#hetalia though….. yeah that one was a rec

[fandom-friday]

Conversations with Patronizing Jerks by basketofnovas (slashmarks) (https://archiveofourown.org/works/3864628) Hetalia, Star Wars. Emperor Palpatine and the United States meet in a bar. Alfred’s not sure about the company, but the bar snacks are nice. The personification of the United States of America walks into the back of a broom closet and finds himself in the strangest bar he’s ever been in. The patrons are even stranger looking. And he ends up talking to the one person in the bar that just screams ‘I’m in the business of doing bad things’. America has a conversation with said person and it goes as well as you might expect. Reading this fic has made me wonder what a personified country feels like to a force sensitive being, though. This was a one-shot and was well written. I enjoyed reading it and I hope others do too!

I adore this concept and I think these are two very interesting characters to have a sit-down at a bar so to speak. And yeah, I very much get the wondering about how a personified country feels haha. Also, very much in agreement about nice bar snacks just kind of making the whole time at a bar worth it. Thanks so much for the rec!

Participate in Fandom Friday to show your favorite creators from this week some love! :)

[a-study-in-dante]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. spread the self-love ❤

Thanks for the ask! It's going to be hard to decide, since there are so many fics I still love for the plot or ideas but my writing style and/or tone makes me cringe 🥲 ("perks" of starting to publish at 14 I guess) ; and so many fics I haven't finished (let alone publish) of which I am very proud of... All of these will be in French because I'm deeply insecure about my writing in English.

5. Seguimi O Uccidimi (Spamano) - I worked very hard on that one, had fun with the characters and this is the first Hetalia fic in which I truly made the characters my own, of sorts. Not in the first chapters, but slowly and steadily as the story went on. Some things I established along the way are still sticking with me to this day (almost ten years later) e.g. some human names, my unexpected Belgium/Cuba thing, and probably Romano's portrayal. Also, my most successful story and I'm weak for readers' attention

4. You Give Love A Bad Name / Château de cartes (RusPru, PruAus) - Again, worked hard on this one even though the plot is a bit weak and I'm still pissed that I screwed up the ending's writing. I loved to venture into mature themes and building the atmosphere for it. It was also my first fic set during the Cold War, hence the beginning of a (life-long?) love affair; and also a gift for my dear friend Coline. So yeah, this story is very special to me.

3. Cigar, Single Malt and Tuxedos & Coffee and Contemplation (Prussia, hints of (former) PruAus) - Those are very short but I think they shaped my writing style (even 3 years apart) and are defining for my views on Prussia.

2. The Kings Who Are Gone (PruAus) - Took years but it's kind of an homage to my medieval literature course.

1. Will probably be Zeitgeist (Patria's PruAus chapter) when I finish it. Each word is carefully chosen, I love the atmosphere, I'm finally writing about Weimar Era Berlin, I feel like the story delivers in terms of drama and angst and tragedy.... Something I'm trying to do with Renaissance as well (Spamano, partially published) but Zeitgeist will probably end up being the best out of the two.

(I'm always too verbose with these things aren't I? 😇😅)

Thanks for asking!

[oldfritz]

hm for asks, can you talk about hetalia characters you find cool in concept but never bother with? Or about your mutuals' favourite characters!

Tell us about a character you liked but dont really care anymore, and about a character you dislike a lot!

Talk about characters who's fans you dont like, and about characters who's fans are "ah, fellow people with sophisticated taste"!

Talk about a character you like in theory but not in any interpretation or depiction, that is, character you like as a character but dont think they are fit to be in hetalia

I think Yao/Ch!na is a really interesting dude. Ancient man, seen a lotta shit, been through a lotta different styles of government. China has a long and rich history you could do quite a bit with. I took two classes on it in undergrad and, while I don't remember a lot of the details now of who did what/why/when, I found it immensely enlightening from a 'why China is what is is today' perspective, which is what I ultimately got. I don't write him for that reason and, honestly, don't know how I'd fit him into what I'm writing unless I pivoted to making Lutz and Al main characters (which I'm not). I would love some good recs from people who read historically-based stuff that includes Yao. This applies for In/dia too for much the same reasons. What does it mean to be so old when you're immortal? How do you avoid apathy? How do you keep life interesting? Could also go into weightier topics with them as well - how it feels to have been both colonizer and colonized, not sure if it applies to In/dia as well but certainly Yao - but the writer would have to be knowledgeable and skilled enough to pull it off. I don't think your generic fanfic author can - I get nervous about publicly toeing the line myself

