Narcissa Malfoy: The Mother Who Lied to Voldemort for Draco

Her most important lie lasts a few seconds and saves Harry. Narcissa Malfoy looks like a cold lady who looks down on everyone, and yet she makes the most decisive choice of the battle for a very simple reason: she wants to know whether her son is alive.

Who she is

Narcissa was born a Black, sister of Bellatrix and Andromeda, in a family proud of its blood purity. She married Lucius Malfoy and had Draco. The books don't say which house she was in at Hogwarts.

She is tall, blonde, controlled in her gestures. She speaks little and always seems to weigh her words. Her real personality shows when Draco is involved.

Key moments

• Half-Blood Prince, ch. 2: she visits Snape at his house, with Bellatrix, and asks him to protect Draco. Snape makes the Unbreakable Vow.
• Deathly Hallows, ch. 1: she is part of the Death Eater gathering at the Manor, next to her husband and son, while Voldemort decides what to do with them.
• Deathly Hallows, ch. 34: Voldemort sends her to check whether Harry is dead. She whispers a question, whether Draco is alive, and when she hears yes, she lies to Voldemort and says Harry is dead.
• Deathly Hallows, ch. 36: after Harry's apparent fall, she and Lucius call Draco from Voldemort's ranks. They just want him back.

Relationships

With Draco she is a mother protective to the point of recklessness. With Lucius, a couple that survives humiliation. With Bellatrix, sisters who chose very similar loyalties with very different intensity. With Andromeda there has been no contact since she was blasted off the Black family tree (Order of the Phoenix, ch. 6).

With Snape the bond is one of need: he is the person she goes to when she fears losing her son.

What almost nobody notices

Her lie in the forest isn't for Harry. She makes it because she needs to get into the castle and find Draco. Harry understands this in that instant, lying on the ground with his eyes closed (Deathly Hallows, ch. 34).

Narcissa never turns good, and that honesty is what gives the moment its weight: she saves Harry without meaning to save Harry.

To see whether family loyalty outweighs ambition in you, take the house quiz.