#drarry-lets-play

[noodlesunraveled]

I made this for the @drarry-lets-play fest!! This is basicall draco as Than, and Harry as Zagreus. I hope you guys like it!

I really enjoyed hades, and I felt like the dynamics wete very drarry coded.

This is my first ever submission to any drarry fest! If u know any fics where Harry is Zag, or Hades let me know 👉👈❤️

Ps. I'm currently in a lobby waiting for my first final interview. This is my first job and am distracting myself from nerves by posting this huhuhu 😭😭😱

[drarry-lets-play]

🎮 DLP 2024 | Fic Master List 🎮

🎮 The road to Baldur's Gate 🎮

16th september, by @gnarf

Rating: Explicit Word count: 19.360k Warnings/Tags: Alternative Universe - Baldur's Gate, Abduction, Tadpole | Illithid Parasite Powers (Baldur's Gate), We'll fuck because we'll die mindset, Blow Jobs, semi public blowjob, Rimming, Bathtub Sex, Fast Paced Enemies To Lovers, everyone is horny, Poisoning, Ambushes and Sneak Attacks, Explosions Summary: Waking up in a fucking pod on a fucking Mindflayer ship with a worm dangling in front of his eye was one of the weirder experiences Harry had during his short life. Twenty-one years of absolute fuckery made him immune to most of the bullshit happening around him, but this must have made it into the top five immediately, making it into the top three the second the Mindflayer attempted to put a parasite into his eyes.

🎮 A Boyfriend Among Us🎮

17th september, by @Skotini

Rating: T Word count: 6,636 Warnings/Tags: Impostors to lovers, Humor, Getting Together, Flirting, Secret Crush, POV Harry Potter, Characters Playing Among Us (Video Game) Summary: There's something sus about one of the players in Harry's new game. And Harry's got to work it out, even if it means tailing Eltanin all over the ship. Repeatedly. He’s just doing it because he’s dedicated to justice… right?

🎮Gems 🎮

18th september, by @definitelynotafanficwriter

Rating: M Word count: 20,413 Warnings/Tags: No Archive Warnings Apply, Getting Together, Crime Fighting, Metaverse (Persona 5), Palaces (Persona 5), Guns, Masks, Fights, Infiltration, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Pining, Mutual Pining, Flirting, Cafe Leblanc (Persona 5), Banter, Kissing, Justice, Past, Fluff, Coffee Shop Owner Harry Potter, Shop Owner Harry Potter, POV Harry Potter, Games, Teasing, Good Draco Malfoy, Sassy, Partners in Crime, Post-Second Wizarding War with Voldemort (Harry Potter), Fans, feathers - Freeform, Harry Potter loves his life in Japan Summary: Harry Potter was done with the war. He packed all his stuff, said his goodbyes to his friends, and left for the muggle world... in Japan. It was a last minute decision, just like opening a coffee shop was. Good thing he found a last-minute supplier. Then, one fateful morning, everything went crazy and it had something to do with Draco Malfoy.

🎮 Lesson Learnt, Vault Dweller 🎮

19th september by @xrvge

Rating: E Word count: 6,343 Warnings/Tags: Post-Apocalypse, Kidnapped Draco Malfoy, Fallout Video Games References, Gun Violence, Smut, Virgin Draco Malfoy Summary: In the post-apocalyptic wasteland, lone wanderer Harry Potter happens to stumble upon a vault dweller trapped within a raider camp.  Well, there's rarely any stumbling when Harry is involved. Maybe he just loves running head first into danger. 

🎮 Mnemosyne 🎮

20th september by @thunderfiction

Rating: Mature Word count: 20,442 Warnings/Tags: Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Department of Mysteries (Harry Potter), Unspeakable Harry Potter, Unspeakable Draco Malfoy, Pensieves (Harry Potter), Memory Magic, Ancient Greece, Glamour Charms (Harry Potter), Secret Identity, Identity Porn, Identity Reveal, simulated character death, Blood and Injury, Grieving Someone Who Isn't Even Dead, Presumed Dead Character, Demisexual Harry Potter, Demisexual Awakening, Swearing, POV Harry Potter, POV Third Person Limited, Past Tense, Inspired by Assassin's Creed, Drarry Let’s Play Fest 2024 Summary: Deep within the Ministry of Magic lies the Department of Mysteries — and within that, the Animus Chamber. When Harry gets recruited as an Unspeakable, he embarks on a quest into his ancestor’s memories, searching for a mystical weapon that could wreak havoc in the wrong hands. What he does not expect to find inside the Animus, though, is a mentor, a companion, a friend and a lover — especially not all wrapped up in one prickly coworker whose true identity he can never know.

