#i was rapidly growing obsessed with draco malfoy

[p1nkparader]

The reason i cant get into the fnaf fandom is because i know i’d make william afton my pookie wookie snookie bear and i cant have a child murderer running around in my head like that. Find me another fnaf character thats done all the bad things and is not a child or an ai and ill talk abt joining but for now im trying my best to not be swept away into that world bcuz i dont want to be an afton stan.

[letteredlettered]

i just wanted to say that you are one of my favorites h/d writers and one of the reasons, except your brilliant writing of course, is the fact that you also believe it is bullshit that Harry could love Draco before he changes for the better and hates the whole “he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Malfoy” thing. I honestly think that a lot of writes and fans of h/d have Draco as their favorite character and because of that they tend to be more biased towards him. But if Harry could like Draco when he was a jerk to Hermione and Ron, laughed at Cedric’s death and treated everyone that Harry loved badly, then why does he has to change at all you know? I think that people get so fixated in the “he was a child pressured by his father” and all the other arguments they use to excuse Draco of his behavior that they forget that Harry and the others were children as well who didn’t deserve to be treated this way especially when they were already suffering. Like, just because you can understand the circumstances of why someone hurt you doesn’t mean it’s going to hurt less, plus Draco actually believe in those things he said, he only changed his mind latter but for some reason people like to pretend he didn’t. I just think that this defeats the purpose of the ship for me cause I like h/d because i believe that people can change and that we can learn to accept them not in spite of what they did but because of the fact that they work to change for the better everyday. Sorry for the long text but i get a little upset about this and also english isn’t my first language so sorry for any mistakes and thank you for reading it ❤️💚

I'm glad you like my writing!

I'd just like to clarify that I don't believe it's bullshit that Harry could love Draco without Draco changing. I believe a) it's possible for people to fall in love with people they don't agree with morally or ethically, and that's not bullshit, b) it's not bullshit to want to see that kind of love in your fantasies or your fanfics.

I just don't prefer to write (or read) fic in which Draco doesn't make significant changes. Redemption is what interests me about Draco; he didn't get it in canon, and I like to see him work for it in fic. Interestingly, I also like fic in which Harry has to change significantly to see Draco's humanity; I like it best when both of them grow beyond the scope of their childhood ethics (and not coincidentally, the ethics of the canon itself).

I do quite often get the impression that many people do like Draco "better," or care about him more. I think this is fine. I'm often more interested in a character than another character I ship them with, I am just personally uninterested in writing or reading fic that doesn't treat both characters as humans that deserve empathy and understanding.

And I think that you're right, that a lot of people seem to focus their empathy on Draco without extending much to Harry or his friends. Extending empathy does not have to be an either/or scenario! You can feel bad about how Draco was indoctrinated and the things Draco was forced to do while still also feeling bad that Harry was bullied by Draco; you can still feel that it's horrible that Harry's life was threatened by Draco and ideals Draco espoused.

As you say, just because someone hurt you for understandable reasons doesn't mean you're not allowed to be hurt. Similarly, even if you never intended that harm, you still have to deal with the consequences of having caused harm. Like, people will still be hurt, whether you meant for them to be or not. I think that this was a really formative realization for me growing up, and something that seems lost in a lot of discussions about purity or goodness or morality. Your motives can be pure as the driven snow, and you can still hurt someone. A child can be innocent and cause pain. I have been hurt by children plenty of times--they don't necessarily have to apologize to me, but I'm still allowed to feel hurt.

But I will wrap by saying that people ship Harry/Draco for many reasons, and it's okay to want fic that focuses solely on Draco getting love and support with Harry a mere vessel for that love and support. I do not demand that anyone else cater to my specific desires for the ship. What you want from the ship and what you like about it are not a test of virtue; it can be about what makes you feel good. The way I like the ship happens to make me feel good, and I write what I want to read.

[just-a-draco-girly]

The Secret - Chapter Eight

Nervously, I adjust the dark green chiffon material of my dress as I look at myself in the mirror. I let Charlotte do my makeup again which consists of dark smoky eye shadow and eyeliner with the pinky-nude coloured matte lipstick that I've come to grow fond of since Draco complimented me on it in Hogsmeade at the start of the year. My hair is held back in a plaited bun with a few curly tendrils falling lazily at the side of my face. I drop my eyes to my feet which are adorned with a silver pair of ballet flats. I somehow managed to avoid Charlie making me wear heels... again. A shaky sigh leaves my mouth when I turn to face Charlie, who is wearing a long, grey gown that is covered in sparkly gems and is sifting through her trunk to find her shoes.

"Charlie?" I call over, causing her to turn to me and nod in response. "I'm scared, I don't think I can do this..." I trail off, looking at my hands that are still playing with the soft skirt of my floor length dress. She sighs and moves over to my side, gently taking hold of my shoulders. I'm spun around and made to look in the mirror once more.

"Victoria, you are the most beautiful, smart, and witty girl I've ever met. I don't get what you see in an asshole like Malfoy..." She speaks, pausing when I glare at her in the mirror. "But he'd be lucky to have you. Any guy would for that matter" She adds, smiling sweetly at me as I continue to give her the stink eye.

If I am honest, despite her not liking Draco she has supported me completely through this whole ordeal. She understands that Draco has been my closest friend for a long while, and she knows who I'd pick if she tried to come between us. Draco. It's always been Draco since he accidentally kissed me when we were five years old. A small smile etches itself upon my face as I remember his little pale face turning the shade of a tomato.

"You're right. I shouldn't be nervous, I've known him my whole life" I speak, resolutely. Charlie pats my shoulder and grabs her clutch, passing me my own. Happily, we link arms and walk out of the dorm, heading down the stairs to the common room. We find her date, Thomas Witten, a fellow Ravenclaw from the year above us, waiting in a brown armchair by the portrait hole. He stands, straightening his jacket as we unlink our arms. Greeting us both, he gently takes Charlie's hand and I can see her dying inside. Thomas is quite the catch. Tall, dark haired and he's the captain of the house's Quidditch team. Youngest Quidditch captain in almost 200 years.  Most of the girls in Ravenclaw are obsessed with him.

But he's not my type.

Our trio leaves the common room and walk down the corridor. I awkwardly follow, feeling overwhelmingly like a third wheel. The feeling soon dissipates when we reach the top of the staircase that descends into the entrance hall. My eyes immediately land on Draco, who is wearing a black shirt and tie with black trousers and dress robes. His usually messy blonde hair is slicked back, but parted slightly. In short, he looks perfect. I smile widely and slowly descend the stairs. I can feel his eyes watching me the entire time.

"Hi" I say, nervously smiling, as I come to a halt in front of him. His eyes that were staring at me blink rapidly and he slowly shakes his head.

"Um, hey" Draco mumbles, scratching the back of his neck. "You look... st-stunning" He speaks, amazement evident in his voice. My cheeks burn brightly, hopefully being hidden by the makeup Charlie put on earlier. I nervously respond with a curt thank you, before hearing a loud shriek of anger that sounded like it could only have came from one Pansy Parkinson.

"Drakey-poo!" She shouts, marching across the hall with tears streaming down her overly done makeup. She looks like a mess (well more than usual). Draco groans, rolling his ice blue eyes as she nears us. She shoves me out of the way when she stands in front of Draco, almost standing on the hem of my dress. I stumble slightly. Draco gently places his arm around my waist to steady me, instinctively pulling me into his side.

"Yes, Parkinson?" He asks, sneering almost. Pansy's pug face drops at the use of her surname. She hopefully has realised that Draco doesn't like her and sadly saunters towards the stairs that lead down to the Dungeons. I feel a slight pang of guilt as I watch her go.

"Don't you think that was a bit mean, Draco?" I question, gazing up at his tall frame.

"I've tried everything else and she still didn't leave me alone" He sighs, resignation taking over him. I softly pat his shoulder in some form of comfort. His arm still clings to my waist, restricting my movement. But I don't care.

"Malfoy!" Potter's voice booms from the stairs, causing both Draco and I to groan in disgust and turn to the source of his voice.

"What do you want, Potter?" He demands, sounding exhausted already due to Pansy and now Potter confronting him. Potter saunters down the stairs with the sense of entitled arrogance that only he, the chosen one, has. I thought Draco was entitled and arrogant until I met Potter in first year.

"So you've actually got yourself a date apart from Parkinson?" He speaks, snidely. Draco grinds his teeth together, only calming down when I place a hand on his chest to stop him from attacking the boy who lived.

"Yeah, he does and at least he didn't get his last minute unlike you, Potter" I reply, snapping at Potter's smug face. He does a double take before retreating to Weaselbee on the other side of the now crowded entrance hall, muttering nonsense angrily under his breath. A quiet chuckle escapes Draco's pink lips. I turn to him with a look of confusion on my face. "What?" Bemused, he continues to laugh at whatever joke is funny inside his head.

"I really don't get how you weren't put in Slytherin" He responds, still chortling slightly. I roll my eyes at him, pulling away from him. His other arm finds my waist and tugs me closer to him. He pulls me into a sort of embrace, leaning his chin on my shoulder. "But I wouldn't have you any other way" He whispers softly. His lips brushing against my ear, causing a shiver to run down my spine and goosebumps to appear on my skin.

Suddenly, he removes his arms from me and steps back. I frown in confusion until I see Blaise in fancy dress robes approaching us with Millicent Bulstrode clinging onto his arm happily. I wave nervously at the two, as I hardly know Blaise let alone Millicent. They come to a halt in front of us. We all greet each other and soon everyone is allowed to enter the Great Hall, which has been transformed into a winter wonderland.

The ball starts officially with the champions dancing with their partners to that stupid dance Professor Flitwick made us learn last week. I roll my eyes in disgust at Potter flouncing around with Pavarti Patil from the table that Draco and I are sat at. Noticing Draco's eyes fixed on my face, I turn my gaze to him and earn a smirk from the blonde

"Please, don't make me dance to this stupid song" I plead, locking eyes with his blue orbs. His eyes soften slightly as he stares at me with his chin perched on his hand carelessly.

"Alright" Draco chuckles. "But only if you promise to dance with me later" He adds, winking slyly. I nod in agreement, causing a goofy grin to spread across his lips. He shuffles his chair closer to mine and I instinctively rest my head on his shoulder, as his arm wraps around my torso and we watch the dancers frolicking around the Great Hall. 

.................................

"So where's my dance?" Draco asks, cheekily nudging my arm with his. I had promised him a dance two hours ago after the feast had finished, but nonetheless I roll my eyes. A light blush covers my cheeks.

"I guess I could dance with you" I sigh dramatically. "If I really have to" I add, taking hold of his hand that was held out to me and allowing him to lead me to the dance floor as a slow song starts. His right arm slinks around my waist, pulling me gently into him. Tentatively, I place my left hand on his shoulder, whilst he takes hold of my other hand and we begin to sway slowly to the music. I lazily rest my head in his shoulder, letting out a content sigh.

We sway like this until the rest of the song, contained in our own little bubble, until Professor Dumbledore announces that it is the end of the festivities and that students should return to their dormitories. A low groan leaves Draco as we reluctantly pull away from each other. I giggle helplessly at his disgruntlement. This causes Draco to stick his tongue out at me and I lightly punch him in the arm. We make our way out of the Great Hall slowly among the crowds of students, Draco's hand gripping mine. Keeping me close to him. 

"Draco!" A shout from the other side of the entrance hall causes Draco to stop abruptly and I stumble into his back clumsily. I look around in a bid to find the source of the voice, as Blaise and Millicent emerge from the throng of dithering students.

"Hey" Draco greets them, casually. Millicent timidly waves at the pair of us. 

"So, looks like you won the bet" Blaise speaks, pulls out some galleons and drops them in Draco's outstretched palm, causing me to stare at them in confusion. Draco smiles smugly before pocketing the gold coins. 

"What bet?" I ask, curiosity killed the cat but I don't care. Blaise raises an eyebrow at Draco, before turning to me.

"Oh, I bet Draco that he wouldn't be able to get you to go to the Yule Ball with him" He says, earning a hard glare from Draco's cold blue eyes. What? This was a dare? I glance up at Draco, as I feel tears threaten to spill over my lower lashes. He opens his mouth to speak, but he is suddenly cut short when my hand makes contact with the side of his pale face. The sound of my hand making contact with his skin causes eyes from the surrounding crowd of students to fall on the pair of us. 

"Don't Draco. I thought you actually cared about me!" I push him away as he makes an attempt to reason with me. Tears now flow freely down my cheeks, leaving black mascara trails.

Hurriedly, I turn away from him and sprint up the grand staircase with a tear stained face and a broken heart. 

Other Chapters

[sitp-recs]

H/D Suds Fest 2021 - Recs

This is yet another incomplete draft I’m finally publishing to join my other fest reclists. Suds has been one of my favorite fests since its first year and I had a blast with the 2021 collection, so many creative and sexy works across all genres, plus a few fics dedicated to one of my favourite kinks: watersports! I felt truly spoiled. I hope you guys enjoy these as much as I did, and don’t forget to leave kudos and comments. Kinky fics go with a 💦 for your convenience ;)

🛁 Is This Love? by @phd-mama + art by @slytherco - the softest established relationship fic you’ll read this week, I love so much the mutual trust and the ritualistic, cleansing aspect of a scared bath. Hurt/comfort goodness with all the feels!

Draco wouldn’t call himself a tender man. He fights the forces of evil for a living, trying his best to pay penance for the evil he’s done. He’s fought and killed in the name of duty, and when he’s not on duty, he tends either to play hard or retreat alone. He doesn’t lean on anyone, and he knows he’s not the first person anyone goes to when they need care. Comfort. That all changes tonight.

🍸 Ceremonials by @jackvbriefs (NR, 4k) - love the mysterious atmosphere and quietly growing UST, the kind of fic that slowly unravels itself and leaves you aching for more with a lovely hopeful ending.

“What are you doing here?” Harry said. “I’m teaching you how to make a drink.”

🧼 Tastes Like Soap by InnerLilith (E, 4.6k) - I’m rapidly becoming obsessed with Lilith’s works, always so funny, refreshing, unapologetically sweet and hot. My fave brand of porn with feels and this is no exception, an unusual premise that transforms into an incredibly sensual

Harry goes to the foam party hoping to finally have casual sex. Draco goes to the foam party expecting yet another night of casual sex. Harry and Draco do not have casual sex.

🧹 Sports Star by @moonflower-rose (E, 4.8k) - delicious quidditch fic + watersports + exhibitionism aka perfectly crafted to meet my kinky tastes, I’m here for the teasing, the want, the desperation!!! So hot and addictive, unf I’m swearing here

Life as a professional Quidditch player involves a strict routine, and more hydration than Harry could have imagined. 💦

🏔 Tracing Memories on Your Skin fic + art by @iero0 (T, 4.8k) - an inventive and soothing healing fic that worked its way inside my soft heart. I love the thermals aesthetics and how these confident and mature characters meet again and gently come together.

Harry visits for his slow heartrate and shrunken lung capacity. He finds out he’s not the only one who still struggles with the remnants of Voldemort’s magic.

🍺 Float by @shiftylinguini (E, 4.9k) - this fic has shifty’s trademark combo of a light and casual get together, soft intimacy and scorching smut, I’m obsessed with how the piss kink just highlights the trust and want these two have for each other. So much character and heat!

After a night out, Harry wakes up feeling like he slept on concrete, like his body's made of sand, like he accidentally pissed on his housemate the night before. Because he did accidentally piss on his housemate the night before. 💦

🇮🇹 Postcards From Italy by @sorrybutblog (E, 6k) - sign me up for those magical cmbyn summery vibes with sweet flirting and scorching baths - a hopeful tale giving the characters the chance to live the life they want, it will make you want to live inside this Italian dream too!

A pool party, a nightclub, a bathtub. Draco Malfoy is the last person Harry expected to run into the summer before his third year of university, but he's not complaining (at least not anymore).

🪶A Grey Shrike Alighted upon my Wishbone by @opalesqueopioid (E, 7k) - brilliant and quietly devastating, this fic made my body ache with such a unique premise perfectly executed, haunting and poetic in a way only romantic tragedies can be. God bless the angst!

Cursed to forget everything about Harry Potter, Draco has to kill if he wants a cure.

🧽 Playing Dirty by @sweet-s0rr0w (E, 8.5k) - hilarious until it gets sinfully hot, I’m here for this chaotic Harry POV, his magic compatibility with Draco (!!🔥) and the amazing setup full of delicious ust! Such a great take on the locker room trope, if you’re a banter hoe don’t look any further and go treat yourself!

As punishment for screwing up yet another mission, and with their magic going haywire, new partners Potter and Malfoy are sent to clean the Auror locker room, the Muggle way. Will they make it out alive? Does Malfoy ever work out how to use a sponge? Do they actually even hate each other, or is it all just misconstrued sexual tension? How long until they accidentally end up naked? For answers to all these questions and more, read on.

💧Wonderful Electric (cover me in you) by @lqtraintracks (E, 10.8k) - surprising no one this became an instant fave, a gentle, liberating, unapologetic kink exploration that highlights the beauty of trust and shared vulnerability in a relationship. Unbearably tender, intimate and erotic, this is an ode to every kink enthusiast out there. The summary itself takes my breath away:

I’m never so tender with him as I am when I’m coaxing him to piss all over me. 💦

👞 On Target by @the-sinking-ship + art by @fictional (E, 13k) - perfect mix of fun and scorching, this fic has such a compelling “party atmosphere”, until it takes you into the hottest locker room sequence ever, sub Harry all thirsty for rough sex is now imprinted in my mind

A charity dunk tank, some sorry excuses for friends, a Slytherin with freakishly good aim, a (mostly) empty locker room, and one very small towel. Because, apparently, everyone is dying to get Harry Potter wet.

