Malfoy family (Pottermore)

[oryx_leucoryx]

I looked up the spoilers site and found there is more detailed information about The Malfoys. Enjoy!

Comments

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

It's funny, but I reacted to different things in that post. I honestly liked the stuff about how the Malfoys had interacted regularly with Muggles, even if only wealthy Muggles, before Seclusion. Yes, it's supposed to make them look bad and hypocritical, but I enjoy thinking of the Malfoys as primarily opportunists, rather than idealists(-with-very-bad-ideals).

Everything that people have said about the ancestry thing is true, of course. I think that at this point I just filter it out... in a way, it's probably why I enjoyed the history so much, because when you recognize that JKR shamelessly conflates past and present, why, she's halfway to saying that Lucius or Draco might consider interacting with (wealthy) Muggles, should it become more advantageous than not. After all, every person in the family is basically the same throughout history. (rolls eyes/shrugs)

Anyway, that bit reminded me a little of the Malfoys in Arsinoe de Blassenville's "The Best Revenge," which I would recommend to anyone here who hasn't already read it.

[sunnyskywalker]

I liked those bits as well. They seemed plausible and sensible and for once things centuries ago were not quite how their modern descendents remember or claim.

I'm less enthused about every Malfoy ever being a nasty piece of work.Why couldn't one of them have murdered tenants and blamed the Black Death, another have gone to visit his French cousins and hung out with Flamel, and another have just thrown some great parties? You know, regular variation. I suppose she could have done something emphasizing the corrosive effects of power, but even then you'd expect at least a Malfoy or two who was more bad in the sense that they thought giving the servants a day off and donating a few trunks of clothes to an orphanage made up for passing laws against Muggleborns holding high political office (for their own good, of course!), or whatever polite wizarding aristocrats did in centuries past. ("Hey, we're not trying to legalize Muggle-hunting like the Blacks! We're the good guys!")

But I very much like your spin that she must mean that Lucius and Draco might also make exceptions for wealthy Muggles under the right circumstances. She did already say they are more or less okay with halfbloods (which actually matches what we see in the books, hooray!), so why not a Muggle billionaire or two? Perhaps little Scorpius will go to Hogwarts with a Muggle-born heiress of considerable talent and charm, and they will suddenly come up with reasons why this would be an excellent match after all, and change their reputation to "the family which graciously recognizes talent wherever it arises and sponsors the worthy so that they may truly become part of the wizarding world." (Which reminds me of Arsinoe de Blassenville's "The Golden Age," where they adopted a Muggle-born girl, which I thought that worked well.)