Dumbledore decides the prefects, and malfoy is one. I at first assumed that malfoy brought the position, but dumbledore decicdes, now i am confused. Dumbledore cant be brought, and i dont think he is too keen on malfoy, so how did he become a prefect

I think Dumbledore considered Draco as Slytherin House Prefect in two ways: Fairness and Control.
Dumbledore chooses one fifth-year wizard and one fifth year witch for each House each year, right? Is it fair to devoid one House of a new prefect just because all the candidates are morally defunct? No. They all require a balance of administrative power, if any House lacks prefects that enforce school rules just because the Head is biased, then the system goes whack.
Also, it would not be fair of Albus to take into account the father's actions as the son's. Lucius may direct his son to particular attitudes, but Dumbledore making Draco a Prefect can help Draco realize he can control his own life.

Draco Malfoy has political-popular power in his House. Slytherins are most likely obligated to conform to do what he says. Since DD has given Draco administrative power, he can order the conduct of his fellows towards Hogwarts' standards. Draco may act biased and bully students in a more deplorable fashion using his power as Prefect, but he delivers structure into the student body.

I guess the reason Dd made Draco a prefect is mostly because Draco has the characteristics of a leader. Maybe not a very democratic or fair leader, but he is an Alpha Male. Though the movies portray him as a bit spineless, this does not really come across in the books as much.

I think Tuitus is right too, in the fact that each house must have a representative, and that Draco is not Lucious. If anyone would be willing to give Draco a chance it would be Dd.

Also, Jk has more to gain by putting Draco in the forefront in a position of power. I am sure it will add to the overall story line.

I was thinking about this today (in the middle of a Uni lecture of all places- oh the stuff that pops into my head when I'm not listening) and was thinking about why people would get made a prefect over others.

Now, Dd sorta explains to Harry at the end of OOTP that Harry had enough on his plate without more things to do. But why on earth would he make some people prefects over other people?

Ok- Hermione, I can get. She's smart and she's responsible. I think she's proved herself above others and deserves it. I can even get Ron, he deserves for once to be given the chance to be better than Harry. However Ron isn't an 'alpha male'. He doesn't really have the leadership qualities, however I have to admit that I respected when he told Seamus to shut up. But for him over Dean, Seamus or even----EEK- Neville.... ok maybe not to be compared to Neville (who I love to bits by the way).... but I think he probably DID deserve it over the other two- just to be given the chance to do something great like the rest of his brothers. I would have been disapointed if he was a 'nothing'.

Anthony, Hannah, Ernie and Padma aren't really known well enough compared with other people in the house to say whether or not they are more deserving.

Like Razz said, Draco is an alpha male. Similarly, Pansy is portrayed as the ultimate Slytherin female in that crowd. In comparison, Goyle and Crabbe are dumbells. No- they have no sense of leadership and barely have the brains to tie their shoelaces.

However why Draco over Blaise or whoever the other Slytherin male is (are?- assuming that there's at least 5 like with Gryffindor). He's nasty and prior to being given the position was observed to be ordering others around and using connections. Dumbledore surely could have chosen one of the other guys over him. Pansy is a little more tricky, because while she's seen to be nasty around Hermione, it isn't said what kind of student she is or what Dumbledore has seen of her. Chances are she could be the best of the pic of Slytherin girls if she is the popular one who leads. But it might have been nice to introduce a face-less name just to make Slytherin appear to be slightly good.

I think DD sees things in people that aren't ultimately appearant. In the case of Ron, DD's been privy to some of the bold steps Ron's taken over the last few years.
In HBP, we see the first-ever conversation between Draco and DD, and I think it's very revealing. You get a taste of a relationship that, since the books are from Harry's point-of-view, we never gave any thought to. DD seems VERY certain that Draco isn't going to kill him - how would he KNOW that without having spent a lot of time with the boy, at least the same amount of time as he does with Harry.

The heads of the houses probably have a bit of say in who becomes prefects from their house also. They may not get to hand pick the prefects but im sure they get to put in their two cents and give recomendations. Snape is like in love with Draco so I'm pretty sure he pushed for him to be prefect.