🌸 What Have You Been Hiding Under Those Robes, Professor Malfoy? by @thebooktopus + art by @mad1492 (E, 15k) - tattooed Draco’s a walking wet dream and we’re all thirsty for him! This is a masterclass in slow burn, I could cut the UST with a knife. This is sweet, honest, intimate and oh so deliciously hot, with a lovely ending.

After an accidental explosion in the Potions classroom, professors Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy have to utilize the emergency showers at the back of the classroom. Harry is surprised to find that prim & proper Draco is positively covered in tattoos. And… are those nipple piercings? You can probably tell where this goes.

Art:

🧜‍♀️ home from the sea by @babooshkart (G) - Boo explores sweet domesticity like no one and I can’t decide if I’m more mesmerized by Draco’s extraordinary mermaid tail, or by those gorgeous bathroom aesthetics, I literally wanna have that inside my house

Draco walked out of the Channel two years before and hadn't looked back. He had a lovely flat, an exceedingly attentive (and attractive) boyfriend, and was doing well in a marine biology course at a prestigious university. Now all he needed was a bigger bathtub.

🎙 Fly Me to the Moon by @caroll-in (M) - as always Karol cures my depression and makes me laugh like an idiot with her brilliant sense of humor and charming romance. I love this suds concept, seeing them content and domestic makes my heart so soft!

Harry has a problem. A loud problem. A problem that happens to live just next door and enjoys singing way too much. And frankly, they're TERRIBLE at it!

🪞 so rest your weary heart with me by @bluebutter-art (M) - epic, poignant, devastatingly romantic. An all-time favorite. One look at this and I’m crying like a baby, I’ve got zero emotional chill for what Blue changes inside me with her art.

After the war, Harry starts to use sensory deprivation tanks to induce psychosis-like hallucinations, eager to see those who he has lost one more time. Draco helps him get back on his feet, replacing the dirty flashbacks of the war with clean memories of love. A story of what is loved, lost and found.

[ghostdrew22]

Burning From The Inside Out || Draco Malfoy

Requested: No Pairing: Draco Malfoy x fem!reader Warnings: slight angst, slight smut, swearing, mentions of abuse and self-harm Summary: Draco and Y/N evolve from fake dating to friends with benefits to… nothing? Commitment issues, and a general distaste for love, stand in the way of the two of them becoming more.

WORDS : 4710

Lyric snippets I used are from “Love Song” by YUNGBLUD and they’re not in chronological order.

<~>

“All I learned growing up was that love chewed me up Spit me out on the pavement next to the cuts And the blood that my mum and dad would Always take out on each other.”

Draco had always thought that love was fake- a neurological con job meant to bring your guard down and distract you from the more important things in life such as money, sex and success. It made sense why he felt that way- having grown up watching his parents claw at each other until blood was caught between their nails and the venom from their harsh words was lacing the atmosphere so thickly, it felt like a fog- he was bound to think that love didn’t exist.

So when his friends began ask why he wasn’t dating one of the many people that were basically falling at his feet, he froze up. How could he have possibly explained that he thought love was a ridiculous waste of time because he’d watched his parents approach to it and it scarred him so much that he wanted to leave the whole thing alone? He couldn’t. So he did the next best thing, he asked you to fake-date him.

It was a ludicrous idea, you both knew that, but you were his best friend for years and you loved him an immeasurable amount so you figured that there was no harm in helping him out. Besides, you had a lot of people hot on your trail too and you just weren’t interested in romantically committing to anyone- more attracted to the concept of sex with no strings than to the idea of being in a long-term romantic relationship with someone.

But in all honestly, you still don’t know why you’d agreed to do it, it was stupid and a very obvious recipe for disaster. I mean in the moment it had felt like a good enough idea to get Harry Potter off of your back and Pansy Parkinson off of his, but even at the time you knew that you were playing with fire and one of you was bound to get burned.

And the thought surfaced again when you two crossed territory from friends to friends with benefits. It had started with an innocent kiss on his cheek now and then- to convince everyone that you two were actually dating- but as the weeks went by and people began to get suspicious about your lack of PDA (considering Draco’s possessive nature and your touchy nature) it became apparent that the two of you had to up your game. And one afternoon when you were kissing him on the way to class, a switch seemed to flip and soon enough you were pressed up against the broom closet wall as he sunk himself deep inside your walls- trying then and there to drown every inch of you with his touch, to leave every part of you scorching with the feel of him.

It definitely wasn’t love, that much you knew. It was more just an insatiable hunger to destroy one another - to be the best that either of you had ever had so that you would both be ruined for whoever dared to come next. Maybe that should’ve been the first red flag, the first time you noticed just how toxic your little routine was, but it didn’t matter then and frankly, it doesn’t matter much to you now. Because with him logic is quickly thrown out the window and all you can seem to think about is sinking your teeth into him, making him yours, branding him so that the entire school knows not to touch what you’ve claimed as your own- even if there’s no romantic feelings involved, there’s still a harsh possession that nests itself within your relationship. A dark desire to own and be owned in the most filthy of ways, to be looked at like a meal and devoured like a feast by one and one only.

~~~

“Wanna get rid of my period for 9 months?” You groan from your place on the bed and Draco gapes at you.

“Y/N you are so foul!” He exclaims with a chuckle and you barely manage a laugh in your pained state. “Most girls would offer to take me out to dinner first, maybe undress me slowly-“

“When have I ever undressed you slowly?” You ask with a knowing eyebrow raise and Draco smirks back at you.

“Fair point.” He replies and you groan in pain again, “It’s okay, I’m coming don’t worry.” He drops his schoolbag on your bedroom floor and peels his shoes off of his feet before pulling out a brown paper bag from his schoolbag and crawling into bed beside you.

“I got you meds from Madame Pomfrey, drink this now.” He hands you a potion, “It should kick in within the hour.”

“That’s too long.” You whine and he deadpans you- making you shift under his gaze and drink the potion. “It tastes like utter shit.”

“You drink it every month, why aren’t you used to it?” He asks with a laugh and you shrug.

“I think I force myself to forget.”

“Weirdo.” He mumbles before digging back into the paper bag, “I brought you chocolate and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans to keep you munching.” He pulls out the snacks and hands them to you, “Heat compress to alleviate the pain till the potion kicks in.” He puts the heat compress on your lower abdomen, “And I brought ’Sense & Sensibility’ from the library to keep you distracted.”

“Why ’Sense & Sensibility’?”

“Because I know that you’ve currently got your obsession with muggle authors and I remember you telling me that you loved this woman’s other book so I just grabbed it quickly.” He shrugs and you smile, already starting to feel a little better.

“Thank you.”

“You don’t have to keep thanking me, we do this every month Y/N.” He chuckles.

He’s right, it is your routine. For as long as you can remember being friends with Draco, you can remember him looking after you whenever you have a really bad period- bringing you snacks, massaging you, singing to you, running you baths, anything that could possibly make you feel better. It’s consistent, one of the only things you both have to rely on, but you still can’t help the feeling of immense gratitude that washes over you every time. He always goes above and beyond for you, and you can’t help but feel grateful for him.

“Now,” He says as he drags your attention back to reality, “do you want me to read to you or do want cuddles?” He raises his eyebrows at you and you already know the answer.

“Cuddles.” He laughs at how quickly you respond and puts the book on the table beside your bed before hooking his arms around your waist and helping you both sink into the covers- your head nuzzled into chest as he lays flat on his back and rubs soothing circles into your own.

“Better?” He asks after a few minutes of him massaging your back and you nod eagerly- bringing your fingers up to trace lines across his collarbone in an effort to keep yourself occupied. He shivers at the feeling of your fingertips against his skin and you smile. “Keep doing that and I will have to take you up on that offer of taking away your period for nine months.”

~~~

“Nobody taught me how to love myself.”

“Standing there, you look at me Understanding everything”

The sudden eruption of voices in the hallway has you rapidly turning your neck toward the sound, just in time to catch a glimpse of Draco storming away from the rest of his exhausted quidditch teammates and into another hallway that leads to the dungeons. From what you’d seen he had looked furious and the rest of the team looks very solemn, so you say goodbye to Tracey Davis and quickly shuffle toward the team so that you can ask Blaise what happened.

Blaise catches your eye right before you reach him and opens his arms to hug you- draping one arm around your shoulders and pulling you into him so he can kiss your forehead. “Bad practice, he couldn’t do anything right today.” He says- already knowing what question was on your mind.

“Do you know what’s up with him?” You look up at him with furrowed eyebrows and his shakes his head with a shrug.

“No clue. He was perfectly fine this morning, then by the time practice came he was fuming.”

“He’s angry?”

“He was angry. Now he’s just… sad?” Blaise sighs, “I really don’t know what’s going on, please check on him?”

You nod with a small smile and make to leave, “I’ll go see him right now.”

By the time you reach the common room Draco’s already in his room- something you figured out from the sound of his door slamming harshly- and you trek up to it nervously.

“Draco?” You ask softly as you open the door and find him hunched over his desk- still fully draped in quidditch gear.

He snaps his head up quickly and meets your eyes with a cold stare. “What?”

“Okay, rude.” You mumble as you step into the room and lean against the door.  “Are you okay?”

He scoffs and rolls his eyes as he turns to face you from across the room, “Yeah, I’m bloody great.” He shrugs, “I’m the world’s worst seeker and my mother’s in the hospital, it’s truly a wonderful life.” He drawls sarcastically.

You push yourself off of the door at the mention of his mother and quickly stride toward him, “What do you mean your mother’s in the hospital?” You raise your eyebrows- concern erupting from your throat.

He doesn’t say anything but slowly turns behind him and picks up a letter from the desk to hand to you. He sighs and leans against the desk as you take it from him and begin to read the letter from his father.

a mild heart attack as she fell down the stairs.

Your eyes glaze over with anger as you scrunch the letter up and toss it to the ground. You’re no stranger to the abuse that goes on in the Malfoy household- having heard it yourself one night when you’d spend a weekend at their home- and you know that what Lucius really means is that he hit her so hard that she had to be hospitalised. You open your mouth to speak but Draco shakes his head and cuts you off.

“No. No Speaking.” You nod as he sighs and rubs his hands across his face in frustration. You take no offense at his words because, to be honest, nothing you could’ve said would make it better anyway. This has happened so often, too often really, that the two of you have evolved passed the need to converse about it.

“Fuck!” He exclaims suddenly and you flinch at the outburst- making him soften instantly as he turns to face you. “I’m sorry, I… I didn’t mean to startle you.”

You nod in forgiveness and he reaches his arms out for you, and you do as he asks and sink into his arms- running your hands through his hair as he leans on the desk and you stand.

“I hate him.”

“I know.” You pull away from him and cup his face so he looks into your eyes. “Go take a shower, you stink.”

He laughs sadly and nods as he stands and starts walking to the bathroom. He stops midway and turns back to you, “Will you still be here when I get back?”

“Where else would I go?” You raise your eyebrows at him with a smile and he smiles back before slipping into his prefect bathroom to shower.

While he’s showering you decide to get changed into something more comfortable- putting on one of his shirts over your underwear- and put out his favourite pyjama pants on the bed for him to wear once he’s gotten out of the shower. Then you climb into his bed and start reading the copy of ‘Sense & Sensibility’ that he got after reading with you and realising Jane Austen is actually pretty good, while you wait for him to get done.

“Nobody taught me how to love myself So how can I love somebody else?”

You’re so entranced by the book that you don’t even notice him come back into the room until he’s speaking to you from the foot of the bed. “Did you take these out for me?”

“Mhmm.” You respond without taking your eyes off the page in front of you.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welco-“ You gasp as your eyes come off the page and meet his figure. He’s still dripping from the shower, a towel tied around his torso, and he’s got bruises all around his abdomen. “Draco!”

You get up and climb round the bed to get him, and he barely has any time to slide his bottoms on before he starts shuffling away from you.

“It’s nothing, I promi-“ He winces as soon as one of your hands makes contact with a bruise near his ribs.

“Draco.” You pull your hand back angrily and speak with a warning tone.

“Y/N it’s-“

“You promised me this would stop.” You state firmly and he gulps in fear. “We’ve been friends what, 6 years now? And in the six years that we’ve known each other I’ve done a countless amount of shit for you, no fucking questions asked. I ask, no, I beg you to do one thing and you can’t even do that?”

“It just happened.” He sighs tiredly and you scoff with a laugh.

“No, it didn’t just happen. You let it happen. Or am I wrong?”

“I-“

“You know what? I don’t even want to hear it.” You walk back to the bed with a shake of your head.

You’ve asked him a million times not to go sparring with Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle before Quidditch practice because he always comes back black and blue- smothered in painful bruises on his entire abdomen. He only does it because he thinks that he deserves the pain, that in some weird way he’s getting what’s due to him for existing. It’s his own way of self-harming and it’s led him to Madame Pomfrey more times than you can possibly remember.

He promised you months ago that he’d stop for good, that he’d start taking better care of himself and stop looking for excuses to get hurt when he felt bad about himself.  But bad habits, it seems, tend to die hard when you’re self-loathing masochist who can’t trust his best friend enough to talk to her when he starts to feel like shit.

“I’m sorry, I just needed something to take my mind off of it.” He trails behind you and picks up his wand to cast a silencing charm- anticipating the screaming match that you’re both about to have.

“Why didn’t you just talk to me? I’m your fucking best friend, what the hell else am I here for?”

“I know, I’m sorry I just…”

“You just?”

“I’m always coming to you with my problems, burdening you with my thoughts and it’s just not fair.”

“What?” You snap at him in confusion.

“I come crying to when my parents are doing their usual shit, I come to you when I have a bad Quidditch game, I come to you when I get a bad grade- fuck- I even come to you when I’m too scared to get into a relationship-“

“I chose to help you with that, don’t fucking act like you forced me into this because it was mutually beneficial.”

“That’s not the bloody point Y/N!” He yells in exasperation.

“Then what is the fucking point Draco?” You yell back.

He sighs, clenches his fists and closes his eyes. “The point is, I’m more bad than good for you, I’m a burden.”

You gasp at his words and sit on the edge of the bed as you look up at him in astonishment. That’s what he said to you the first time that you talked about his home life, ‘I think that they fight because of me, I ruined their lives. I’m a burden.’

“You’re not a burden.”

“You say that now. Until the day when you want more comes and I can’t give it to you.” He sits on the edge of the bed beside you, “One day this won’t be enough- you’ll want someone who can love you the way that you want to be loved- and I won’t be strong enough to do that. And then I’ll lose the only good thing I have in my life.”

“I’ll never leave you- I don’t think I could even if I tried.” You laugh awkwardly and pull him into your chest for a hug. “I don’t want more Draco, I don’t think I ever will. It sounds hard to believe but being best friends who occasionally have mind-boggling sex is quite enough for me, it makes me happy.”

“Promise me that you’ll tell me if you want more.” He mumbles into your chest.

“I promise bug.” You whisper as you rub his back soothingly- letting him relax into your embrace.

After a few seconds of silence he speaks again, “They’re going to kill each other.” He whispers- so quiet that you think maybe you imagined it-   before a soft sob escapes his lips.

“Shh, it’s okay.” You whisper back and continue soothing him by running your fingers along his bare back- stopping every few seconds to massage his ribs a bit- in an effort to help him calm down.

You don’t tell him that they won’t, because in all honesty you don’t know if they won’t, but you hold him tight for as long as he needs and promise him that you’ll be there for him. And that’s enough for the both of you- knowing that you’ll always be there for each other.

You sit like that for a while as he calms down and his breathing evens out- his head in your chest as one of your hands holds his and the other digs into his skin softly. It’s when he stops rubbing his thumb along the back of your hand, and instead starts rubbing it up and down your thigh, that you realise he’s finally breathing normally again. “Y/N?”

“Hm?” You hum in response as he pulls his head out of your chest and brings his lips up to your neck.

“Can we have some of that mind-boggling sex you talked about?” He asks against your collarbone and you laugh at his sudden change in attitude.

“I take it someone’s feeling better?” You ask as you let him take control of the situation and push you onto your back against the mattress.

“No.” He says, voice muffled as his lips graze against the skin on your neck, as his hands travel along your sides delicately. “But I need to feel you.”

“Dra-“ You start to protest- wanting to tell him that he can’t fuck his sadness away- but he cuts you off with a chaste kiss to your lips as his hands find their way beneath the t-shirt that you’re wearing and come up to unhook your bra.

“Please?” He asks desperately when he finally pulls away from your lips, his voice raw and raspy, “Let me take care of you princess.”

You’re still hesitant to agree, worried that he’s using this as a coping mechanism and scared that it’ll worsen the pain he’s feeling in his abdomen, but his lips find that soft spot behind your ear and you melt into his grasp like ice-cream on a thirty-degree day. “Let me make you feel good.”

“Okay.” Is all you say before he’s making good on his promise and making you feel so good that it’s as if there’s lava crawling beneath your bones.

His lips and hands are everywhere you need them, not hesitating to give you what you want as they usually do, not acting at a torturously slow pace. Tonight there’s no teasing, no tug-of-war between you both to see who cracks first, there’s just immense passion and trust- all the unsaid words left floating in the air are now dancing between your lips as they connect over and over again.

In this moment he’s Picasso and all he can think about is painting over you with his lips, his hands, his cock as it digs against your inviting walls, with every colour of the rainbow until the world itself is drained of all vibrancy because he’s given it all to you.

You meant what you said before, sex with Draco is always mind-boggling and lip-bitingly pleasurable, but this is different. It makes you finally understand what people mean when they say that they can see God at the height of their climax- that they feel as though their bodies are overheating and they’re going to combust at any moment.

He has never been this soft before, usually sex with him is fast, rough, hard, and all about building up the tallest tower of arousal so you can both knock it down with earth-shattering orgasms. But this is so different. This is soft, sensual, almost slow in a way- it says more than any words you two could possibly try to use to explain how much you value each other. You’re not in love, that’s for sure, but this feeling, this painfully exquisite moment, is the closest thing you two will ever get to uttering the words, “I love you”, to each other.

