Did the Department of Education Really Just Post Gender-Swapped Harry Potter “Malfoid” Fic?

The United States Department of Education on Tuesday posted an image to X inspired by a popular Harry Potter gender-swapped fanfiction trend known as “Malfoid.” It is not clear whether the reference was intentional.The image in question features the “Golden Trio” of Harry, Ron, and Hermione walking up a path toward Hogwarts castle, passing the Whomping Willow and Forbidden Forest along the way. In the foreground of the image, a girl with long, white-blond hair can be seen from behind, peeking out from a tree, staring at the group. A caption at the top of the image reads “There’s Magic In Learning,” and at the bottom, “Make Education Great Again.”This mysterious figure in the image “Malfoid,” a girl version of teen villain Draco Malfoy that merges the words “Malfoy” after the character and “foid,” a derogatory incel term that in turn comes from the word “femoid,” which members of that group use as a degrading term for women. Given the anti-transgender agenda of both J.K. Rowling and the Trump administration, we’re all wondering: Do they know what they just posted?There’s Magic in Learning! 🪄 https://t.co/rbOY84jffA— U.S. Department of Education (@usedgov) October 27, 2026Queer Harry Potter fanfiction is not new, of course; “Drarry,” an imagining of Harry and Draco as a gay couple, has existed for years. But in September 2026, there was a resurgence of artwork that centered an alternate timeline of events where Harry and a girl version of Draco get together in an enemies-to-lovers plot. The recent uptick in “Malfoid” artwork stems from a drawing posted by @redteneri in which a female Draco teases Harry about being “one of the top students in the school,” which has since garnered over 20 million million views at the time of this writing. Some have speculated that the Department of Education could be knowingly deploying the meme. On TikTok, creator Max Levy noted that referencing niche internet subculture has become