#stay up all night reading drarry

[thecouchsofa]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

🌻 Snug – @moonflower-rose (6k, E) 🌻

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

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

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

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

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

A seagull named Kevin thinks otherwise.

For: Unleashed!Fest 2023

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

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

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

Read for: Sex Pollen, Drarry as Potions partners

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

The world, as Harry knew it, has ended.

At least he has a garden.

OR

Harry and Draco live through the apocalypse

For: Drarry Let’s Play Fest 2023

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

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

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

For: Harry/Draco Career Fair 2023

Read for: Harry modelling lingerie, Hot Harry

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

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

~ how to get over your crush

~ places that sell cake after 11pm near me

~ how to tell if someone is playing hard to get

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

For: Wheel of Drarry Mini-Exchange Secret Santa 2023

Read for: Harry’s Google Searches, Humour

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

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

Read for: Humour, idiots in love, first dates

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

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

For: HD Wireless 2023

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

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

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

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

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

Aunt Petunia died, that was what began everything.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Draco Malfoy is doomed, but what else is new?

For: HD Wireless 2023

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

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

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

For: HP Bodice Ripper Fest 2023

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

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

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

Or: what happens after the time loop?

For: H/D Erised 2023

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

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

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

Loads, as it turns out.

For: HD Wireless 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For: H/D Career Fair 2023

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

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

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

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

More specifically, he needs Draco.

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

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

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

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

Draco Malfoy is on the case.

For: H/D Erised 2023

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

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

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

For: H/D Erised 2023

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

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

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

For: HD Wireless 2023

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

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

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

For: HP Soulmates Fest 2023

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

🌻 The Waiting – @oknowkiss (43k, E) 🌻

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

For: HD Wireless 2023

Read for: Curse Breaker Partners, Angst, Secret Relationship

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

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

For: H/D Erised 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For: HD Wireless 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now all Draco has to do is convince him.

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

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

🪻 Rookie Moves – peu_a_peu (75k, E) 🪻

Aurors Potter and Malfoy crack the case.

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

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

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

For: H/D Erised 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Ah," said Draco, "and?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[blindfaithmate]

All the Drarry fics I have read and liked - Part 1

This is in no particular order; honestly, this list has no organisational method. I am only noting down the fanfics I've read and liked.

Grounds for Divorce by Tepre - Do I even need to say anything about fic? amazing fic. The emotions, the writing, the scenes. The angry Harry and the demure Draco. Ah! Love it.

Casting in the Dark by Flowerfan- Very cute post-war 8th-year Hogwarts story. Found it on Tumblr. The first time Draco, you know, experiences that with Harry, he doesn't even notice because Harry is that oblivious and apparently drunk. It's a cute read. (Another story - To the Beat of You - Harry has a secret and because of that does not stay the night at Draco's (his boyfriend's) place. Not a heartbreaking secret. Cute secret.)

Scenes of Surrender by Rasborealis - this story made me wonder if ever I will be able to give in to something or someone completely, just as Draco did in this story. A quick summary is that Draco is quiet and keeps his head down after the war. Harry cares that he is quiet and isn't speaking much. A mute Draco is common in 8th-year stories and this one is also nice. Anyway, Harry can't leave him alone (lol) and yeah. The way the author has written down scenes where Draco is surrendering is a piece of art.

Round Trip for One by Rasborealis - They are roommates and Harry is oblivious that he loves Draco. His innocent tries to get Draco to date better leads to fights and a very cute union. Would read again if I ever had a bad day and wanted to feel better!

9 times Harry kissed Draco and the 1 time Draco kissed Harry by aw_godusopp_no - Harry doesn't like that Draco uses swear words. He has a fun way to make him stop. Draco catches on, more like, Harry told him what he is doing and the one time, Draco actually does it on purpose to get Harry to kiss him. I love these 2 goofballs.

Say It with Flowers by SasuNarufan13 - Draco uses pureblood customs to court Harry. Harry is, like always, oblivious. (I love oblivious Harry). I couldn't complete it because got too sweet for me. But I still liked it a lot. Would read parts of it again.

knickers in a twist by technicolourbeat - I have already read it thrice. Draco wears skirts. Harry gets randy. Randy, randy, randyyyy boys. Love thissss!

The Standard You Walk Past by bafflinghaze - Harry has a sleepwalking problem and Draco just wants to repay his life debt. The author has a few other Drarry fics as well that are a good read.

Now I Wake Up In The Night and Watch You Breathe by hoko_onchi - Oh, it has unhinged Harry. Super unhinged but I still love it. Harry gets Draco because he wants Draco. Stalks him, manipulates him in a way? Read the tags, definitely. But if you love toxic love, this is for youuuuu! (This gives a lot of 'You' vibes - that Penn Badgley show)

Fantastic Flip Fuck with Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy! by hoko_onchi - Oh god, can't ever forget this fic. Such lovely, lovely written smut scenes. Both are p0r*stars and come together on screen. I said that and the author really meant it. Please read it. You won't regret it.

I will be back with another list.

Please read the tags before starting a story. all my love to the authors. Really grateful to them.

Keep writing, reading, and loving Drarry 🩶 💚

[sitp-recs]

My AO3 Wrapped: Drarry Recs

This year I’ve embraced a change of pace and read way less than I intended to. This made me feel a bit disconnected from fandom but also allowed me to put this list together in record time so let’s not complain too much 😂 this is shorter and lacking my usual commentary but I didn’t want to break the tradition of sharing my fave reads of the year! Be it for their creativity or peak romance, these 16 amazing fics made my heart beat faster and got me even more in love with Drarry. I’ve read most of them in the first half of the year and it was interesting to see so many fics over 40k, as my usual sweet spot is 10k - 20k. I love the mix of tropes featured here and am very excited to rec authors I’m reading for the first time. ps: I haven’t included any Erised fics since the fest is still ongoing.

Thank you dear creators for sharing so many brilliant works with us this year! 2023 wasn’t my best year fandom-wise, but life has been so generous in other areas that I can’t help but feel humbled today. I wish everyone a lovely start to the new year! As always, please mind the tags and take some time to shower these authors with the appreciation they deserve. Oh, and stay tuned for a rare pair list sometime soon ;)

🍆 Snug by @moonflower-rose (E, 6k)

8th year | touch-starved Harry | soft cock kink

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

🧩 Muscle Memory by @corvuscrowned (E, 8k)

curse breaking | partners to lovers | memory magic

There's something just beneath the surface, just at the periphery of Harry's mind. They've been here before — they've done this before. If only he could remember it.

👹 draco malfoy's substitute murder service by @oknowkiss (E, 10k)

odd jobs | D/s undertones | open ending

When Harry joins the Curse Breakers shortly after his twenty-fifth birthday, he’s surprised to find himself assigned to the Department of Creatures, Cryptids, and Associated Calamities.

🏰 the earth from a distance by spqr (E, 15k)

time travel | Wizarding history | only one bed

“Well,” Harry said gamely, once they’d managed to find the Leaky Cauldron – still under construction but mercifully open for business – and he’d turned up a few knuts from his pockets, enough to get them a room for the night, “it could be worse.”

🎚️ O Come, All Ye Faithful by @toomuchplor (E, 20k)

vicar Draco | established relationship | Church of England

Aunt Petunia died, that was what began everything. Or rather, Aunt Petunia was dying. In the act of dying. In which Draco finds faith in the church, and Harry finds faith in Draco.

🎄 Waking Up Slow by @sweet-s0rr0w and @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm (E, 22k)

shop owner Draco | summer romance | light angst

'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 by @floydig and BlackRose532 (E, 28k)

slice of life | fast sexual burn | dark humour

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.

🍷 Winner Takes It All by @skeptiquewrites (E, 41k)

break up make up | down & out Draco | hurt/comfort

As with all his friends’ wagers, it starts small. Fifty Galleons for one kiss from Harry Potter is easily done.

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

Draco in the Muggle World | pining Harry | recreational drug use

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.

🫃Shine On, You Crazy Diamond by @lagerloutfic (E, 42k)

fwb to lovers | gay awakening (Harry) | mpreg (Draco)

Harry has probably always wanted Draco, it just took him a few years to figure that out. A story about the joy of discovering exactly who you are and how easy it can be once you do.

🚣‍♀️ Our Objective Remains Unchanged by @citrusses (E, 46k)

rowing AU | enemies to lovers | university setting

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

🧶 Polar Night/Midnight Sun by @toomuchplor (E, 54k)

cabin fic | wintery vibes | only one bed

Harry travels to arctic Norway on the trail of dragon egg poachers, only to find he's been assigned to work alongside the only NorMagPol Auror north of sixty: one Draco Malfoy.

🎩 Nights With You by @the-sinking-ship (E, 58k)

holiday fic | fake relationship | mutual pining

Draco is mortified when moments prior to departing for the most anticipated destination wedding of the year, he is cruelly dumped. But when he learns that Harry Potter has, at long last, split with his horrible boyfriend, Draco is certain his luck has changed.

👮🏻‍♂️Rookie Moves + Again And More So by peu_a_peu (E, 75k)

auror partners | slow burn | humour

Aurors Potter and Malfoy crack the case.

🖼️ where all the veins meet by @saxamophone (E, 146k)

sad bois | Grimmauld Place | found family | 8th year

It's the summer of 1998. The battle is over, and Voldemort is dead, but Harry still has more questions than answers. Who is he without a piece of Voldemort's soul in his head? What is he supposed to do now?

📼 Always Already by @aibidil (E, 170k)

time travel | forced proximity | mutual pining

Harry and Draco are perfectly fine, separately minding their business in 2004, when the Unspeakables conscript them into service... in the First War against Voldemort.