[short666bread]

I mostly don’t adhere to/care about the canon timeline at all, but sometimes I think about how Teddy and Scorpius are the age that they are

[itsphantasmagoria]

Dating Draco

A Visual Novel Game by MEEEE for Drarry Let's Play 2023 (@drarry-lets-play)

Play it here!

Leave comments on AO3 here!

Summary: Ten years after the war ends, Harry - ex-auror, recluse, and general disaster - navigates dating the man he's spent the last few years in a friendly truce with and been half in love with for the same amount of time - ex-rival Draco Malfoy.

Will he manage to convince him to accept an invitation to the charity gala that he promised Luna he'd go to? Will he get the motivation to come out of hiding and actually date someone? Will he fall head over heels and somehow convince Draco to do the same? Maybe!

Will he stop being a human disaster? Probably not! It's part of his charm!

I'm going to reply to all my comments now and thank you to everyone who played it already and sent me messages (I was not great about being anon, but the mods were cool with it hahaha), I love every one of you so much!

❤️💚

This damn thing took me 2 1/5 months but it will take only around an hour or two of your time to play it! Holy shit this thing ruled my life for months lol

Huge HUGE thank you to @mallstars and @ladderofyears for cheering me on and to mallstars and @nelweensfic for betaing/beta testing for me. 😭❤️

Here's a lil treat for you, my favorite bonus scene:

[pretentiouswreckingball]

loops!! what’s ur favorite ot edition?

Inbox me (1) thing you want to know about me.

celia you're asking the important questions thank you for giving me an excuse to talk about this, in this essay I will—

So I started watching OT like actively with the 2018 edition and they’re my favorites 🥹, their hymn it’s beautiful and the best one and la grupales buaaaa the best ones!!

idk there’s something about the way they truly are friend and has stayed friends even after all these years. I still remember when they did the OT Anniversary and they were the only edition where all the contestants attended.

Though I have to say this edition 2023 was really great I mean Juantin has my heart!! so many talented people this year and their singles are gooood The year with the best level I love them!!

[mariacecil]

lukewarm neither hot nor cold take for harry is that jkr projected her type in men through the way harry described the objectively goodlooking men in his life (whether they be good or bad) like she genuinely just wanted to gush about hot men and made harry bisexual (in the most backwards way possible) and i think that should haunt her for the rest of her sorry life

[starquestingfordrarry]

Fic Claim for Drarry Let's Play

Simulation Theory | 35k | Rated E | Drarry

for @drarry-lets-play (a fantastic fest with plenty of fun works for you to go check out right now!!)

Drarry x Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (VR)

Summary: An offer to test out a new invention for Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes turns into a whole lot more when Harry discovers who has the other part of the paired set.

Tags: EWE, Getting Together, Cottage Core Drarry, Wizard VR

[lee-bella]

Current Drarry Fests (as of July 13)

Just keeping track of which Drarry fests are running right now. Let me know if something is missing or if there are any mistakes.

H/D Erised 2023 (Tumblr): Fic and art exchange. Number of writers is capped at 35. No cap for artists. Sign-up will open on Dreamwidth from July 14 (9AM EDT | 2PM BST) to July 20. Works due on November 3. See here for sign-up form.

HP Bodice Ripper Fest: Drarry and femslash. Romance tropes. Claiming ends on July 15. Works due on July 16.

H/D Career Fair 2023: Unusual career. Claiming open till August. Works due on September 30.

Drarry Let's Play: Gaming-themed. Claiming ends on August 14. Works due on August 15.

Unleashed Fest: Drarry and rare ships. Animal-themed. Claiming ends on September 14. Works due on September 15.

H/D Wireless 2023: Currently posting. AO3

Drarry Disability Fest: Currently posting. AO3

[tink-wondering]

For @drarrymicrofic's July 29 prompt: Island 

It starts with an innocent question in the worst of context.

“Who would you prefer to be stranded with on a deserted island?” Ron asks.

Draco doesn’t dare look up. It would be too obvious where he to avoid one pair of eyes.

He remembers why he always loathed games.

[slyth-princess]

Me a year ago: “You know, I think maybe I’m just growing out of fandom. I don’t seem to enjoy it the same way anymore. That’s ok though, I have my memories.”

