What Will Draco's Fate Be?

Draco Malfoy. The greasy-haired, selfish, evil little brat. At least that's how his story begins, but how will it end? When we last see Draco he has set himself up for a world of hurt. At first he's proud that he's joined the ranks of Death Eaters, just like his parents. What Voldemort had planned for him, however, may mean the end for our foul little friend. After failing his new master, what choices does Draco have and can he possibly live to see the end of Deathly Hallows?

In Half-Blood Prince Voldemort gives Draco the Dark Mark, essentially christening him into the Dark Lord's evil world and then gives him orders to kill Dumbledore. He fails in attempt after attempt, only making the Dark Lord more and more angry until he finally tells him that if he does not do as he is told he will kill Draco's parents. With his parents' lives in his hands Draco faces Dumbledore. Dumbledore, alone, wandless and injured, talks Draco down, promising that he and the Order can protect him and his family. In the end, Snape kills Dumbledore, fulfilling a promise he made to Draco's mother to protect her son but that means Draco failed his master. Racing off of Hogwarts grounds with Snape, Draco must now decide what to do.

The option of joining the Order and seeking their protection, as Dumbledore promised the would, seems rather unlikely. For one thing Draco, scared as he is, is still too proud to take up with the very people he's disparaged since his first day at Hogwarts. From day one he trashed Ron and his whole family for their poverty and Hermione's lack of pure wizard blood. It's also quite possible that he doesn't believe the Order is powerful enough to protect him. And his parents certainly wouldn't follow him into the Order which would put a big bullseye on their heads with Voldemort at the ready. Simply put - joined the Order for his own protection sacrifices his parents.

Draco always has the option of just staying with Voldemort out of fear. There's one big problem with that - Voldemort doesn't value him as a Death Eater and therefore has no use for him. His only reason for making him a Death Eater in the first place and then giving him the task of killing Dumbledore was to get back at Lucius for inadvertently losing the diary Horcrux. Voldemort expected that Draco would be killed in the attempt on Dumbledore's life but since Snape stepped in, fulfilling his Unbreakable Vow with Draco's mother Narcissa, Draco not only failed but he escaped. The plain and simple fact is that Draco is a loud-mouthed coward. He can talk all he wants about killing Mudbloods but when it comes down to it he's no more a killer then Guildroy Lockhart. If he remains a Death Eater Voldemort will have him rubbed out - he's expendable.

That leaves one option left open - he has to run. The fact is Draco doesn't really have any options that will keep him alive but running will seem like the best option to him because that's the kind of coward he is. Snape is the only Death Eater to have defected and lived to tell the tale but there is the obvious suspicion that he's really a spy for the Dark Lord. In foiling Voldemort's plan to have Draco killed, Snape probably won't be on Voldemort's good side so he will probably be unable to help Draco any further. All of the Death Eaters will openly shun him and his parents are not in the position to protect him. There doesn't seem to be much hope for Draco Malfoy.

In the end Draco will probably meet his maker, possibly by the hands of a Death Eater rather then Voldemort himself. He has bigger fish to fry. Draco's death may have a positive effect, however. When Lucius and Narcissa find out that their son was killed by a fellow Death Eater it will rip a hole in the Dark Lord's inner circle and a weaker inner circle makes it easier for the Order to get in and get them all. The inevitable death of Draco Malfoy may end up being Voldemort's undoing.