Who needs love when the two of you have each other to make you feel like you’re both burning from the inside out?

~~~

Now, as you sit next to him in Potions and watch intently as he chops up the next set of ingredients, you think that perhaps it’s you who’s going to set on fire.

“Y/N? Are you listening?”

“Hm?” You furrow your eyebrows at him as you zone back in, “Sorry, I zoned out for a second.”

“You seem to be doing a lot of that lately, are you okay?” He asks genuinely as he stops working on the potion to focus a soft gaze on you.

You gulp and nod, giving him a fake smile, “Yes, of course, don’t worry.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, seriously.” You bring your hand up to his arm as reassurance and smile again- trying to ignore how taut his muscles feel beneath your fingers, even with all the fabric between them- “What were you saying?”

“Oh!” He smiles brightly, “I was asking if you want to go down to the Black Lake next period? Since we’re both free?”

“And do what?” You narrow your eyes at him but grin still.

“I don’t know- drown ourselves, skinny dip, have a picnic- whatever your heart desires.”

“If you’re just looking for an excuse to see me naked then all you have to do is ask.” You smirk.

“I wouldn’t need to take you all the way there if I wanted to see you naked.” He grins widely and you roll your eyes, “I’ve just been wanting to go down there for a while and I thought I might as well bring you along.”

“Because you love my company?”

“Because you probably have nothing better do and no one else to hang out with.”

“We both know half the boys in this grade would drop everything for ten minutes with me, I could easily find someone to hang out with.” You reply very brazenly and he rolls his eyes at you. It’s true, more than half of the boys in the grade have tried to ask you out at least once, Potter being the most insistent, and if push came to shove you could easily find someone else to spend your free period with.

Not that you want to, free periods with Draco have actually become one of your favourite pastimes. Usually spent working on extra school work, or chatting, or trashing on Harry Potter- which happens considerably often since you both don’t like him.

“Too bad for them because you’re coming with me.”

“Because?” You raise your eyebrows at him- waiting for him to admit what you want to hear- and he mumbles a reply that you don’t quite catch- “Excuse me?”

“Because I love your company…”

“I know.” You smile with a giggle.

“Sweetheart, you are Changing my mind”

“There ain’t no excuses I swear that I’m doing my best”

“Do you still think love is fake?” You ask as you both lie in the grass and stare up at the sky- enjoying one of the only sunny days you’ll be getting this June.

“Hm?” Draco hums in questioning and you turn on your side to face him- propping your head up on your palm as you lean on your elbow.

“Love. Do you still think it’s a hoax?”

He sighs and blinks a bit before taking a gulp and averting his eyes from the sky to meet your own. “I don’t know.”

“I think in the time that we’ve been pretending to date, I’ve felt a lot of new emotions that I’d never felt before. I can’t tell you if it’s love or not because well, I don’t know what that’s supposed to look like or feel like, but I do know that I like it. It’s different to anything I’ve ever felt before because it’s comfortable and warm- it’s home in a way. It’s the kind of feeling home is meant to give me, not the dread and fear I feel when I get off the Hogwarts Express and find my parents waiting for me on the platform. Not the emptiness I feel when I have to sit through dinners with them and we have to pretend that we’re a happy family. Not the sadness I feel when I’m locked up in my room and I can hear them screaming at each other at the top of their lungs downstairs. It doesn’t feel like what I feel when I think of the Malfoy Manor, the only way I can describe what it feels like is by saying that it feels like what I feel when I think of you, or when I’m with you.”

“And what do you feel when you think of me?” You ask.

“I feel safe and happy and like there’s fire coursing through my veins - almost like I’m burning from the inside out. I don’t know if that’s what love is supposed to feel like- I’ve got no one to ask- but I know that I like feeling that way.” He closes his eyes and takes a breath, “So, to answer your question, I don’t know if I still think love is fake. All I know is that I don’t feel that hopelessness that usually consumes me, when I’m with you.”

You look at him in awe- utterly speechless and completely amazed by the words he’s just spoken to you. You can’t ask him for anything more than that, he’s clearly trying his best to be open to love and honest with you, and you don’t really want more anyway- it’s enough knowing that the two of you make each other happy. What you two have is enough. “You are fucking ethereal.” You breathe out as you sink back to the ground and go back to looking at the sun.

“So are you.” Draco says back as he picks up your hand and intertwines your fingers together. He doesn’t think that love is a hoax, he thinks that maybe he’s falling in love with you, but he’s not ready to admit that just yet- not when the fear of the only solid good thing in his life disappearing still haunts him with every waking moment. Not when you’re not showing any signs of romantic attraction toward him, because he can’t afford to be another dotted line in your book of conquests just because he got soft and caught feelings for you.

He’s not sure of himself yet, how can he be when no one ever taught him how to trust in his ability to be lovable? How can he be when even his own mother and father give him leftover scraps of affection veiled as the unconditional love of parents. Letting himself fall in love with you is a big risk to take when his own insecurities swarm his thoughts day and night, when his own fear of commitment swallows him up whole at every interval in which he thinks he’s ready to be vulnerable. No, he’s not ready to fall in love with you yet. But he’s trying to get there.

<~>

So, this ending is not what I originally envisioned, that one was a lot more compact and fluffy than this one is but I much prefer this one. When I first started writing this fic I actually started with the ending and worked my way backwards but when I finally got to the beginning I realized that the ending just didn’t fit anymore and I had to end it here.

I’m much happier with this ending because it’s undefined and open to interpretation. In a way Y/N is aromantic but in a way she’s also not- I couldn’t decide so I left it in a way that the reader can decide.

I’m planning on using the original ending in something different, which I will post here once it’s done, but yeah, this is the fic.

Anyway, love you all,

jean <3

[onlydreamofmysoul]

Impeccably Bad Taste (Drarry)

This might be one of my favourite fics that I’ve ever written? It was just so much fun and I love these two so so much, I’m obsessed with their dynamic!

In which, Harry gets tired of Draco's complaints and wears Amorentia as cologne one day.

“Merlin’s beard Harry there’s not much we can do about being stuck together as potions partners but you could at least not use so much of that awful cologne.”

Harry shot a dirty look at Draco and chose not to reply, instead choosing to continue chopping the newt tails as if he had never heard his Slytherin counter-part. Really none of his complaining was fair, sure Harry wore a dab of cologne but at least it wasn’t nearly as pretentious as whatever citrus-scented shampoo Malfoy used.

Harry tossed the tails into the caldron and stirs it three times, counter-clockwise. He was pretty impressed with himself until it turned an awful mucus green and began spitting flecks of boiling hot liquid everywhere.

“Fuck, what did you do?” Malfoy cried shielding himself.

“I followed the instructions!” Harry protested, reading back over the spell quickly. “Wait shit no, I stirred counter-clockwise, it says clockwise here.”

Malfoy rolled his eyes. “Trust a Gryffindor to be incapable of something as simple as following simple instructions.” He wiped bead of sweat from under his lip and Harry wished his eyes hadn’t followed the action.

Harry stirred the potion rapidly clockwise in an attempt to undo his mistake. After a few moments, it stopped spewing steaming droplets and slowly regained its deep purple colour.

“Shove off Malfoy. I got it back under control, it’s fine.”

“Fixing a problem of your own creation isn’t much of a boast, Mr Potter.” Came Snape’s characteristic drawl. “Ten points from Gryffindor.”

Malfoy’s pink lips curled into a little smirk.

Harry sighed. Just his luck.

****

“He’s just so annoying, you know!” Harry ranted, throwing his hands up in the air as he spoke before letting them fall limp at his side and flopping back onto the grass they were sprawled on.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. “Yes Harry, we know, you’ve been going on about him for, how long has it been now Ron?”

Ron cast a quick tempus, squinting in the light of the sun before turning to Harry. “Twenty minutes mate. That is a bit excessive.”

Hermione hummed in agreement. “That’s a bit of an understatement. Harry, you’ve got to either get over this obsession with Malfoy, or do something about it. Either way, make up your mind soon before you drive yourself insane.”

Harry leaned up on his elbows so he could look at her properly.

“Do something about it? What does that mean? Hex him or something?”

Hermione shook her head and closed her eyes “Yeah, or something.”

****

“There’s supposed to be a faint smell of almonds.” Harry muttered, sniffing the air over their shared caldron. “Can you smell it?”

Malfoy rolled his eyes. “I can’t smell anything over your goddamned cologne. What, do you take a bath it?”

Harry gritted his teeth, trying not to get too riled. It was hot in the dungeons that must be it. It would make anyone irritable. He didn’t want a fight ‘get through this year with as few incidents as possible’ -that was his plan.

“What even is that, sandalwood?” Draco asked. Harry hated that he was right.

“Whatever Malfoy, just concentrate on the potion.” Harry muttered, rolling his shoulders. He could do that.

“I’m trying if you hadn’t noticed.”

There was silence for a few moments as they both leaned over the caldron, taking in deep breaths.

“No almonds, just sandalwood.” Draco drawled and Harry bit his lip. Screw ignoring it.

****

“Hey Hermione, you have a vial of Amorentia, right?” Harry asked his brilliant friend as they sat alone in the common room that night.

Hermione looked at him cautiously. “Yes… Why do you want to know?”

“I was wondering if I could have some?” Harry asked, quickly continuing at his friend’s shocked face. “No! Not to use on anyone, I swear! It’s just to, well it’s hard to explain but I just really need some, only a little dab, I promise.”

“A little dab wouldn’t have much of an effect on a person.” Hermione contemplated.

“Yeah I know, but like I said, I don’t want to use it like that, I‘m not trying to make someone fall in love with me. I just need a little drop, please ‘Mione?”

Hermione looked at him for a long moment. “As long as you’re definitely not going to give it to someone?”

“Of course not, you can trust me.”

“Alright then, I’ll grab it for you. I expect to get the rest of it back.” She said sternly.

Harry grinned. “Of course, it’ll be like it was never even gone.”

****

Harry sat down at the breakfast table trying to hide his smile.

“Wow Harry, you smell amazing, what is that?” Ginny asked, leaning in close and breathing deeply. “It’s like… chocolate chip cookies, right out of the oven.” She sighed.

Her boyfriend Neville who was sitting right next to her, frowned. “That’s not it, it’s more like, soil, the scent of everything growing and coming to life like spring.”

“Don’t be daft Neville.” Ron mumbled around a mouthful of toast. “He smells like lavender.” Ron leaned closer lowering his voice, “Mate, are you wearing Hermione’s perfume?”

Harry bit his lip in his attempt not to laugh and watched as understanding dawned on Hermione’s face. “You used it as a perfume?” She mouthed across the food-leaden table. Harry nodded then lifted a finger to his lips in a silent ask for secrecy. Hermione nodded faithfully.

Harry glanced at the time. “I’d better get going. My first class is Potions and Snape already has it out for me, I can’t be late too.”

His friends nodded in understanding and waved him goodbye. As Harry walked away, all he could hear was Dean’s voice raising above them all, “So what did he smell like?”

Draco walked into the dungeons exactly thirty seconds before class was due to begin. For once, Harry couldn’t wait for his arrival.

They began making the potion in silence. The dungeons were colder than usual – the potions got progressively colder as they brewed and Harry shivered, grateful that Draco was the one stirring today, his long fingers wrapped delicately around the no doubt freezing ladle.

Harry crushed the seven rose petals and levitated them into the bubbling brew, breathing in the refreshing scent that followed. Harry couldn’t help but bait Draco a little.

“Smells good, doesn’t it?”

“Sandalwood? It’s alright, though it’s obvious you love it.” Draco drawled.

Harry’s heart stopped and he waited.

“I meant the potion.” He said barely able to stop his voice from shaking.

“I know what you meant Potter but it’s not like I can smell anything over your goddamned cologne.”

There was no mistaking it this time. Harry was wearing Amorentia but all Draco could smell was… him.

Harry ran it all though his mind, and it all made sense. How could he have missed it? Maybe he was as oblivious as his friends said.

Draco liked him.

And when Harry thought about it, admitted it, he liked him too.

“Draco.” He said and watched the other boy freeze. “Draco , I’m not wearing my cologne, I’m wearing Amorentia.”

Draco turned to him, panic in his eyes obvious but before he could say anything, come up with whatever excuse his Slytherin mind could think of – one that would probably be very good if it wasn’t absolute bullshit, Harry grabbed him by his shirt collar and pulled him in for a kiss.

Draco gasped against his lips, and tangled his cold fingers him Harry’s ever-wild hair and from that moment everything else drowned out. They didn’t hear anything, not the gasps of the other students, nor the ladle as it fell to the floor. No, all Harry could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat – rapid and uneven and feel Draco’s hands in his hair, the sliver of his skin on his neck under Harry’s fingers and those smug lips pressed against his.

He pulled away, gasping and felt his face redden as he realised what he did in front of an audience.

“Potter!” Snape raged, and Harry snapped back to reality, pulling further away from Draco “Fifty points from Gryffindor, for extreme class disruption.”

Draco’s hand slid into Harry’s and squeezed.

“And Malfoy,” Snape continued as he passed their work station. “Ten points from Slytherin, for impeccably bad taste.”

[straightouttaneptune]

Opposites attract

Pairing: Hermione Granger x Slytherin!Reader, Platonic!Blaise Zabini x reader, Draco Malfoy x Pansy Parkinson, Platonic!Draco Malfoy x reader (The reader is race-neutral!)

Warning: I think there’s a couple swear words, uhh if you’re in love with Draco you probably shouldn’t read this, there is not a single sentence in this fic where Draco and Y/N are any more than friends. Actually, Y/N will commit an act of violence against him. (Don’t do this to your friends)

Summary: Blaise notices that his best friend, Y/N is different the second he sees her again after Summer break. You are a full-fledged pure-blood Slytherin, but during Summer, you got your heart stolen by a certain muggle-born Gryffindor.

A/N: I am OBSESSED with Gryffindor x Slytherin trope, I’m so sorry I will write a reader who’s in Hufflepuff soon! Also, I love Blaise Zabini? He deserves love :/ He a true King in this fic. Oh and Y/N & Hermione are a power couple who eat men ok cool happy reading!!

—————————————————————

It was a quiet evening in the Slytherin common room. The white noise of the light rain present, but none of you could see, for the Slytherins belonged in the dungeons.

You had your head rested on the lap of Blaise Zabini, your best friend, and your legs over the lap of Draco Malfoy. You wouldn’t say he was your best friend, per se- you didn’t always like how he acted. You thought of him more like a brother, in a way. An annoying brother, no less.

But while your friends engaged in some deep conversation about whatever they talked about, your mind was elsewhere. Since last week, you’ve been lost in the curious world of a strange muggle book titled “pride and prejudice”. You picked the damned book up every time you had some spare time.

“What’s this then? Never seen it before.” You recall 2 weeks ago, laying by the old oak tree of the city park, the bushy leaves shielding you from the blinding sunlight.

“You’ve never seen a book before?” She teases, playful laughter filling the crisp summer air.

“You know what I mean! C’mon, read to me.” You look up at her, sitting down with her back pressed against the tree. Her face was covered with the red cover of the book, but you could swear that what you were seeing deserved to be drawn on canvas and presented in museums. Her golden curls looked as if they were lighting up under the sun, her soft yet strong hands curling around the spine of the book.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife-”

Blaise also had a book opened in his hand, but he was not reading- he was listening in on Draco and Pansy’s conversation. Also glancing down and seeing you smile to yourself, for whatever reason. It could have been the book, but he doubted it.

And even though this was the first day back to Hogwarts, he knew that you were very different from who you were when he waved goodbye to you before summer break.

First of all, you never read muggle books. You were the eldest child of one of the most pure bloodlines to exist. Your family were very close with the Malfoys, the Blacks, and obviously the Dark Lord. Anyone would expect you to grow up hating muggles, and... in all honesty, Blaise thought you did.

But then why didn’t you say anything few hours earlier when Granger bumped into you on the train? A witty quip about her blood, perhaps? But nothing. And why in the world did you have a Jane Austen story in your hand?

Despite the multiple questions looming over his head, Blaise had a theory. So now, he wanted to see. Test you, on how you’d react to another one of Draco’s degrading talks about “muggles” you recently seemed to take an interest to.

“God, those mud-bloods infuriate me. And what’s Dumbledore thinking, opening a class of ‘Muggle Studies?’ What a pathetic excuse for a school.” Draco said quite loudly for the whole common room to hear, looking behind him and at first-year Slytherins as if to get them to agree with him. They nod out of fear, but Blaise can see it’s poisoning their unbiased minds already.

Great. More racism. He’s never been a big fan of it.

Just when Blaise turned back around to pretend to stare at his book once more, you quickly stood up from your place in his lap, and smacked your hard-covered book over Draco’s head. The first years jump and gasp from utter and complete shock.

...Ouch. Blaise doesn’t know if he should be happy he was right about something being up with you, or stop you from killing Malfoy.

“What in the- What is your problem, Y/L/N??!” Draco stands up too and glares at you in an accusatory manner, hand flying up to the back of his head. His tall figure looms over your head, his eyes burning with confusion and rage. But you’re not afraid. Quite the opposite.

“Don’t you dare talk about muggles like that ever again, Draco. You know I’ve never liked it when you used that word.” You point your halfway closed book into his chest, the corner digging into his neatly ironed shirt.

“What? You’ve never hit me over something as little as this? What’s wrong with you, Y/L/N?” Draco questions loudly, the irritation in his voice evident. Pansy stands up as well, linking her arms with the Blond, and glaring at you up and down.

“You’ve been acting strange all day, Y/N. Blaise, say something!” All three of you looks over to Blaise, who was nonchalantly pretend reading his book, unmoving from his place on the couch.

“What? So Y/N can’t hit Malfoy with a book now? She’s done it before.” He looks up and locks eyes with Pansy, “I don’t give a fuck” written all over his face.