Me almost immediately after that: Joins 2 fests and writes 85k, finishes two stories I hadn’t touched in like 2 years, joins a competition for another fandom, plots several fics and plot bunnies for more, joins yet another fest with plans to write 50k, devours over 2 million words of fanfic in less than a year (yes I kept track lol), starting planning a brand new fest with two other people, started being active in my fandom discords again…

[nelweensfic]

🎮Family gamers🎮

This is my participation for my own fest @drarry-lets-play 🎮❤️ Thank you @cluelesspigeons and @peachydreamxx for cheer and beta reading this 😘

Rating: General audiences

Word count: 1185

Warnings/Tags: No warning, family fluff, domestic, video games references

Summary: Harry and Draco grew old together and their adoptive son, Teddy, always visit with his family every now and again. But recently Harry is getting more and more impatient to see his grandson, Leo.

You can read it here ❤️✨

[drarry-lets-play]

DLP 2023 Game | Dating Draco

September 22nd:

Rating: M

Word count: ~30k

Art medium: Digital, Python/Ren'Py

Warnings/Tags: 

Visual Novel Game, loosely inspired by Dream Daddy and The Arcana, Alternate Universe - Post-War, POV Harry Potter, Ex-Auror Harry Potter, Recluse Harry Potter, nothing explicit in text but the art is spicy, Friends to Lovers, a bit of sexting, Harry Potter & Ginny Weasley Friendship, Anxiety, Drinking, Flirting, Bad Flirting, Mutual Pining, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, possible happy ending, Choose Your Own Ending, Built with Ren’Py and Python, 30-45 minutes

Summary: Ten years after the war ends, Harry - ex-auror, recluse, and general disaster - navigates dating the man he's spent the last few years in a friendly truce with and been half in love with for the same amount of time - ex-rival Draco Malfoy.

Will he manage to convince him to accept an invitation to the charity gala that he promised Luna he'd go to? Will he get the motivation to come out of hiding and actually date someone? Will he fall head over heels and somehow convince Draco to do the same? Maybe!

Will he stop being a human disaster? Probably not! It's part of his charm!

🎮When the reader is the one playing the game🎮

[vadergf]

This is controversial and I might get cancelled but my headcanon is that George shipped phan hard back in the day🫢🫢

Hmm idt George cared abt that side of YouTube I'll be very honest

[brandileigh2003]

Older wolfstar fic recs: (older in age that is)

let me know what I missed and self recs are welcome (also as always check tags for each one to protect yourself) **And I know older is relative term bc most of these wolfstar are in their 30s I do believe. But. They have more life experience than in Hogwarts or uni.

--orange juice (i've been ready for you to come home for so long) by raggedypond: divorced parents of teddy with one bed at his graduation

-Honey If I'm Not by @brigid-faye divergent post war where remus left, jily lived, and wolfstar only reconnects years later by chance. (Also has a Sirius pov)

---used my best colours for your portrait by @littleoldrachel lie low at Lupin's with flashbacks exploring remus' life

-Looking for Moony by Writer_INFJ_2w1: meet and fall in love birthday party

-Flight of Destiny by @lucigoo lesbian wolfstar meet on plane (Luci also has several others where they're older and lots of beautiful fics

--Aging Gracelessly by orphan_account: texting fic

--the mayors of simpleton by fruity_individual divorced wolfstar get back together, raising teddy

-Second Generation by MsAlexWP single parents, getting back together. The sequel is so perfect too! It's a Nice Day for a Wolfstar Wedding

-the sea is a good place to think of the future by peachyybabe (second in series is mcd but this one is open ending)

-Of Memories and Milk Thievery by moonymoment raising teddy, get back together

--Birthday Blues by YouBlitheringIdiot @blitheringmcgonagall :Sirius is turning sixty and he is appalled...

--Give Quarter to Old Men - @krethes series

--dear your holiness by mollymarymarie

--The Postwar Chronicles by @sliebman10 post canon series

-Vigil Strange I Kept by whitmans_kiss explores effects of lycanthropy

--ten reasons (to go to michigan) by @greyeyedmonster-18 remus headed home, trying to move on from divorce

--Prettiest Star Verse by Raging_queer

-I didn’t sign up for this by Moonystoastandmarsbar divorced wolfstar

-Of Protein Powders and PTAs by @squintclover and @tracingpatternswrites rivals to lovers

-An Infinte Ocean by orphan_account raising teddy strangers to lovers

--The Road Not Taken by @mollymarymarie

-extra credit by MsAlexWP rivals to lovers

-Baby On Board by aqua_myosotis

-Of Memories, Bitter and Sweet by MsAlexWP memory loss

**luci's recs

-my love, take care of yourself by littleoldrachel

-How to romance a guy with (terrible) poetry by BayleyWinchester

-Teddy Plays Matchmaker by grow_as_we_go

-The Front Step Surprise by R33sesPieces

**Recs from others** (I haven't read all these yet but wanted to include)

--Just what the doctor ordered by WrappedUp (be aware there is age gap)

