#i really am looking for them both to suffer suffer suffer suffer jkill kill kill kill protect etc

[nicollekidman]

how do you judge whether hermione or draco are ooc in fics? I just feel that in ~canon~ their characters are so one-note that it's almost impossible to get them right as there is no `right` to begin with... anyway, do you have other recs besides manacled?????

hmm this is an interesting question. i don't think either of them are one-note in canon (especially not hermione), it can just sometimes feel like that since we're seeing them through harry's eyes and he has tunnel vision about them both. but i think ultimately i'm not looking for them to be how they are in canon otherwise i wouldn't be reading fanfic for that pairing in the first place. i mostly look for fic that characterizes them in ways that allow for themes/topics that i am interested in to be explored, if that makes sense. so generally if an author is latching onto themes that i don't care about, i also won't think those are My draco or hermione. but i think i have a pretty wide range of what feels "right" to me.

so like manacled is diving into sacrifice and the morality of war and what it looks like for love to triumph (or not) in hell. so it makes sense for that hermione to be violently martryed (sometimes of her own volition) and that draco to be a dead man walking. they match the world and circumstances they're in, and that's what makes it feel right.

things that usually across the board don't feel correct to me is if hermione is 1) nothing outside of her intelligence 2) really into traditional gendered roles/activities 3) not critical at all of the world or harry/ron. draco is Wrong (or annoying) to me when he's 1) a massive broad-shouldered jock 2) really into self-growth and articulating his emotions 3) absolved of his prejudices and the environment of his upbringing offscreen.

in the simplest terms tho i really am just looking for them to feel more than featureless stand-ins for Generic Plucky Brunette and Beefy Dark Hero. and that's actually fairly easy as long as the author is invested in their canon history and has a clear reason for telling a further story with them.

but again. i'm pretty tolerant of most things as long as they match the environment the author has put them in & they match each other

this is my rec list