“That’s not the point! Why is she so angry over filthy Mudbloods?” Pansy retorts, but as soon as the last word left her lips, you raised your brows at her warningly.

“Don’t. Use. That. Word. Why does bloodline matter? We all bleed red, for Merlin’s sake!” You huff, whirling around to get yourself out of this godforesaken dungeon. Blaise gives a playful salute and trails closely behind, leaving behind the pure-blooded idiots and follows you towards the Gryffindor common room.

“Will you tell me, though? Y/N, what happened during summer?” Blaise stops you just in front of the portrait of the fat lady, and you’re forced to look at your best friend’s curious expression.

“Promise you won’t laugh?” You sighed, knowing you would have to tell your best friend if he wanted to come with you. He nods sincerely, although there is a twinkle in his eyes that lets you know he’s enjoying this.

“I fell in love with someone. A muggle-born.”You confess, your cheeks burning like a 1,000 degree flame just by admitting that.

“A muggle-born??” Blaise’s brows shot up to his hairline, his brilliantly talented imagination already making up a scene of you getting disowned by your parents.

“Wait...” his gaze glides past you and at something behind you. “Does it happen to be Granger?”

Your eyes grow wide as a plate, and you almost break your neck from how quickly you turned around. Hermione, Harry and Ron stood there, the door to the Gryffindor common room wide open.

“There was a Slytherin alert. Uhm, Fred and George. Not us.” Harry tries to explain, looking over at Ron for some assistance, but he just stays in place. Wether it’s from shock or fear, you couldn’t tell.

“You... fell in love?” Hermione looks directly into your eyes, as if everything that wasn’t you didn’t exist to her. She climbs out of the entryway, taking a few steps over towards you.

“Uh- I did. Over the summer.” Guessing you didn’t have much other choice than to admit it, you stood your ground and focused on her sharp brown eyes you’d come to adore.

“You did.” Hermione repeated, stunned from the looks of it.

“I did.”

“So did I.”

“You did?”

“I did.”

“Oh bloody hell, just admit you love each other and move on.” Ron teased from a few feet behind, comfortable now that he saw who he originally thought was a Slytherin nightmare act so awkward and giddy.

Hermione glared at him threateningly, and so Harry wordlessly pulled him and Blaise into the Gryffindor common room. Before entering, Harry almost forcefully rips off the cloak from Blaise, still skeptical of the Slytherin always hanging around Draco Malfoy.

“Right. Anyways-“

Before you could say anything, Hermione hurriedly pressed her lips against yours, her cheeks tinting rose from a mixture of excitement and embarrassment. She’d never done something like this before. She feels like she can hear her heart beating rapidly in her ears, which can’t be normal, but she thinks it feels right.

You feel like getting wrapped into a cloud of euphoria as she deepens the kiss, your hands finding their place on her cheeks. The book clatters on the crème stone floor, but neither of you pay it any mind. Luckily, not one soul is walking around the halls at this hour, everyone getting settled into each their dorms. But you don’t even think about that, for your mind is filled with her, and only her.

After pulling away, Hermione chuckles at your surprised look, mumbling a little “You’re blushing, Y/N.” Before pulling you into her chest for a hug.

You return the gesture without hesitation, grinning from ear to ear and whispering back, “So are you.”

“Come on, we’ll have butterbeer inside. Take your cloak off and hide the tie. I’ll bring my jacket.” Hermione laughs nervously, and looks back at who she swears is the most beautiful girl in the world. Never had she thought she’d get her heart stolen by a Y/L/N, even in an alternate universe, or in a dream.

But she takes your hand, and pulls you into the common room, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

[gryffindor-glizzy-gobbler]

Out Past Curfew (Pt. 2/5)

“How nice of you to show up..” Draco checked the time, which was posted on a clock nearby above an archway before he glanced back at you with a sneer, “2 minutes later.” 


“Oh I think you’ll live.” You retorted with a folding of your arms, this time positioned lower down your front to cup the underside of your chest. You knitted both of your brows together to give him an unimpressed look, as if that “you’re worthless because you’re late” bullshit was going to make you feel bad about yourself. “Let’s just get this bullshit over with.” You groaned, reaching into your satchel and pulling out a chocolate frog, beginning to snack as you and Malfoy began to walk throughout the halls.

For the first 5 minutes of your stroll, neither of you said anything to each other. You were uncomfortably quiet with him, having absolutely no interest in making ever LIGHT conversation with him. If being school mates with him for the past 5 years has taught you anything, is that being friends with Draco Malfoy is simply a bad fucking idea.

Don’t get it twisted. You’ll admit, at the beginning of the year the idea of being friends with this twit did cross your mind. He used to be cute - back when he wasn’t an ass - and he was popular with the boys in Slytherin. So even if you didn’t end up falling for him, certainly one of his friends could do the job. Blaise was decent looking.

Though as the years went by you watched with horror and utter disappointment as someone with such potential fall so quickly and so rapidly down the drain and into the sewer of becoming an utter prick. You were genuinely baffled on how someone - despite bitchy - as wonderful as Pansy can fall for someone as intolerable as Draco Malfoy. It was shocking how far below her league she was stooping for this blonde weasel of a man.

“Bloody hell- say something, squibby!” It seemed that Draco’s frustration that was steadily growing in response to the silence that occupied the space between the two of you was beginning to surface. “Even though Pansy is intolerable, at least she TRIED to entertain me!”

“You’re such an ass.” You wanted to spit in his face for that comment alone. Sure, Pansy was a raging bitch, that is such a shitty thing to say to someone who is considered her best friend. “Oh there it is.. keep talking to me more, princess. Thrill me.” Draco leaned over a little bit with his hands shoved in his pocket, like you finally talking was an achievement that he had to unlock.

“Go poke your eye out your own wand, why don’t you.” You blustered, whipping the direction of your gaze 180º degrees away from him. He disgusted you. But more so than usual right now. He was toying with Pansy. You knew he was. He liked that he praised the ground that he walked on. He got immense pleasure from the non-stop ass-kissing that she did 24/7.

Oh how much joy would you have if one day she just... stopped.

Stopped obsessing over Malfoy for just a day. Only a day. You would just cream yourself in ecstasy if you could see that blonde wizard prince just crumble from a lack of attention. It would be entertainingly pathetic.

“What the devil are you grinning about?” Draco’s voiced sliced through your thoughts like a knife through butter. Your entire body tensed up and you flicked your attention over at him, and apparently he had been staring at you for the past 30 second and you were just... zoning out.

Dreaming about his demise.

“I guess I am a true Slytherin at heart..” You muttered, and he gaped at you for a moment before scoffing, “You wish you were.” “What am I then?” “You might as well be a Hufflepuff.” “And theres something wrong with that?”


“I can think of a couple things.” He pushed his face really close to yours to emphasize his nasty little point, but when his face was close to yours, for a moment you took in his scent.

“It smells like mint, citrus and...”


“Cologne.”

“Get the hell away from me..” Reality came crashing down on your like an avalanche and you could feel your chest tighten. It’s not him. Every pompus rich boy smells like that... It’s not Draco. Your Amortentia potion had to be playing mind games with you. Maybe yours accidentally switches with Pansy’s.

No, no, no... See- if you paid attention in Potions class enough you’d know.

That’s not how it works.

“Touchy touchy.” Draco seemed amused by your anger, but he nonetheless retreated his neck away from you as he had his hands shoved in his pockets like a total douche bag. A douche bag who just happened to smell just like the love potion that determines what you’re attracted to. You’re not attracted to Draco though, that’s the problem. Maybe his father?

His father’s pretty good looking.


Maybe becoming Draco’s step-mother could be your little revenge that ruins his entire life. Sort of like how he ruined your entire 7 years at Hogwarts. What would life be like without Draco? So much better, that’s what. As you looked extremely irritated due to the conflicting thoughts and emotions tossing and turning in your body, Draco now was beginning to grow... concerned. Which was a foreign emotion for him, especially towards someone he claimed to not care about. To him you were just.. someone to make fun of. You were just his entertainment.

His plaything.

“Do you want to sit down?” He asked, the concern that had mixed into his face now seeping into his voice, which was making you uncomfortable. “No. Let’s walk.” You rejected profusely, but Draco reached over and grabbed your wrist, not quite that gently. His long pale fingers coiled around the bones beneath your hand, and you felt a shock of surprise go through your nervous system as you quickly yanked your hand away from him.

“What’s your problem, Malfoy? I said I’m fine.” “You didn’t say anything. You haven’t said anything. Normally you’re extremely talkative during Potions and D.A.T.D. But today.. you’re awfully quiet. It’s rather annoying. I don’t like being bored. And when my favorite pet can’t entertain me.. I get bored.” “Did you expect me to try to make conversation with you when I came here?” You cocked a brow at him, absolutely baffled on how much of a freak he was.

“Usually you do. Usually you never shut up about me.”

“That’s not true-“ Your face began to burn with embarrassment and anger as soon as those shrivel words left his lips. Is that really true? You do admit you talk about Draco a lot. But that’s because he annoys you! And there’s nobody in Slytherin you find attractive, so who else are you going to talk about. Your arch enemy of course. And Draco Malfoy was definitely your arch enemy.

“Oh it’s very true, squibby. You’re obsessed with me. Utterly and completely obsessed with me.” He extended his arm and reached forward to shove his fingers into your scalp, wringing his long fingers into your hair and yanking your head forward. “Just admit it, squibby. You’re never not thinking about me. I’m on your mind day and night and you’re just embarrassed to admit that you want to fuck me...”

“You want to fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid.”

[writer-dreams]

Love Potion (Part 5) (Draco Malfoy x Reader)

Part 5 is here now!!!! I'm sorry for the wait!! I hope all if you enjoy!

Prologue / Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / End

Update Tags: @celestialceci @marvelobsessedteen @imaginesforthepeople @danidomm @marvelrose @vogueworthy-barnes @glossysoph @stevesvibraniumshield @bi-mama @fiveisadorable @paulalucianap1 @drama-llama-04 @mellow-delight @hahaboop @awesomehannaha @stantalentstanclc @queenskyster @outsider-underwater @babebenhardy @imaginespnr5er @riddikuluslypotter @pitkins @bughug1999 @drawlfoy @onyxbunny22 @sorgenprinzessin @vivianhuynh77 @dauntlessdracarys

House: You choose

Blood Status: You choose

Warnings: Possible swearing

Note: The reader in this story is female / uses female pronouns

Word Count: 2,514 words

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3rd Person POV

Day 5

Y/n walked out of the common room, feeling much better after a refreshing night’s sleep. She was glad that there were no classes today, which offered her some time to relax after the horrendous situation yesterday. Y/n scowled at the thought of Pansy. She was going to kill that pug-faced twat one day. Oh, that wench was going to get it someday- Caught up in her thoughts, she crashed into the hard chest of someone. Blinking rapidly in confusion, she looked up and noticed those familiar grey eyes and infamous blonde hair. Draco.

Draco grinned cheekily at her. "Hello, Love. How are you feeling this morning?"

"Oh, fine. My head has stopped spinning and I feel stable enough to be able to walk around properly."

"It’s good to hear that. I was actually looking for you anyway. Walk with me?" Draco asked, flashing a charming smile at her and extending a hand towards her. Y/n’s heart fluttered at his sweet smile, but she managed to return a small grin and placed her hand inside his. Maybe in the beginning of this, she would have been disgusted at even the thought of touching him, but now....it felt almost pleasant to do so.

She thought about how much she despised him in the beginning, and her new-found adoration for him. She wasn’t in love with him, but she wouldn’t mind being friends with him.

Draco ended up dragging her to the black lake. The water gleamed a deep shade of blue, concealing all the creatures that lurked below the surface. The bright sun already high in the cloudless sky, showering them in warm light.

"What are we doing here?" Y/n asked curiously.

Draco gestured towards the large wooden pier that overlooked the lake. He then tugged on her arm and pulled her towards it, like a child excitedly dragging someone to see their greatest creation. The old wood creaked under their feet but Draco didn’t seem concerned. He took a seat at the end of the pier, swinging his legs over the edge. He then looked at her to do the same. She sat down next to him, feeling oddly comfortable in his presence. She felt Draco’s warm hand rest of top of hers but she didn’t pull away. His grey eyes stared intently into her (e/c) orbs.

"Merlin, Y/n. I’m so glad you’re alright." Draco stated.

"Me too, Draco. I don’t think I can thank you enough for saving my life. I owe you." Y/n replied sincerely.

"You don’t owe me anything, Love." Draco took her hand in his as he placed a soft kiss against the back of her hand.

The moment was ruined when the pair heard some footsteps. The loud steps were accompanied by an obnoxious voice that caused Y/n to roll her eyes.

Not again.

"Drakie-Poo! Why do you constantly choose someone like her over me??" The annoyingly high-pitched voice of Pansy Parkinson whined.

"Excuse me, Pug-Face? I’ve had just about enough of you and your jealousy. How many brain cells does it take to understand that he’s not interested? Clearly, you prove it takes more than one."

Pansy’s face twisted into a snarl and she quickly turned to Y/n. She opened her mouth to retort but Draco quickly cut her off.

"Parkinson," He said Pansy’s name in such a cold, hostile manner that Y/n felt shivers run down her spine. "What the hell are you doing here? After what happened last time, I’m surprised you still have the guts to come near us."

"Draco, you have to believe me. She’s drugged you or cast a hex on you or something! Don’t you remember how much you despised her?! How much you hated the very sight of her in the same corridor as you?" Pansy cried out.

Y/n averted her gaze down to the floor. Pansy wasn’t completely off with her accusation. Technically, she had drugged Draco with a love potion. He didn’t really love her, it was all because of a stupid potion. This whole situation was changing her perspective of Draco. She was beginning to fall for a fake version of the blonde-haired prat.

"What is with your obsession with me and Y/n? Even creepier, you claim that I’ve been spelled to fall in love with her? How dare you! You’re just as annoying as Saint Potter. Now leave us be, Parkinson, or I will have my father know about this!" Draco snapped at Pansy.

Pansy gazed down at her black shoes. Her fists were shaking violently at her sides, as if she were trying to keep herself from shouting at Draco. She looked back up and her eyes were filled with pure hatred as she threw a burning look at Y/n.

"I’ve tried everything. I’ve been by your side since forever, I’ve supported you through everything. All of a sudden this twat waltzes into your life and you’ve fallen for her?! Where have all my efforts taken me?!" Pansy said through gritted teeth.

Draco rolled his eyes and nudged Y/n slightly. She looked back at him to see him getting up and walking towards the castle, his back turned to Pansy. "Come on, Y/n. Let’s just leave."

"I pushed her off the Quidditch stands for you!" Pansy shouted before gasping and covering her mouth with her hands quickly.

Draco stopped walking immediately, his whole body visibly stiffening. He slowly turned back around, his bangs covering his eyes.

"What did you do?" He hissed.

Pansy didn’t answer. She stood completely still, as if afraid that the slightest movement from her would cause him to attack. Her stance reminded Y/n of a deer caught in a headlight. Draco switched his gaze to Y/n, who was slightly taken aback by the intensity of his grey eyes.

"Is that true?" He asked slowly. Y/n could see he was trying to restrain himself from lashing out at the Slytherin girl. Pansy looked at Y/n with pleading eyes, begging her not to tell the truth. Y/n knew she couldn’t lie to him and Pansy didn’t really deserve to be saved from Draco’s wrath. She hesitantly nodded, watching as Pansy’s knees buckled slightly, a defeated look in her eyes.

With an enraged look, Draco swiveled back to Pansy, his wand whipped out and pointing threateningly at her. Even then, Pansy refused to move from her spot.

"I can tolerate you annoying us and interrupting our dates. However, I can not tolerate you trying to kill my girlfriend." Draco brought his wand closer to Pansy, who was still frozen with fear, "I wish I could say that this will not bring me great happiness."

With a wicked smirk, Draco shouted, "Densaugeo!" A purple light shot out of his wand and hit Pansy directly in the face. Pansy cried out from the impact and fell to the ground, screaming as she covered her mouth. From between Pansy’s twitching fingers, Y/n could clearly see that Pansy’ teeth were growing longer and longer. She looked almost like a demented kind of beaver. The Slytherin girl scrambled from the ground and rushed towards the hospital wing. Watching the girl’s form grow smaller and smaller, Y/n ran towards Draco and pinched him roughly on the arm. The Slytherin Prince let out a yelp, pulling his bicep out of her grip.

"What was that for?"

"How could you be so foolish? I understand that you only wished to protect me but you’ll be expelled for hexing her!" Y/n cried. She wasn’t sure why she cared so much if he was expelled or not.

"Oh, relax. Pansy would never want to get me expelled. She cares too much," Draco said, "Even if I don’t."

"I’m also sorry that I couldn’t do more." Draco continued, "I want to hurt her even worse than I already have but her family’s part of the Scared Twenty-Eight."

"It’s alright. I think you’ve done enough." Y/n smiled, "Now let’s just enjoy the rest of today."

Draco nodded, allowing himself to be dragged back to the pier. The pair sat down together, back in their original position. Y/n then leaned over and rested her head on Draco’s shoulder, admiring the water. Draco didn’t seem to mind and pulled her body closer to his. Y/n’s mind was swimming with questions. Why was she feeling so comfortable around him? Why did her heart feel so fluttery? Why was she literally leaning on him? Her mind screamed at her to get off of him, though her body didn’t move. Y/n silenced her thoughts, just wanting to enjoy the calming sight of the lake.

"Ah! I’ve almost forgotten!" Draco snapped his fingers, sitting up straight and rummaging through his uniform’s pockets. He then pulled out a crumbled piece of paper, unfolding it and holding it out in front of him. Y/n squinted her eyes to look at the words through the paper in the light. She could make out Draco’s fancy and neat handwriting, though she couldn’t actually read the words that were written. The blonde male caught her stare and flipped the page over so that she could see.

"It’s a poem." Draco smiled at her from the top of the paper. He flipped the paper back before clearing his throat and reciting the poem.

"(Y/n), we haven’t been together for long,