But I thought actually is snape nominates him, because snape is malfoy's teacher. Therefore dumbledore can accept. Also perhaps because malfoy's daddy is voldemort bigger supporter, therefore snape might elect him...

It could be that prefects are chosen by whoever best exhibits the qualities of his/her house. The Gryffindors, most brave, the Slytherins, most ambitious, or something to that effect. That would make a lot of sense all around.

Dumbledor act very silly, Malfoy is the biggest dork ever, but he is good-looking too, I don't know whu Dumbledor did it, I think Rouling just take the most popular students...

Hey I just want to ask. Well.. I really didn't got the idea why Harry wasn't chosen as the prefect. Could someone please tell me. It just said in the book that Dumbldore had tears in his eyes. Can't get the clue. Someone help me. Thanks a bunch!

Crimson, Dumbledore told Harry he didn't make him prefect because he felt hes got enough to deal with, what with the prophecy saying either he has to die or kill voldemort, which is why he got emotional over it

I see Dumbledore making bad decisions constantly, is that just me?

One other reason not to choose Harry (although not stated in the books) - Dumbledore knows that Harry will have to likely break a few rules over the next few years. It's hard to put someone in a position of responsibility/authority that won't be able to follow their own rules or lead by example.

Maybe not being a prefect makes it easier for Harry to act freely without worrying about holding up some sort of standard for the rest of the house.

harry couldnt be a prefect really cause he breaked so many rules in the past and also i recon ron and hermione were made prefects because they might be able to stop harry running off and breaking the rules and also in rons case to watch over harry asswel

dumbledore should never have made draco a prefect that was a mistake which really effected harry

Think about it this way, Dumbledore chose prefects for who had power in their house, who was respected, and perhaps good leaders. Dumbledore chose Hermione for she was pretty well respected, a good leader, and had a decent bit of power in Gryffindor house. Ron was chosen as a back up to Harry, but Ron has very good characteristics as well. I bet he's respected as Harry Potter's best friend, and he's likeable so I'm sure certain people would follow his directions more easily.

Dumbledore's choice was well justified for making Malfoy prefect. Malfoy had power in Slytherin house, he was well respected, and was a good leader. Perhaps he wasn't a leader in a kind, democratic way, but he was a leader.

I thought Dumbledore made the best choice, personally. I wouldn't be thrilled to have Malfoy as a prefect, but giving him it to Crabbe or Goyle would have been completely useless. People are scared of Malfoy or they respected him.Sure, he may have used his power unfairly, but with Malfoy people were also more likely to follow the rules with him around.

Most Slytherins aren't probably liked by DD too much. And i guess Malfoy was just an easy and obvious choice. Although i do think DD would have thought long and hard baout it. For any stuff ups would be bad and his own fault. I agree that Malfoy has good skills with people and stuff so i rekon DD sees a talent there and something that would make him a good prefect.

ummm i wouldn't go quite that far. he has more power over people than with people. some of you may not think there is a difference but i think that there's a fine line dividing the two. Draco was made slytherin prefect because, even though he can be a biased bully, he has all of the qualities of a born leader.. surprisingly simialr to some of Harry's characteristics..

First of all, I do not believe that the decision on who makes Prefect and Headship comes from Dumbledore alone. It, the majority of information and stuff, comes from the teachers. Dumbledore has no time to watch certain students and see whether or not they are Prefect material. That is what the Heads of Houses are for. So, in my opinion, we shouldn't look at Dumbledore, but rather look at Snape, the Slytherin Head of House.