I used to be an Alfred and Arthur stan. They were my favorite characters in the entire series!!! They had the benefit of being the countries I'm most familiar with because, if you haven't heard, I got that dual citizenship dudes. Now, don't get me wrong, I still enjoy writing them whenever they appear naturally and have a lot of Thoughts on how they should be characterized, what their relationships with each other/everyone else should be, etc but they're not the main focus of 90% of my fics now. They're guest stars that I love to have on set (goddamn that's trite). As for who I don't like, I've never been a Matthew person. I think it's doing a disservice to an entire country to just have his personality be 'forgettable' and 'soft-spoken.' Which like yeah sure, I follow people who have done more with him and have made him an actually interesting character (credit to Foxholes, whose url changed and now I can't find them and don't wanna tag their history blog), but beyond the one or two characterizations of him, I don't care. Man smells like stale bong water

Eh, I'm gonna plead the fifth on that one. I don't wanna gripe about specific fans because there's good and bad in every subset. Plus, no reason to go hurting feelings. Though those Gilbo stans can be real freaks. Who the fuck likes a country called Prussia?

Hmm, interesting question. All the major nations don't bother me and make sense for why they're there. I also appreciate HRE being around, but I'm not crazy about a lot of things about his characterization. I especially hate the bad Italian accent he has in the English dub. Have never gotten that because, as Voltaire once put it, that empire ain't Roman. I think there's a lotta cool stuff you can do with HRE (@kisamesopelagic 's Karl is awesome and parts of theirs has served as inspiration for mine, who tends to linger just-offscreen) but the canon one is very meh. As for one's who I don't think belong point blank period, the entirety of the micronations. I have a hard time buying that Sealand is out here running around like a menace but state, provinces, prefectures, etc aren't. A fucking rusty ass fort in the middle of the Atlantic versus Quebec? Get outta here dude. Plus, besides some of their designs, all their personalities grate on my nerves. A whole ass African continent with next to no characters depicted but yay we got Kugelmugel. Jfc

[simscastaway]

Unsurprisingly, I cried a lot rewatching a silent voice but now I remember everything that happens so hopefully I do not need to repeat the experience lmao

I’m currently trying to remember all the animes I’ve ever actually watched. I wouldn’t say I’ve watched many but I’ve seen more than I thought I had.

But do I remember half of what happens in them? Absolutely not 😂

[mariaantonnietta]

Romechu! Silk Road pair !!

So, yeah, uhh, maybe you noticed but romechu is devouring my soul again, and I think I’d not be able to rest until I talk about it.  When I last went to the tag people commented it was getting more popular, and I’m so happy about it! (yay!, maybe...we will escape rarepair hell?, nah XD, but it is certainly great that more people discover this ship! It is an amazing ship indeed)

So, I thought of sharing my headcanons and well things that make my heart race when thinking about these two, and contribute with my two cents.

 First, like, I like that is a pairing that you first go: “Eh?, there is no way  these two have a connection” but then you go deeper and discover the silk road, and how they totally knew of each other, even if it was mostly indirectly, and maybe with some encounters even. 

And discover these connections, and/or wondering about these possible connections is great, and let me tell you it reads like a fairytale. And how even with their differences are so similar in the other side of the world. (both of them see everyone else as barbarians, you see XD) 

Not, but the long distance relashionship thing, is not really something I usually see, but really appreciate, especially because in their time like, in our time there are long distance relashionships  but we have, like means to get to the other side of the world in days, back then that distance was really big. 

Also the fact that you know, because their distance was really big these two could like, coexist peacefully.  They were too far away to be together constantly, but because of that they could trade and just be, with each other without conflic, free to compliment and admire the other from a safe distance. (even if these two aren’t big complimenters of foreign nations)

There is something incredible romantic about being in love with someone from the other side of the world, who you travel far and wide to meet. I love them being in the others country once or twice, but I also love to imagine the (much more likely) concept that they only met by crossing paths throught trade. There are so many routes you can take this. Can I say also POWER COUPLE, because yeah, power couple, one of the biggest.

I think I said this before, but you know this image from when Hima is talking about the silk road:

Look, rome had a very similar looking cat in the previous image, and while I know that historically, it is very likely the one giving the cat to china is not Rome, but someone in the middle, I do not care, even so it is precious. Pretty sure it is the same cat.(baby deserves being a shrine guardian after that travel) And I can pretend it is Rome and that they met up. And cats!, what more do you want.