[wolfpants]

📚 wolf's reading list | october favourites

<- prev rec lists here

It's been a while since I've been able to do one of these! And I'm still very much catching up with all of my reading, but for now, here's a list of fics I've read this month that I've absolutely adored. As ever, mix of pairings/warnings etc.

-

Alpha and Omega. And Omega. 🪢

E, Drarry/Theo, 6.1k | @citrusses

No one is shocked when Harry Potter presents as an Alpha. No one, that is, except for Harry Potter himself, who doesn't know what to do about any of it: not the weird instincts, or the horrifying anatomy, or the fact that he can't seem to stop fucking Draco Malfoy, and especially not whatever 'surprise' Draco has waiting in Harry's bedroom.

With a bang, the front door of Grimmauld swings open and Draco walks in, smelling exactly the same way he always does. Not like the scent of the heat that’s been oozing out of Harry’s bedroom and getting his dick hard for the past five minutes. “What the fuck?” Harry hisses. “You—you’re not upstairs.” “No,” Draco says, removing his calfskin gloves one finger at a time. He looks up at Harry and smiles like a fucking psychopath. “But your present is.”

-

The Banned Pasta 🍝

T, Drarry, 1k | @hoko-onchi-writes

“Draco keeps cooking for me. Weird, right?”

Harry sits down and slowly spoons himself a dish. He catches the look in Draco’s eyes. Yeah, he thinks. Alright. “I want to. C’mon. Fucking sit down with me. Don’t be a git.” Draco’s knuckles are white against the back of the chair where he stands. “Are you certain—” “I am.”

-

A Design for Life ⏳

E, Drarry, 77.9k | @maesterchill

Harry Potter doesn't want to become an Auror. And Draco Malfoy would quite like to stay alive and out of harm’s way. Neither have any desire whatsoever to time-travel into the future, especially not with each other. But fate? Well, she has other plans.

They lapse into silence for a bit, in the peacefulness of the field, staring up at the sky, at the light grey cloud that’s inches away from blocking the sun, at the seagulls wheeling overhead, their cries distant and melancholic. “This is nice,” Harry says, breaking the silence, “y’know, even though it’s you.” “That’s certainly the faintest praise I’ve heard in a while,” Malfoy responds dryly, a small smirk playing on his lips.

-

a fire they can't put out 🔥

E, Harry/Albus Severus, 4.5k | @the-invisibility-bloke for @hpcestfest 2024

Albus returns from three years abroad. Plenty of time to forget what happened. If only Harry could.

It should be awkward. By natural order of social dynamics, it should absolutely be awkward. But they haven’t been natural for awhile, have they? Harry levitates the duffel to the foot of the stairs and turns to face him and it’s not awkward. It’s terrifying.

-

It's the Moonlight, It is the Rain 🌧️

M, Drarry (background Drastoria and Hinny), 1.9k | snarkyscorp

It is always dark and raining when he arrives; it is always cold and uncomfortable when he goes.

Draco thinks back to the very first time, the first kiss. Heated mouths, parted lips, clumsy tongues, angry fingers welting bruises on upper arms and chins and throats just to grip as much as possible, to break and bend and fuck and unite and connect and breathe and feel. Then came marriage. Children. Responsibility. The sting of growing old, the realisation of mortality. Then came distance and frowns and the dread of having Harry at his door at all hours with that look on his face and his trousers too tight and all the ghosts nipping at his heels like restless hounds in the night.

-

Not a Word 💔

M, Harry/Scorpius, 1k | snarkyscorp

This is not how it should have gone. It should have been beautiful and Harry should be happy and Scorpius shouldn't feel so guilty, so tired, so young…

Scorpius has loved Harry since he was ten, has known it will be Harry since he found the spell in one of his grandfather's diaries, and yet he knows too that he cares more than he should, that he wants not only for Harry to be his but to know him inside-out. Tonight is not just about getting what he wants—it is about love, too.

-

Potente Fantasy 🧪

E, Harry/Albus, Drarry/Albus, 1.3k | snarkyscorp

There is nothing Harry wouldn't do to get Al out of trouble…

Harry is too absorbed in holding Albus close to realize he is being disarmed. Before he even senses the sizzle of magic, there is a shout of Expelliarmus! and his wand goes flying. With a stumble, Harry tries to rush after it, but another spell pins him to the wall. "Hello, Potter." The drawl would be enough of a give away, but the pointed, pale face that invades his line of sight is so jarring in its malice and familiarity. There is no one else who looks, smells, or breathes like Draco Malfoy.

-

Turn ��️

E, Teddy/Scorpius, Scorpius/James, Jeddy/Scorpius, 1.3k | snarkyscorp

Tonight, Scorpius is in charge. Whatever he says, whatever he wants, goes.

"I want you to fuck James," Scorpius says. He is not smiling, he doesn't blink, barely moves; Teddy isn't even sure he breathes. The room is quiet. Teddy swears the silence whispers all the dangerous implications of that statement. "James?" Teddy asks. "James Potter?" It's not quite a question, actually. Teddy hopes Scorpius doesn't hear the edge of arousal laced in his voice.

-

Yes, Daddy 🖇️

E, Harry/Scorpius, 2k | @emotionalsupporthufflefluff

Harry waved him off as if to say it didn’t matter. “I heard you had a thing for older men.”

Currently, Harry was keeping his eyes trained on the pitch, watching the players do warm-up formations. Looking over to where Teddy, James and Scorpius were chatting was out of the question. Scorpius had his back turned towards him, and now that he wasn’t in heavy Auror robes or Ministry robes, Harry could see he had filled out through training. Muscle had layered on his lithe form, and his muggle jeans did nothing but display it all. The blond stretched absent-mindedly, causing his jumper to ride up, giving Harry a full view of his perfectly sculpted— “He is your son’s age. What is wrong with you? Maybe I do need that app Jamie was talking about. Hey, look, there’s Ginny. Wave to the ex, Harry. Very good; quit ogling the Malfoy boy.”

-

That's a wrap! Yes, I definitely went on a bit of a snarkyscorp deep dive, no regrets 😂 I'm really craving some dirtyhotwrong atm, so any recs of that ilk totally welcome! Or any recs at all! 💖 My asks/DMs are always open.

[smehur]

More Harry/Draco fics I loved

I'm reading so much fic, I don't have time to read the actual books! And my Read Later list still keeps growing! Thank you, Drarry Tumblr, for feeding me so well. Here's a little something in return.

In the order of reading them:

Bitter Honey, Green Night by Faith Wood

An inn, an Auror, a criminal, a mystery.

I loved this story for the seduction, and the tension, and one of the most exquisite, most intimate sex scenes I've ever encountered. Even weeks after reading, it still lingers in my mind and I can envision it with almost painful clarity. I admit I wished the story went on: although the main conflict got a satisfying resolution, there could've been a bit more closure (read: another sex scene). Not a critique, mind you--if I were in the author's shoes, I'd have probably stopped there too--just the longings of an insatiable fan.

i was having visions of sugared pastry (cooked up in clarified butter) by infectiousdisease, solifuge

Draco Malfoy doesn't remember a time before his eating disorder. Not that he'd call it that.

This one gutted me in all the right ways. Draco with an eating disorder passed on from Narcissa clicked for me with frightening ease. It just rings so true? The unflinching depictions of his mental and physical illness, of his relations with his dysfunctional family and the bullying he inflicted on others made my stomach clench--and I loved it. I also loved how the horrors of the war were communicated as subtext, reflected in Draco's war against himself, rather than explicitly, to great effect. I loved the soft things too: Draco's relationship with Harry developing between the lines, the cathartic trial scene and the well-earned beginnings of recovery, all written in brisk, efficient prose that cuts to the marrow. An absolute gem of a fic.

Tea and No Sympathy by who_la_hoop

It's Potter's fault, of course, that Draco finds himself trapped in the same twenty-four-hour period, repeating itself over and over again. It's been nearly a year since the unpleasant business at Hogwarts, and Draco's getting on with his life quite nicely, thank you, until Harry sodding Potter steps in and ruins it all, just like always. At first, though, the time loop seems liberating. For the first time in his life, he can do anything, say anything, be anything, without consequence. But the more Draco repeats the day, the more he realises the uncomfortable truth: he's falling head over heels for the speccy git. And suddenly, the time loop feels like a trap. For how can he ever get Harry to love him back when time is, quite literally, against him?

Easily one of the loveliest stories I've read in this fandom so far. Draco is such an unmitigated darling; I rooted for him deeply, while fearing at the same time that he'd fuck things up irreparably, lol. And Harry, dear, pure, clueless Harry, with his long-time crush that's teased but never fully elaborated. There's also a little owl, heart-warming moments between Draco and his parents, his unrelenting focus on clothes and a scene where he goes jogging in a Muggle park wearing robes (and little else).

All that said, the end left me feeling weirdly cheated. (Spoiler alert!) Harry says it himself: it's not fair that Draco had their first kiss without him. Was Draco's exploration of the timeloop selfish, or just inconsiderate, or entirely justified? What would Harry have done in his shoes? Not gonna lie: I kept mulling over this for days.

Mortal Frame by tackytiger

Draco’s on a mission, and this time it's personal. But it's not easy to track down something that no one wants to talk about, especially when Harry Potter keeps popping up everywhere Draco goes. Though at least he’s on Draco’s side this time, and if he happens to be useful, and kind, and great in bed—well, Draco’s not exactly complaining. The story of three pubs, one Horcrux, four overpriced sandwiches, and two damaged men just trying to make sure that Bellatrix Lestrange stays dead.