--The Lab by de_sire again an age gap

-Till We Have Arrived Home Again by prouvairing divergent post canon raising harry

-The Patchwork of Us by TracingPatterns

-The Things I Did by Lolo_row

-The Phoenix Agency by LupinsChocolatePraline

-The Fall by EuripidesTrousers

-Pages of You by wolfpants this is drarry main but apparently background wolfstar is really good

-Just Like Heaven by the_prettiest_w0lf_star: mechanic Sirius and librarian Remus

-soloorganaas

-impishtubist

***Self rec***

--Memories of You: mcd exploring memory loss

--Through the Years: Sirius thinks about the past and how handsome his husband is while holding their granddaughter.

--DN(R): Lie low at Lupin's era where they discuss decisions Remus made in the lost years.

**also- the wolfstar librarian is always a great resource make sure to give some likes on posts: 30yo and Up part 2 Bring Black Back Back from the Veil Lie Low at Lupin’s Post Azkaban Grimmauld Place

--Feel free to check my other rec lists, as well as the rest of my fics

[thecouchsofa]

You might be thinking, Tee, in your 2023 AO3 wrap up post, you said you wrote a ridiculous amount of HP fic this year - but what about reading? Well, thanks for asking, imaginary audience – as a matter of fact, I did indeed read a lot of Drarry fics this year. A fucking horrendous number of Drarry fics, in fact.

Below the cut are some of my favourites that were published in 2023, arranged by word count.

But first, a note: there is truly an overwhelming amount of talent in this fandom and this list only scratches the surface. These fics all gave me something that I was looking for and were my favourites for a number of different reasons. I hope you can find something new to love here (or reconnect with an old favourite), and that you enjoy these stories as much as I did!

If there’s a fic from 2023 that isn’t here but you really enjoyed, chuck it in the replies section so we can all see it!

🌸 AITA for being "obsessed" with my childhood nemesis? – @rainstormradish (4k, M) 🌸

Alrakis I [24M] attended a small boarding school in the UK. There was a boy in my year, a couple of months younger than me, and he became my nemesis after we developed an intense rivalry. My friend [25F] told me recently that our dynamic was "weird back then" and that "it’s even weirder" that I still think about him today. She argued that I talk about him all the time, but I believe the amount I talk about him is reasonable. AITA?

prongymcprongface i completely get what you mean. i had a nemesis (like a school one, separate to my other nemesis) and we had a dynamic super similar to what you are describing. having a nemesis is a very cool and normal thing dw about it. NTA

In which Draco asks the internet if he's being reasonable. Only one commenter is sympathetic. They start talking.

Read for: unique fic idea with a cool layout, humour, boys being idiots

🌻 Snug – @moonflower-rose (6k, E) 🌻

Potter can't keep his hands off himself. Draco can't look away.

Read for: Draco being Obsessed with Harry(‘s cock), Humorous Writing Style

🪻 Birds Behaving Badly – @peachpety (10k, E) 🪻

For eight years, Draco has been content living a quiet life of anonymity in Brighton, dodging pesky seagulls and enjoying the ephemeral boys of summer. And if these summer blokes just happen to resemble Harry Potter, it’s a mere coincidence—despite what his friends say.

But when a repeat one-night stand challenges him to face his desires, Draco thinks he’s finally over his years-long crush.

A seagull named Kevin thinks otherwise.

For: Unleashed!Fest 2023

Read for: hidden/mistaken identity, summer vibes, Kevin the seagull

🌸 Under the Confetti Mist – @azalealarae (12k, E) 🌸

Harry and Draco stay up late working on a Potions assignment in the poorly ventilated eighth-year common room, unaware that disinhibition is a side effect of the elixir’s vapor.

Read for: Sex Pollen, Drarry as Potions partners

🌻 Hellos, goodbyes, a thousand midnights – newskyillusion (13k, M) 🌻

The world, as Harry knew it, has ended.

At least he has a garden.

OR

Harry and Draco live through the apocalypse

For: Drarry Let’s Play Fest 2023

Read for: body horror, cosy vibes (just trust me, lol), Harry gardening, Powerful Harry, Harry and Draco relying on each other.