Yet, I feel obligated to write you a song.

To confess the deep affections I hold for you,

And I hope you feel the same way too.

This may seem quick, yet I know you are the one.

You may scoff at me, but my heart cannot be stolen by just anyone.

My feelings for you have changed so much,

Switched with a simple touch.

This love you have given me is a drug,

Intoxicating, addicting and given by hugs.

I assure you that my love for you is not fake,

No, there has been no mistake.

A goblet of pumpkin juice,

Raised to you in truce.

You return the gesture, as if it was planned,

A cup of (f/d) in your hand.

I love everything about you,

I could not say anything more true.

I love how clever you are or how beautiful you always look,

Merlin, if I could write it all down, I’d write a bloody book.

Know that this is no joke.

Your love envelops me like an invisibility cloak.

We’ve stitched our love together with needles and red thread,

It’s about time we’ve set aside our differences and learned to accept them instead.

The world has given me such an amazing girlfriend.

I never want our time together to end.

Love is often called weak, useless, something you should not feel.

You have shown me the hidden strength that love has concealed.

Potions class was where our love first began,

If I were to leave it now, I’d be a mad man.

I wrote this poem for you, filled with endless rhyme,

To show that I love you, (Y/n), until the end of time."

Her heart swelled as he finished. Without thinking, she gave him a tight hug, feeling his body shake as he laughed lightly. Coming back to her senses, she released Draco, feeling slightly embarrassed. She wondered why this poem filled her with happiness while the first poem had disgusted her. What had changed? She used to gag at such a sappy poem, why was she suddenly feeling like she was flying? Why did her heart skip a beat whenever she looked into Draco’s grey eyes? Why did she feel completed whenever she was with him?

She was brought back to reality when she felt Draco kiss her cheek. He pulled back with a grin.

"Did you like it?"

Did she like it? Yes, very much. Even if it was written by Draco, Y/n wasn’t really bothered by that fact anymore. Nobody had ever wrote her a poem, as cheesy as they’ve been. Draco had been the only person to do that.

"Yes." She breathed out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They spent a few more hours at the lake, enjoying each other’s company. Although Y/n didn’t want to admit it, she truly did enjoy the date. (She also refused to call it a date). The sun was beginning to set, changing the sky from bright blue to a beautiful mix of yellows, oranges, pinks, and purples. Y/n’s eyes began to feel heavy as she watched the sun disappear behind the mountains.

"Tired?" Draco asked.

Y/n nodded, causing Draco to shift over to allow her to lay her head in his lap. He took off his robe and wrapped it around her like a blanket.

"Sleep." Draco whispered.

Y/n didn’t need to argue, as she found that she was quickly losing consciousness. Before she fell asleep, she let one last set of thoughts ring through her head.

You do realize this is fake right? This side of Draco, this feeling, it’s all fake.

I know, but I’ve already fallen in too deep.

**********************************************

Hello everyone! The long-awaited Part 5 is finally completed. I'm extremely sorry that it took so long. I really hope that this met your expectations. The poem was probably one of the most difficult things to write, though I pushed through because I wanted poems to be a special thing in this series. I'll try my best to be more on time with Part 6. Thank you for reading. Until next time.

-Jade

[zalrb]

Are there any dynamics in tv or movies you think have a spiritual connection & not romantic?

It’s funny because I thought that was Reylo in TLJ:

And in my opinion, I don’t even necessarily see Kylo and Rey’s connection as traditionally romantic, it’s almost like a spiritual need and a spiritual desire because they’re narrative balances of each other — as your darkness grows, her light rises (or something) — and their differences are rooted in similarities, they’re both confused and lonely and looking for their true selves which leads them down separate paths that entwine and therefore they recognize something in each other which leads to really intimate and sensual connections, I personally don’t find that toxic or find that Rey and Kylo have to be “together” in the conventional sense...

Flint and Silver in Black Sails

It was a story about [Flint and Silver] going from a giant and the smallest man he ever knew to those two becoming allies to becoming friends to becoming singular to each other. And maybe the person who they had the closest and most personal relationship with.

I don’t necessarily agree with the last part --- I think Silver and Madi had a deeply intimate and profound romantic bond and that she saw a part of Silver that Flint didn’t, but the two of them definitely shared a spiritual connection, the story of the series hinges upon their relationship.

Furiosa and Max, Mad Max Fury Road

I actually think this movie is extremely overhyped, I watched it like “... ... ok? Didn’t have to go to the theatre to see this ...” but I remember there was a quote by Miller who said something along the lines of romance wasn’t even a thought because it was so unnecessary to the plot and yet there was a deep connection between Furiosa and Max and I think that was portrayed.

Tommy and Alfie

Another dynamic I don’t particularly care for (I also just don’t like Tom Hardy, lol) but Tommy and Alfie are meant to be narrative sames and they recognize themselves in the other and appreciate the other despite consistently betraying each other, which is really a part of the game

Cristina and Meredith

I was thinking about whether or not I found them to have a spiritual connection and I decided that they did

Draco and Harry

I consider them to have a spiritual connection despite being enemies because they’re narrative mirrors --- Draco embodies what it means to be a Slytherin, Harry embodies what it means to be a Gryffindor, Draco has two loving parents in a nuclear home, Harry doesn’t have any parents, Draco was tasked with the impossible job of killing Dumbledore, Harry was tasked with the impossible job of killing Voldemort --- and they’re obsessed with each other

“Harry, however, had never been less interested in Quidditch; he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy.”  

“Malfoy bent down to examine a shelf full of skulls. “… everyone thinks he’s so smart, wonderful Potter with his scar and his broomstick —” “You have told me this at least a dozen times already,” said Mr. Malfoy, with a quelling look at his son.”  

[hd-wireless]

📻🎶 H/D WIRELESS 2023 - Anon Masterlist

It’s time for the list! And for some numbers!

This year’s Wireless has (as always) some impressive numbers for you. Everyone, the Wireless 2023 stats:

41 days of posting

60 works

7 artworks

5 art and fic combos

43 fics

5 podfics

And a total of 839,620 words!

We mods can’t thank each and everyone of you enough! Without every single one of our participants and readers this fest wouldn’t be possible. Thank you for being here and showing support to the amazingly talented people we had participating this year.

You have a week until we reveal the names of all our amazing creators, and what better way to spend it than catching up with the works you might have missed and playing our fun guessing game! Free bragging rights for every correct guess! And this coveted trophy emoji for the winner 🏆

Have another listen to our prompted songs for the works we post before the reveals happen in a week:   Click here for Spotify (many thanks to @evaeleanor for helping us out there) ❤️ And here for the YouTube playlist.

Please enjoy this year’s entries below the cut:

🎶 H/D Wireless Art 🎶

📻   Why don't you like me? [T, digital comic]

🎵Song Prompt: Grace Kelly by MIKA 🎵Summary Failing to ask Harry out, Draco deals with his feelings in a very dramatic fashion.

📻 Alive [E, Digital comic]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'Alive' by 'Sia' 🎵 Summary Harry is lost after the final battle, but he finds comfort from an unexpected source.

📻 Not Your Property [G, Digital Art]

🎵 Song Prompt: ‘Rich Friends’ by Portugal The Man 🎵 Summary: Harry rubs elbows with rich Slytherins and finds himself falling for one Draco Malfoy

📻 Your Heart's a Mess [G, Pencil & Copic markers]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'Hearts A Mess' by 'Gotye' 🎵 Summary: Hogwarts eighth year. Malfoy, visibly scarred (from Sectumsempra? from the war? from his treatment by the Ministry?) and visibly heavy-hearted (from regret? from his father's imprisonment? from how the other students torment him?) has driven Harry to distraction. It's 6th year all over again: he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy. How he wishes the feeling was mutual.

📻 anywhere with you [Gen, Digital Art]

🎵 Song Prompt: Anywhere With You by Maggie Rogers 🎵 Summary: I'll go anywhere, anywhere with you.

📻 Shivers and Cold Champagne [T, Digital Art]

🎵 Song Prompt: Padam Padam by Kylie Minogue 🎵 Summary: "Padam, padam, I hear it and I know..." Sometimes, you meet someone in the club, and you just know... ...they’re all in.

📻 keep driving [M, Digital Art]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'keep driving' by harry styles 🎵 Summary: cocaine, side boob, choke her with a sea view

🎶 H/D Wireless Fic and Art 🎶

📻  Before the Cold Sets In [T, 9,154, origami art]

🎵 Song Prompt: Cold Tea Blues, by Cowboy Junkies 🎵 Summary But if I measure the sugar To satisfy your expectant tongue Then that is love Sitting untouched and growing cold - Cold Tea Blues, by Cowboy Junkies Sometimes, the person you should be planning your life with is already in it. Or, how Harry realised that true love is at the bottom of a tea cup.

📻 I only want the ones I envy (I envy) [E, 13,333, digital art]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)' by 'Lil Nas X' 🎵Summary: “Surely there’s someone in our circle who’s not a Saviour-Chaser. Someone single, clever, talented, sexy, and extremely, unapologetically gay.” Harry knows what’s about to happen before Ron’s even done speaking. And he wants to laugh at the absurdity of it all. But he can’t, not without outing himself, and in more ways than one. So tomorrow, he’ll do what he always does when he needs a distraction: he’ll corner Draco Malfoy at work, where Malfoy will suck his cock until Harry screams his name. Despite this arrangement he has with Draco, conducted entirely in the privacy of a dusty stationery cabinet, Harry is definitely not gay. But to appease his friends, he agrees to go on one (1) date with a man. Just to be sure.

📻 Waking Up Slow [E, 21,886, Digital Art]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'The Christmas Song' by 'The Raveonettes' 🎵 Summary: 'Twas the night before Christmas, although it’s July, Draco’s a shopkeeper, no-one knows why, There’s hiking and witch caves, freak snowfalls and more, Bad Christmas jumpers, nosy neighbours galore, Narcissa’s here too, but… something’s amiss, And what’s in those chocolates that’s making them kiss?

📻 Sun Thief [E, 28,228]

🎵 Song Prompt: ‘Anti-Hero’ by ‘Taylor Swift’ 🎵 Summary: “You’re stunning,” Harry blurts out, because Draco is pink-cheeked and his mouth is bitten and plump. Gasping beneath Harry, working his cock in his fist. “Say my name when you come?” It’s 2005, and Draco Malfoy says, “Fuck the Ministry,” Harry works as a handyman in muggle London, and Draco should really stop pissing off the Squib gangs. Or: Harry beats up a pimp and isn’t sorry about it, Draco deals black market potions, and they’re shagging. Again.

📻 The Waiting  [E, 43,494, Digital Art]  

🎵 Song Prompt: 'this tornado loves you' by 'neko case' 🎵 Summary: 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.

🎶 H/D Wireless Fic 🎶

📻 Everybody Hates a Tourist [E, 51,500]

🎵 Song Prompt: Common People by Pulp 🎵 Summary 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?

📻 Take You Home [E, 26,333]

🎵 Song Prompt: Fuck the Pain Away by Peaches and Take You Home by Dido 🎵 Summary Everybody’s a little fucked up after the war, Draco especially. What starts as hate sex after a night out, eventually turns into something else, something more like comfort. And even though his friends all tell Harry he’s just being used, all Harry’s doing is making sure Draco gets home in one piece. He’s not falling helplessly in love.

📻 love is just a shout in the void [M, 4,489]

🎵 Song Prompt: i'm in love with u, sorry by j'san 🎵 Summary Draco accidentally texts Potter his biggest secret and he’s pretty sure the Chosen Prat isn’t ready to hear anything close to it. So he pretends he didn’t mean to. But the problem is: Potter is still as infuriating as ever, if not more than he was before.

📻 The Two Of Us In Sympathy [M, 5,782]

🎵 Song Prompt: Rent by Pet Shop Boys. 🎵 Summary Draco Malfoy is a sex worker. Harry Potter is the client who falls in love with him.

📻 Vipera Berus [M, 20,614]

🎵 Song Prompt: Just Pretend by Bad Omens 🎵 Summary Everything was fine. Draco resided at the Manor, made a decent living selling potions and most of his customers actually kept coming back despite his last name. Hence, Draco was fine. He really was. And so what, if he was still waiting.

📻 Don’t hate him when he gets up to leave [M, 2,226]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'Two-Headed Boy' by 'Neutral Milk Hotel' 🎵 Summary The linens are white and empty, sunlight slanting through the window illuminating a bed that has been deserted. Draco knew Potter would leave; he’s always gone by morning. Draco doesn’t even remember what he looks like in daylight.

📻 (you) find me when the lights go down [T, 1,839]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'save me from the monster in my head' by 'Welshly Arms' 🎵 Summary Harry can hear footsteps on the stairs behind him but doesn't bother turning to look. There's only one person likely to follow him out here at this time of night. "Potter," comes the crisp voice, easily recognisable as Draco. "You do know that most sane people, especially those who spend every waking moment complaining of being cold, would cast a warming charm. Or at the very least grab a sweater. Not spend every night attempting to turn into an icicle." - What makes someone a ghost? Because if it's dying, Harry's got that covered.

📻 If You Took the Time to Try [T, 18,169]

🎵 Song Prompt: "Go Like" by Fox Stevenson 🎵 Summary Last summer, Draco's impulsive decision to sleep with Harry Potter resulted in a bruised ego and a broken heart. Now he's looking for a fresh start- something that was absolutely not just an excuse for him to run away from his problems. Only it totally was, and while leaving London might have been easy, leaving Potter in the past was not.

📻 Title & Possession [E, 49,063]

🎵 Song Prompt: Misery Loves Company - Asking Alexandria 🎵 Summary Harry Potter’s life is going well in the aftermath of the war. Sure, his house is dark and run-down and might hate him (while his house elf definitely hates him). But other than that, things are good. Except, yeah, okay, Hermione and Ron are no longer on speaking terms. Worse, they keep trying to get Harry to pick sides. But otherwise, Harry couldn’t be happier. Well. Except for the fact that Ginny is being super weird about their relationship and never wants to have sex or talk about the future. But other than that, Harry is perfectly fine, thankyouverymuch. At least, he is until Draco Malfoy threatens to sue him for ownership of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, and winds up moving in until the issue is settled. Then Harry really isn’t fine at all.

📻 Shut Up, This Is Love [M, 33,230]

🎵 Song Prompt: The Chain by Fleetwood Mac 🎵 Summary: A soulmark is never wrong, Draco tells him — as if Harry cares what this damn chain on his arm says. But Harry is nothing if not stubborn, and he’d rather die than let a stupid mark determine whom he can and cannot have.

📻 About This Place [E, 10,317]

🎵 Song Prompt: You and I by Lady Gaga 🎵 Summary: Harry left everything, including Draco. Harry’s returned to everything, including Draco. Things are never quite so simple, though perhaps they could be.

📻 Mirrors inside me [E, 6,423]

🎵 Song Prompt: "Love Language" by SZA 🎵 Summary: Draco’s been in love with Potter forever. And just because they work together, and they fuck, and they text and break up and get back together regularly doesn’t mean Potter needs to know. In fact, it’s a pretty good reason why he shouldn’t.

📻 A Little Bit of You [E, 2,781]

🎵 Song Prompt: Mambo No 5 by Lou Bega 🎵 Summary: When Harry's constant flirting lands him frequent front page slots in the Daily Prophet, Draco resigns himself to never being loved like that by the man he is head over heels with. Turns out, he was right. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

📻 All the Colors in the World [M, 11,143]

🎵 Song Prompt: Cinnamon Girl by Lana Del Rey 🎵 Summary: Five years into their relationship, Draco is beginning to wonder if his motivations and methods to save Harry are as pure as he’d thought. Everything seems to be going well for them on the surface, with the mostly Muggle life they’ve built together, but beneath roils a sea of half-formed dreams and secrets that threaten to engulf them both. Until, one day in summertime, Harry surprises him.

📻  if i could never give you peace [E, 17,496]

🎵 Song Prompt: peace by Taylor Swift 🎵 Summary: Eleven years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Aurors Harry and Draco are forcibly brought together by a new case that's bound to reopen old wounds. Enter a Firewhisky problem, prejudices that never really go away, and an obsession as old as time.

📻 Burst of Love [E, 3,805]

🎵 Song Prompt: Jealous by Nick Jonas 🎵 Summary: The year after the War is both the worst and best one in Harry and Draco's lives. Draco somehow becomes one of the most requested influencer on Instagram, Harry is finally free and discovers he has quite...a passion inside himself. We all know how this is going to end.

📻 Rich Friend [E,  1,130]

🎵 Song Prompt: Rich Friends by Portugal. The Man 🎵 Summary: As far as Harry can tell, Draco Malfoy is still rich as hell. He’s just not a wizard anymore. Featuring: Draco Malfoy trying to make it as a Muggle pop star, Harry Potter as our confused and horny hero, bad driving, good music, and the mysterious magic of falling for someone.

📻 Seven Days, Seven Memories [E, 25,668]

🎵 Song Prompt: Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths 🎵 Summary: In a universe somewhere, deep down in the Department of Mysteries, behind Door 13, Unspeakable Draco Malfoy, can be usually found. Except Malfoy is nowhere to be found when Harry goes looking for him. What he finds instead is a Pensieve and a box full of memories

📻 so scarlet it was [E, 19,932]

🎵  Song Prompt: Maroon - Taylor Swift   🎵 Summary: Draco’s back for his Eighth Year as part of his parole. He’s doing his best not to annoy any war heroes and avoid Harry Potter as if his life depends on it. Too bad Harry has other ideas.

📻 A Pureblood's Guide to Driving and Apostasy [E, 9,218]

🎵 Song Prompt: I'm On Fire by Bruce Springsteen 🎵 Summary: Draco Malfoy should be happy - he's engaged to a suitable young lady, chosen by his father, and on the way to restoring the family name. Except he isn't happy at all. That is, until Pansy (or is it fate?) brings him to a magical garage where his whole worldview is set on fire.

📻 Snitches & Sitches [T, 4,565]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'Once Upon a December' by 'Liz Callaway' 🎵 Summary: After a Quidditch accident, Harry's life turns upside down when he suffers a case of retrograde amnesia. Surrounded by people and places he should remember, Harry must cope with his slow recovery, all the while feeling like there's something very familiar about the blond with gray eyes who keeps wistfully staring at him.

📻 Can't Get You Out of My Head [E, 26,343]

🎵 Song Prompt: Can't Get You Out of My Head by Kylie Minogue 🎵 Summary: Draco was quite fine with his own company, thank you very much. So, when a potions’ accident left him unable to rid his head of Harry Potter’s infernal internal monologue, Draco was less than thrilled. He was, however, an internationally educated Potioneer; he could find an antidote without having to admit to Potter the access he’d had to his thoughts…actions…personal life…personal time…right?

