Draco Also Lived

I grew up on the Harry Potter series and have read every book at least twenty times (not including Harry Potter and the Cursed Child). I loved the trio’s dynamic: Hermione with her expansive knowledge, Ron’s goofy personality, and Harry’s “main-character energy” made the perfect potion as they encountered several scary wizards including ones without noses, without faces, and who haven't experienced emotion since their first love (yes, he’s a villain). The story is centered around Harry’s growth as a poor muggle to a mighty wizard. I used to think that Harry Potter was the wizard of all wizards, but as I’ve grown up, I’ve realized something: Harry Potter isn’t all that talented. 

Now some may argue, “He’s the best wizard! He destroyed Voldemort, he saved the Wizarding World during the war, ” he did this, he did that. I’m not saying that he’s not accomplished. If he were to apply to college, he could get a full-ride to Harvard with his expansive resume (saving the world is a pretty big deal), but this isn’t real life. Just looking at skills alone, he’s not the brilliant child prodigy everyone makes him out to be — even he knows this. There’s no way he could’ve figured out the potions riddle at the end of the first book by himself, or even win that abnormally large chess game. All he had to do was follow in Hermione and Ron’s footsteps and take a stone out of his pocket. Heck, he even used a random spell he found in an old potions textbook despite not knowing what it did (hint: it did not end well). Harry isn’t the worst wizard of all time — then again that’s not saying much since Gilderoy Lockhart exists. However, other wizards deserve his level of fame and fortune such as Draco, who not only has a much larger array of spells, but has also put a lot more effort into perfecting his craft. 

Everyone talks about the hardships that Harry deals with throughout his life, but Draco has gone through similar—albeit unrecognized—struggles as well. Like Harry, his parental situation wasn’t ideal. His father was never around as he was  always away doing Voldemort’s bidding. Though he had money, he lacked a happy childhood with true friends. Forced to pay for the sins of his father, Draco was thrust into a mission by Voldemort and had to betray all those who raised him. He was smart enough to lie to his friends and even discovered ways to sneak evil objects around Hogwarts, supposedly one of the “safest” places in the Wizarding World. Harry, on the other hand, doesn’t have the same motivation to do well in school. Draco puts in effort to make his father proud and uphold the Malfoy name. Who is Harry trying to make proud—Dudley? If it were Harry, I don’t believe that he would have been able to handle the pressure, nor would he have had the brains to not get caught. 

In the series, Draco is an antagonist who often bullies the Golden Trio. Though Draco was born in a wealthy family, he was poor in many other things, especially warmth and love. Had he been born in the same circumstances as Harry, it’s hard to know what type of person he could’ve been. What bewilders me is that Harry survived as long as he did; how many classes did he skip for his go-to attacking spell to be a disarming spell? Draco, on the other hand, was top of his class with Hermione, and wouldn’t have attacked Voldemort with something as childish as Expelliarmus. In his second year, Draco was already able to summon a whole snake with Serpensortia—I’m confident that if he’d been placed in front of the Dark Lord in his seventh year, he would’ve blown the audience away. 

Some may say that yes, Draco is talented, but in his heart he wasn’t a good person and will never be one. I say they’re wrong. Sure, Draco did some horrible things in his lifetime, like calling Hermione a mudblood, working with Umbridge, and bullying underclassmen, but often, it was his environment that caused him to react this way. So what if he planned Dumbledore’s death? He did it to save his parents at the end of the day! Despite being surrounded by Death Eaters who constantly betray, torture, and kill each other throughout his childhood, Draco shows that he is an innately righteous person when he doesn’t rat Harry out in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Knowing it was Harry behind the Stinging Hex, Draco’s resistance against the dark side shows his bravery and loyalty, defying stereotypical Slytherin traits. 

All I’m saying is that maybe if J.K. Rowling wasn’t canceled, we should have petitioned for a book from Draco’s perspective. I would’ve loved to see the Wizarding World through the eyes of the so-called “villain”, reminding everyone that it’s important to take into account all perspectives. After all, under different circumstances, Draco could’ve been an equally amazing Harry Potter—but Harry Potter wouldn’t have survived long as Draco.

BY VIVIAN LIN