Among Voldemort’s legion of followers, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy hold great stature in the wizarding community of Harry Potter. As pure-blood fanatics, they believe they are superior to Muggle-borns (or ‘Mudbloods’, as they prefer to call them), half-bloods, half-breeds and blood traitors.
Draco is brought up to have a similar, tainted worldview, and this eventually stirs a rivalry between him and Harry, which evolves from harmless pranks and inter-house Quidditch competitions to a bigger war of good versus evil. However, by the end of the series, the Malfoys appear to have abandoned their extremist ideas and seem morally ambivalent at best. So where does that leave them?
Why Did the Malfoys Help Voldemort?
Lucius shares Voldemort’s beliefs of ‘cleansing’ the magical society, which is why he is eager to join his cause. He actively participates in the first wizarding war as his second-in-command. After Voldemort’s downfall on the fateful night of Halloween in 1981, many Death Eaters are captured, but Lucius avoids being imprisoned by claiming that he was under the Imperius Curse throughout the war. He manages to retain his position among the social elite, but still remains a power-hungry bigot. A notable example is when he slips Tom Riddle’s old diary in Ginny Weasley’s cauldron, which eventually leads to the opening of the Chamber of Secrets, causing Muggle-born students to be attacked.
When Voldemort is resurrected, Lucius immediately returns to him when he is summoned and swears that he had done everything in his power to find his master in the past fourteen years. He becomes a high-ranking Death Eater again and, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, leads a group to steal the prophecy from the Ministry of Magic.
Draco is highly influenced by his father, whose constant preaching about pure-blood supremacy causes him to adopt the same ideals. At the mere age of 11, he recognizes the importance of making connections — which is why he is interested in befriending Harry, the Boy Who Lived, in the first place. After being snubbed, he bullies the Golden Trio for years, proving that his behavior is largely a product of his upbringing. Lucius is also mildly abusive towards Draco, who desperately seeks his father’s approval. Hence, it is only inevitable that he follows his footsteps, and is determined to do Voldemort’s bidding when he gets the chance.
Why Did the Malfoys Betray Voldemort?
During the battle at the Department of Mysteries, the prophecy is accidentally destroyed, and the present Death Eaters (including Lucius) are sentenced to Azkaban. Although Voldemort helps them escape a year later, he constantly mocks Lucius for his failures. Being on the receiving end of Voldemort’s wrath for the first time, Lucius becomes a shell of his former self and lets himself be humiliated and belittled in front of his fellow Death Eaters.
This is when Draco is thrown in the centerfold — in an attempt to punish the Malfoys, Voldemort entrusts him with the dubious and almost suicidal task of killing Dumbledore. Up till that point, Draco has lived a sheltered life, with just a boyish fantasy of becoming a Death Eater like his parents. It is only now that he is confronted with the harsh reality of actually serving Voldemort. Even though he starts his sixth year in Hogwarts with his usual sneers and taunts, the subsequent events start taking a toll on him as he struggles to resolve the inner conflict between his morals and choices. He has the opportunity to attack an unarmed Dumbledore on more than one occasion, but ultimately fails to murder him.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the Golden Trio is caught by the Snatchers and brought to Malfoy Manor. Before being captured, Hermione fires a Stinging Jinx at Harry, which causes his face to become swollen and disfigured. Draco is asked to identify him before he is handed over to Voldemort — a confirmation that could help the Malfoys reclaim their honor and pride. However, Draco averts his gaze and hesitates in giving a reply. It is likely that seeing death up close — of Dumbledore (for which he is partially to blame) and the Muggle Studies teacher Charity Burbage — has finally made him aware of his ignorance, and he does not want to be involved in any more murders. He is incapable of rejecting his family’s values outright, and his indecision is reflected in his passive response of “I don’t know”.
When Harry cheats death for the second time in the Forbidden Forest, Narcissa is asked to inspect his body to check whether he is still alive. After feeling his heartbeat, she asks Harry about whether her son is alive, and then lies to Voldemort. She knows that he will go to Hogwarts to break the news about Harry’s death, and that would be the only way for her to return to the castle and find Draco.
It can be argued that if Lucius still held a more prominent position among the Death Eaters, he might have supported Voldemort till the very end. However, since that is not the case, he tries to protect his family instead by requesting Voldemort to let him go to Hogwarts so he is able to look for his son. In the book, he and Narcissa do not take part in any of the fighting, and instead search for Draco. After Voldemort is defeated, they sit silently in the Great Hall instead of going into hiding — signifying their desire for change. In a deleted scene of the movie, Draco is shown running towards Harry after the latter reveals he is alive, and tosses him a wand so he can duel with Voldemort. While the fighting is still ongoing, the Malfoys leave Hogwarts together, finally abandoning their allegiance to the other side.
What Happened to the Malfoys After Voldemort's Death?
The Malfoys are able to avoid serving time in Azkaban, as they provide evidence that helps the Ministry track down the Death Eaters who had fled after the war. It is also probable that, since Narcissa’s lie to Voldemort saved Harry’s life, the family is pardoned for their crimes. They keep a relatively low profile after that, while continuing to live a leisurely life in the Malfoy Manor.
J. K. Rowling also revealed that Draco’s experiences challenged his beliefs, especially after seeing his parents suffer for their poor choices. He goes on to marry Astoria Greengrass, a fellow Slytherin, who helps him unlearn his pure-blood notions. Both of them are adamant that their son Scorpius is not raised with the same ideologies. This makes family gatherings rather tense as Lucius and Narcissa expected more from a girl who belongs to the ‘Sacred Twenty-Eight’ (the original pure-blood families) — indicating that they are too set in their ways to change their beliefs entirely.
In the epilogue, Draco is shown giving a nod to Harry at Platform 9¾ of King’s Cross Station, while he is sending Scorpius off to Hogwarts. As Rowling had stated afterward, there is “some unextinguished good at the heart of Draco” after all.