Lucius Malfoy

"Lucius, my slippery friend. I am told that you have not renounced the old ways, though to the world you present a respectable face. You are still ready to take the lead in a spot of Muggle-torture, I believe? Yet you never tried to find me, Lucius."

- Lord Voldemort to Lucius Malfoy after his return

Lucius Malfoy (born in 1954[HP5]) is a pure-blood wizard, the husband of Narcissa Black, and the father of Draco Malfoy. Lucius is an aristocratic man and Death Eater, and as such has an obsession with blood purity; he presumably indoctrinated his son Draco with the same ideals.

Description
Lucius has a pale, pointed face, with pale blond hair and cold grey eyes. In the films, he carries a walking stick with a snakehead that contains his wand.

Early Life
Lucius was born in 1954, and was the son of Abraxas Malfoy. In 1965 he started school at Hogwarts and was sorted into Slytherin house. While at Hogwarts, he was made a Slytherin prefect. At some point after his time at school, he married Narcissa Black; their son Draco was born in 1980.

Lucius knew Igor Karkaroff, headmaster of the Durmstrang Institute, and considered sending his son to Durmstang rather than Hogwarts. However, Narcissa did not like the idea of Draco going to school so far away, thus they sent him to Hogwarts. Lucius also associated with a gang of Slytherins that included Severus Snape. In his later life, Lucius retained his acquaintance with Snape, speaking highly of him to Ministry officials such as Dolores Umbridge. Snape also seemed to favour Lucius's son Draco when he was a student.

Lucius eventually became a Death Eater, one of the followers of Lord Voldemort, but abandoned that side after the Dark Lord's first fall in 1981. Lucius claimed he had been bewitched by Voldemort and had not meant to serve him. Though this explanation was accepted by the Ministry of Magic, some, such as Arthur Weasley, believed it was a lie. He then went on to get a job at the Ministry of Magic as a school governor of Hogwarts.

Involvement with the opening of the Chamber of Secrets
In 1992, after selling some of his poisons among other items at Borgin and Burkes, Lucius set in motion an elaborate plan that involved planting the old school diary of Tom Riddle on Ginny Weasley, knowing full well that it would possess her and attempt to use her body to open the Chamber of Secrets, releasing a basilisk that would target Muggle-born students. He slipped Ginny the diary while in Flourish and Blotts, after he had fought with her father and was hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools.

This plan was initially successful, despite his house-elf Dobby's attempt to warn Harry Potter. Students, animals and ghosts were systematically petrified by the basilisk a possessed Ginny released as the diary's grip on her became gradually stronger. With pressure from Lucius, in the form of their families being attacked if they did not cooperate, the school governors voted to dismiss Albus Dumbledore for his poor running of the school.

The plan failed, however, when Riddle decided to pursue his own goals, and rather than continue to petrify the Muggle-borns of the school, he set his eyes on the destruction of Harry Potter, the boy that Ginny told him would kill him in his future. Ginny finally stopped trusting her diary and threw it away, but Riddle soon took control of her again, forcing Ginny into the Chamber of Secrets in hopes of Harry trying to rescue her. He did so, but also killed the basilisk and destroyed the diary, as well as the Horcrux inside. Harry proved Ginny's innocence and pointed an accusing finger at the true culprit — Lucius, who was consequently sacked as a school governor. Adding insult to injury, Harry also managed to trick Lucius into setting Dobby free. The house-elf also protected Harry from Lucius's subsequent attack and blasted his former master down a flight of steps.

It was hinted that Lucius's target in this plan was not the Muggle-born students or even Ginny, but that his true intention was to discredit Arthur Weasley and thus sabotage the Muggle Protection Act Arthur had recently proposed, which Lucius, a believer in blood purity and the inferiority of Muggles, found offensive. Lucius' selfishness risked the endangerment of the diary which, unbeknownst to Lucius, was actually one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes.

During this year, Malfoy also bought the whole Slytherin Quidditch Team Nimbus 2001 broomsticks, as Draco was made the team's Seeker.

The Buckbeak Case
During the 1993 school year, Lucius’ son was attacked by the Hippogriff named Buckbeak after he provoked it during a Care of Magical Creatures class. Lucius took the case to court and insisted that the Hippogriff be put to death. Buckbeak's owner, gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid, desperately tried to defend him, with the assistance of Hermione Granger, arguing that Buckbeak had been provoked by Draco and had attacked in self-defence. Despite his actions, Malfoy still won the case and Buckbeak was sentenced to death. However, before Ministry executioner Walden Macnair could carry out the execution, Buckbeak was saved by Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, and subsequently came to be owned by Sirius Black.

Life as a Death Eater
"I have never renounced the old ways. The face I have been obliged to present each day since your . . . absence, that is my true mask."

- Lucius Malfoy

In 1994 Lucius attended the Quidditch World Cup with his family, sitting in the luxury box of Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge. In the aftermath of the cup, Malfoy and some other former Death Eaters were involved in the torture and humiliation of the Muggle site manager of the stadium and his family, though was not known at that time to the public and officials. He fled when the Dark Mark was launched into the sky.

When Lord Voldemort rose again, Malfoy returned to him on his summons, claiming that he had done everything he could all along to find Voldemort and help him rise again. Voldemort believed that Malfoy had not completely renounced his old ways, but mildly doubted his loyalty because Malfoy had fled the Dark Mark at the World Cup. Even though Harry witnessed Malfoy's declaration of loyalty to Voldemort, almost nobody in the Ministry believed him and Malfoy continued maintaining strong ties to very high places in the Ministry, most prominently in the form of financial support, as has been in the past.

