The Malfoy Project

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭

by Gabriella Ainsley

The world is grey.

Smoke. Ash. Rain. Metal.
The sky on a January afternoon.

People.

You probably opened this book because of its title. Or maybe it's because you know the Malfoys. Everyone does - especially with the amount of press that surrounded them after the war.

It's hard to miss them, really. In a crowd, one will catch a glimpse of platinum hair, or a sliver of striking silver-blue eyes, or flash of pale skin, and immediately exclaim: 'Ah! There goes a Malfoy!'

As part of the Sacred 28, some might even go as far as to say they are wizarding royalty. 

Patriarch Lucius Malfoy, with his severe cane and signature drawl. He flashes his beliefs in pure-blood supremacy like a badge of honour, and, much to the chagrin of many, has successfully evaded imprisonment twice during both wars.

His wife, Narcissa Malfoy, is married from the Black family and sister of notorious Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange. A woman of regal, purebred beauty, she mothers the Malfoy household with an iron fist and is perhaps best known for her fierce loyalty to her family, evident when she betrayed Voldemort in an effort to save them.

Finally, their son, Draco Lucius Malfoy, a strapping young man who has garnered quite the reputation as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's resident bully and the youngest Death Eater ever. 

Despite being Harry Potter's sworn enemy, he constantly excels in school, showing particular talent in Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Everyone was certain he would graduate top of his form and pave a bright, sparkling future for himself. It's just rather unfortunate he botched it all before it even began, isn't it?

And that's all there is to the Malfoys.

But you might have figured out by now that that's not quite the whole truth. Otherwise, this book would not exist.

And that is what this book is - the truth.

I am, perhaps, one of the luckiest people alive to have discovered, first-hand, the deeper story about the tight-lipped family, and I'm here to share their side of the truth with you.

Within these pages you will find hours and hours of interviews, stories, and journal entries, as well as a detailed recount of how I acquired them.

I strongly believe it is our duty as journalists and writers to be the mouthpiece for the silenced. And, like so many other things, silence can come in shades of grey as well. 

This is by no means justification or an attempt to erase the things they have done, but simply to bring to light their greyness; the same one that dwells within each and every one of us.

Before you start, it might do you well to keep this in mind: if you're looking for an exposé or a tell-all, or whatever you fancy calling it, you will find yourself sorely disappointed.

This story isn't any of those things.

This story is about an ambitious young girl who, by chance, was offered the deal of a lifetime, only to discover it hadn't really the work of happenstance at all.

This is a story about a girl who had never been too familiar with the Malfoys, only to become one of the only people in the world who knows their truth. Well, before you have read this, of course.

This is a story about how what started as a side project has shaped the entire trajectory of my Eighth Year at Hogwarts, and the rest of my life.

This is my story.