📻 Sod Off Potter [T, 1,787]

🎵 Song Prompt: Sod Off Potter by Rattlebones 🎵 Summary: So sod off Potter Will you say what you want? Sod off Potter Will you say what you want is me? Potter please ↳ Sod Off Potter - Rattlebones Draco regretted the decision to return to Hogwarts after the war. Why couldn't bloody Potter just leave him alone? It wouldn't be so bad if Draco hadn't been harboring a secret crush on Harry for years.

📻 Weapons of Massive Consumption [E, 38,634]

🎵 Song Prompt: The Fear by Lily Allen 🎵 Summary: Eight years after the war, Harry Potter lives a life of hedonism: raging parties, huge impulse purchases, and seemingly no worries. But it's Draco Malfoy—former Death Eater, lover of blueberry muffins, and bane of coffee shop workers—who starts to wonder if it's all a front, if something's actually terribly wrong with him. Why else would Potter ask Draco, of all fucking people, to write his biography?

📻 Bonne Foi, Draco Malfoy [E, 19,390]

🎵 Song Prompt: So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings by Squirrel Flower 🎵 Summary: Sanctimonia Vincet Semper: The Malfoy Legacy Inheritance Ritual must be undertaken by an heir pure of blood and strong of will. He will lend his body, his magic, and his mind to the Estate, and thus control the direction of the next generation of powerful Malfoy magicks. He and the Estate will both be made stronger by the ritual. -from the journals of Septimus Malfoy, 1820 At twenty-five, Draco Malfoy has to return to England to do something about the Manor, and Harry Potter won’t leave him alone. His years-old crush on Potter is reignited over repairs, mermaid lemonades, and pocket owl messages.

📻 The Wedding Shed [E, 2,057]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'I Write Sins Not Tragedies' by Panic! at the Disco 🎵 Summary: One would consider the day his best friend got married to be an occasion where he did not have to show any sort of poise. But apparently, Ronald Weasley thoroughly misjudged the entire situation.

📻 LA, Who Am I To Love You? [E, 42,525]

🎵 Song Prompt: Venice Bitch by Lana del Rey 🎵 Summary: 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.

📻 All I Think About [T, 4,429]

🎵 Song Prompt: Heat Waves by Glass Animals 🎵 Summary: Sometimes all it takes is one perfect late summer night in June.

📻 Put It On Your Face Boy [E, 3,380]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'Daddy AF' by 'Slayyyter' 🎵 Summary: Harry watches as Draco's hips sway to the beat. He sips his muggle bourbon and imagines the noises they would make if Harry had Draco's legs draped over his shoulders. With liquid courage flowing through his veins, Harry slammed the drink down on the bar and wove his way through the crowd towards the northern star that had been calling his name for years.

📻 What We Left Behind [E, 32,815]

🎵 Song Prompt: The Day We Caught The Train by Ocean Colour Scene 🎵 Summary: Harry's recovering from an injury. Malfoy's recovering from heartbreak. Beaten down and bruised, Harry takes up Malfoy's offer to stay at his secluded seaside cottage in Dorset. It'll be good to get away from it all. It's only for a few days, and it's only so he can heal. Nothing else. Digging up past feelings will only make matters worse, and besides, Malfoy doesn't feel the same way. Does he?

📻 Nothing But You On My Mind [M, 29,404]

🎵 Song Prompt: Crazy English Summer by Faithless 🎵 Summary: 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.

📻 Better not Touch (Don't Touch) [E, 8,945]

🎵 Song Prompt: Poison by Alice Cooper 🎵 Summary: Harry is happy with his life, running a shop in Diagon Alley and spending plenty of time with his husband. When he is cursed, his and Draco’s relationship is put to the test. Can they move forwards together even if they have to put distance between them?

📻 Stars By the Pocketful [T, 2,151]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'Snow On the Beach' by Taylor Swift (feat. Lana Del Rey) 🎵 Summary: Draco arrives first, to scope out the place and pick the best bed before Potter can beat him to it.

📻 Lover, Where Do You Live? [E, 38,079]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'Lover, Where Do You Live?' by 'Highasakite' 🎵 Summary: Harry Potter has been running away since the War, disappearing into his job as a freelance curse-breaker. Work is his life. Home doesn't exist. He's about to disappear again when he runs into Death Eater-turned-Healer Draco Malfoy. It's supposed to be a one-night-stand. They're not supposed to pine for each other. Harry's not supposed to sleep with Draco a second time. Or a third. Or a fourth. But when a nasty curse sends Harry back into Draco's arms, he might be forced to admit that home's been waiting for him all along…

📻 as it was [M, 6,476]

🎵 Song Prompt: As It Was by Harry Styles 🎵 Summary: 'in this world, it's just us. you know it's not the same as it was.'

📻 What is this feeling? [E, 4,734]

🎵 Song Prompt: What is this feeling? By Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth 🎵 Summary: New auror candidates are required to spend their first six months of training living in ministry dorms. While Draco requested a single dorm he finds himself sharing a room with the savior of the wizarding world. It’s loathing at first sight, or is it?

📻 the eighth sin [E, 16,834]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'Seven Devils' by 'Florence and the Machine' 🎵 Summary: 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.

📻 Wrong in all the Right Ways [E, 3,951]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'Raise Your Glass' by 'P!nk' 🎵 Summary: Draco is pretty sure that Potter is trying to kill him. Not in, like a murdery sort of way. There’s been too much atonement and forgiveness and redemption for that. Too many difficult conversations that ended, more than once, with awkward hugs. Maybe even some tears. They’re not friends obviously, but at the very least, they’ve moved past the past. (Mostly.) So no, Potter’s definitely not trying to kill him in a permanent death sort of way, but more like… In a horny sort of way.

📻 Hooked [E, 50,000]

🎵 Song Prompt: Hooked by Why Don’t We 🎵 Summary: It  took him one night, one try, to be hooked to his enemy. Every single  place, every single fight, drove him mad with temptation. Malfoy’s got a  bad reputation but he can’t bring himself to walk away. He knows he  shouldn’t touch but he can’t get enough of him.

📻 Designate / your love as fate [E, 16,609]  

🎵 Song Prompt: 'Need You Tonight' by 'INXS' 🎵 Summary: Malfoy  literally snaps his fingers toward Harry’s face. “Potter. Pay  attention. Gay marriage is now legal in England and Wales, as of last  night, first ceremonies to take place in the New Year. I’m gay, you’re  gay—” “—Bi, actually, thanks,” Harry puts in. “Well, I mean, so  am I, technically, but—” (Harry can’t lie, it’s rather fun to watch  Malfoy lose his cool, put his cool back on, lose it again) “—Funny  enough, bisexual marriage is also now legal in England and Wales. Let’s  get bisexual married, hm?”

📻 All These Little Things [M, 1,795]  

🎵 Song Prompt: Little Things by One Direction 🎵 Summary: Harry loves Draco, and all his little things as well.

📻 If You Were Gay [Gen, 9,645]

🎵 Song Prompt: If You Were Gay - Avenue Q soundtrack 🎵 Summary: Draco was sure he wasn't gay. His friends disagreed. As  if Draco would let the nonsense his friends kept saying move him. Or  the fact that Harry Potter was gay and apparently wanted to ask Draco  out.

📻 The Boys of Summer [E, 19,518]

🎵 Song Prompt: 'The Boys of Summer' by Don Henley 🎵 Summary: 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 of The Grateful Dead and Fleetwood Mac. Draco Malfoy is doomed, but what else is new?

🎶 H/D Wireless Podfic 🎶

📻 Inside These Walls [podfic] [M, 33 minutes]

🖋️ Original author: Jackvbriefs 🎵 Song Prompt: Black Sheep by Metric 🎵 Summary The year before Draco moves to Los Angeles, Harry Potter disappears. Draco doesn't mean to find him. He's just doing his job.

📻 Moldova's Magical Tea by aibidil - a Podfic [E, 2:46:12]

🖋️ Original author: aibidil   🎵 Song Prompt:   Clint Eastwood by Gorrillaz 🎵 Summary Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and—to everyone’s surprise—Draco Malfoy are opening a magical tea shop to revive wizarding tea culture and, hopefully, to bring the community together after the war. Harry, who is unemployed and trying to find his way in post-war society, wants to help his friends with their new business—but that means spending a lot of time around Malfoy. Featuring Muggle music from summer 2001, trips to the Muggle cinema, herbology and magical herbal infusions, and Draco trying to convince Harry that, while he’s still a snarky git, he’s no longer a bigot.

📻 [Podfic] I dream of you, to wake by harryromper [T, 01:26:02]

🖋️ Original author: harryromper 🎵 Song Prompt: 'Once Upon A Dream - Maleficent' by Lana Del Rey 🎵 Summary: “Typically coma patients are made comfortable and left to regain consciousness in their own time," Draco points out carefully. “Typically, yes. But when has anything about Harry been typical.” Hermione sighs, rubbing at her eye with the heel of her hand. “The Healer-in-Charge has consulted with experts at all the major wizarding hospitals. They all agree. Whatever’s happening inside of Harry’s head right now is killing him.” Draco Malfoy is a world-renowned dream-walker, and he may be Harry Potter’s only hope.

📻 [Podfic] You Are Not Alone [T, 1:49:56]

🖋️ Original author: Juh_Nunes   🎵 Song Prompt: Sorry - Halsey 🎵 Summary: Orginal Summary: Draco dreaded going back to Hogwarts after the war. He was sure this would be his worst year yet: the school hated him, the Slytherins have abandoned him, and his dorm was overrun with Gyffindors. There was no way anything good could come out of this mess, right?

📻 [Podfic] remember me [T, 2:50:44]

🖋️ Original author: hupsoonheng 🎵 Song Prompt: Remember Me from Coco 🎵 Summary: On a chilly day in October, Draco kisses Harry goodbye before he goes on yet another dangerous, undercover mission with the Aurors. And then Harry doesn't come back. Only Draco believes that Harry isn't dead, and pours himself into finding his husband despite his friends' pleas to move on and grieve properly. What he finds at the end of that work, though, is not at all what he wanted.

[writsgrimmyblog]

Writcraft’s 2018 Fic List

Now that Erised reveals are up, I can finally post my fic list of 2018 and do one of those summary memes I’ve been dying to post. Better late than never! 

2018 was a year of faltering muses then writing in quick, intense bursts of inspiration. When I look back on 2018, although there are one or two works I’m not overly satisfied with, some of the things I’ve written are personal favourites when I reflect on the fanfic I’ve produced over the years. I’m going to answer some yearly evaluation questions, but here’s my list of 2018 fics and as a self-contained post. This list doesn’t include ficlets posted on Tumblr only.

Number of Fics Written in 2018: 36 if you count the 10 chapters of my Festive 500s that published in 2018. The final 10 of those are going up in the next few days too, I promise. 

Total 2018 Published Word Count: 341,000. Although 31,000 of that total includes a co-write, we edited each others words too and worked on the fic as a whole together. I have also underestimated how much I wrote on LLM this year and not counted some drabbles and tumblr ficlets, so I think this total is about right.

Most Written Pairing: 

Harry Potter Fandom: Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy 

R1 RPF / 1D: Nick Grimshaw/Louis Tomlinson

Fests (Moderator): Harry Potter Kinkfest, Harry Potter Horror Fest, Harry/Draco Big Bang, Grimmy Appreciation Fest

Fests (Participant): Secret Snarry Swap, HD Erised, HD Fan Fair, Sirius Black Fest, Harry/Draco Big Bang, HP Femslash Minis (November Challenge), Harry’s Birthday Mini Fest, Drarry Discord Rare Pair Challenge, Snarry-A-Thon, HP Goldenage, HP Horror Fest, HP Kinkfest, Tomlinshaw Exchange, Grimmy Appreciation Fest

The full list of the fics I published on AO3 are below the cut.

HARRY POTTER FANDOM

Harry Potter and The Bisexual Awakening written for @hd-erised

Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy | 23,186

Harry is perfectly content being single, heterosexual and living in Godric's Hollow with his very clingy rescue dog, Snitch. When Draco Malfoy turns up on Harry's doorstep demanding that Harry teach him how to drive, things quickly become a lot more complicated.

In The Palm of His Hand written for Secret Snarry Swap

Harry Potter/Severus Snape | 6,969

Harry has a thing for Snape’s hands. Snape indulges him.

Slice of Life written for @hd-fan-fair with art by @phoenixacid

Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy | 16,300

Luna and Ginny are worried about Harry, Greg is a very a fine baker, Snape’s portrait has a lot of opinions and Draco Malfoy is (probably) up to something. 

In which one man’s love for jam tarts blossoms into a different kind of love entirely.

Winter of ’79 written for @siriusblackfest | Little Compton Street Series

Sirius Black/James Potter | 17,000

Post-punk Britain is in the grip of another brutal winter, Thatcher is in power and Muggle gay bars keep getting raided for no reason at all. Sirius just wants to find somewhere to go drinking with the best mate he definitely doesn’t fancy. When they’re directed towards a tatty Soho sex shop during a night out, neither James or Sirius expect to find a magical street that will change their lives forever.

Little Compton Street (One Rainy Night in Soho) written for @harrydracobang with art by @llap115-reblogs | Little Compton Street Series

Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy | 65,500

Draco is lonely, Harry hates the press and it won’t stop raining in London. Harry discovers a magical street that’s close to disappearing forever and Draco realises he’s one rainy night in Soho away from finding everything he’s been searching for.

Independent Love Song written for @hpfemslash-minifest

Millicent Bulstrode/Ginny Weasley | 6,300

Millicent Bulstrode is a tailor and Ginny is losing her mind over a woman in a tweed blazer and burgundy brogues.

Dirty Talk

Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy | 3,000

Harry is rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco's mouth.

Sky Full of Song written for @harrybirthdayblog 

Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy | 2,000 (podfic by semperfiona here)

Draco turns up at Harry's birthday party unexpectedly and Harry takes a leap of faith.

Treading Water written for the Drarry Discord Rare Pair Challenge

James Potter/Sirius Black | 2,000

I’m sorry, Sirius wants to say. I’m sorry people in this stupid world made you think loving me could only ever be a joke.

Ten Points to Gryffindor written for the Drarry Discord Rare Pair Challenge

Harry Potter/Severus Snape | 2,000

Harry is of the opinion that using a desk solely to mark papers is a wasted opportunity. He decides to take up the matter with Severus.

Stone Butch Blues written for the Drarry Discord Rare Pair Challenge

Minerva McGonagall/Wilhelmina (Wil) Grubbly-Plank | 2,000

Wil and Min reminisce.

Potterzine written for Snarry-a-Thon

Harry Potter/Severus Snape | 11,000

When Severus Snape finds a fanzine with a picture of Professor Potter in a compromising position with Draco Malfoy on the cover, he confronts Potter about the offending literature. Severus probably should have looked inside, because it turns out some of Potterzine’s writers have a different suitor in mind.

Not Even A Little Bit

Harry Potter/Severus Snape | 2,000

Harry is asked to investigate Severus Snape. This isn't going to go badly at all.

Maybe Just A Midnight Rendezvous

Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy | 3,900

Harry's back in London and he's determined to show Draco how things have changed.

Life Has Just Begun written for HP Goldenage

Harry Potter/Severus Snape | 6,200

Harry has been carrying the weight of his secret desires for a long time. Severus is there when he’s finally ready to talk.

Dysphoria (poetry and art) written and drawn for Harry Potter Horror Fest

Teddy Lupin | 250 (please heed content tags)

Who is it here who can tell me who I am?

Take Him to the Stars (Cut to the Feeling) written for @hpkinkfest

Harry Potter/Scorpius Malfoy | 9,800

Scorpius has a thing for older men. For one older man in particular.

Bedroom Hymns

Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy | 11,200

Harry asks Draco for dinner out of the blue. Draco’s about to find out that dinner isn’t the only thing on Harry’s mind.

Lonely Without Him (Everything Changes But You)

Harry Potter/Severus Snape | 3,500

Severus hasn't celebrated his birthday for years. Harry decides it's time for that to change.

Don’t Stop Believing

Remus Lupin/Sirius Black, Implied Sirius/James Potter and Sirius/Remus/James | 1,800

Sirius looks up at Remus and he’s close enough that Remus could count every one of his eyelashes, if he wanted. He drinks in the glint in Sirius’s eyes, the lazy curve of his smile and the light shadows under his eyes.

RADIO ONE RPF / ONE DIRECTION FANDOM

Stuck In The Middle (Of Nowhere) With You written for @tomlinshawexchange

Nick Grimshaw/Louis Tomlinson | 10,500

Nick throws a party at Soho Farmhouse's new Yorkshire retreat, to celebrate his X-Factor victory.

He didn't anticipate getting trapped in the middle of nowhere with rival judge Louis Tomlinson, who's a terrible duvet thief and a surprisingly good kisser. Not that Nick's been thinking about that last part for the past three weeks. Much.

Nick and Harry’s Infinite Playlist written for @grimmyappreciation

Nick Grimshaw/Harry Styles | 13,400

At an indeterminate point in the future it happens, just when Nick least expects it.

Lost and Found co-authored with @shiftylinguini for @grimmyappreciation

Nick Grimshaw/Louis Tomlinson | 31,400

In a year when things are coming to an end for Nick, an unexpected chapter begins at the start of a long, hot summer. An accidental romance in Malta. Featuring Annie on the decks, Nick and Louis below deck, a handful of bad nautical puns and weather that's far too hot for trackies.

Knead You Now written for @silveredsound

Nick Grimshaw/Louis Tomlinson | 11,400

Harry used to be a baker, Louis definitely didn't and Nick just wants to know how the fuck they got into his kitchen.

Little Lion Man

Nick Grimshaw/Louis Tomlinson | 123,600

It’s his final year at Hogwarts, and Louis can’t wait to leave for good. He hates being in Gryffindor and he can’t even enjoy a smoke with the Slytherins now his best mate Zayn’s fucked off to Durmstrang. Louis would be completely miserable if not for WWN and Nick Grimshaw. As Louis tries to negotiate coming of age, homophobia in the wizarding world and his growing feelings for Nick, a new evil emerges which puts Louis and Nick in serious danger. Louis is about to learn exactly how brave he can be as he finds himself fighting for his life, his friends and everything he’s ever loved.

SUPERNATURAL FANDOM

Baby Love

Dean Winchester/Castiel | 3,000

Dean and Castiel share a moment in the Impala.

MULTI-FANDOM

Festive 500s (chapters published in 2018 only)

Chapter One: Introduction  Chapter Two:  His Wasted Heart (Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald) Chapter Three: Vanilla (Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy) Chapter Four: Just Like A Movie (Nick Grimshaw/Harry Styles) Chapter Five: Festive Friendship (Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall) Chapter Six: Beware of Gryffindors Bearing Gifts (Severus Snape/Harry Potter) Chapter Seven: Ways To Say ‘I Love You’ (Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter) Chapter Eight: Darling So It Goes (Minerva McGonagall/Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank) Chapter Nine: Desperate (Harry Potter/Scorpius Malfoy) Chapter Ten: Phoenix (Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy)

[writcraft]

I feel like I'm always flailing when you do prompts like someone trying to run to the front of a line because they're so excited. HAHA Could we maybe have Drarry or Jeddy and some dirty talk (bonus points for some sort of "first time")?

Hiiiii! Aww, this is so nice, thank you so much for leaving such wonderful prompts and for this rainy day ficlet prompt! I might have gone a little longer than I meant to with this one, but I feel like I owe you a couple from previous fills I haven’t been able to complete for various reasons. I hope you like it!