Oh, this was such a treat. Mysterious, atmospheric and reticent in just the perfect measure, it had me wide-eyed and heart-aching and mouth-watering. Most of my reading is about Harry and Draco getting together, and I'm always surprised when stories where they're already a couple (of one sort or another) manage to evoke in me such deep longing. If you haven't already, go read this now.

À Bon Chat by oknowkiss

Draco Malfoy didn’t intend to lead a life of crime after the war. It’s just that being good had turned out so incomprehensibly boring. Now he's thirty-five, a fully redeemed member of society, the darling of the wizarding social pages, and a newly minted consultant for Gawain Robards' Investigative Research division. In his spare time, he enjoys good whisky, casual sex, and moonlighting as an art thief. His biggest score yet is fast approaching and he's got everything planned down to the minute. Everything, that is, until the unexpected appearance of a newly-divorced Harry Potter. Now that Potter's in the picture, Draco's no longer certain if he's the pursuer or the prize.

Omg, this fic. I don't even know where to start with the praise. It is so well-written, and so well-researched, and it offers such insight, not only into our beloved characters, but into human nature in general. I still can't decide whether I entirely bought the ending or not. But that didn't lessen my enjoyment of the story; it even contributed to it by making me engage with it on a deeper level. I remain astonished and humbled.

Tagging the authors I managed to find on here: @faith2wood, @oknowkiss, @tackytigerfic. Thank you for enriching my life! 💚

[magpiefngrl]

writing patterns: last lines

I love the first lines meme, but what about last lines? I find them as vital as first lines, if not more. A first line should do a lot of things (indicate POV, tone, voice) while also catching the attention of the reader and inviting them to read on. But it can be invisible, just a way into the story, and that's perfectly fine because the story is what will amaze/impress/entertain the reader.

The last line, however, is the last impression: it can be a powerful punch, or it can be underwhelming. It's the vibe, the feeling, the aftertaste that the reader will carry with her when she closes the tab/book. It doesn't do as much work as the opening, but a really strong (or really weak) last line might colour what has come before.

For this game, instead of recent fics, I decided to check my longer fics; the last line of a longer piece of work sort of carries more weight, in my mind, idk.

Rules: write the last line of your 10 longest fics. What patterns can you see, if any? Which ones are your favourites?

Something I noticed: in my longer fics, I often have a short epilogue at the end of the story. Like a post-credits scene. I'm including both last lines for pattern-seeking. Also, a while ago, I'd done a before-during-after ask thing and posted some sequels at the end of a few fics. I debated using only the original ending here, but the sequel's last line is what will stay with readers, so I added both. Finally, The Boy Who Died has a coda but it's so long I'm treating it as a chapter.

I. 9 ½ Days (drarry, E, ~70k)

(story) Harry burrowed closer to him, eyes fluttering open. ‘You’re real.’ ‘I am.’ Draco tangled their legs together. It was snug under the covers. ‘Touch me and see.’

(epilogue) Harry took his hand and together they stepped forward into the green, living wood.

II. dirtynumbangelboy (drarry, E, 39.4k)

(story) ‘Home,’ Harry says, nuzzling Draco’s hair. ‘Take us home.’

(epilogue) He wants them to look smashing at the betrothal.

III. The Miseducation of Draco Malfoy (drarry, E, ~38k)

(story) Draco decided he would be happy to spend his life making Harry laugh, and thrust in.

(epilogue) “Let’s give them something good to talk about then,” Draco suggested, and Harry smiled, bent him backwards, and gave him a proper kiss, tongue and all.

IV. The Boy Who Died (drarry, E, ~27k)

Overthrowing the regime will take a miracle, Kingsley had said in the dark Edwardian manor. Draco had smiled at that and gazed at Harry. Indeed. Which is why we’ll win.

V. The Gift (drarry, E, ~26k)

Before [Draco] casts Nox, he takes a last look at his packed trunk, and then, in the whispering night, he allows himself to dream.

VI. Hush, darling (drarry, E, 23.6k)

But Draco holds Harry tighter — and doesn’t let go.

VII. The Unquiet Grave (drarry, E, 21.5k)

Draco glanced at Harry and smiled. ‘I’ll be fine. I have a bodyguard.’

VIII. Through the Looking Glass and What Draco Found There (drarry, E, 17.5k)

(original) This world was fucked up. It had pain and grief and sick people and dead people and stupid decisions and bad hair days and fear and regret—although it didn’t have Smith in leather gear, which was something. It also had Harry Potter, who buried his face in the crook of Draco’s neck, and who liked this Draco, the Death Eater Draco, and that made everything worth it.

(sequel) ‘Pull them down yourself,’ Draco said and kissed him.

IX. The Full Monty (drarry, E, 10k)

First, he goes to the kitchen to make sure Arthur is indeed alive — he is, nibbling at some seeds on the counter — but after that, yes, he goes straight to where Potter is waiting, hopefully all soapy and wet.

X. How to Court your Husband (drarry, E, 5,5k)

(original) Their escorts maintained a discreet distance when they arrived and saw what the princes were up to, and twenty minutes later in the palace courtyard, the Fountain spurted a jet of water the likes of which had never been seen before.

(sequel) Harry smiled and stroked Draco’s face. ‘We’re in no hurry, husband.’

Patterns

JFC. I like my epilogues and codas and sequels, don't I? Lord. I don't think I'd noticed it before as clearly as I do now. This isn't even everything: I actually started a coda for The Gift a while back, and I have a half-finished sequel scene for dirtynumb in my folders. I can just never leave off. But it's true: I do love epilogues.

I end with dialogue A LOT more than I start with it. First lines, I estimated a third of them are dialogue, but a good half of the endings are.

A large majority of my endings involve kissing or cuddling or touching in some way. Love language touch anyone?

There's a fair bit of Draco glancing at Harry and smiling.

In the two fics that have a sequel scene, the original ending is, imo, vastly superior to the sequel's. Hm.

Faves

I like the epilogue ending of 9 1/2 Days; the ending of Unquiet Grave, which works better I think in context; the rather poetic ending of The Gift; the original ending of Through the Looking Glass, which, imo, perfectly captures the theme; and the original ending of How To Court Your Husband, which is hilarious in context. Several readers commented on that one.

Tagging

I'll no-pressure tag @lettersbyelise @lqtraintracks @the-starryknight @skeptiquex @etalice @coriesocks @gracerene @citrusses @lower-east-side @hogwartsfirebolt @queenofthyme @writcraft @shealwaysreads @phdmama @stripedroseandsketchpads @sixappleseeds to get the ball rolling-- and of course YOU, reading this! Feel free to tag me so I can read your last lines, I'm ever so curious x

[gmcostaart]

Drarry Fics that I've read

Sooo I got into the fandom about a year now and I obsessively read a bunch of fanfics (Ao3 is my second home fr )

Running on Air by eleventy7

Chapters: 17/17 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 Sinopse: Draco is missing and Harry needs to find him. He thought it would be another boring work, but then it turns into a self-discover journey and revisiting memories. All time favorite, this fic changed my brain chemistry for forever

Dear Diary by AWickedMemory (TeddyLaCroix)

Chapters: one-shot 🖤🖤🖤 Sinopse: Harry finds a diary that writes him back. Cute and well written. If you need smth sweet and cozy to read, go for it.

Mental by sara_holmes

Chapters: 32/32 🖤🖤🖤🖤 Sinopse: Due to a spell Draco and Harry can read each other thoughts and things go crazy, emotional and cute at the same time. This one got me stay up all night.

The Ordeal of Being Known by louisfake

Chapters: 14/14 🖤🖤🖤🖤 Sinopse: Due to a curse Harry can't use your voice and Draco, a  Licensed Healer Legilimens, is going to help. It's like a time-travel fic but only through dialogue and revisiting memories, heavily emotional and overall well paced but for me the final chapters were a little bit rushed.

Then Comes a Mist and a Weeping Rain by Faith Wood (faithwood)

Chapters: one-shot 🖤🖤🖤 Sinopse: A cloud follows Draco everywhere and Harry comes to help like an umbrella. Overall cute.

The Lip-Lock Jinx by cassisluna

Chapters: one-shot 🖤🖤 Sinopse: Draco lost his voice and to recover it he needs a kiss from the person he's in love with. Drarry eight year fix-fic. It was cute, but a little forgettable tbh.

knickers in a twist by technicolourbeat

Chapters: 7/7 🖤🖤🖤 Sinopse: Draco wears a skirt and Harry can't stop staring or keeps his hands to himself. Just to boys going out and having a lot of fun in many different ways

Catch and Release by shealwaysreads (onereader)

Chapters: one-shot 🖤🖤🖤🖤 Sinopse: Due to temporary curse Draco and Harry need to stay close to each other. It's a forced proximity, forced cohabitation, only one bed trope fic with slow burn, and for me that was the best part of it.

Blue Boy by orphan_account

Chapters: 11/11 🖤🖤🖤 Sinopse: Draco Malfoy is a shy beautiful Ravenclaw boy who got attention of Harry Potter, the most popular boy of the Slytherin. The different and non usually personalities of them is what makes things interesting

Body Electric by shealwaysreads (onereader), tackytiger

Chapters: one-shot 🖤🖤 Sinopse: Due to a potion accident Harry and Draco swap bodies and the change of perspective is not the only thing they'll explore. I really liked this work but it felt smth is missing or not fully developed, specially, emotional part of the plot. It should have a second chapter tbh.