🪻 Amorous As This Lovely Green – @annanother-thing (14k, E) 🪻

Harry hates being a celebrity. Draco cannot find a single model that fits his vision for his latest line. They both make the debatable choice of trusting one PA extraordinaire/best friend, Pansy Parkinson.

For: Harry/Draco Career Fair 2023

Read for: Harry modelling lingerie, Hot Harry

🌸 Help! I'm a Hopeless Romantic! – @peachydreamxx (14k, M) 🌸

Draco turns from the bar, eyes latching onto Harry. He surveys him, one brow lifting, and Harry, like a deer in headlights, throws his hand up with the world’s most awkward wave. Draco just weaves out of sight, and Harry’s face burns as Ron pats him on the shoulder, then steals a chip. “He gave you a look, didn’t he?”

~ how to get over your crush

~ places that sell cake after 11pm near me

~ how to tell if someone is playing hard to get

A year in the life of Harry's shared moments, and private thoughts

For: Wheel of Drarry Mini-Exchange Secret Santa 2023

Read for: Harry’s Google Searches, Humour

🌻 Cool About It – @oflights (M, 16k) 🌻

Harry is so excited for his first date with Draco. But what follows isn't so much a date as it is an all-night odyssey including a malevolent lift, a Gringotts heist, a Sleeping Curse, a trip to the kebab shop, a lack of dancing, a Muggle drug, a rooftop pool party, a black eye and, eventually, a sunrise over a Quidditch stadium.

Read for: Humour, idiots in love, first dates

🪻 The Eighth Sin – @thehoneybeet (16k, E) 🪻

When Draco is sentenced to five years of house arrest, without magic, alone, the only person to visit him is Potter. But Draco’s beginning to doubt whether Potter is really there at all.

For: HD Wireless 2023

Read for: dreamy/sad vibes, caring Harry, a beautiful exploration of a relationship

🌸 What’s Mine is Yours – @fluxweeed (17k, E) 🌸

Harry loses something important. Malfoy helps him get it back.

Read for: smut so hot it’ll light you on fire

🌻 O Come, All Ye Faithful – toomuchplor (19k, E) 🌻

Aunt Petunia died, that was what began everything.

Or rather, Aunt Petunia was dying. In the act of dying.

In which Draco finds faith in the church, and Harry finds faith in Draco.

Read for: Vicar Draco, Harry’s Vicar Kink, Beautiful Writing, Draco’s Hard Sanctified Cock

🪻 The Boys of Summer – @saxamophone (19k, E) 🪻

It's summer, and they're spending it at a lake, far away from everything. There’s swimming and a floating dock, cracked and warm in the sun. Fizzy drinks and fireflies. Sticky strawberry ice lollies and beach towels tangled under them.

Harry’s golden skin and love for The Grateful Dead and Fleetwood Mac.

Draco Malfoy is doomed, but what else is new?

For: HD Wireless 2023

Read for: delicious pining, summer vibes, beautiful romance, nostalgic vibes

🌸 Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage – @goblinmatriarch (E, 21k) 🌸

Lord Draco Malfoy may be a young man spending time in Dumbledore’s summer court, but that does not mean he needs to succumb to its licentious frivolity. He carries the burden of his lineage, the shadow of rumours, and the dignity of his betrothal to a good match. He is certainly not fool enough to be distracted by the dark curls and ready grin of the court’s stableboy, who seems to have taken up with every courtier who looks his way.

For: HP Bodice Ripper Fest 2023

Read for: Historical AU done right, Draco in a codpiece, more riding euphemisms than you can count

🌻 True Love Gave To Me – @epitomereally (23k, E) 🌻

It’s the first of December, and all Draco wants to do is make Christmas lovely for Scorpius. But then Harry Potter shows up, asking him to save the world, and it turns out they’ve almost saved the world a couple of times before. One-hundred and forty-four times, to be exact.

Or: what happens after the time loop?

For: H/D Erised 2023

Read for: time loop shenanigans, cosy vibes, adorable Scorpius (and his geese)

🪻 Nothing But You On My Mind – @moonflower-rose (29k, M) 🪻

Potter has been in Australia on an internship for almost a year, and Draco cannot wait for him to get back home. They'll finally have a chance to talk about their feelings for each other. What could possibly go wrong?

Loads, as it turns out.

For: HD Wireless 2023

Read for: Angst, Draco/Ron/Hermione Friendship, idiots in love

🌸 who will receive you in love's offices – @jtimu (30k, E) 🌸

A year in the life of Draco Malfoy, increasingly derailed by Harry Potter.

