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harry potter - When and how did Draco find out his father was a Death Eater?


I'm just going to guess he had little idea at the start of the series, I mean you don't really entrust such information to an eleven year old. That said he must have noted that some people acted funny around his father. I'm going to say that once he knew about Death Eaters he would have connected the dots, but the wizarding youth don't seem to know much. Also, even if he did know about Death Eaters, he may not have thought his father had been one. The other possibility is that Draco knew his father was a Death Eater but didn't know really know what that meant.


He probably knew by The Goblet of Fire. That said he might not even have known when they were torturing Muggles. I mean his father would have expressed his hatred towards Muggles before then, so it's not altogether unlikely Draco didn't think much of it.


I can't imagine Lucius sitting Draco down and saying, "It's time you know that, not long before you were born, I was a Death Eater." I mean it's not the sort of thing you can just tell someone especially if you had no reason to. Is it possible he figured it out himself or someone else tipped him off? Maybe Moody (or really Crouch Jr., I guess)?



Answer



No canon info, as far as I'm aware. I'm inclined to believe it was one of those things that Draco just slowly came to understand. After all, Lucius was definitely accused of being a Death Eater, and (at least by the time Draco is attending Hogwarts) he's comfortable spouting his classist and racist opinions in the open.


Draco, by the age of eleven, feels comfortable discussing with Harry (a boy he's just met) how he doesn't think they should let in Muggle-borns and by the second book he's shouting Mudblood in view of witnesses. From this we can gather than Lucius was giving these opinions freely at home. It just so happened that these opinions lined up with Voldemort's.


Consider his dealing with the Chamber Of Secrets. He admits to Draco that it was opened before, but doesn't tell him details for fear of looking suspicious, nor does he tell Draco about his involvement. If this was his general attitude it's quite likely that he neither officially confirmed nor denied to Draco his Death Eater past, at least until the later books. A smirk, a wink perhaps, nothing more.


Of note - in the fourth book Draco's awfully calm about the attack. He knows they're after Muggles and doesn't seem the slightest bit scared. This seems to point to two explanations - he knew his Dad was behind it, or he was so secure in his knowledge of Death Eater attacks and his own pure-blood status, that he knew he wasn't getting hurt. Both indicate to me at least a passing knowledge of his Dad's probable connections to the group.



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