In Need of a Proper Hug by Faith Wood (faithwood)

Chapters: one-shot 🖤🖤 Sinopse: Harry turns into a Koala and keeps hugging Draco. Very cute but also very short.

 Floating by serikkun

Chapters: one-shot 🖤🖤 Prequel: Sparks by serikkun Sinopse: """Draco Malfoy, a visiting student from Durmstrang, couldn't believe he was Harry Potter's hostage for the second task."" I was in a hungry to find Drarry in this dynamic and it was ok, but I'd like to find smth longer.

Dear Cousin, Love Regulus by LLAP115, XxTheDarkLordxX

Chapters: 7/7 🖤🖤 Sinopse: Draco receive letters from his former cousin Regulus and starts questioning all his beliefs and family values, changing the course of the history and alliances. It's not a rewrite or time travel fic, a lot of majors events are summarize, though is interesting.

You And Me by bixgirl1

Chapters: one-shot 🖤🖤🖤🖤 Sinopse: Harry needs a calm and isolate place, Draco seems to be alone most of the time. Hogwarts 8th year, Slow burn, well paced, praise relationship dynamic.

The Importance of Being Draco Malfoy by poppyhills

Chapters: series rewrite (it's currently, covering the book 5 events)🖤🖤🖤

Sinopse: Hogwarts 3rd year; what if, instead of a scratch on the arm, Draco hit on the head by "the big bloody chicken" causing a huge memory lost that changes many aspects of Draco's personality. An unusually fic rewrite series. I love this 'new' Draco, he's just to silly that makes you laugh a lot plus it's amusing to see the Slytherin gang befriends with the golden trio. (It's sad that the author takes sooo loong for an update )

You've got the antidote for me by Kandakicksass

Chapters: one-shot 🖤🖤🖤 Sinopse: ""When Harry Potter unintentionally severs their soulbond before it can fully form, Draco Malfoy resigns himself to a slow death and decides not to burden Harry with a soulmate he's made it very clear he doesn't want. He's never been selfless before, but for Harry, he can try."" God that was painfully beautiful. Though it has a happy ending, the plot broke my heart in tiny little pieces, I'll never read this fic again.

Draco Malfoy and the Mirror of Ecidyrue by starbrigid

Book: 5/7 (currently reading) 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 Sinopse: Through a magic mirror, Draco goes back to 1st year at Hogwarts as a child of 11 years old. This time he decides to make things right even if the process hurt. All time favorite time-travel fic. This was my first reading of time travel fic and rewrite series, tbh I never thought that someone would be capable of rewrite the whole story changing the perspective, it amazed me the creativity and love required to do this. All the characters are very dear to me, specially Draco I love him just too much; and the fact that Drarry is a slowwwwww burrrrnnn dynamic, makes this fic a work of art.

[cowboylikeyouu]

heyyyy, amy, nice to meet you, I'm di, reaching out because tumblr said I may like your profile and it didn't lieeee.

I've seen you asked to ask (ohhh jezz, english is my third language, beg you pardon me for some mess I'm creating, while trying to chase my thoughts) questions, so I'm here to do that-

did you find any really tasty sickfics/whumpfics with poolverine?? I'm in emergency need of whump!logan or sick!logan, oh, why ficriters are not using those trops of some "failed to heal", "sleep deprivation"? having healing factor doesn't mean you can't feel the pain you know...

well! SO! do you have anything to recommend? thank you! 💜

ps. I'm quite a newbie here, so don't be scared of my quite empty profile, working on it. 🙏🥹

hiiii ^^

glad the tumblr algorithm did its job and brought you here!!

dw about your english, it’s "only" my 2nd language and i still mess up everything half the time, i’ve simply given up on correct grammar on social media, i don’t care anymore xD

and yesss i always love getting questions or even just random thoughts people have, idk i wish people would use the ask box more, it’s so fun!! especially for people who wanna stay anonymous :)

in terms of fic recommendations, i have to disappoint you sadly, i‘m an awful person to ask for fic recs unless it’s winterhawk (and maybe drarry & dinluke). i’ve read a whole bunch of poolverine fics, but i can only remember like… 5 of them??😭 they’re all so short still & many of them have a similar premise, so no matter how amazing the fics are, it’s hard to keep them apart in my head.

the only one i can think of rn that kinda matches one of ur requests is stay, stick around, clean the blood off my teeth by jayyxx, pretty sure logan is severely sleep deprived in this bc he just chooses to.. not sleep anymore bc of night terrors.

there are a LOT of people on here tho who can probably give you a whole bunch of fic recs, just search through some hashtags :)

enjoy your time on tumblr, it’s really the best internet place to be 💜💜💜

[roseharpermaxwell]

Bite-Size Drarry - Under 10k (Part Four)

Pausing my RWRB reading (I have an ask about firstprince fics too and I’m working on it!) to answer this, which is the nudge I’ve needed. I’ve done this for Dramione before (under 5k), but I especially love tempting readers to Drarry. 

Short works are the unsung heroes of fandom. They don’t get enough love, which makes me so sad, because you definitely don’t always need 100k to deliver a stunning story. These are your bedtime stories, your palate cleansers, your individual serving sizes of serotonin. It’s okay to enjoy these even if you only read slow burn 100k+ fics, I promise. Live a little! 

This is a sampling of some amazing favorites, but I’m always reading new things and will add to it regularly. If you find something you love, I know the author would love to hear it, and so would I! Take a deep dive into their work to find other gems. 

Here's Parts One, Two, and Three if you missed them.

Bite-Size Drarry - Under 10k (Part Four) below:

Stay by @orange-peony. E, 7k. The day Draco Malfoy finds out that the Manor has finally found a new owner is a Tuesday. It takes him less than two minutes to realise that he’s screwed. He has nowhere to go. Things go from bad to worse when he finds out that he's been assigned a new probation officer. Harry bloody Potter.

Sorry i was never good (like you) by @tigerlilycorinne. T, 7k.  “What is your name?”

Michael Corner puts his cup of tea down. “You already know my name,” he says. He points to them each in turn: “Draco Malfoy. Michael Corner. We went to Hogwarts together.”

“You are the one Harry Potter took to bed last night, correct?”

Draco has a questionnaire he calls the Boyfriend Check for Harry’s boyfriends. Because he’s roommates and friends with Harry, and he needs to make sure they’re up to snuff. 

And also for other reasons.

A Love That Knows of Itself by @sleepstxtic. M, 7k. After an accidental bonding, Harry is forced to confront some longstanding feelings concerning a certain Unspeakable.

Epitaphs in Autographs series by @vukovich. E, 7.1k. (MCD) A series of works surrounding death, imperfect relationships, flawed coping, and humanity.

Knead, then let rise by @softlystarstruck. T, 7.2k. Malfoy stumbles back into Harry’s life via the laundry room. A story about baking bread and tripping over words and falling in love.

Interpersonal Relationships Year 7, Unit 3: How to Have Sex Like a Responsible Adult by InnerLilith. E, 7.3k. Harry came to Hogwarts to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. He did not come to Hogwarts to obsess over Draco Malfoy. He definitely did not come to Hogwarts to channel that obsession into…supervising Draco’s sex education class?

Whatever, Harry saved the world. He could handle sex ed. Right?

Draco Malfoy and the Broken Room by @aprofessionalprotagonist. T, 7.3k. A drunk and morose Draco gets trapped in the Room of Hidden Things with Potter of all people. Now, he’s got to figure out how to make peace with the Golden Boy long enough to get out.

everything you should say by icarusinflight. E, 7.4k. They're not friends. But when Draco offers help, Harry takes it.

The Re-Fenestration of Potter by @cavendishbutterfly, @iota. E, 7.5k. Harry wants the Prophet reporters to stop following him and Draco wants Harry to stop climbing through his window at all hours of the night…even if he’s taken to leaving it open, just in case. Everything is bearable until they both get doused with Draco’s latest batch of Wolfsbane, and then suddenly nothing between the two of them is bearable at all.

of course i cum fast, i’ve got a snitch to catch by swoons. E, 7.5k. Strangest of all, Potter never lasts more than two minutes — and that’s if Draco’s being really, really generous with his time-keeping.

It should be off-putting, but Draco’s just intrigued. Perhaps that’s why he’s watched Potter wank in the showers so often.

The Exhale by spqr. T, 7.5k. Hermione makes a soft, concerned sound. "Harry, look at this." She shows him an article with a photo, but the photo's not moving; it must be a Muggle newspaper. "NASA have just landed a rover on Mars. It's called Curiosity, and look, this is so--I don't know if it's sweet or sad, but--it's all alone out there, and they programmed it to sing itself Happy Birthday." Nothing is wrong, but Harry starts crying.

Lovesick by @corvuscrowned. T, 7.6k. People keep spiking Auror Harry Potter with love potions. Healer Draco Malfoy keeps having to pick up the pieces.

But it's getting harder and harder for Draco to watch Harry fall in love with everyone except for him.

Dating Potters by @goldentruth813, @mzuul. M, 7.7k. Scorpius and Albus have been together for awhile now and decide it’s time to have a family dinner and come out to their fathers. What they’re not counting on is the fact that they’re not the only ones with secrets to share.

Play Dates by bixgirl1. E, 7.7k. Harry never thought seeing Malfoy as a dad would affect him this way.

What I Thought by @bafflinghaze. E, 7.8k. Draco thought they were in a relationship. Harry thought it was just sex. 

First Week of Eternity by InnerLilith. E, 7.8k. Moving in with the colleague you’d like to fuck is a bad idea for anyone. It’s worse when you’re a card-carrying member of the eternal dead. It’s exponentially worse when your already garlic-obsessed colleague-slash-crush-slash-roommate has recently discovered his distant Italian heritage.