In the aftermath of it all, Draco opened an antiques shop. Sort of. Mostly, though, what he did was repair work. People brought him their grandparents’ charmed silverware or a pocketwatch which was meant to show the stars at your birth but now only held the time, and he would fix them. It was quiet work, a little lonely, but for the repeated intrusions of one Harry J Potter.

Read for: brilliant deep dive into magical theory, smarty pants Draco, enemies to friends to lovers (emphasis on the middle step), poetry references by the bucketful, a version of Draco that lives rent free in my mind

🌻 Half Sick of Shadows – @starquestingfordrarry (39k, E) 🌻

Harry and Draco have been sleeping together for months, and it's fine. It's enough for Harry.

But when things finally start to feel like the more Harry's been hoping for, a strange tapestry project has him worrying he won't ever get the chance.

Or: the one with sheep, dragons, and a whole lot of weaving metaphors.

For: H/D Career Fair 2023

Read for: Alvin the ram, Harry carving wooden dildos, magical tapestries, atmospheric vibes, an artfully created world

🪻 Now I Know In Part – @dodgerkedavra (39k, E) 🪻

Harry Potter is the savior of the Wizarding World. Draco Malfoy is a reformed Death Eater turned Ministry Curse-Breaker. Five years after the War, they're brought together by another mysterious curse.

Only this time, Harry's the one who needs saving.

More specifically, he needs Draco.

They have one month to break the curse, and the clock is ticking.

Read for: Draco taking care of Harry, Cottagecore vibes, bucketfuls of sweetness, great smut

🌸 Nothing Gold Can Stay – @moonflower-rose (40k, E) 🌸

One summer evening, Harry Potter vanished in the middle of dinner with his friends. Four days later he came back. Sort of.

Draco Malfoy is on the case.

For: H/D Erised 2023

Read for: Alternate Universes, Married Draco/Harry, Non-Painful Angst

🌻Sharper than a Sea Serpent's Tooth – @goblinmatriarch (40k, T)

Draco expects his research trip to Crete to focus on the ecology of ward design, with perhaps some cheeky visits to the elusive sea serpents and the odd sleepy beach day. Instead, he encounters a Past he's spent over a decade trying to outrun, and a familiar scowl under glasses and a scar. Featuring just so much imagining being on a hot, sunny beach for your winter pleasure.

For: H/D Erised 2023

Read for: Magical Creatures, Greek Mythology, International Location (Crete), Atmospheric Writing

🪻 LA, Who Am I To Love You? – @epitomereally (42k, E) 🪻

Harry’s summer in LA is not going as expected. Pansy Parkinson keeps inviting him to parties in the Hollywood Hills and harassing him to finally go to the physical therapist, Blaise Zabini keeps slipping new strains of his company’s magical weed into Harry’s pockets in hopes of an endorsement, and Draco Malfoy keeps having sex with everyone but Harry.

For: HD Wireless 2023

Read for: Werewolf Harry, Incubus Draco, Acquaintances to Friends to Lovers, Interesting Location (LA)

🌸 A Pulled Down Shade – fast_brother (43k, M) 🌸

Harry does not like Draco Malfoy, not even one bit. Never did and never will. That is, until he finds himself married to him.

For: HP Soulmates Fest 2023

Read for: HUGE Grounds for Divorce vibes! Angst, Harry working through trauma, Harry fighting for Draco

🌻 The Waiting – @oknowkiss (43k, E) 🌻

It’s been almost ten years since Draco Malfoy disappeared during a routine Curse Breaker training exercise. Harry, his partner in more ways than one, is determined to figure out why. As the past resurfaces and the present fades into confusion, Harry discovers the only thing more unreliable than memory is love.

For: HD Wireless 2023

Read for: Curse Breaker Partners, Angst, Secret Relationship

🪻 The Unplottable Time Conundrum – @writcraft (45k, E) 🪻

When the past starts bleeding into the present at Grimmauld Place, an old academic article pulls Draco Malfoy out of his life of luxury. Haunted by the memory of a fleeting post-war kiss and thrust into the ghostly spaces inhabited by Unspeakable Harry Potter, Draco’s easy life is about to get a whole lot more complicated.

For: H/D Erised 2023

Read for: House Magic, The Order of the Pheonix, Haunted House vibes, Drarry in their 30s

🌸 Our Objective Remains Unchanged – @citrusses (46k, E) 🌸

Harry Potter, returning member of the Oxford University Boat Club, has two goals for the spring of 2005: beat Cambridge, and beat Draco Malfoy. Perhaps not in that order.