Can we talk about food?, about the life long debate about pasta and these two fools sharing it? and disscussing about it, probably? And maybe sightseeing the stars?, (seeing comets together lalala).

And sometimes I do stop what I am doing because I remember China called the ROman Empire Daquin, that is like another China in the other side of the world, and I just stare into the void. Because even if you are not an empire that is deep into maintaining a barbarian-civilized dicothomy, you, just not gave another foreing country a name like that. I suppose it is because as you do kind of like them but you are the only civilization that is proper, you name these people after yourself so there is not other form,  and the chinese ways is still the greatest, but it is....it stills feels incredible to me.

(I also do not know a lot about chinese history so I could have just said bullshit in the last paragraph when I started making theories, but still)

And well, a headcanon that never leaves my mind, that I have to share, is that you know the Aeneid?, (the original fanfiction? XD), there is a part about how the people who will settle Rome in the future will know they reached the correct place to form a home when they eat their (bread)plates. And you could make the argument that kind of food was started form China. So you could argue that China was Rome’s home. (I have a vivid vision of China commenting this fact off-handendly the last time they see each other, the closer to his death Rome is the better, even though is it less likely they met by that time, but because he is more vulnerable then, he just, hears this and instead of mocking the other, just, stares, reliving all his life in a moment, and ‘oh’ he goes, looking at China in that middle point so far away,  his eyes glister when he gives China a Mona Lisa smile and says, as choking,  “I’m home, then”.  and not sure what China answers to that, if a “welcome home” or if just stares at him or embraces him or another reaction, but it is a haunting last impression for sure)

And can I say that all the artist of this pairing are amazing? (the hetalia fandom in general has fantastic artists, but damn) and the fanfic’s too. 

@romechu did a rec’s list a while back. Here it is. 

And also there is @52px, who is more a general ancient blog, but her fics are amazing and you really should read them if you like the ship, and I personally,  find hilarious and fitting  that parthian is like, looking at these idiots in love and going all math confused lady meme “how?”

There is also this fic Connections of the heart by bubbleteahime, that is poetic and leaves me thinking, yes, soulmate au of these two are good (even though they are not my cup of tea generally, at least not without a twist). 

 Well, there is more, you can see  more in the tag.

The fanarts are really on another level, and the artists deserve ll praise that they can get. For last, I’ve been digging around bilibili for more content,(surely there china pairings are more popular), and have come forth with some links, that I wil post tomorrow, because I will sleep now.

Well, thank you for hearing me,  and I like this  ship so much!! 

EDIT: 3/3/2019: I made a video recs post, here.

[neioo]

Fanfic Rec! ( • ω • ) 

Rules I’m constraining myself to: I’ve either had to read the fic more than three times and/or have thought about it years in the future. (This means I’ll have to leave out some other fics I really enjoyed reading and thought were well written) 

A bunch of different fandoms will be under the cut! (as I expose what I ship across the board too lol)

We’ll Meet Again by George deValier (usuk) (complete)

This is the first fic of george’s that I read, and I’ve read it multiple times, and it’s been integral in my shaping of characterizations within my own hetalia fics. I could include all of his works, but this one stands out the most. I also listen to the vera verse songs and get extremely nostalgic, so there’s that

WW2 AU. London pub owner Arthur Kirkland is driven to distraction by loud, brash American fighter pilot Alfred Jones. Unable to stop it, Arthur finds himself falling for Alfred’s charms… just as the pilot is preparing to leave for war.

Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue… by anonymous (pruaus) (unfinished)

This fic is odd in the sense that I found it while suddenly getting on a pruaus kick, during which I followed a bunch of pruaus people on tumblr. Eventually, I would find out years later that I was going to the same college as one of these people and become friends with them. So not only does this fic have a nostalgic tie to it, I find the story brilliantly written with wonderful characterization, though it is in a weird format.

Inspired by the film 500 Days of Summer, I’d really like to see a couple meet and fall in love, but eventually one (or both) ends the relationship because they realise it’s not working/they can’t imagine spending their whole life with this person/what have you. I’d really love to see how the relationship develops, with the happy times and the eventual bad times as it falls apart, and then the hope of finding love elsewhere.

