Why does malfoy hate harry potter

His dislike of Harry is only going to get worse, and his attitude about purebloods being better goes against the book's larger message about accepting differences and spreading tolerance. Parents Home Homeschool College Resources. Study Guide. Previous Next. Draco Malfoy Click the character infographic to download.

Vernon Dursley Mrs. Norris Mr. What's Up With the Ending? Tired of ads? Join today and never see them again. He was especially angry that Harry was a better broom-rider than him, because it was one of the few skills Draco had an actual talent for.

It's easy to forget but Draco actually tried to befriend Harry the first time they met. In the book of Sorcerer's Stone, not the movie. It's true. While getting his school robes in Diagon Alley, Harry ran into Draco doing the same and the Malfoy boy was nothing but cordial. Granted, he didn't know who Harry was yet and immediately launched into some casual disparaging of Hagrid and Muggle-borns. Not the best first impression, but still, he offered Harry his friendship again on the Hogwarts Express.

This was less than genuine as Draco thought Harry was a powerful Dark Wizard and wanted to impress his father by the association. However, Harry thought Draco was too much like his Muggle cousin Dudley and turned him down. Thus, their rivalry was born. Back when Chamber of Secrets came out, few readers probably would have guessed how important some of that book's events would become.

Tom Riddle's diary being a Horcrux is probably the biggest, but another would come straight from the mouth of Draco Malfoy. He was the first person to use "Mudblood" as an insult. In fact, that was where the whole notion of wizard blood purity in the series came from. At the time, calling Hermione a "Mudblood" was just another way of showing Draco as the elitist person that he was.

However, as we know, as the series continued and we learned more about what Voldemort's actual agenda was, that slur took on greater weight. Even with a throwaway line, Draco sets terrible things in motion.

Draco didn't seem to have respect for any of his Professors at Hogwarts, but he really didn't like Hagrid for some reason. Heck, he was dissing Hagrid way back in the first book before he even got to Hogwarts. But his weird antipathy toward the Hogwarts gamekeeper peaked during Prisoner of Azkaban , when he tried getting Hagrid fired.

If you'll remember it was during Hagrid's first class as the Care of Magical Creatures professor. Draco, in his infinite wisdom, antagonized Buckbeak the hippogriff and got his arm scratched for his trouble. Though it wasn't a deep wound, Draco exaggerated the pain and tried using it as an excuse to get Hagrid fired. Thankfully, this didn't happen but Buckbeak did have to escape into the wild with Sirius Black.

Why did nobody believe that Voldemort had returned in Goblet of Fire? This was a big plot point on Order of the Phoenix, so why was it? Like many things, it was Draco Malfoy's fault.

He was the one who gave her the idea to write sensational, embellished, and likely libelous stories about Harry and company. If you don't remember this, it was a bigger part of the book than the movie. However, because of Skeeter's articles, Harry's credibility has been destroyed. So when he was the one saying Voldemort had returned, nobody thought he was worth believing.

Yet another petty act of Draco's with wider consequences. Speaking of Order of the Phoenix, here's your reminder that Draco chose to work with Prof. Umbridge during her tyrannical reign at Hogwarts. He was a key member of her Inquisitorial Squad, students who willingly enacted her draconian rules. They were all Slytherins too. He probably relished the chance to have his bullying protected and encouraged by those in authority.

That would be bad enough, but Draco took it one step further by being the person who ratted out Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge. He caught Harry coming out of their practice room one night and tattled on him. In the movie, it's worse. Draco and his goons caught Cho Chang and forced her to give Dumbledore's Army up.

It says something about a guy when Voldemort isn't the worst person he's worked for. It's funny. For all his presence as a thorn in Harry's side, Draco Malfoy was never the main antagonist of one of the books. For a while anyway. He moved into that role in The Half-Blood Prince , is the closest thing to the main antagonist that the story has, all because of his mission for Voldemort. The Dark Lord assigned Draco to end Dumbledore and while he couldn't go through with it in the end, he sure as heck tried.

First, he sent Dumbledore a cursed necklace, which a poor Gryffindor student would end up with instead, and then sent him some poisoned mead. Both attempts failed, but that might have been on purpose. For all his bravado, Draco couldn't go through with eliminating Dumbledore and he seemed to know it. Not that it helped him or Snape in the end.

While Harry developed a wide circle of friends during his Hogwarts years, Draco only ever had two. His minions, Crabbe and Goyle. However, even Draco never really saw this as real friends as much as two lunkheads he could boss around. He only cared about them in the most shallow way possible. It's probably why he ended up ditching them after Half-Blood Prince.

The book even mentions the two look lost without Draco. That might also explain why they don't easily fall back under his sway during the Battle of Hogwarts.

In Deathly Hallows, Draco mentions to Ginny Weasley that he was jealous of Harry's genuine friendships more than anything else. Just another way envy drove his actions.

Both Harry and Draco took some training in Occlumency, hiding their thoughts from other prying wizards. Harry did this to hide from Voldemort, Draco from Dumbledore.