Dirty Talk (Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy)

Harry is rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco’s mouth

It comes to Harry’s attention on a rainy Wednesday afternoon that Draco Malfoy has an exquisitely filthy mouth. If you asked Harry about his type a few months ago, posh, annoying twat would have been at the bottom of the list. He’s not sure if it’s the rain making him stir crazy or the fact he’s been holed up in a tiny office with Malfoy for the past forty-eight hours, but his proximity to someone who takes great pleasure in describing himself as Potter’s arch nemesis has somehow resulted in a feverish bout of horniness and a growing obsession with Malfoy’s lips.

Malfoy draws out the word fuck with such lofty, arrogant elegance that every insolent curl of his lips is enough to make Harry break out in a sweat. It’s the combination of Malfoy’s expensive drawl and crisp enunciation, the knowing slant of his smirk and the way his eyes graze over every inch of Harry’s body that does it. Harry has lost a good half an hour and a perfectly decent piece of parchment to some aggressive doodling inspired by a stoic refusal to contemplate other things Malfoy’s obnoxious mouth might be good at doing. Even Malfoy’s insults are starting to sound like porn. Malfoy’s elongated vowels and the snap of his consonants have highlighted a fetish for a public school boy accent that Harry didn’t even realise he possessed.

“I’m so fucking bored,” Malfoy says. He slides his wand between long, distracting fingers as he speaks. The movement does nothing to temper Harry’s growing arousal. “Dawlish is a prick.”

Harry swallows back a prim condemnation of Malfoy’s excessive use of expletives, largely because he doesn’t want Malfoy to pick up on why Harry is suddenly so confronted by curses of the non-magical variety.

“Like him or not, he’s in charge. Stop being an arse.” Harry’s tone is brusquer than he intended, the gruffness in part the result of trying to shove Malfoy back where he belongs, in the people I have no business shagging box.

…continue reading ‘Dirty Talk’ on AO3

[preserving-ferretbrain]

The Death of the Reader

by Wardog

Tuesday, 14 August 2007

Wardog joins the Harry Potter free-for-all~

I shall begin, like every other Harry Potter article on Ferretbrain, by saying that Harry Potter 1-3 are above average children's books. They're well edited, tightly plotted, action-packed children's books with just enough depth and darkness to appeal to adults as well but their primary audience is definitely children. The world presented is a child's world in which school is the most important place in the universe and the Headmaster of a school is unquestioned in his role as one of its most politically powerful figures. Defeating evil is, essentially, equivalent or, in fact slightly less important, than winning the house cup. For the first three books, Draco Malfoy - socially powerful bully that he is - has a far greater impact on Harry's world than Voldemort.

From an adult's perspective, of course, this is all complete madness. Why does Voldemort, Dark Lord of the Sith...err..., why does he never go to war during the school holidays? And why does his plan for taking over the galaxy involve becoming Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Yes yes, I know, so he can recruit a juvenile army of dark wizards but seriously, aren't there grown up people he'd be better off corrupting? And if somebody told you that your son's Head of English had decided not to be Prime Minister and instead came to work at Scumville Comp, you'd laugh in their face. But the point is, these are children's books and they were marketed as children's books. They're even delightfully short. Books 4 onwards, however, are a very matter indeed.

It can be argued that this has been the point all along and that the power of the later books derives from the brutal overturning of the all sources of adult authority Harry previously thought he could trust - in essence, that the process of growing up must mirror a parallel process that amounts to the loss of innocence. Thus all the people Harry idolised are revealed to be flawed (Sirius, Dumbledore, James, Remus), the people in power turn out to be corrupt (Fudge, Umbridge etc.), places of sanctuary rapidly become places of restriction (Hogwarts, in Book V) and so on. Intelligent readers (aka my friend David) have occasionally tried to argue me out of my frustrations with the later books by claiming that much of my resentment springs from their failure to deliver what I was looking for i.e. a jolly romp with comically named characters and cool magical items.

But, ultimately, attempts to argue for darkness, depth and disillusionment in the Harry Potter universe always ring hollow to me because they never quite fit within the established terms of the books. If a text suddenly demands that you start questioning the assumptions of the world and the characters in it, then the text has to be strong enough to withstand such questioning. As Dan is fond of pointing out, this is one the weaknesses of Season Six Buffy; the show seems to forget, suddenly, that Buffy is a metaphor for growing up and instead asks the viewer to treat her like she's a real person with real concerns such as how she's going to pay the rent on her house. This is not only much less interesting than watching her kick vampire ass it just draws attention to trivia you might otherwise not have questioned, for example if the Watcher's Council has a fund for over the hill watchers, why doesn't it also have a fund so that the Chosen One can get on with saving the world instead of having to get a job in fast food.

In Harry Potter, by asking its readership to start questioning the world established in the first three books, JK again only draws attention to how actually stupid it is when you stop and think about it for a moment. If we're expected to cringe and shudder at Umbridge's methods, are we also meant to question what the hell Dumbledore was doing employing a complete incompetent to teach Divination and didn't the Board of Governors have anything to say about it? I know she made one prophecy once but the fact of the matter is that I can't imagine any of the Hogwarts teachers getting onto a PGCE course without difficulty. And if, in fact, we are meant to view Dumbledore's repeated failures as a headmaster as foreshadowing the fact that he was once a little bit tempted by the pleasures of world domination then it is only fair that we also question why the hell he got the job and wasn't there somebody on the interview panel who thought being a powerful wizard and being a decent headmaster were perhaps not similar skills. Again, Umbridge's "I will not tell lies detention" is genuinely terrifying but the fact she can get away with it leads one to wonder why previous detentions involved jolly romps in the hilarious named forbidden forest full of monsters with an irresponsible half-giant and was that, in fact, any more appropriate.

Perhaps it has as much to with the changing nature of the media, increasing communication between authors and fans, the immense power of the internet to foster fandoms and bring obsessive compulsives together, and Jk's forthcoming, teasing style of interacting with her (vast) public but I think she must be of the most talked to and talked about authors I have ever encountered. And, by encountered you understand, I mean read about on the internet. But it's not like people were chasing James Joyce down the street asking to know about the lanky galoot in the brown mackintosh at Paddy Dingam's funeral and was he, perhaps, Ron from the future. The endless alternate worlds of fandom aside, JK's communicativeness and her public's willingness to listen to her and ask her for her arbitration on matters of no consequence seems to have granted her an unheard of amount of authority in her position, not so much as author, but as creator and even as God.

JK has always encouraged fan speculation but speculation and interpretation are very different indeed. Speculation, like guessing the murderer in an Agatha Christi novel, is an intellectual exercise with a "right" and unquestionable answer. You can't turn round and say "no, Poiret got that wrong, it was actually this guy who did it." Similarly, you can't turn round and say RAB is Rupert Addlepate Bungstock, once the text has established RAB is Regalus A-whatever Black. Speculation can always be controlled and, like a particularly inflexible GM, JK has always carefully directed her audience towards the questions they should be asking of the text. Who is RAB? Why does Petunia flush? What's the deal with the Half-Blood Prince (and was a disappointing deal that was). But, ultimately, the succession of tantalising small mysteries are there to distract the reader's attention from other things they might be thinking about, specifically their own interpretations of the text.

To take an example at random, some time last August, JK and some other less rich, less famous people attended a charity event at Radio City Music Hall in New York. During the course of the evening, an audience member brought up a matter of trivial detail ("Aunt Petunia is said to be oddly flushed when Dumbledore announces that Harry will be returning only once more to Privet Drive") which JK praised as an excellent question. Later Salman Rushdie introduced himself and his family, explaining on behalf on his young son that they did not believe Dumbledore was truly dead, citing quite specific textual "evidence" from the 6th book: "Our theory is that Snape is in fact still a good guy from which it follows that Dumbledore can't really be dead, and that the death is a ruse..." Now, looking specifically at the events of the 6th book this seems at least plausible to me, especially if you decide that Snape's moral hokey-cokey will ultimately put him on the side of the good guys and we know, from book 4, that killing curses require a certain amount of conviction.

I don't actually subscribe to the theory but then I'm not a young child and I don't care if the irritating, sherbet-lemon sucking coot is dead. However, most of the "evidence" that Dumbledore is probably very definitely dead comes from knowledge and assumptions drawn from outside the text. I know, for example, that JK likes to think she's dark and, therefore, she's likely to make a point of death being final. I also know that, even though in these sorts of genres death isn't quite the handicap it used to be in the olden days, having an actual corpse is generally considered proof of lasting deaditude. And, finally, I know that JK is all about her seven book arc and that it is an important part of the hero's journey to lose the mentor figure. It's, like, the rules.

But, as it turns out, the clash of titans represented by Kyra Versus Random Kid, was irrelevant because JK's response was this: "But I see that I need to be a little more explicit... and say that Dumbledore is definitely dead." It's a slightly awkward example because whether Dumbledore is dead or not is very much something that can be true or false within JK's imagined world (it is, essentially, a fact) but until the its veracity has been thoroughly established by the text itself then it is certainly not JK's place to explain, justify and interpret her own books for her readership. I would even go so far as to say that, perhaps for a young child fond of Dumbledore, part of the experience of reading book seven is hoping for a miracle that will bring him back or hat his death was nothing but a clever ploy all along. That very personal experience of hope, resignation and, finally, a sense of loss akin to grief can teach someone far more about death than JK's constant over-written references to the cold, unfeeling stars looking down on the arbitrarily massacred secondary characters lying below them. In fact, one of my (many) frustrations with the final book is that being "definitely dead" didn't in any way prevent Dumbledore turning up an giving one of his interminable plot explanations. Talk about the worst of all possible worlds.

In the flurry of interviews (

this

is a good example) JK has given following the release of the seventh book she has repeatedly been called upon to explain, not only the events of the book but the actions of the characters within it. Does Neville end up with Luna, clamour the fans. Was Snape redeemed? No and yes, replies JK Rowling, saving everybody the trouble of actually having to think about it for a second. I'm not a rabid deconstructionist, I don't believe there is nothing outside the text but I certainly do believe that JK Rowling shouldn't be standing there on the text's doorstep, telling her readers precisely how to interpret and respond to it. In bald terms: it is the writer's job to write. It is the reader's task, and the reader's pleasure, to interpret what is written. If you can dig up enough textual evidence to support a Neville/Luna tendre then it has the potential to be there. Although why you'd want it to be eludes me.

Similarly, in the epilogue of the seventh book, Harry offers us Rowling's final evaluation of the characters of Snape and Dumbledore. Snape is the "bravest man" Harry ever knew and, despite having essentially raised him to be a sacrificial lamb, Dumbledore has been re-instated as a beloved mentor figure. This is not explicitly stated in the text but if Harry had really come to a mature understanding as Dumbledore as a flawed control freak capable of sending a seventeen year old boy to his death he wouldn't be naming his child after him. Readers usually think what protagonists think, it's the way it works, especially in books where there is relatively little deviation from the protagonist's point of view so Harry's attitude to both Snape and Dumbledore in the epilogue becomes a statement of authorial authority.

The rather-late-in-the-day revelation of Dumbledore's moral ambiguity is irritating in a book that should have been concentrating on the final climatic battle between good and evil and love and death. On the other hand if you take it to its logical conclusion, not, in fact, that Dumbledore raised a hero but that Dumbledore deliberately and callously created a martyr then it becomes rather interesting. Or it would be if the epilogue, and the book in general, allowed the reader any such space in which to manoeuvre. Dumbledore is not, actually, open to interpretation because Harry's love and admiration for him remain unchanged, as demonstrated by the fact he named his child Albus. And I don't think at that stage we're meant to be questioning Harry's psychological health.

Snape, also, suffers a fatal loss of complexity. Although the fact that Harry stiles him brave probably suggests he has not entirely forgotten how entirely horrid Snape was to him for seven books but, in JK's world view, being mean and petty and traitorous and selfish is less important than having been in love when you were sixteen. Changing sides because the bad guy suddenly threatens a girl you want to boink is significantly less morally sophisticated than changing sides because you suddenly realise you've joined the Nazis With Superpowers but, regardless, I could tolerate the Snape Loved Lily revelation because, as far as I was concerned, it didn't make Snape one jot more sympathetic. This isn't to say I don't like Snape (he and Gilderoy Lockhart are my two favourite characters) but I have always liked him because he is unattractive and unsympathetic and petty. The disaster at the end The Order of the Phoenix occurs not because Kreacher betrayed Sirius for treating him like shit but because Snape couldn't get over himself for five minutes to teach Harry occulemcy and because Snape always seemed so untrustworthy a spy that Harry dares not trust him to alert the Order when he blurts out his fears about Sirius. However, the idea that love can be selfish is not a possibility in JK Rowling's world and Snape's infatuation with Lily Potter redeems him so completely that even the boy he ruthlessly bullied for seven years is willing to immortalise him in the naming of his children.

JK herself admits that Snape is, basically, kind of horrible (not her words) but she insists that he is brave and, in her rather simplistic worldview, bravery - that irritating Gryffindor virtue - is an attribute so overwhelmingly laudable that it eclipses all others. It is depressing beyond belief that it essentially transforms Snape - the only remotely admirable Slytherin - into a Gryffindor-at-heart. Furthermore, although acting as a double agent for a half-mad, unpredictable mass murdering psychopath is quite brave, it strikes me as being rather less brave to do it because you've been manoeuvred into it for the price of saving someone you happen to fancy. On the other hand, acting as a double agent for a half-mad, unpredictable, mass murdering psychopath because you decide that your conscience can't countenance working for him any more is bloody brave. It's a very personal decision with only nebulous and general benefits, whereas doing it for an individualis directly related to your own desires.

The Harry Potter books are not written to be read in any sense that I would understand it. They're there to be passively received and carefully cross-checked against the author's (externally established) intent. It's like a hundred and fifty years of literary theory never happened. I'm unsurprised that JKR's next work is to be an encyclopaedia because it's obviously what she wanted to be writing all along. I'm not, by any means, saying she's deliberately being sinister and trying to oppress her readership but as the books have progressed there's been an increasing preoccupation in establishing a set of approved readings. An encyclopaedia, even of one relating to an imaginary world, is still a way of introducing sources of absolute truth into something that should be as fluid and incalculable as the differences between my imagination and yours. What astonishes and horrifies me is not that JK is trying to do it but that everyone keen for her to do so.

I think this is the major reason the epilogue of the seventh book offends me as much as it does. I mean, there are others, of course, most related to the fact it stinks. But by establishing her characters, precisely as she wants them, nineteen years on from the events of the book, JK pins them down in perpetuity. I would like to think that the characters went on to pursue lives not entirely and absolutely determined by what they did (and who they did) at school. Oh foolish me. Also it strikes me as particularly low thing to do for a writer who owes so much to her fandom. It's the equivalent of those girly posters on Sirius's wall (he was never even the slightest bit gay ever!); a rather petty attempt to establish enduring canon relationships exactly the way she wants them: Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione. And Scorpius and Albus-Severus. Obviously.Themes:

J.K. Rowling

,

Books

,

Young Adult / Children

~

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~Comments (

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Wendy B

at 22:02 on 2007-08-15Excellent points. Bravo.

In my opinion, Jo wasted a tremendous opportunity. She should have written the 7th tale from both Harry and Snape's perspective. After six years of a Harry-filtered world, it would have been so illuminating if she had allowed Snape a real voice so we could understand what drove him, besides the fact that his boss offed his fantasy girlfriend. I believe Jo dislikes the character of Snape as she certainly begrudges fandom's interest in him. Instead she gives us a confusing answer to the question of whether Snape was good or evil. Answer: he was good, evil, AND in it for himself. If she hopped off her precious Harry filter and just let go of the narrative misdirection writing techinque (which had limited value in the final book) it could of been a great tale. Instead...blech.

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Arthur B

at 22:23 on 2007-08-15Rowling is never going to give up narrative misdirection. It's her one and only trick, and ever since she was able to steamroller her editors into publishing whatever she writes she's even got sloppy at that. The next two books she's got planned after the Potter encyclopedia - the new children's book and her project for grown-ups - are going to be terrible.

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Wardog