Redeemer by CocoaCoveredGods (L x Light, Mello x Matt, Mello x Light) (complete)

I can’t tell you how happy I am that I found this fic after 6 or so years. I can’t tell you how nostalgic is makes me for my death note phase, remember when I would read this in my mom’s office, minimizing the fic on a laptop I hope she never checked. The writing is phenomenal. The format on this site is wonky, but doable to read. (I’m even reformatting it myself right now). It’s mostly everything I could have wanted in a death note fic; it even inspired my own very complex death note AU back in the day. In some alternate reality, I wrote that instead of AWH. I plan to maybe make a personal paper copy for myself of this fic I love it so much. It is on the level of George’s stuff on how much it means to me.

The story takes place *after* Death Note ends, although the main characters have not died. Here the Yellowbox Warehouse is essentially the pinnacle of L's 6-year long offensive against Kira, who believes L to be dead, when he really isn't. L faked his death, and proceeded with the case behind the cover of his three top heirs, Mello, Matt and Near. Kira himself doesn't succumb to his defeat, but is instead rescued at the last moment by his nemesis lover who decides that a more apropos end to the God of the New World is not death--but redemption, in the form of a new case and a 5th so-called Kira, that L and Light must bring down together... or risk losing everything. Yes, there is actually a plot LOL Buuuut, this puppy has yaoi and pairing's aplenty. LxLight and MelloxMatt are technically the mains, but when you cut straight down to it, this is a story about Light and Mello and how they go from hate to need, from enemies to lovers, and maybe even something more...

and indeed there will be time --orginally by lawlietismyfavorite, but they have since deleted their account :’( (the fic is still on AO3, though!) (L x Light) (unfinished)

I love death note, okay? After the beautiful live action series came out (the recent japanese one not that fucking netflix shit), I felt the need to read some fanfic of the series again, and I found this. HOLY SHIT. It’s a soulmate AU that goes through the plot line of the manga/show and fuck. Light is Ace?? The writing is so good?? 

L is the greatest detective of not only this century, but of six centuries. And then there’s Light.

Between the Lines by Klitch (Fushimi Saruhiko/Yata Misaki) (complete)

I’ve read this fic about 5 times and have accepted it as canon for this stupid show

The first time Yata saw him the kid was sitting in the corner of the cafeteria all alone with his bought lunch spread out before him, painstakingly picking out the vegetables and stacking them according to color and size.

Picking up the Pieces by SilverThunder (Fushimi Saruhiko/Yata Misaki) (complete)

I really like K. It’s a weird show, and it has copious faults. Maybe I just really like that the characters have so much potential, and this fic (as well as the one above) truly expands on that potential. This fic is an excellent exploration of these two character’s relationships, there’s just the right amount of angst. I’ve read it multiple times.

A whole year, gone from his head just like that - and how many memories could you fit in that time, anyway? It wasn’t a question Yata thought he’d ever have to ask, but with so many things changed between Saruhiko and himself, he wasn’t about to leave it alone.

It just sucked that the new world they’d built was still so easy to break.

to be first, to be best by kittebasu (chanyeol) (iwaoi) (complete)

haikyuu!! is odd for me because I don’t care about it anymore, but I really like this fic, and I’ve read it about 5 times. The characterization is on point, and the story is extremely well written.

Hajime is apparently something of a masochist, and as he stares down at the tie-dyed AREA51 T-shirt in his hands, he thinks“I’m totally in love with this asshole, aren’t I?”

Cat's Cradle by evocates (Fujioka Haruhi/Ootori Kyouya/Suoh Tamaki) (complete)

every new years eve, since 2011, my brother and I have watched Ouran High School Host Club. for the past 4 years, I have read and re-read this fic without fail in the days after

Kyouya had been able to see the red threads between people’s fingers since the day he was born. A song of fate, and the breaking of. Tamaki was a man who could never be predictable. Vague spoilers up to Chapter 63.

"Relationship Stuff" by arokitty, Ponderess (shinara) (complete)

This fic helped me realize I was asexual. It’s beautifully written.

"Relationship stuff" — that's what Yasutomo kept calling it on the occasions we discussed how things were going between us. He never failed to say it dismissively, as if it was an annoying plague he was forced to put up with. But even when I told him that he could opt out of it at any time, he did not pull back.

[lithromantic asexual Shinkai, aromantic asexual Arakita, quasiplatonic Shinara]

You Really Ought To Know by isengard (midotaka) (complete)

I really like this ship, and out of all the fics I’ve read of it, this is the one I adore the most (obviously enough to read it three times)

The Fates have an important message for Takao Kazunari.