In which Draco tries desperately to hide that he’s recently become a vampire, and Harry tries desperately to feed him.

The Trouble with Good Sense by RorouniHime. M, 7.8k. When you fill a hotel with flying quills, hands-on demonstrations, and too many Aurors, someone is bound to get cranky.

The Dinner by @brightowl-fics. E, 7.9k. Draco had been trying to beat the sunset, walking along the cobblestone road to the Chateau where he would be staying that night, when he saw the door. Le Billet Doux, said a painted red sign. Below it, réservations non requises: ‘no reservations required.’

in a rambling way by @fw00shy. T, 7.9k. Ron knocked Hermione up, and now Harry's got to figure out how to clone himself so that his friends don't split up fighting over him. Falling for Draco again was never part of the plan.

Check this hand 'cause I'm marvelous by @lqtraintracks. E, 7.9k. Auror Harry has a crush on Unspeakable Draco, and Draco's dared to give him a lapdance when they're out for Friday night drinks.

Keep Me Here by @academicdisasterfic. E, 7.9k. Teddy/Harry/Draco. The one where Teddy is pining, Harry is in denial, and Draco is impatient.

Driving me crazy (but I'm into it) by @thecouchsofa. E, 8k. Draco’s fucked a lot of people. He’s fucked models, Quidditch players, members of the Wizengamot, even a Muggle actor, but none of them come quite as prettily as Harry Potter.

Leeward by @teacup-tai. M, 8.1k. There’s a polaroid kept in the back of Harry’s nightstand drawer. Just the one. It’s Muggle and slightly yellowish. There are many other photos in a box in the back of Harry’s cupboard under the stairs—the one he almost never opens. A hidden box of hidden memories. After four years since their break up, Harry and Draco meet again at Dean and Blaise’s wedding. Now, between the turquoise sea and the white sand dunes of Fuerteventura, they will need to face their feelings.

in between two tall mountains (there’s a place they call lonesome) by @oknowkiss. E, 8.2k. In the shadow of a mountain on the Oregon coast, there may or may not lie a shipwreck, on which there may or may not be a magical relic, lost hundreds of years ago. Harry's been tasked with finding it, and Draco is there to take notes, and they're stuck in a campervan pretending to be married, and it's all going to be just fine. That's what Draco's gotten rather good at telling himself, anyway.

Born Slippy by @dracoladon. E, 8.3k. Harry finds that it's less 'one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor' and more 'one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, decide Malfoy's quite fit, actually, and decent company after your friends traitorous abandonment, floor.' With Malfoy lying next to you.

(Un)Anticipated by @p1013. E, 8.3k. Though he won't ever admit it—not even years later, when Draco's giving Harry shit about it right before they go to sleep, the bedside light just dim enough to hide the worst of his blush—it takes Harry an embarrassingly long time to realise that something is wrong. It's not like he's trying to pull regularly. If he wants to get laid, he gets laid. He is, after all, Harry Potter.

But it's not until it's a Saturday morning, and he's languidly stroking himself off in the shower with long, slow pulls that he feels deep in the pit of his stomach, that Harry realises that he's been at this for quite some time, and while it feels amazing and his toes are curling and his balls are pulled up tight…

Nothing's happening.

Contretemps by @moonflower-rose. T, 8.4k. Draco Malfoy has been living like a model citizen. If only he could convince Potter.

Say Anything by megyal. M, 8.5k. Draco has a crush on Harry and tells him in French.

Flight Patterns by @mosrael. E, 8.6k. Up in the air, Draco can become anyone he wants to be, or cease to be anyone at all. When he puts on his flight attendant's uniform he's just one more smiling face in the crowd, a forgettable interlude in his passengers' day. Not a petrified boy, not a criminal, not a Wizard just trying to keep it together as best he can.

That is until a certain someone interrupts his flight patterns.

Stories in E Minor by @huldrejenta. E, 8.7k. Draco has found his place in the Muggle world. He's got his music, he's got his neighbours and he is content. Until a certain someone from the past enters his life again.

Look For Me In The Sun by @wolfpants. M, 8.7k. Harry and Draco are on the run in America after a mysterious string of werewolf-like attacks in the Muggle community causes the Ministry to impose new and harsh anti-werewolf legislation. Giant trees, crashing waves, seedy motel rooms, and the long and winding coastal road awaits them, but will they ever be able to go back home?

Bored by vorabiza. E, 8.8k. Harry and company are bored, so Harry is encouraged to tell the others a sexual fantasy that becomes a little more romantic than they are expecting.

Howl by @tackytigerfic. M, 8.9k. After an encounter with a vicious werewolf, Draco Malfoy wakes in a field hospital with a mangled shoulder, a furry little problem, and an inconvenient crush on Harry Potter. Potter, meanwhile, is still trying to save the world, only this time he wants Draco right there with him while he does it. Taking part in a rebellion against a corrupt regime isn't always glamorous, but at least sometimes there are organic farmshop pastries and fancy hotel bedsheets. Just don't ask about that smell of burning.

Along Came Potter by huldrejenta. T, 9k. Potter shows up at Draco’s flat. Then he shows up again, and again, and again.

Fuel to the Fire by @eevans22, @holygnocchi. E, 9.1k. Sure, Luna always means well. But suddenly Harry is temporarily living with the man he’s been pining over since they started Auror training, who compliments Harry’s cooking, gives him thoughtful thank you gifts, and looks indecently attractive stepping out of the shower. Something’s got to give. And Harry suspects it will be him.

Just a trial run by @tenthousandyearsx. E, 9.1k. In which Harry wants to get into sex work and Draco would prefer to keep him for himself.

Before the Cold Sets In by @crazybutgood, @vukovich. T, 9.1k. 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.

sex in trees for beginners by @phdmama. E, 9.1k. The bottle lands on Malfoy and sends out its customary poof of smoke and sparks. Harry hasn’t quite figured out the pattern, it’s not like blue means truth and red means kissing. Malfoy’s poof is a deep pink-purple and there are definitely sparks happening as well. It’s really pretty, actually, and Harry sort of loses himself in watching the colors until suddenly he realizes everyone is quiet and staring at him.  “What?” he asks, glancing around. “What did I miss?”  Malfoy sighs. “The bottle gave us a dare.”

Phoenix by @kedavranox. E, 9.2k. Harry's got a fantasy.

Starting Again by @tamerofdarkstars. T, 9.2k. Harry felt the situation rapidly slipping from his grasp and suspected he’d never really had hold of it to begin with. “You want me to be friends with Draco Malfoy because you think that will stop him from being... sad.”

“Bingo, give the boy a prize.”

The Things They Never Say by bixgirl1. E, 9.3k. Harry and Draco don't know how to talk. So they do other things instead.

to be a bit of warmth for you by softlystarstruck. M, 9.3k. As some of the only eighth years to return to Hogwarts, Harry doesn't know how he and Draco will manage to be roommates for a whole year without resorting to violence. But Draco is too quiet, and too thin, and wears layers of sweaters that he tucks over his fingers. So they fall into an unspoken routine, one that soothes Harry as much as it helps Draco, one that's so much easier than Harry thought it would be.

Until it all falls apart, and Harry realizes he holds the world in his hands.

Wooing with Woodwork by @henrymercury. T, 9.3k. According to Ron, Harry needs to make a move on Draco in the next month or he's going to receive a howler he won't want Draco to overhear.

That Draco will overhear is fairly inevitable given they're cooped up in the same DMLE office all day, or off investigating together, and they go home to the same flat at night.

All I Have to Do by @fluxweeed. E, 9.5k. The Patented Daydream Charm (Adult Edition) allows you to enter a top-quality, highly realistic thirty-minute sexual fantasy. Solitude and privacy spells advised. or: Draco finally has some alone time; Harry just needs to nip in for a book.

Sinking to Swim by @pheaphilus. T, 9.5k. When Unspeakable Malfoy gets his latest assignment at the Department of Mysteries, he can't help but curse his own luck. What are the chances that he would have to seek out the elusive Harry Potter for help?

When Draco Malfoy comes to his door, asking for his input into an ongoing project at the Ministry, Harry is skeptical. When's the last time a Malfoy did anything to help anyone but themselves, anyway?

Let Me Roll It by @lagerloutfic. E, 9.5k. “I’m not going to kiss you here,” Harry said, applying a fraction of pressure so Draco’s lips parted.  “No?” Draco said, his breath hot on Harry’s knuckle.  “No.” --- The thing about Harry was, he hated most people. And there was no one he hated more than Draco’s boyfriend Justin - certified knob and all round wanker.  So when he finds out Justin is just as selfish inside the bedroom as he is outside it, Harry can’t help himself.

Sex on Legs in Six-Inch Heels by @tessacrowley. E, 9.6k. Draco Malfoy is a brilliant freelance cursebreaker and the only one who can help the Department of Magical Law Enforcement with a very dangerous case, but more importantly, he's wearing six-inch heels, and Harry cannot handle it, he really just can't.

what if, but if, we could kiss (and just cut the rubbish) by @swisstae. E, 9.6k. “Christ, Draco, get your mouth back on me, I need you, oh God, Jesus fucking Christ,” and Draco can’t help how he shivers, the words dripping down his spine like molasses, sticky sweet blasphemous prayers in the heat of the moment. It’s enough to bring him closer to the edge, and when Harry spills down his throat, hot and bitter and musky, Draco comes with a muffled cry, his cock spurting weakly as he spills all over the floor. (Later, Harry will tease him, will whisper Christ, Malfoy, look at you, so hot for me, Jesus and Draco will come undone a second time, shaking in the safe bracket of Harry’s arms around him.) OR: Draco and Harry are not-quite-friends, but then they are. it is A Time. Ron just wishes he had bleach.