In 1995, Malfoy appeared doing shady dealings with Cornelius Fudge in the Department of Mysteries just prior to Harry's trial. Malfoy could possibly have been convincing Fudge not to clear Harry's name. After the trial, Malfoy and Fudge encountered Harry, and it was implied that Malfoy was giving money to the Ministry.



Battle of the Department of Mysteries
Due to his good connections in the Ministry of Magic, Malfoy was assigned to help Voldemort to obtain a prophecy about Voldemort and Harry from the Department of Mysteries. Malfoy placed both Sturgis Podmore and Broderick Bode under the Imperius Curse to help his do this. However, Podmore was arrested when he tried to get into the Department, and Bode was driven insane when he tried to take the prophecy from its place.

Malfoy — along with Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, Augustus Rookwood, Antonin Dolohov, Nott, Mulciber, Jugson, Crabbe, Walden Macnair, and Avery Jr. — was involved in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, when they were sent to pry the prophecy from Harry's hands. However, the six D.A. members managed to hold off the Death Eaters until several members of the Order of the Phoenix arrived.

Lucius's mission to retrieve the prophecy ultimately failed when Neville Longbottom, under the influence of a step dance curse from Antonin Dolohov, accidentally broke the prophecy. Lucius was seen by a myriad of Ministry officials called by Albus Dumbledore to the scene; now with irrefutable evidence pointing to his identity as a Death Eater, Lucius was promptly sent to Azkaban prison. However, his assistant commander of the Death Eater squad, Bellatrix Lestrange, escaped with Voldemort after his duel with Dumbledore.

Lucius Malfoy's failure at the Department of Mysteries combined with accidentally destroying part of Voldemort's soul with the diary of Tom Riddle resulted in his loss of any standing with the Dark Lord. Some believed that he was safer in Azkaban than being free.

The Height of the Second War
In the summer of 1997, Lucius and all incarcerated Death Eaters escaped Azkaban prison with the help of Voldemort. However, the Malfoys were no longer held in well regard by the Dark Lord, who commandeered their home as his base of operations. Voldemort openly mocked the family at a Death Eater meeting in the summer of 1997, taking Lucius's wand and deriding their relation to werewolf Remus Lupin through Narcissa's niece Nymphadora Tonks. Lucius had become little more than a servant.

The Malfoys were desperate for a chance to be forgiven, and thus were excited when a group of Snatchers led by Fenrir Greyback brought Harry Potter and his friends to the Manor in the spring of 1998. Lucius argued with Bellatrix about who would be the one to call Voldemort with their Dark Marks, but they held off when Bellatrix noticed Godric Gryffindor's Sword, which she had believed to be in her Gringotts vault, among their possessions. Subsequently, Bellatrix tortured Hermione Granger for information about the sword, but she and the other prisoners were rescued by Dobby, the Malfoys' former house-elf. After their escape, the Malfoys and Bellatrix were severely punished by Voldemort.

By the time of the Battle of Hogwarts, Lucius showed that he was more concerned with his son's safety than Voldemort's cause, begging to be permitted to find him when the fighting began. Narcissa lied directly to Voldemort for Harry's sake when he informed her that Draco was still alive, and she and Lucius ran through the crowd, "not even attempting to fight, screaming for their son". Following Voldemort's defeat, Lucius, Narcissa and Draco sat in the Great Hall during the celebrations, looking unsure that they belonged there.

Lucius and Draco's crimes were forgiven due to their abandonment of Voldemort and his cause, as well as Narcissa's lie to the Dark Lord that saved Harry Potter's life in the Forbidden Forest.

Lucius would eventually gain a grandson, Scorpius Malfoy, after Draco married Astoria Greengrass.

Personality
Lucius Malfoy was generally a ruthless, aristocratic snob, who had a dislike of Muggles, Muggle-borns, and half-bloods. He was also arrogant, selfish, and highly concerned with his reputation and family's social standing. He was said to be skilled with the Imperius Curse and was cruel to Dobby when the house-elf was in his service. His ruthlessness was shown when Lucius attempted to murder Harry in the Hogwarts grounds just prior to being stripped of his servant.

However, Lucius cared greatly for his wife and son. They were indulgent and protective of their only child; Lucius bought the entire Slytherin Quidditch team new brooms when Draco became Seeker in his second year, and nearly had the hippogriff Buckbeak executed when it injured Draco in his third year. However, Lucius also demonstrated that he had expectations for his son, in one instance berating him for being beaten academically by Hermione Granger. When Lucius displeased Voldemort, the Dark Lord charged Draco with the task of killing Dumbledore as an indirect attack on Lucius. In the end, he demonstrated that his family was more important to him than serving Voldemort.

Behind The Scenes

 * In the movies, Malfoy is played by Jason Isaacs. To prepare for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and to get a sense of how nasty Lucius should be, Isaacs went back and watched Tom Felton's performance in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
 * The name Lucius may come from the Roman dictator Lucius Sulla, who extra judiciously executed his rivals. His name could also be a reference to the Roman Emperor Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also known as Nero. Lucius is a name that derives from Latin meaning "bright" or "intelligent" and is related to the name Lucifer, the first name of Satan, which may reference him to be bright but evil, or just evil. Malfoy is derived from the French mal foi or mal foy, meaning bad faith or unfaithful.
 * Also, in the movies, Lucius' wand is concealed within the snake-handeled walking stick he carries with him at close to all times.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Lucjusz Malfoy Люциус Малфой