A Gradual Fall by grassandcitrus (originshipping) (complete)

This maybe isn’t the best written fic, but it has a lot of heart, and for a ship that there is little content for, this fic served me well. It’s hard to write a realistic pokemon AU, but this feels grounded. For whatever reason, this ship still means a lot to me, so when I get in the mood for it, I’ll re-read this fic.

Meeting Wallace turned out to be a life changing event for Steven. He realizes that pretty early on. Other things, however, come with time.

The Punchline and the Resulting Silence by youremyqueen (thiefshipping) (complete)

from the author: “so i went ahead and wrote ygotas fic because, hell, if LK can record videos in which he vocally flirts with himself while playing video games, and then write gay porn about it, I sure as hell can write gay porn about it too.” yeah. 

In which Marik destroys many household appliances, Bakura naps doggedly, and they sometimes pretend - with very little success - not to be in love. (YGOTAS, thiefshipping. ridiculousness meets poeticism meets more ridiculousness.)

Six Days As Boyfriends by sitabethel (thiefshipping) (complete)

I just really like this ship and I have since I was a 14 don’t @me

In order to avoid talks of arranged marriage, Marik convinces Bakura to trick Ishizu into thinking that they're in love.

The Longest Job & The Smallest Favor by emanthony (hisoillu) (complete)

everyone in like march-ish of 2018: omg in the new update of hxh illumi says that he and hisoka are engaged!

me having watched 10 episodes of hxh 4 years ago and having a faint idea of the series: who?

me: *looks up fanfics of them*

me: *finds these two*

me: *proceeds to read them 15 times and gets obsessed with the ship*

Illumi is forced out of the Zoldyck estate and seeks a living arrangement with an associate. He's not altogether pleased with it.

Hisoka is a floor master at Heaven's Arena and has the unexpected pleasure of spending time with one of his oldest acquaintances. He doesn't share Illumi's frustrations.

///

A sequel to the Longest Job, another HisoIllu fanfiction.

Hisoka and Illumi have been living together for six months now without much trouble. But when Illumi's youngest brother goes missing, Hisoka manages to make the situation just a bit too complicated and much more fun.

Lessons in Etiquette by KnockKnockBadminton (promtis) (complete)

I knew nothing about this video game but for whatever reason decided to look up fanfic for it after seeing some fanart, and then because this one was so well written, I, again knowing absolutely knowing about this video game or the series it’s a part of, binged the entire 164k fic in like two days. I’ve also re-read it and convinced my brother to buy the video game as a result. He refers to them as the “leather boy band” and sends me updates about his play through lmao

Begins in high school. From Prompto's desire to befriend the sullen, bullied prince blooms a relationship even the Astrals themselves could not have foreseen. Basically fills in the gaps from Brotherhood to the fall of Insomnia. Some liberties taken.

say it like you mean it by spaceburgers (takuleo) (complete)

Ever since playing the video game, I loved the dynamic between these two characters, and this fic is a wonderfully crafted and fun to read AU staring both of them.

Wherein Leo is a transfer student, Takumi is overly competitive, and they're doing Romeo and Juliet (but not as the titular roles).

[prowlingthunder]

Top 10 fave Fanfics of All Time

I got (un)officially tagged by @badwolfgirl01 who apparently wants to know where my interest lies. Oops.

Let’s start with one of my old favorites, yeah?

daddy's gonna buy you a looking glass and a wish to assimilate the world by Fahye can't really be read separately, if you ask my opinion. The first (and currently only) parts of Looking Glass, they're Ouran High School Host Club fanfictions shipping the best Fivesome with a side of Honey/Mori. I suppose you can call the fics a little dated (2007 and 2010 on Ao3 respectively) but they still read super shiny to me. It’s a really good fic of a multi-person relationship.

Back in 2014, AvocadoLove started, and finished, Every Villain Is a Hero (in his own mind) - where Iron Man is a villain in New York, who habitually comes to blows with Captain America. Only, alas, during the Issue of the Week and a team up between the two, Iron Man doesn’t make it home. Incidentally, Steve and Tony were married... but didn’t know about one another’s secret identities. And I am a sucker for pre-established relationships and identity reveal.

After suffering through Resident Evil 6, I ended up very, very attached to Sherry and Jake. The friendship and maybe more that they had. (I also grew pretty attached to Piers and anyone who knows the game knows how well that ended for me.) So I needed to go find magical fics that elaborated on this relationship. And I found Only By You, wherein onthewayside gives us Sherry/Jake and copious amounts of flowers.