The Little Marauders Nursery and Day Care by @digthewriter. E, 9.8k. Harry Potter is the proud owner of a daycare, and his favorite student is Scorpius Malfoy. Scorpius’s dad might be okay, too.

Gryffindors Never Kiss and Tell by @drarrytrash. E, 9.9k. The gang realizes that everyone has kissed Harry except Draco. Draco proceeds to do a terrible job of pretending he doesn’t want to kiss him too. 

That's all for now 💚 Give the authors some love! I also adore hearing if you found a new favorite fic or author.

I’ll be regularly adding to this, so if you’re seeing this as a reblog, feel free to check my Master List of Recommendations for the most current list. If you see yourself and you’re not tagged, or I've got a broken or misdirected link, please let me know!

[duchessdulce]

“Lucius,” Narcissa said. She was seated at her dressing table with her wand out, watching herself in the mirror as she dropped her make-up glamours. They had to be removed at night and reapplied in the morning, or they made one’s features go blurry.

“Yes, love?” Lucius’ voice came slightly muffled from his closet, where he was changing into his night clothes.

“You’ll never guess what happened today.”

“Do tell.”

“Do you want to know?”

“I’m on the absolute edge of my seat, dearest.”

Narcissa picked up a brush and began brushing her long, yellow hair.

“You remember Bitsy’s little girl, Cilla?”

“Who?”

“Down at the village. Bitsy, at the bakery?”

“Ah, with the tarts. Yes.”

“She had a baby about a year ago. Pricilla. I told you, she looks just like Draco when he was a baby.”

“Right. Pricilla.” Lucius emerged from his closet wearing dark blue night robes. He was always handsome, tall and broad-shouldered, with his shocking white blond hair that was longer than Narcissa’s. But his night robes made him look softer. Narcissa thought he looked cuddly. She was one of very few people in the world who had ever had this thought about the usually imposing Lucius Malfoy.

“Cilla nearly had a bad fall today, off a chair,” Narcissa said. “But she caught herself. With accidental magic.”

“Are you sure?” Lucius raised his eyebrows.

“Quite sure. The chair was hovering.”

“Did the Muggles see?”

“No, I was alone with her.”

“Well.” Lucius shrugged off his surprise. “It might not be enough to get her to Hogwarts. Could be a one-off.”

“I don’t think so, it was an obvious use of magic. I could clearly see the child has power.”

“Hmm,” Lucius said.

“Louie, darling, I wish you would come with me to see her.”

“Why’s that?”

“She’s the loveliest baby, with blond hair just like Draco. She could easily be his little sister. Honestly, no one would ever guess that she wasn’t ours.”

“Cissy.” Lucius had come to stand behind her, resting his hands on her shoulders. “If you want another baby, we can make it happen. There might be new potions we can try. I could ask Sev —”

“Oh no,” Narcissa waved him off. “Who knows how many years it would take. And I hated being pregnant. The perfect little girl is already right there, and she has magic! It would be so easy, Lucius…”

“Didn’t you say she’s already a year old? People know you didn’t have a baby a year ago.”

“We could go to the continent for a few years. Stay away long enough to muddle the timeline for anyone who’s paying attention.”

“You’d have to find new tutors for Draco. His current ones may not care for the French.” Lucius assumed that she would go to France, because if it were him, he would go to France.

“Just think how much Draco’s French would improve, though,” Narcissa said.

“What about the Muggle parents? And the village? Everyone who knows of the girl’s existence?”

“We could obliviate them easily enough. Muggle minds are weak,” Narcissa said dismissively.

“That’s a lot of people.”

“Not so many. The village is small. And you and I are powerful enough.” She met his gaze in the mirror and smiled. He squeezed her shoulder affectionately, but she saw an uncertain look in his eyes. He was not quite sure if she was serious or not.

“I suppose if we raised her, she would turn out all right,” Lucius said slowly. Not like all those other mudbloods. The words went unsaid, but were understood by both.

“Exactly. We would bring her up properly,” Narcissa said.

“You know if the Ministry found out, we could go to Azkaban,” Lucius said.

“You could think of some explanation. Perhaps her parents abused her because they were afraid of her magic.”

“We could actually come out of it with our reputations improved,” Lucius said, surprised. “Look at the Malfoys, rescuing the poor little mudblood.”

“See, darling, we could make it work!” Narcissa gushed.

—Narcissa Malfoy, Fairy Godmother (a Drarry fic)

Fic updates weekly! Read more here

[pickinglilahs]

Love Languages

DRARRY X READER

1. Gift Giving

Harry shows love by giving gifts. Usually it's nights out buying the two (or even just one) of you dinner. Sometimes is coming home with something he saw that made him think of you. Your home is littered with trinkets and books and love.

2. Quality Time

Draco shows love by spending time with you both (separately or together). Sometimes its picking you up from/taking you to work. Sometimes its calling off on a random Tuesday to lie in bed together. Most often, it's reading by the fire in the evenings; paying more attention to the two of you than whichever book he picked up.

3. Physical Touch

Harry feels love through touch. He won't seek it out, but relishes in every casual touch. From hand holding, to stroking his hair, to a simple brush of the arms or legs, he loves them all. He wasn't held as a kid.

Draco, on his bad days, cannot stand to be touched. Sometimes even being in the same room with other people makes things worse. Every touch reminds him of Voldemort. It's hard for Harry because his first instinct is to wrap the boy in his arms and protect him from the memories. He's learned, through watching you though, that just sitting beside him (a few feet away) is all it takes; just enough to let him know you're there when he's ready. So Harry goes and makes tea, sets it where Draco can reach, and moves to the other side of the room to wait.

4. Words of Affirmation

Draco loves praise and encouragement and nicknames and even notes hidden in his pockets letting him know he's loved. It's better than all the times Lucius told him his work was halfway decent combined. So you and Harry take every opportunity to somether him with love, kindness, and affirmation.

Harry has days where any noise will set him off (especially loud bangs or voices even if they aren't angry or directed at him). He has noise cancelling headphones and multiple playlists on standby for whenever things get too loud. It's hard for Draco to not give in and tell Harry how much he's loved, or that those memories are from the past and can't hurt him anymore. But he's seen the way you just hold Harry's head to your chest, stroking his hair and letting him feel the rhythm of your breathing. Often, he comes and cuddles up behind Harry; nesting him in from both sides so he knows how much he's loved.

5. Acts of Service

You do all these things for your boys. You let Harry take you on dates and let Draco walk you to and from work. You praise Draco and snuggle with Harry. You stay with them on their bad days and rejoice with them on their good days. You would walk through hell and back to keep smiles on their faces.

And on your bad days, when you don't feel like you're enough. When you just want to give up and let the world go on without you; they're there for you too, and they make sure you know that they always will be.

[thedrarrylibrarian]

hey, do you know of any drarry podfics?

Hello! Your holds have arrived!

Yes, I do have some podfics for you! I love listening to a podfic while I'm puttering around the house, or even occasionally on a long trip! It's so calming to have something to keep my mind engaged while I'm doing a repetitive task.

I hope these podfics are exactly what you've been looking for! And don't forget to check out my previous Podfics list!

Podfics 2

Your Presence Against My Skin written by @bafflinghaze, read by JocundaSykes (4 min, rated G)

Nightmares are a part of Harry's life; but so is Draco.

Too Many Potters written by @phdmama, read by @reveriepi (13 min, rated T)

Draco blinks, trying to make sense of what he's seeing.

“Weasley,” he says, not taking his eyes off the sight in the cell, “why are there eleven Potters in Holding B?”

“Twelve, actually,” Weasely replies from his desk. “I think one’s tucked away back in the corner.”

Harry Potter and the Incredibly Organized Personal Assistant written by megyal, read by @HappyHanabi (22 min, rated T)

Harry Potter's new assistant is snarkily organized.

5 times Draco Malfoy lied because of Harry Potter (and 1 time he was uncharacteristically honest) written by Ingi, read by ETL_Echo (26 min, rated G)

Although Draco Malfoy had no qualms against lying, he'd been taught from a young age how to benefit the most from his lies.

His Father had repeated the same over and over again, as Draco grew up: You shall never do anything that provides you no benefit. And Draco had never broken that sacred rule of his family, mostly because he'd never felt the compulsion to do so.

Of course Harry bloody Potter would have to come tumbling and ruin it.

Five Little Things written by @bixgirl1, read by ETL_Echo (38 min, rated T)

Harry was supposed to be good at this.

Still written by alexmeg, read by @reveriepi (47 min, not rated)

Dating Draco Malfoy, Harry thinks, will mean being at arms length outside of sex. No unnecessary physical contact or displays of affection. He wants him anyway, inexplicably. Perhaps that is exactly the kind of person he should be with, someone who will never need Harry to kiss him first, because Harry doesn't think he'll ever be that person.

The Full Monty written by @magpiefngrl, read by @sweatersinthesummer (1 hour, rated E)

Harry poses for a naked Auror calendar and Draco goes batshit crazy with lust.

Pinky Promises Are Powerful Magic written by megyal, read by @reveriepi (1 hour, 11 min, rated T)

Ickle Harry wants to stay with his newest hero.

the way you make me glow written by @softlystarstruck, read by @roseszain (1 hour, 14 min, rated M)

In a cottage next to the sea, love blossoms. Or perhaps it’s been there all along.

