Lucius Malfoy Is Not a Homophobe
I have some thoughts once again about the Drarry Fandom and their relationship to Lucius Malfoy.
There's this prevalent archetype in the portrayal of the Malfoys, specifically Lucius, that they would oppose Draco being in a relationship with another wizard on the basis that it's same-sex. Reasons range from same-sex relationships are not tolerated in the wizarding community, same-sex couples can't have biological children (The Malfoy's must have an heir!), to pure-blood families are just homophobic.
Is there any truth to this in canon? Because I see it a lot in fanon, so much it has me questioning if canon would support a homophobic Lucissa.
Let's start with what we know.
During his POV in the series, Harry never observes a same-sex couple at Hogwarts, or out there in the world, Muggle or Wizard. He doesn't comment on same-sex relationships or give any indication if he even has an opinion on same-sex couples. That's not to argue that he's oblivious or it doesn't exist. There are three instances in the books where Harry's POV addresses it.
The first is during Order of the Phoenix when Dudley taunts Harry about calling out Cedric's name in his sleep.
“What d’you mean?” Harry said again, but there was a cold, plunging sensation in his stomach. He had revisited the graveyard last night in his dreams. Dudley gave a harsh bark of laughter then adopted a high-pitched, whimpering voice. “ ‘Don’t kill Cedric! Don’t kill Cedric!’ Who’s Cedric — your boyfriend?” “I — you’re lying — ” said Harry automatically. But his mouth had gone dry. He knew Dudley wasn’t lying — how else would he know about Cedric? “ Dad! Help me, Dad! He’s going to kill me, Dad! Boo- hoo!”’ “Shut up,” said Harry quietly. “Shut up, Dudley, I’m warning you!”
-OotP, Chapter One
This is the first example in the series I can find that acknowledges same-sex relationships, and it's meant to be insulting. Harry himself is more upset that Dudley knows Harry's having nightmares about Cedric dying than the implication about having a boyfriend, at least that's my interpretation.
Next time is during Deathly Hallows. Ron disguises himself with magic and Harry cracks a joke.
It was just possible to discern Ron under his disguise, but only, Harry thought, because he knew him so well. Ron’s hair was now long and wavy; he had a thick brown beard and mustache, no freckles, a short, broad nose, and heavy eyebrows. “Well, he’s not my type, but he’ll do,” said Harry.
-DH, Chapter Twenty Five
It's obviously meant to be a joke rather than Harry being serious (...unless?). None of the characters react to the joke in a negative or positive way, they just continue on their way to the next chapter. I'm just including it here to show Harry's not unaware of same-sex attraction existing, as some people may try to argue.
The next example is about Harry's relationship with Dumbledore.
Skeeter refuses to give any more away on this intriguing subject, so we turn instead to the relationship that will undoubtedly fascinate her readers more than any other. “Oh yes,” says Skeeter, nodding briskly, “I devote an entire chapter to the whole Potter-Dumbledore relationship. It’s been called unhealthy, even sinister. Again, your readers will have to buy my book for the whole story, but there is no question that Dumbledore took an unnatural interest in Potter from the word go. Whether that was really in the boy’s best interests — well, we’ll see. It’s certainly an open secret that Potter has had a most troubled adolescence.”
-DH, Chapter Two
This is the only example we ever get in the text of even the possibility that a same-sex relationship can be considered negatively by the wizarding world. Harry was underage during his mentorship with Dumbledore and the use of terms like "unhealthy" and "sinister" make the argument that Skeeter is implying Dumbledore was abusing Harry more so than they were in a sexual or romantic relationship. So no, I would not count this as evidence the wizarding community doesn't support same-sex couples.
Finally, that leaves us with Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Gridelwald. JKR didn't actually portray them as a couple in the book, and so once again we have no reaction from Harry or the wizarding world to base how homophobic they are. However, there are plenty of quotes that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were intended to be a romantic relationship outside of canon from JKR. Therefore, same-sex relationships, whether allowed to exist openly or not among wizards, canonly do happen in the wizarding world and in the HP canon.
Back to Lucius. There's a section of the fandom that portrays pure-blood wizards as traditional, conservative, and culturally anti-progressive. You would think that means that wizards, especially the conservative ones, are just as prejudiced against same-sex unions as their Muggle counterparts.
Despite there being no in-textual evidence to support either way, there was an interview JKR did with the Pottercast team that actually addressed this!
MA: We wanna talk about Dumbledore so bad. We know that you've created worldwide intrigue when you said that he is gay. But I wanted to ask you about homosexuality in the Wizarding World in general. Is it a taboo? JKR: Now, that's something I never thought of. I would think that that would be-- it would be exactly what it is in the Muggle World. But the greatest taboo in the Wizarding World is, well, for some wizards... I mean if we're talking about prejudiced people within the Wizarding World, what they care most about is your blood status. So I think you could be, um, gay, pure-blood, and totally without any kind of criticism from the Lucius Malfoys of the world. I don't think that would be something that would interest him in the slightest. But, you know, I can't answer for all witches and wizards because I think in matters of the heart, it would be directly parallel to our world.
-Anelli, Melissa, John Noe and Sue Upton. "PotterCast Interviews J.K. Rowling, part one." PotterCast #130, 17 December 2007. https://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2007/1217-pottercast-anelli.html
There's so much I can talk about here with this answer but I want to bring this meta back to Lucius and if he would oppose a Draco/Harry relationship. LOL at her saying she never thought about it (This bitch...😒). You can tell she's working through her answer in real time and coming up with an explanation on the fly.
My takeaway is that Lucius (and those traditional, anti-Muggle pure-bloods like him) values magical blood status more so than your sexuality. Including that of his son. So, in fanon, this right here is the biggest strike against an anti-Drarry Lucissa.
If anything, my interpretation to this is that the Muggle-born witches and wizards are more likely to be homophobic during the time the series is taking place, as the Muggle world is completely homophobic from the date the Statute takes place to the time the books are set. That's another meta though.
Anyway, the thought of a Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy that would disown or disinherit a Draco Malfoy for being gay or in a same-sex relationship never sat right with me. We see in the text how much Lucius and Narcissa adore Draco. They literally run into a battlefield without wands looking for Draco, putting their own safety aside multiple times.
This doesn't mean their fanon selves can't also be homophobic. You do you, write what you want. I just want to present the above evidence as a counter-argument to homophobic Lucius. From JKR herself, Lucius would not give a damn about sexuality. At the end of the day, he's a magical blood purist. Harry's a half-blood and a wizard, he should be fine with Draco having a relationship with Harry.
Well, except for the fact that it's Chosen One himself, Boy Who Lived Twice Harry Potter now becoming his son-in-law. 🤣
Personally, I think he would try to play nice. He loves Draco, obviously, and Harry did kill the madman that was holding him and his family hostage in their own home for the better part of a year. As well as torturing them. So, yeah, I think he would be fine in the long run that Draco and Harry are romantically involved.
Besides I'm pretty sure Narcissa would widow herself if Lucius ever hurt Draco.