Read for: Muggle AU, Sports AU, Competitiveness, Damn good writing

🌻 Everybody Hates a Tourist – @wolfpants (51k, E) 🌻

On a stag do in sunny Brighton with the Gryffindor lads, the last person Harry expects to run into is Draco Malfoy. After a glimpse of Malfoy’s Muggle life in Britain’s gay capital, Harry’s curiosity gets the better of him and he finds himself returning to the seaside again and again, drawn to the city, drawn to this new version of Malfoy that Harry barely recognises from school.

Meanwhile, Draco’s just trying to live his big and best queer life: working for the weekend, chasing hot men, getting lost in Brighton's nightlife, and making friends with the neighbourhood cats. Why does his former school rival and crush have to show up and spoil everything?

For: HD Wireless 2023

Read for: beautiful relationship building, Harry finding himself, Draco living his best life. I won’t lie, I’d read the back of a cereal box if wolfpants wrote it – do yourself a favour if you haven’t already

🪻 from love, obviously – bizarrestars (52k, M) 🪻

"I just mean, doing the right thing because it's right is better than doing it because…"

"What?" Draco challenges, amused. "Better to do it because it's right as opposed to doing it because it's not wrong? Please enlighten me on what the difference is."

"You're the difference," is Harry's answer.

(Or: Draco Malfoy comes up with a plan, drinks a lot of tea, and fails to fix a clock. Somewhere along the way, Harry Potter falls in love with him, which wasn't a part of the plan at all.)

Read for: Unhinged Draco, Harry being resigned to Draco’s antics, Weasley family feels, fast pacing

🌸 Terrible People – @getawayfox and @wolfpants (52k, E) 🌸

What happens when Harry and Draco end up on the same Muggle gay cruise? They certainly didn't plan for it to happen (but their friends might have). They're stuck with each other for a week, they might as well make the most of it, right?

Featuring a holiday-long game of Truth or Dare, a very ill-judged FWB proposition, decades-long pining, lots of gin, and a small pair of green swimming trunks.

Read for: Gorgeous Art , RomCom vibes, Gay Cruise, Friends with Benefits to Lovers

🌻 Nights With You – @the-sinking-ship (58k, E) 🌻

Draco is mortified when moments prior to departing for the most anticipated destination wedding of the year, he is cruelly dumped. But when he learns that Harry Potter has, at long last, split with his horrible boyfriend, Draco is certain his luck has changed. Never a man to squander an opportunity for revenge (and what would probably be a spectacular shag), Draco vows to make Potter his for the weekend.

Now all Draco has to do is convince him.

Read for: Fake dating, mild size kink, international location (Italy), mildly unhinged Draco, hot Harry

Note: This is the fic that made me set up a Doc for everything I’d read to make sure I wouldn’t lose it to the wide realm of the internet.

🪻 Rookie Moves – peu_a_peu (75k, E) 🪻

Aurors Potter and Malfoy crack the case.

Read for: Humour, Enemies to Coworkers to Lovers, Unhinged Draco

🌸 How To Train Your Malfoy – @fencer-x (93k E) 🌸

Good manners dictate that, when one’s best friend Apparates onto one’s doorstep holding the unconscious, haggard body of the schoolyard bully and begging for sanctuary, one ought to invite the two of them in for a cup of tea. Harry Potter sometimes wishes he weren’t so polite.

For: H/D Erised 2023

Read for: Dragon Animagus Draco, Harry taking care of Draco, brilliant writing, a funny as fuck premise – I wanted Draco to stay in his unhinged dragon form forever

🌻 Symptom of Your Touch – NoxNoir (115k, E) 🌻

St. Mungo's Healer Draco Malfoy is used to being pushed to his limits when providing aide to the ailing, but when an unexpected encounter with an out of character Harry Potter throws his life out of balance one night, he is forced to ask himself how far he's willing to push his own levels of discomfort to be of aid to a man in need of help that only he can provide.

Read for: Draco taking care of Harry, Pining, Unrequited love, buckets of sexual tension

🪻 Recursion – Tessa Crowley (132k, E) 🪻

A process is recursive when it defines or contains itself; e.g., the Fibonacci sequence, which determines the next number as the sum of the previous two.

But not all recursive processes are mathematical. Recursion can happen in a temporal context when, for instance, the powerful magical force that is true love drags you back in time so it can create itself, endangering the fate of the Wizarding World—not to mention the very fabric of space and time—along the way.

Read for: Canon Retelling/Divergence, time travel, Slytherin Harry, a truly insane amount of physics/magical theory/intelligence. This fic was too smart for me in the best way. If you liked Chaos Theory read this – it’s even better!