Potter written by Quine, read by @peony-podfics (1 hour, 17 min, rated T)

"Potter," Blaise muttered, a strewn over salt shaker in front of him.

"Where?" Draco asked, searching in vain for the raven-haired saviour.

Theo was grinning as he watched their exchange.

"Well," Blaise began, "As you're so fond of blaming all your problems on Potter, I thought I'd give it a try as well."

Crimson Neon written by @xanthippe74 and read by Spades (1 hour, 42 min, rated M)

Winter, 1999. Harry thought going to New York would help him get his head on straight, but all he has to show for it are sore feet and a fridge full of takeaway containers. And now he’s homesick on top of everything else. It doesn’t help that his mysterious neighbour in 2C keeps cooking dishes that remind Harry of home and all the people he lost or left behind.

Human written by @ghaniblue, read by @reveriepi (3 hours, rated E)

Harry isn't dealing well with being bitten and turned into a werewolf. Draco isn't dealing well with Harry packing up and leaving like a thief in the night. Things come to a head in a forest cabin in the German Ore Mountains.

Never Grow a Wishbone written by @shanastoryteller, read by SeaSage (10 hours, 41 min, rated T)

Draco returns to Hogwarts.

He has a duty to his blood and his name and his house, and he will fulfill it.

Always Already written and read by @aibidil (19 hours, 45 min, rated E)

Harry and Draco are perfectly fine, separately minding their business in 2004, when the Unspeakables conscript them into service... in the First War against Voldemort.

Come for mutual pining and forced proximity in a 1980 hotel room, stay for young Sirius and philosophising about immortality and wormholes. And an eighties cowboy soap opera.

❤️ As always, if you find a fic you enjoy, please remember to leave the author a kudos or a comment! ❤️

Lots of Love and Happy Reading!

[emsuemsu]

I hope you're all doing well and fine and I send lots of love especially for those who struggle in a way or another during the holidays. 💖

Personally I feel a bit indifferent about the holidays; not that many good memories of them, and I’m used to work my way through Christmas (I love the vibes at work on Christmas). This is the first Christmas in over 10 years I’m not with the meemaws and peepaws at work and I don’t know what am I supposed to doooo. Probably read some tooth-rotting holiday fluff laced with some festive smut while downing some glögi, so here we go. Some of these are from 25 days of harry and draco, run don’t walk to check out this year’s (and the previous!) advent fics. So cute, so good. Here's some of my favorites:

The best Christmas he ever had by @gnarf ❄️ 1,965 words

Christmas had never been less appealing to him than this year. That was until Arthur Weasley showed up at his door, dressed as Santa, inviting him to the Burrow.

I'm absolutely weak for the Christmas at the Burrow-trope, and this little story definitely hits all the right boxes. It's warm, adorable, cute, everything you need and more.

be your night by panicparade ❄️ 29,050 words

“Ah, you must be little Teddy Lupin!” Harry frowns, that voice sounds oddly familiar. Shaking himself he turns to face the newcomer, plastering a smile on his face that promptly disappears as he takes in the man in front of him. “Malfoy?” alternatively, The one where Draco Malfoy is a kindergarten teacher and Harry definitely needs to keep an eye on him. Closely.

I strongly feel that a fic with some cute Teddy-content never misses. This fic starts in the fall and continues all the way to New Years Eve and has some disgustingly good fluff and domestic vibes. All in all an easy and cozy read for the holiday season.

Changing with the season by @harryromper ❄️ 36,225 words

Harry's determined the first time he hosts the extended Weasley clan for Christmas will be a success. The Grimmauld Place advent calendar has other ideas ... until Draco shows up to help. A 25 Days of Draco and Harry story.

Adorable, warm, funny, very very festive. Definitely hits all the holiday spirit needs.

The Curious Case of the Disappearing Stockings by @thealmostrhetoricalquestion ❄️ 11,549 words

It's Harry's Eighth Year, he's surrounded by Slytherins, and Christmas Stockings are going missing all over Hogwarts. At the risk of being mocked ruthlessly, Harry won't verbally declare that Malfoy probably has something to do with it, but... well, Malfoy definitely has something to do with it.

This was such a fun little fic. The dynamics between Harry and the Slytherins were amazing, and the stocking fiasco was just too adorable. And there's just something about the holidays in Hogwarts for me personally. Very sweet and endearing.

Eight Drarry Nights-series by @phoebe-delia ❄️ 9 works, 6078 words in total

This is a series of fics based on prompts given to me on Tumblr, one for each night of Hanukkah! The prompts aren't all and don't have to be related to Hanukkah and/or Judaism; some are and some aren't.

This is the perfect series to read at bedtime, having some fuzzy socks on, a warm blanket up to your ears and snow falling silently outside. Like said in the description, all of the little fics are not festive but I think the big picture gives all the holiday vibes I'm craving for.

Forever Was a Lie by @thesleepiesthufflepuff & art by dustmouth ❄️ 22,001 words

After breaking up with Charlie, Harry heads to Rome for Christmas to search for answers to a previous heartbreak. What he doesn’t expect is for Draco, the man who broke his heart five years ago, to be running the bed and breakfast he’s staying at.

Now this is not a traditional holiday fic per se, but a bittersweet, angsty, second chances story that takes place over Christmas in Rome. It has this wistful feel throughout and is right up my alley. I devoured this and it left me feeling all warm and fuzzy in the end. Also the gorgeous art really puts the whole thing together.

The Hogwarts Book of Carols by @p1013 ❄️ 45,991 words

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the place, Not even Kreacher was stirring, too snug in his space; The mantle was empty, not a stocking in sight And Harry had gone to bed for the night; He sat, unhappy, wrapped tight in his bed As visions of loved ones danced in his head; Meanwhile at the Manor, Draco stood in the snow And smoked a cigarette, no light but its glow; Two men, more like boys, distant and sad With only the lonely times that they had. When what to their wondering eyes did appear, But a future so bright, so distant and clear It was just out of reach, a handsbreadth away Unless they both made a choice on this day To take what they wanted, perhaps with a shove Before falling, falling, falling in love.

I felt actual physical pain reading this, watching the years go by and Christmases to pass. But it was a good pain, the kind I crave for especially at this time of year. Slowest of slow burns, endearing, touching and funny friends to lovers holiday excursion. Loved this.

How to Handle Hannukah by Blowfish_Diaries ❄️ 10,445 words

Harry and Draco have decided to cohabitate. And to throw a Hannukah party. Enter latkes, spreadsheets, and Pansy beating everyone at dreidel. This is a fluffy, domestic fic to celebrate the holiday season and add another chapter to the "How to Handle a Matzo Ball Soup Emergency" series.

This is a sequel to the amazing "How to Handle a Matzo Ball Soup Emergency" and one of my absolute favorites along with the first part. I highly recommend to read the first part, but I think this works as a standalone aswell. It's incredibly well-written with fluff to die for and some class a smut, everything you need for the holiday season, even though today the 15th of December I’m posting this is the last day of Hanukkah. A definite must-read along with the first part.

Love, Actually, is All Around by @punk-rock-yuppie ❄️ 9,975 words

"General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed—but I don't see that—seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified, or newsworthy—but it's always there." —Love Actually, 2003 It's Christmastime, and Harry has just started as the new Minister of Magic. It just so happens that Draco works in his office as well, a holdover from Kingsley's tenure. Naturally, love is in the air.

Now hold up. Love Actually is one of my favorite movies and oh how I love this fic. Adorable and cute packed with holiday vibes.

A Melody of You & Me by @academicdisasterfic ❄️ 64,838 words

Draco Malfoy has a Christmas choir competition to win, and Harry Potter has an orphanage that needs funding. When Luna Lovegood intervenes, they agree to help each other out: Harry will join the choir if Draco chooses to sponsor his charity. But agreeing to work together also means getting to know each other again - in new and unexpected ways. Ft. a chaotic festive choir, scheming friends, a healthy dose of mental health issues, one very irritating ex, and boys learning how to love and be loved.

I’m swooning over this fic. It has the perfect ratio of angst, fluff, hurt, comfort, smut and holiday vibes. It made me laugh, it made me cry. It's so incredibly lovely and definitely a must-read every holiday season.

My True Love Gave to Me (Six Jars of Chutney) by @goldentruth813 ❄️ 12,311 words

On his first post-divorce Christmas Eve without his children, Harry goes to Marks & Spencer hoping to find a bit of his past; what he finds instead is a future.

What got to me most in this fic was that little part in the beginning about Harry's trip to London as a kid with Petunia. It really punched me in the gut and got me tearing up. The whole story was sweet and Harry's thoughts and feelings were written out so beautifully.

The Red Jumper by toomuchplor ❄️ 14,907 words

Draco's plans for Christmas Eve are as follows: 1 - Sleep as long as possible 2 - Have sex 3 - Drink wine 4 - Eat too much food 5 - Repeat above It’s just gone eight in the morning when Harry begins to derail Draco’s plans. In which Draco has his first Christmas with Harry, Ginny has (more) news, Albus gets a girlfriend, Scorpius gets in a strop, Lily is a horrible teen, James is unexpectedly an adult, and Harry wears a red Christmas jumper that may once have belonged to Godric Gryffindor, judging by its appearance.

I love this so much. Made me feel so safe and warm and festive, a certified holiday vibe. All the coziness you need this time of year in a pretty little package.

Wrapped by @fluxweeed ❄️ 10,313 words

“Harry,” Draco said slowly. “You understand how Christmas presents work, don’t you?” Harry attempted a smile. “Well, I thought I did until about ten minutes ago.”

