we really know how many wizards/witches from Great Britian never made it to HW?

The kids in Harry’s year were conceived in the middle of the first war with Voldemort - a lot of wizard families were probably reluctant to have babies while all that was going on. I figure Hogwarts classes are usually larger than that.

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