Draco is presently in the care of Snape, whose loyalties are presently being questioned. The last acts the Draco does on his own, however, were that of a unnerved kid having to go through with some evil-kenevil act that he put claim on with out thinking it through, and was thinking about turning back (something I extremely doubt would have happened should dumbledore have left Harry unfrozen).
In previous books Draco has been soemone who has tried to get a tan using his father's shadow as sunblock. He goes by his surname Malfoy, and is quick to tell you the lineage that is behind that name. When first introduced, the comments coming out of Malfoys mouth could not have been anything but a reciting of what his parents have forced into his head his entire life. Indeed, it seems that with out the previous modeling of his mind, Malfoy would have even tried to befriend Harry simply because their coincidence of placement.
As tempers flare, Draco has to focus on living up to his utmost bully potential, something I'm sure made easier by his preconcieved prejudice about "mudbloods" being no good, and then Hermione annoying the entire class with her know-it-all attitude. Ron was a victum due to socio-economic status, but then again, how common is that...especially in such a tight knit community like the wizarding world, he must have over heard thousands of nasty things about the Weasleys....for further proof, many of his early insults he even references to other sources...my mother tells me; i heard my father say; i heard that...
And at some point we see Draco get in trouble with his parents, though i dont remember when, i definitly remember getting the feeling that he tried hard to please his father, but nothing was quite good enough. And no wonder, with Hermione getting everything perfect and Harry saving the world every few weeks. And by the way, Harry diddn't exactly try to keep the line of communication open.
As a final testiment to his circumstances, Harry supplies a notion that would fit Draco's troubled persona. WIth his father in Azkaban, Draco steps up to the plate to be a death eater, trying to win a place as an equal with his father to earn some respect, and meanwhile trying to keep up with Harry, who clearly is off with the other half of the school fighting for the phenox. He jions, huaghty with pride, but as the grave reality to what he has been hearing about behind close doors since he was a child, the one thing that he as been glorifying, dreaming about his entire existance at Hogwarts, most liekly his whole life, turns out to be the terrible truth that has been keeping Snape, DD and Peter awake at night since the rise od LV.
It wears him down. He is overwhelmed and confused, yet driven forward by the prize of his fathers pride through LV (for surely LV has always come before parenting) and the fear of failure that would result in the death of his mother, who, I do not care what anyone may think, is his mother and you do not go messin with moms.
Harry sees the grim toll this takes on Malfoy the whole year. What I love most though is his discovery of Draco seeking comfort in Moaning Myrtle. It shows just how little time and love he gets in his life, and how much he needed it. FACT: when you need moaning myrtle to cheer you up, you really must be despritely grabbing onto anything.
So now he has snape...though lord knows another lecture is in order. However, maybe its time a different mistreated boy got a mentor in this book. Even though his course of action will be choreographed by snape till well near the end of the book, I beleive Malfoy will get another chance to stop the attrosity that tore apart his family, or fulfill his parents ideal prophecy for their son, becoming a DE that could strike very near the heart of the DA.