It is my belief that it was he who persuaded Draco to be a Prefect. Why? I cannot say for certain, nor do I have a solid theory, but I do have some beliefs. But first, there is that quote by many. "I was sure Dumbledore would've picked you, Harry." No, that isn't the exact quote, but you get what I mean. I am sure that McGonagall and perhaps other teachers who help make the decision nominated Harry. But Dumbledore does get the final say. And we learn in the final chapters of Order of the Phoenix (The Lost Prophecy) that Dumbledore believed that Harry had other things to worry about. (One of my favorite scenes, by the way )

So how come Draco was elected Prefect period? Perhaps it was to keep him busy because I am sure Dumbledore and needless to say Snape, knew what Draco was up to. You know what I am getting to...and yes, that is what I believe. You can tell how wore out Draco was near the mid to end chapters of Half-Blood Prince....

I think the heads of house choose the prefects or whoever is liked by the fellow house people. So I guess who ever had the influence or power over the others.

Sorry, what do you mean 'fellow House people'? You mean students? I don't think so, but maybe Head Boy and Girl have a say...

So, if we are to assume that, who was Head Boy and Girl at the time of Draco's election? Hmm, I don't believe it was said. We can probably rule that out anyways...

Can't really understand what you mean, so sorry .

I think that Malfoy was chosen as prefect because he obviously an extremely good leader and he speaks to people and they listen (even if he does do it by bullying) Out of everyone else in Slytherin House that was in the same year as Malfoy, he had better leadership skills and smarts (hence Crabbe and Goyle, could you see those two as prefects?) anyway DD obviously saw fit for Malfoy to be the best choice because of what he could do as a prefect. I also think that Snape as Head of Slytherin House recommended Malfoy and since DD trusts Snape so much he also took that recommendation into consideration. I don't see anything wrong with Malfoy as prefect he'll keep the Slytherins and everyone else in line.

Dumbledore choosed Draco to be a prefect because he saw his good part inside him. Malfoy is apparently a bad and a bit clever boy who comes from a pure blood and rich family,but he has got got a leader spirit and knows when something is bad.
Everybody who has read the half-blood prince knows that Malfoy wasn't able to murder Dumbledore and Narcisa had to do a promise with Snape to make Voldemort's plan.He likes Dumbledore though he doesn't want to demostrate it.

I think that DD may have picked Malfoy as prefect to try to get him to take his mind off what his task for LV was. Maybe to try to distract him from his goal and eventually push him to come to DD for help or protection.

I know its a long shot but i dont think that he would have chosen Malfoy just because he was most popular or somehthing like that


D.A

Your looking at Malfoy through Harry's eyes, the Malfoy you know is very rude and a slimy git

But seeing as Dumbledore wouldn't know Malfoy the way Harry, Ron and Hermione do, it seems reasonable that he'd be chosen as prefect .

I think perhaps Dumbledore wanted Malfoy to be encouraged to donate time to Hogwarts as a whole and not be continually focused on the dark side..For him to keep busy on Prefect duties, perhaps Dumbledore felt he could better keep on eye on things with him, and be giving him a chance to mature a little.. Dumbledore always seems to want to get people motivated in the right direction and use their gifts for the good.

I liked to take Brigid's good idea and run with it. Perhaps Dumbledore was still undecided about Malfoy. We know one's character is comprised of the choices he/she makes, so perhaps Dumbledore (with Snape's input I beleive) made Draco a prefect in the hopes that he would choose to be a role model of responsibility and respect.

In Book 6, in the Astronomy tower when Malfoy has him trapped, DD talks about watching Malfoy grow from a young boy. He still has hope that Malfoy can escape his family's association (obsession) with the Dark Arts and service to Voldemort. I beleive DD saw great potential and would have loved to see Draco "change his ways."

I agree with everyones comments on the alpha male thing, and how people will listen to him.
Also, there isn't really a great deal of choice. From what I gathered the five Slytherin boys in Malfoy's year are Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini, and Nott. Crabbe and Goyle are out of the equation immediately (do they even know what a prefect is?) and Nott is described in OotP as 'a weedy boy', so i guess he probably wouldn't like the authority of being a prefect. So know there's only Malfoy and Zabini, and Malfoy has always been someone who is popular, and generally the centre of attention, and someone who people listen to, if not always for the right reasons, so I guess that's why Dumbledore chose him as prefect.