And if Draco needed something else to hang over Harry, he was better at it. It was how he kept his plans secret during The Half-Blood Prince. On Pottermore , J. Rowling attributes Draco's skill to his upbringing. From a young age, he becomes quite good at compartmentalizing his thoughts and keeping his cards close to the chest.

Harry was too earnest for that. So Malfoy clearly went into his first year expecting to be Crown Prince of Hogwarts, something which obviously didn't happen; again from Pottermore:. Harry was unquestionably the most talked-about and admired person at school, and this naturally jarred with a boy who had been brought up to believe that he occupied an almost royal position within the wizarding community.

What was more, Harry was most talented at flying, the one skill at which Malfoy had been confident he would outshine all the other first-years. He was surpassed by Harry Potter, his greatest enemy, at the two areas he thought he should excel at: popularity and flying. In fact, Harry was so much better than him at flying that he was permitted to own a broom against the rules and join the Quidditch team highly unusual.

Again, this is a point that's worth expanding on, because Harry is basically everything Malfoy wanted to be, and thought he was: popular, talented, and special. As the Designated Hero, Harry basically succeeds at everything he does; he has hardships, sure, but it all ultimately works out for him.

Malfoy may have had a lot going for him, but Harry had all of the things he wanted; he's known by everyone, well-regarded for the most part by staff and students alike, and from the perspective of an outsider he basically always gets what he wants. What's more as pointed out by NKCampbell in a comment on the question, and by CassieD in an answer he has actual friends, something Malfoy does not and which he greatly desires.

Finally, as discussed on that Pottermore page I'm so fond of linking to , even the Death Eaters see Harry as more important than Malfoy:.

Much as the Death Eaters disliked Harry as an obstacle and as a symbol, he was discussed seriously as an adversary, whereas Draco was still relegated to the status of schoolboy by Death Eaters who met at his parents' house. All of his efforts to overcome Harry, either by diminishing his status or by building his Malfoy's, that is up, ultimately failed; which brings me to my next point:.

Of course, he frequently lost against Harry on the Quidditch pitch; although Slytherin usually beat the other Houses, they never beat Gryffindor in any year Harry played, and Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup every year they possibly could have excluding Chamber of Secrets , where the tournament was cancelled mid-season, Goblet of Fire , where it was supplanted by the Triwizard Tournament, and Deathly Hallows , where it may not have been held at all.

Despite knowing for a fact that Harry et al. Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you -". Despite breaking an untold number of rules, Harry et al. In second year, despite convincing his father to spend what was probably a tidy sum on seven top-of-the-line brooms, he still lost , which must have been a massive confidence drain; I'm sure Lucius wasn't pleased with him either.

In sixth year, aside from the tremendous stress, he was basically ignored by Slughorn, a man with a reputation for recognizing talent and success:. And he walked away. Harry bent back over his cauldron, smirking. He could tell that Malfoy had expected to be treated like Harry or Zabini; perhaps even hoped for some preferential treatment of the type he had learned to expect from Snape.

And, of course, he was constantly upstaged by Hermione academically, much to the displeasure of his father:. Malfoy coldly, and Mr. Borgin said quickly, "No offense, sir, no offense meant -". Malfoy, more coldly still, "that may indeed be all he is fit for -". Although we're not given a lot of insight into how he feels about that, I have to imagine it was a bit like how a racist must have felt watching Jesse Owens.

A lot of these sound very petty, and they are; however, I can say from experience that a hundred tiny annoyances build up over time , until optimism and enjoyment of your new school turns into resentment and misery. I think the feeling was seeded first from his family, especially, his father Lucius Malfoy himself,even before Draco started at Hogwarts.

Harry and Ron listened, and heard a familiar drawling voice drifting in through the open door. Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know.

He knows the headmaster, you see. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defense rubbish we do. Harry Potter,the boy who thwarted Voldemort, the lord who was revered by Lucius Malfoy [at least until he failed to retrieve the prophecy, post which I think Lucius's feeling towards Voldemort was that of fear], who in turn played a key role in Draco's attitude.

It was mentioned in passing in the comments, but I feel it's worth giving as a full answer. I think it is just loneliness that leads Draco to hate Hogwarts. You - the three of you - you shone, you know? You liked each other. You had fun. I envied you those friends more than anything else. It might seem easily dismissive that "just" loneliness was the cause for his disdain of Hogwarts, but I think that's the whole of it.

The text just after that is what leads me to that conclusion. DRACO: [ And being alone - that's so hard. I was alone. And it sent me to a truly dark place.

For a long time. Tom Riddle was also a lonely child. You may not understand that, Harry, but I do - and I think Ginny does too. And so Tom Riddle became Lord Voldemort. Maybe the black cloud Bane saw was Albus's loneliness.

His pain. His hatred. Others cite that it was Draco's lack of academic or Quidditch talent, or perhaps that he had a few embarrassing moments. I don't think that's it. Draco says that loneliness is the cause of Tom Riddle to turn evil. Tom Riddle had followers, had talent, and had popularity at Hogwarts, but that still wasn't enough to overcome the damage loneliness had caused.