at 10:32 on 2007-08-16Many thanks, Wendy - I think there's my original review knocking around in the archives somewhere, but Dan's is much better because I was still in a weird state of denial that the book was as bad as I suspected it was.

I didn't realise JKR begrudged fandom their interest in Snape; I thought she certainly hated the popularity of Lupin because books 5 onwards are basically a character-assassination piece on the poor guy, which is a shame because I always rather liked Lupin and I thought his flaws (his desperation to be liked, his inability to stand up to his more confident friends, his general sense of divided-identity) were rather cool. I sometimes wonder if interest perhaps peaked when it became impossible in everyone's minds for him to look like anybody other than Alan Rickman :)

But the books have *always* been about Harry so I suspect offering a new perspective and point of view in the final book would be massively jarring, not that I wouldn't have welcomed anything that stage! I think one of the reasons that Snape worked so well was because he was elusive and, therefore, seemed infinitely more complex than JKR actually thought he was. I quite liked the fact he was in love with Lily Potter but I wish he'd been allowed at least one other character trait.

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Wardog

at 10:34 on 2007-08-16Hmmm...Arthur...your reference to narrative misdirection now has me imagining some kind of bastard-monster consisting of bits of JK and bits of Joss Whedon. The pain!

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Arthur B

at 12:32 on 2007-08-16As far as Lupin goes, it's pretty clear to me that he was meant to show up in

Prisoner of Azkaban

, be a red herring ("It's always the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher!"), and go away again. Then the collective howling of fandom when he didn't have a bigger role in book 4 prompted Rowling to drag him out in book 5, only to commence running him down and emphasising his essential irrelevance.

It's strange how the Harry Potter books seem to have been shaped in some places by JK's response to her fans - even when she doesn't give the fans what they want, she ends up doing things precisely

because

it's not what the fans want (witness Sirius's girly posters). It'd be interesting to see how the series would have turned out if Rowling had been completely isolated from the fandom.

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Wardog

at 14:19 on 2007-08-16Dan pointed out a while back that since JKR wrote the prologue eighty years ago (or whatever) and Teddy Lupin is in it, Lupin's arc was probably always pretty much the same. Although I think in interviews she talks about how important it was to her to kill parents so ... who knows the hell is going on? Also, is it me, but do you think he dies at the battle of Hogwarts just so he can show up with the Suicide Club?

But then I suppose books have always been shaped to *some* extent by fans and fan demands - look at Sherlock Holmes.

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Arthur B

at 14:33 on 2007-08-16I'm not convinced that the epilogue we got is, in fact, the epilogue she wrote way back when and put in a safe in case she died before writing book 7 or something, simply because there's a nigh-total lack of exposition: I suspect she scrapped or heavily rewrote the old one since it was no longer necessary.

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lessofthat

at 01:14 on 2007-08-28"What astonishes and horrifies me is not that JK is trying to do it but that everyone keen for her to do so."

You're right to be horrified, but not to be astonished. Look at the screechy, barely sane arguments in the various fandoms about what is and is not canon. Or the existence of Star Trek and Star Wars technical manuals. Fans (I mean the word in the geeky, semi-stalkery sense, not the generic one) don't want literature, they want an alternative universe they can buy maps of.

"bravery[..]is an attribute so overwhelmingly laudable that it eclipses all others"

Susan Sontag said, correctly, that courage was a morally neutral virtue. She was talking about the 9/11 hijackers at the time.

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Wardog

at 15:03 on 2007-08-28I know I shouldn't be astonished but it's necessary for me not degenerating in a pile of embittered, contemptuous goo that I am.

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Whenmarshmallowssnap

at 20:47 on 2007-08-28I didn't appreciate all the 'fluff' Rowling put in that should have been good narrative. I thought most of the Dumbledore backplot was kind useless and didn't really add to the story. Also, it was so unlike for Team Potter (as Dan likes to call them) to sit in a tent twiddling their thumbs, that I wondered vaguely if JK Rowling didn't have anything remotely interesting to write and settled for the trio wasting their time pointlessly. Plus, I fell through so many plot holes, I broke both my ankles.

"...a rather petty attempt to establish enduring canon relationships exactly the way she wants them..." Thank you for that. I did not like the fact that she controlled every single aspect of the characters' lives so that nothing is left to the readers' imagination. I wish Harry ended up with Cho Chang, and became an ex-convict. It would have added spontaneity to an otherwise boring and disappointing finish of the epic (read:really long and ingratiating) Harry Potter series.

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Arthur B

at 14:29 on 2007-10-20Have you seen

this

? Not content to pull the rug out of the "Sirius is gay" crowd, Rowling has now declared that Dumbledore was gay all along, and was dating Grindlewald until that whole "Wizard-Hitler" thing caused them to split up.

Now, let's see what's objectionable about this...

- Author assigning attributes to a character which they never even hinted at during the actual books? Check.

- The one canonical gay relationship in the entire series being a terrible mistake on Dumbledore's part? Check.

- A homosexual, who was previously evil (or at best a collaborator) and in a relationship, is now unquestionably good and rigorously asexual. Implications that gays are better off living a celibate life? Check.

- Rowling jerking the fans around like puppets, and them applauding her for it anyhow like Winston Smith at the end of

1984

knuckling under and loving Big Brother like all the rest of the beaten-down herds?

Check.

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M Harris

at 06:09 on 2007-10-21Also this:

The Potter books in general are a prolonged argument for tolerance, a prolonged plea for an end to bigotry, and I think ti's one of the reasons that some people don't like the books, but I think that's it's a very healthy message to pass on to younger people that you should question authority and you should not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth.

[Loud applause.]

This entire interview is quite... freaky/weird.

The website it is on is this (I don't know how to make it into a link like Arthur B did):

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/10/20/j-k-rowling-at-carnegie-hall-reveals-dumbledore-is-gay-neville-marries-hannah-abbott-and-scores-more

[Linkified by webmaster]

You might want to read the answer to the question about Nazi parallels.

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M Harris

at 10:30 on 2007-10-21Oh no, I'm reading comments about this on Mugglenet and I want to kill people.

"anyway i think you choose to be gay or straight. i don't think ur born gay. and since ppl. are judged by their actions/choices, i don't think gay ppl. are all that great. don't jump on me now, just sayin wat i think."

"It has to be a joke. The Harry Potter fandom would have been much smaller otherwise. Personally, I would not have read and loved the series if one of the main characters had been gay. What kind of "children's book" would that be? That type of "lifestyle" may be acceptable in Britain, but its not viewed so favorably everywhere (like the entire Southern United States). While there are exceptions here, they are the extreme minority."

And then these idiots:

"JKR is genius! A gay Harry Potter character....wow. That takes true guts. This proves JKR is God. :D"

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Arthur B

at 13:35 on 2007-10-21So, Rowling says

...I think that's it's a very healthy message to pass on to younger people that you should question authority and you should not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth.

which I agree with, and I think it's a shame that that message doesn't actually come through in Harry Potter. The most frequently-appearing authority figure in the books is Dumbledore, who is basically 100% right all the time. True, he isn't actually massively important in the grand scheme of things, but he's the supreme authority in Harry's world, and it turns out that all of his plans are for the best even when they involve convincing Harry to go get himself killed. The bad guys in the establishment and the press, meanwhile, are always quite obviously bad guys, and Harry usually finds what they have to say objectionable from the get-go.

The lesson seems to be "Trust your instincts: if the person in authority seems nice and trustworthy and is saying things you want to hear, they're probably good. If they seem harsh and unfair and are saying things you don't want to hear, they're bad." That's not exactly a helpful anti-authoritarian message.

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Wardog

at 09:47 on 2007-10-22God, I genuinely tried to rise above this and not think about it. But, no, I'm pissed off. I'm fucking pissed off.

"If I'd known it would make you so happy, I would have announced it years ago!"

If it was in any way relevant or important you should have included in the goddamn books!

I was re-reading my Roland Barthes for school the other day and I found myself asking myself whether he was really still relevant or his conception of the Author-God actually exsisted - and JKR has proven the answer to both questions is a resounding yes. I genuinely can't quite believe this. It's not the way books work. It's not like Dickens turned up at his famous lecturers and started giving extra information about the life of Tiny Tim after the end of A Christmas Carol.

Also Dumbledore's sexuality is completely irrelevant, just like his brief flirtation with nazi-ism is completely irrelevant. He's presented as a 2D mentor figure and all the backplot in th world can't change that.

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Dan H

at 18:54 on 2007-10-23

"JKR is genius! A gay Harry Potter character....wow. That takes true guts. This proves JKR is God. :D"

If the internet hadn't destroyed my faith in humanity many years ago, I'd actually assume that one was a joke.

I find it utterly hilarious the way that JKR's "prolonged argument for tolerance" is so hidebound by her middle-class value-system that she genuinely can't see how - well - completely intolerant it is for, for example, the one canonical homosexual relationship in the entire series to have been a colossal mistake that wound up causing the wizarding equivalent of the second world war.

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Melissa G.

at 18:51 on 2009-12-08This is a really late comment, but I've been HP-obsessed the past few weeks. And I just want to say that what bothered me most about the "plea for tolerance" aspect was actually that she had a slave race that actually enjoyed being slaves and if we took that away from them, they'd turn into sobbing drunks. The idea that slaves like being slaves and they'd have nothing without slavery is so archaic and horrific an idea that it pains me to see it played for laughs with Winky.

[foularcadebanana]

29 drarry? I would love you for always even though I already do

Alright, so this is a kind of part two to the drarry no. 20 one that I haven’t written yet ANON (Hia!), but I’m working on posting that one next, so they’re both closely linked…but written, and can be read separately. Also, this got away from me and got very, very long! You’re welcome!

Harry ran. He ran to catch up with Draco, Draco, who seemed to be so far away from him even though he was actually just a few feet ahead of him. Harry had to catch up to him, he had to reach him. 

“Draco,” he called out, and Draco paused. Harry could see the tenseness in his shoulders, the way the muscles in his back were clenched tightly, from the dampness of Draco’s shirt which clung to his body. Harry didn’t know whether it was because of the sweat, the blood or the tears. “Draco, wait!” Harry almost shouted as Draco started to walk again, a lot faster this time.

He practically sprinted up to Draco, putting a hand on his shoulder to turn him around, and Draco had tears coming out of his eyes. He was crying. Harry swallowed heavily. He knew that he should be with the rest of his friends who were all cheering and celebrating and congratulating each other about the end of the war and the inevitable destruction of Voldemort, but he hadn’t been able to help spotting Malfoy from the corner of his vision, just walking away from the scene.

Harry had felt a sudden urge to just go after him, to go after the boy he hadn’t seen since the Fiendfyre incident, and before that in his Manor. The boy who had saved his life and whose life Harry had also saved. The boy who had held his ‘supposedly’ dead body, which explained the blood on Draco, and had cried, which explained the tears, and the sweat…well…

But it wasn’t like Harry could complain…he remembered the Sectumsempra…the memory still making him shudder, he would never forgive himself for it. He remembered how he had fallen to the floor with a splash, his wand dropping next to him, he remembered how he’d held Draco and cradled him close. He remembered the blood and the tears and the sweat, because he had cried, for the first time in his goddamn life, and so hard that his vision had almost blurred, spots-black and white-dancing around him.

“What is it, Potter?” Draco asked, his voice a completely cold and harsh. His eyes held a kind of hardness to them, an almost empty blankness, and his face held neutral expressions, undecipherable, to anyone but Harry that is. He hadn’t spent the past seven years obsessing over, staring at, noticing and following Malfoy to just…not. He knew that Draco was hurting, just as much as Harry was. “What do you want from me now?”

“I’m sorry,” Harry spoke softly. Draco stared at Harry in shock, his mask cracking a little. Harry could tell that Draco was wondering what exactly it was that Harry was sorry for. “I’m sorry for hurting you…and I-” He took a deep breath, remembering again-the sectumsempra, the manor, the fiendfyre, the war, Draco…always Draco. “I love you,” he said.

And that was when Draco’s mask completely shattered and Harry’s heart started to break while squeezing painfully in his chest, because the pain and the sheer intensity of Draco’s emotions made it hard to look at them, but even harder to look away. Harry had crossed the little distance between them, wrapping his arms around Draco tightly, a few of his own tears dropping on Draco’s shoulder as he hugged Harry back just as tightly.

He could feel Draco’s chest rising and falling rapidly, could feel him swallowing and swallowing and letting out a harsh breath near Harry’s ear as he finally spoke up, voice cracking. “I thought you were dead.”

Harry could feel the wetness on his own shoulder growing rapidly and he closed his eyes, squeezed them shut, feeling his own tears dropping down faster, with more vigour. “I was dead,” Harry said, and his own voice sounded suddenly foreign to him, it sounded distant and painful. It was possible that Harry was still in shock.

Draco pulled away from the hug, slightly loosening his grip, even as Harry tightened his own. The look on his face seemed to change as he seemed to have come to a realisation, maybe he had realised that he wasn’t the only one hurting, that he wasn’t the only one broken after the war, and left wanting and needing the one person he couldn’t have. The one person he truly wished to be with.

“I’m sorry,” Draco replied, pulling Harry against him again, and before Harry could say another word, he added, “and I love you, too.”

[marauders70s]

#10. Draco Malfoy [17/25]

“Know what House you’ll be in yet?” “No,” said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute. “Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I’ll be in Slytherin, all our family have been — imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I’d leave, wouldn’t you?” 

Malfoy bent down to examine a shelf full of skulls. “… everyone thinks he’s so smart, wonderful Potter with his scar and his broomstick —” “You have told me this at least a dozen times already,” said Mr. Malfoy, with a quelling look at his son.” 

‘Azkaban – the wizard prison, Goyle,’ said Malfoy looking at him in disbelief. Honestly, if you were any slower, you’d be going backwards.’

‘Oh, how silly we’ve all been!’ Malfoy sneered. ‘We should have stroked them! Why didn’t we guess!’ ‘I… I thought they were funny,’ said Hagrid uncertainly to Hermione. ‘Oh, tremendously funny!’ said Malfoy. ‘Really witty, giving use books that try and rip our hands off!’

‘Well, I can certainly see why we’re trying to keep them alive,’ said Malfoy sarcastically. ‘Who wouldn’t want pets that can burn, sting and bite all at once?’

Malfoy glanced around – Harry knew he was checking for signs of teachers – then he looked back at Harry and said in a low voice, ‘You’re dead, Potter. ‘ Harry raised his eyebrows. ‘Funny’ he said, ‘you’d think I’d have stopped walking around…’ Malfoy looked angrier than Harry had ever seen him; he felt a kind of detached satisfaction at the sight of his pale, pointed face contorted with rage. ‘You’re going to pay, ‘ said Malfoy in a voice barely louder than a whisper. ‘I’m going to make you pay for what you’ve done to my father.’ ‘Well, I’m terrified now, ‘ said Harry sarcastically. ‘I s’ pose Lord Voldemort’s just a warm-up act compared to you three.’

“Harry, however, had never been less interested in Quidditch; he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy.” 

“When you say you have lots in common,” said Ron, sounding rather amused now, do you mean he lives in an S-bend, too?” “No,” said Myrtle defiantly, her voice echoing loudly around the old tiled bathroom. “I mean he’s sensitive, people bully him, too, and he feels lonely and hasn’t got anybody to talk to, and he’s not afraid to show his feelings and cry!”

[explanation]: say what you will about draco malfoy, but this kid either has zero shame or a thirst to be recognized that’s damn near unquenchable. it’s one thing to bully other students in whispers and hisses, in snide remarks and rumor, but boy is it a whole other ballgame to coerce your friend into letting you ride on their shoulders in a black cloak in front of several hundred people and staff members; to organize a choir to sing a song whose lyrics you wrote yourself; to handmake and finance badges badmouthing your nemesis; and generally just be this insane little git who none of the teachers like?? even mention?? instead they’re like oh yes this boy with good marks and attitude: we’ll make him a prefect. *dumbledore gently steers away from murder*

 also, side note, once i was quoting draco’s first lines about hufflepuff to my youngest gryffindor sister and she just looked me dead in the face and said, “yeah. probably.” and i’ve never forgotten it. also also book harry is so sassy it gives me life. back to draco.

I’m not someone who ever liked Draco growing up simply because in the books he has 0 redeeming qualities for five out of seven books, and his “redemption” is immediate disatisfaction at choosing the wrong side (or rather, not being brave enough to refuse to walk the path laid before him). Personally, I always read Draco’s vitriolic hatred towards the trio as actual respect for Hermione warring with natural prejudice (yes, I lowkey ship dramione, but i’m not exclusive as i’m into drarry as well). But I’ll never really forgive the things he says and does to the trio, to ginny, to neville. I do love fan art of draco being sweet and changed post-battle but i don’t know how realistic that is. I will say this: draco is go big or go home. and he’s not going home. and I have mad respect for that. the series would not be the same without him as comic relief, as a plot impetus, as an antagonist, as an expositional character. draco is a daddy’s boy - pass it on.