Past the Point of Safe Return by Jedi Buttercup is short, but worth the read if you’re into Alien vs Predator things. You don’t find a whole lot of fics about Lex (though once upon a time I did see a Lex and Scar cosplayer duo, and the Lex cosplayer confessed my mother and I were the only ones who’d recognized her) and you find even less about the Survivors as a collective. It’s nice to see it touched on, and this particular fic has lingered with me for.. years.

So we had flowers earlier-- you want dancing now? Let’s go over here to O Brightening Glance by Emamel. Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin, extrapolating on local culture and characters. I am an absolute sucker, this is me. I love little fics like this, things that aren’t grand epics but are important all the same. The world building that goes into tiny details is so.. precious.

And speaking of precious, let’s take a momentary sidetrip away from Ao3 to date myself on Alydia Rackham’s FF.net with What the Room Requires. Alydia writes some of the best fics, and the best books, that I have ever seen-- and this fic is what brought me to her. A confrontation between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy leaves the latter fleeing for safe harbor-- and Hermione chases him all the way to the Room of Requirement. Friendship and romance ensues.

AWOL, an NCIS and Hetalia crossover, is a little under 2.5k words from Lisse, wherein America goes missing and Canada goes to Gibbs for help, because where else do you go when a Marine goes missing? Nowhere. This fic also contains one very interesting database error and a great deal of wait, what? from the NCIS crew... and the readers. Trust me. It’s worth it.

From Far and Wide is another Hetalia fic that sits really nice with me (I swear, I have not actually watched all of Hetalia, and I have learned more about the show from osmosis via fic than I care to admit.) This one is written by Eerps captures a number of times that, although Canada is chiefly invisible, the other Countries have not in fact forgotten him. #6 is still my favorite.

Who Watches the Watchmen Themselves? by appending_fic is not, in fact, a single story, but a partnership: Heroes and Guardians and The Guardians in the Shadows. Ever wanted to read a fic about the Justice League not-interact with the Guardians? Here you are: have two. Bridges is a series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Stargate: SG1 by Tassos, wherein Jack O’Neill gets a phone call and a child in the span of about thirty seconds. About six months later, Xander gets a decent father. Life is good. I love this universe. (Honorable mention to everything Vathara has ever written in her life. You can’t pick just one of her fics over the other. It’s too hard.)

(Honorable mention also to @badwolfgirl01‘s i would have followed you Lord of the Rings fic for making me cry, but that goes beyond my 10 fic limit, so.) I was also going to rec this old HP fic I read once upon a time ago but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I’ve gone through three computers since then and it turns out it’s not in my old favorites for FF.net... or at least the FF.net I actually remember having things in. I feel like I had one before my current one but I... honestly don’t remember what it was? If anybody could help me find it, that’d be great. 

The plot was basically that Harry was actually (secretly) Snape’s son. Due to the war at the time, and having made peace with Lily and James, they offered to do a spell/ritual with Snape so that if he died in battle there would be an heir to carry on his bloodline. He ended up-- nearly dead, close enough for the spell to take, and then about a year later he came back to visit. Lily and James decided against telling him that the spell had been successful and instead used a.. form of blood magic to... kind of transfuse Harry into being James’ son, biologically, until the spell began to wear off in his teenage years. Bloodletting caused the spell to degrade faster (as evidenced in fic when Harry split open his head trying to knock himself out so he didn’t have to talk to Hermione.) 

I recall one scene where he’s talk to Fred and George, dressed in dragonhide boots, and quizzing them on Wizard Fashion and Customs. There was.. also a study of Dark magic, and in the second to last chapter, after Snape has been kidnapped, Harry and Draco decide to go rescue him-- but Harry refuses to take Draco along unless he swears (loyalty? obedience?) to him, to which Draco readily agrees. Dumbledore and company had a minor freakout when the rescue turned out to be successful and only relaxed a little when Harry explained that the ritual was due to run out at sunrise.

...I don’t think there was shipping but there was an excellent discussion about how close Slytherin and Gryffindor character traits really were. There was a Halloween dance party where Harry decided to dress in clubbing gear and confused the faculty because “You go hunting in that?!” (There was another fic where his father was Voldemort that I was reading about that timeperiod but it wasn’t nearly as good.)

Ideas? I’m certain it was on FF.net.