🌸 Cut From the Sky – @mallstars (150k, E) 🌸

"I'm stuck in a time loop, reliving November 2nd. This is the 111th time I've lived through today."

Draco stilled. His moody eyes, the tension in his hands where he gripped onto his umbrella, the careful mask of blankness flickering over his face — everything about him was so difficult and so very dear to Harry.

"Ah," said Draco, "and?"

Note: no rec list for this year could be considered complete without including this one.

Read for: Harry at his most loveable, a relationship story told a hundred different ways, atmospheric worldbuilding, Trans representation.

🌻 In the Blood – BiscuitBrunch (225k, E) 🌻

Harry Potter thinks Draco Malfoy is a slimy git of a defense lawyer, who couldn't care less about doing the right thing.

Draco Malfoy thinks Harry Potter is a filthy pig of an Auror, who couldn't care less about doing the right thing.

They fight, fuck, fall in love, and fight some more.

When they're on the brink of getting their shit together and starting a family, a blood curse surfaces that threatens the lives of Draco and their unborn child.

Read for: badass lawyer Draco, deep exploration of a relationship, working through trauma, slice of life, mpreg

[iamnmbr3]

What's you take on the whole wand situation?

It never ceases to amaze me how well Draco's wand worked for Harry when he had trouble with Hermione's wand and they've known each other for years.

Not only did the wand work, he also defeated Voldemort with each I find so funny for some reason.

And we need to remember that his wand was made of unicorn hair, which makes it extremely loyal to its owner so how the heck did it work well enough to defeat one of the greatest wizards of all time?

J.K.R can claim that Harry disarmed Draco all she wants, I call bullshit. To me it feels they share a deep connection which is why it worked

I KNOW!! It is insane that JKR, Queen of the Anti-Drarry Squad, wrote this in canon. So fitting that she should be cursed to accidentally canonize queer ships she hates lol.

The bit about Hermione's wand is super interesting for several reasons. Harry never wins the wand from her, but because they are very close and compatible and because she loves Harry and wants the wand to work for him, it does. Not perfectly. But way better than the Blackthorn Wand, which he didn't win AND which came from a stranger who had no compatibility with him and felt no allegiance or emotional connection to him. So we see that the compatibility of the wand's owner with someone and, crucially, the emotional bond they have with you, also influences how their wand responds to you.

This has huge implications when it comes to Draco's wand. Draco's wand is made of unicorn hair, which, as you correctly point out is known for its loyalty and affinity for its original master. This is not a fickle wandcore that is easy to just win in a quick duel. Not only that, but hawthorn wands are particularly tricky to master.

Plus, if wands could switch allegiance too easily then it would've come up earlier. If just disarming someone is usually enough to do it then any class where such things are practiced would have huge repercussions. Not to mentions fights between enemies. It would be a huge problem for Death Eaters or Aurors. Snape would've lost mastery pf his wand to the Marauders pretty early on in his school career. (Harry also would've lost mastery of HIS wand to Snape in the end of book 6.) This would make wizards extremely cautious about dueling each other. Thus, the character and desires of the wizards and of the wands and the specific circumstances must play a much bigger role. Some wands must be more loyal than others too. For example I can imagine the Elder Wand being relatively fickle. Or the kind of wand that would choose Peter for example. But a unicorn hair wand?

Furthermore, Harry doesn't even really fight Draco. He pulls the wand right out of Draco's hand. And Draco...lets him. He has fast reflexes. He's a Seeker who is nearly equal to Harry in ability. And we see how quick he is at spells and how well he holds his own against Harry during their duel in book 6. Yes Harry - who is a deadly dueler - beats him in the end, but they go several rounds. Draco, in fact, holds his own against Harry for longer than anyone except for Snape. Much longer than Voldemort ever does for example. So if Draco had wanted to get off a spell to blast Harry away from him when Harry was totally unarmed and literally just trying to pull the wand out of his hand - he could have. But he doesn't. He lets Harry take the wand.

And the wand's loyalty transfers seamlessly to Harry. Not only does it work for him. It works PERFECTLY. It feels "friendly" in his hand. In a way even Hermione's didn't. He is deeply compatible with the wand and the wand obviously is actively friendly to him. This clearly reflects Harry's fundamental core compatibility with Draco (they're soulmates your honor!) and also Draco's true loyalty and affection towards Harry.

The Hawthorn Wand isn't betraying its former master. It's honoring his wishes by protecting the man he loves.