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babydracoMost oddly, this is so codified that it seems to have been forgotten that the Head Boy and Girl are actually supposed to be top students. Instead, fanfiction makes it look like the selection of Head Boy and Girl is completely random. No one ever even wonders any more "How did Draco Malfoy get to be Head Boy?
Why wouldn't Draco be Head Boy? Draco's parents are intelligent people and talented wizards who probably made every provision for his at home education before he entered high school. We've never seen any indication in the books or movies that he has more intellectual trouble than anyone else. In fact, there are a few moments when he shows himself to be pretty competent at magic. Harry has no respect for his intelligence but that's Harry, who often turns out to be wrong about people.
In preparation for such a dangerous mission, Draco trained and improved his own skills, and became capable of blocking jinxes non-verbally[10]. He also became accomplished at Occlumency through the training of his aunt Bellatrix Lestrange, and was able to perform the very difficult Protean Charm, though he could not yet produce a corporeal Patronus.[11] (from the Harry Potter wiki
A few sentences further on, the article mentions that it was considered worth noting that Draco began missing assignments and getting detention in his sixth year.
He's not stupid just because he doesn't ever manage to truly surpass Harry. Harry, after all, has extra powers because of his connection to Voldemort. Part of Draco's reason for hating Harry so much is that Draco came to Hogwarts confidently expecting to eventually become king of the school only to find his place usurped by this much bigger celebrity who doesn't want to be his friend. And the fact that Draco is not nice, that he bullies people, also doesn't mean that he's a bad student or that he constantly finds himself in detention. Some of the meanest, most effective bullies in a school can be kids who are great students, and high ranking members of important clubs. That's how they get away with it, the teachers are all too busy yelling at the kids who come across as the more obvious troublemakers because they're slow, ugly, poor, and socially awkward. Draco's not Judd Nelson's character from The Breakfast Club, he's the Cordelia Chase/Blair Waldorf of Hogwarts.
He was already a prefect, so the idea isn't completely impossible.
Snape is a pretty influential teacher and he has a vested interest in making sure Draco succeeds. Plus, now that we've all read the seventh book, we know that Harry, Ron and Hermoine don't return for their seventh year (Hermione goes back later but the other two don't) and during that time, Death Eaters make Snape their puppet headmaster so they can run the school. So while the “Hermione is Head Girl” part never happened, I can't imagine Draco wouldn't get to picked for Head Boy in a school run by Death Eaters. Even if he wasn't able to earn the position on his own, they'd make him Head Boy just for the Lulz. To both torture the students by just giving Draco all the power and to torture Draco by forcing him to continuously prove his loyalty by jumping through a never ending series of horrible hoops.
On the other hand, the book is unclear on whether Draco was even able to/allowed to return for a complete seventh year. It's possible he didn't and would be too embarrassed to return later. So it's not so much a matter of "why Draco?" but "this plot likely couldn't happen at all because neither Draco nor Hermione had a traditional seventh year".
(note: I hadn't realized Draco can't make a Patronus, but then, the whole "Snape is the only DE who can produce a Patronus" thing is one of those post canon facts JKR came out with randomly. That's okay, it's just that since Draco apparently does bear the mark, a lot of people who incorporated Draco's Patronus into the plots of their fics are in a pickle. Like me.
Why wouldn't Draco be Head Boy? Draco's parents are intelligent people and talented wizards who probably made every provision for his at home education before he entered high school. We've never seen any indication in the books or movies that he has more intellectual trouble than anyone else. In fact, there are a few moments when he shows himself to be pretty competent at magic. Harry has no respect for his intelligence but that's Harry, who often turns out to be wrong about people.
In preparation for such a dangerous mission, Draco trained and improved his own skills, and became capable of blocking jinxes non-verbally[10]. He also became accomplished at Occlumency through the training of his aunt Bellatrix Lestrange, and was able to perform the very difficult Protean Charm, though he could not yet produce a corporeal Patronus.[11] (from the Harry Potter wiki
A few sentences further on, the article mentions that it was considered worth noting that Draco began missing assignments and getting detention in his sixth year.
He's not stupid just because he doesn't ever manage to truly surpass Harry. Harry, after all, has extra powers because of his connection to Voldemort. Part of Draco's reason for hating Harry so much is that Draco came to Hogwarts confidently expecting to eventually become king of the school only to find his place usurped by this much bigger celebrity who doesn't want to be his friend. And the fact that Draco is not nice, that he bullies people, also doesn't mean that he's a bad student or that he constantly finds himself in detention. Some of the meanest, most effective bullies in a school can be kids who are great students, and high ranking members of important clubs. That's how they get away with it, the teachers are all too busy yelling at the kids who come across as the more obvious troublemakers because they're slow, ugly, poor, and socially awkward. Draco's not Judd Nelson's character from The Breakfast Club, he's the Cordelia Chase/Blair Waldorf of Hogwarts.
He was already a prefect, so the idea isn't completely impossible.
Snape is a pretty influential teacher and he has a vested interest in making sure Draco succeeds. Plus, now that we've all read the seventh book, we know that Harry, Ron and Hermoine don't return for their seventh year (Hermione goes back later but the other two don't) and during that time, Death Eaters make Snape their puppet headmaster so they can run the school. So while the “Hermione is Head Girl” part never happened, I can't imagine Draco wouldn't get to picked for Head Boy in a school run by Death Eaters. Even if he wasn't able to earn the position on his own, they'd make him Head Boy just for the Lulz. To both torture the students by just giving Draco all the power and to torture Draco by forcing him to continuously prove his loyalty by jumping through a never ending series of horrible hoops.
On the other hand, the book is unclear on whether Draco was even able to/allowed to return for a complete seventh year. It's possible he didn't and would be too embarrassed to return later. So it's not so much a matter of "why Draco?" but "this plot likely couldn't happen at all because neither Draco nor Hermione had a traditional seventh year".
(note: I hadn't realized Draco can't make a Patronus, but then, the whole "Snape is the only DE who can produce a Patronus" thing is one of those post canon facts JKR came out with randomly. That's okay, it's just that since Draco apparently does bear the mark, a lot of people who incorporated Draco's Patronus into the plots of their fics are in a pickle. Like me.