The mother of all holiday smut 😌

You Make It Feel Like Christmas by gglow ❄️ 52,163 words

At thirty years old, Draco Malfoy has successfully obtained a reputable degree in Ancient Languages, has proceeded to shut himself into the basement of London Library as their Head of Archives, and is wilfully nursing a problematic relationship with a man Blaise eloquently describes as “a sleazy piece of trash”. So yes, he’s got it all worked out, ta ever so. It’s only too bad that when Harry Potter—the youngest Head Auror in a century—happens to need Draco’s help with a case, a string of encounters ensues that turn Draco’s pre-perceptions of him on their head. To make matters even worse, Potter brings Draco tea, and carries his bags, and says things that are much too straightforward for comfort. And if it makes Draco question why he ever hated the speccy git in the first place, well, that’s no one else’s business but Draco’s… right? Will flying South for Christmas spare Draco from heartache? And does it make sense to salvage the dwindling fire with his elusive beau, or will the kindle of a new flame give Christmas a whole new meaning?

This is the epitome of a holiday fic. ALL the feels and more. I was grinning from ear to ear reading this. The flirting!!! Love love love.

[sitp-recs]

Heyy, do you have any drarry fic recs wherein Harry is living his quiet life in a cottage? Thank youu :D

Hi anon, yes absolutely! I love this trope, you’ll find most of my recs on this recluse!Harry list and this cottagecore list. I’m adding a few more fics below, all of them with Harry as the cottage owner. Envoy!

Glowing by @cavendishbutterfly (T, 10k)

Harry's lived alone and vampiric in his cottage for ages, until a long-lived Draco Malfoy suddenly shows up to answer an advertisement Harry had practically forgotten he'd put in the Prophet. Cue soft blood drinking, quiet nights of reading and crocheting, and Harry thinking that maybe--just maybe--he might not be so alone anymore.

Twelve Moons by @corvuscrowned (T, 27k)

Harry Potter lives a quiet life, running an inn with his two best friends. Once a month, Draco Malfoy comes to stay. A real-time fic that takes place over the course of a year; updates every full moon.

Simulation Theory by @starquestingfordrarry (E, 35k)

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

All Roads by korlaena, Saulaie (M, 36k)

Draco hates his job at the Prophet. He hates it even more when he’s assigned to write an article on Harry Potter, who left the country three years ago after their falling out. Draco doesn’t want to face the truth about himself, but he’s stuck between Harry and his duty, and he’s out of options.

Starlight in the Void by @dodgerkedavra (E, 40k)

An overgrown cottage in an unassuming seaside village is the perfect place for Harry Potter’s fresh start. Harry gets two weeks of peace before he hears rumors of a mysterious hermit wizard who lives in a stone tower in the woods.

Through the May Air, Over the Ocean by tsauergrass (T, 45k)

Draco Malfoy never expected to find himself in Scotland or being stuck in a cottage with Potter—but wonders never cease. A story about warmth, a story about falling back in love. A story about a flock of sheep in the distant fells of Scotland.

The Bolthole by aideomai, Tepre (E, 54k)

Harry is a hoarder, Draco is grief-stricken, and both are capable human adults who can definitely spend a month in a cottage in the Cotswolds together without ever talking about the time they slept together in eighth year. Yeah, no, totally.

When It Alteration Finds by momatu (E, 55k)

After the war, Harry left most of the Wizarding world behind and built a new life for himself in the Channel Islands. He opened a bakery and is happy with his life. Draco is a fiction author who writes under a penname, and he's currently suffering from writer's block. His agent suggests he try writing in a new environment and rents a cottage in the Channel Islands for him.

A Sword Laid Aside by @korlaena (E, 128k)

When Draco’s cover is blown during a deep undercover operation and the Ministry is compromised, Ron takes Draco to the only safe place he can think of—Potter. Hiding out with a taciturn Harry Potter, who has been missing from the Wizarding World for almost two decades after a shocking fall from grace, is nothing like Draco thought it would be.

Bonus: a dark!Harry fic 😈

Now I Wake Up In The Night and Watch You Breathe by @hoko-onchi-writes (E, 24k)

Or: Harry has been pining for years. It's time he finally makes his dreams come true.

[wolfpants]

nightcall (drarry, 1058 words)

Thank you to @getawayfox for the amazing art for this little piece I wrote for kinkuary! Give her post some love here ❤️‍🔥 Rated: E / nsfw Tags: Unspeakable!Drarry, begging, phone sex, dirty talk, masturbation, FWB, colleagues to lovers, pining, light bdsm On a top secret Unspeakable misson, Harry calls Draco from a remote phone booth on the Isle of Skye. ao3 link here, or keep reading

❤️‍🔥🖤📞🏍🥀

“What are you looking at right now?”

“Castle ruins. The sea. The moon. Dark road.”

“Have you got somewhere to sleep?”

A pause.

“Harry?”

“Hm?”

“Have you got somewhere to sleep?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ve got somewhere to sleep. Don’t worry.”

Draco’s breath crackles against Harry’s ear. 

If Harry closes his eyes—shuts off the road, the barren hills, the moonlight sparkling against the shore—he can pretend Draco’s right here with him. 

He can pretend Draco’s huffing gently into his ear, murmuring against his throat like he might if they were alone together in the same room.

“That’s all I do,” Draco whispers dryly. “Arsehole.”

They shouldn’t even be talking. It’s against code. They could lose their jobs. 

The Ministry doesn't know how to tap Muggle telephone boxes, but Draco and Harry know better than to talk about work outside of Level Nine. So Harry doesn’t ask Draco if he’s still working on those files and old tomes he keeps under deadly protection magic in The Manor. He doesn’t ask if he stayed in the office all night again and forgot to eat dinner. 

“Does my voice sound normal?” Draco asks when Harry doesn’t respond to the bait of his insult. 

“Your voice has never sounded normal.” 

Harry is curled over the telephone desk. He runs his finger over the edges of the BT directory. He pulls back the cover to read it.

THE PHONE BOOK: HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS 2003/2004

Almost ten years out of date.

“Fuck you,” comes Draco’s predictably plummy-edged response.

“Fuck you,” Harry repeats, grinning. He shifts his weight from one hip to the other. His riding leathers, softened and moulded to his body like a second skin, crease and rasp gently. His helmet is by his feet, his bike outside on the gravel; headlight on, casting the winding road ahead in ghostly bleached light. Its engine gently purrs into the night, reminding him that they need to keep this catch up brief.

“No, really,” Draco says, dropping his voice back to a whisper. His breath puffs against the receiver.

“You’re smoking.” Harry leans against the glazed side of the box and drops his head back against the glass panes. 

“I’m outside, no one’s going to die,” Draco murmurs.

Harry closes his eyes again and pictures Draco standing on the lawn in Wiltshire. Mobile phone to ear, screen glowing against his face, cheeks pink from the cold. Surrounded by shadowed hedges and sculpted water features, smoke pluming from his lips, creeping up towards the starry sky. His hair is pulled into a knot on the back of his head. Or perhaps it’s loose, and the breeze is moving it around the sharp slopes of his cheeks.

“You look sexy when you smoke. You sound great. I miss you,” Harry says in three steady beats.

Draco won’t return the words. He never does. But Harry knows he feels them. 

That he misses them too. Whatever—they are.

Work partners. Friends. More than friends sometimes. Less than friends other times.

Another soft breath. “Are you alone?”

“I’m on the tip of Skye looking at the North Atlantic. I’m very alone. I can’t even remember the last time I saw a tree.”

“Then,” Draco huffs gently—an inhale, a sharp exhale, the sound of his shoes clicking against pavement. He’s walking through the hedge maze. “Fuck you.”

Harry licks his lips. “Yeah?” He cups himself over his leather trousers. Slides his thumb over the shifting head of his cock as it grows closer towards his hip.

Draco hums, deep and smooth. Harry tilts his hips up in a slow fuck against his fingers, heat spreading, sharp and singular, between his legs. “God I want you,” he rasps, closing his eyes. The flutter of pale hair. Draco’s lovely lips wrapping around the filter of his cigarette. The way he kisses, dirty and like he means it.

“You have to ask for it nicely first, Potter.” Another inhale. “You can’t just take what you want. Especially from me.”

Harry balances the phone between his shoulder and his ear and fumbles with the zip of his leathers. “Please,” he whispers. 

Draco hums again, louder this time, almost a moan but not quite. “Tell me what you want."

“I want you to sit on my face,” Harry says on a breath. His leathers are open as far as the zip will let him. He rucks up the t-shirt he wears underneath, enough to get into the waistband of his pants. His cock is already poking out the top, tip wet and swollen. He stares blearily at the beam of light outside, at the empty hills and sparkling water, fingers teasing himself in a slow, deliberate stroke.

Draco inhales sharply. “What was that?”

“I want you to sit on my face—please.” Harry licks his lips, circling his thumb over the wet head of his prick. “Want you to ride my mouth, my tongue. Take what you want from me. God, I want that so badly.”

“You like being suffocated, don’t you, you sick pup,” Draco whispers.

“Yeah,” Harry chokes out. “P—please.”

“And your tongue always feels so damn good. Maybe if you eat me good enough I could ride your cock. Would you like that?”

Harry groans, already so close. His leathers squeak and crease, and his elbow knocks against the glass behind him as he strokes his length up and down, balls drawing up tight.

“You’d have to stay still, though."

“Yes,” Harry breathes, picturing it now, like the countless times Draco has held him down—by the chest, the arms, the neck, sometimes—while he bounces up and down on his cock until they both come, sweaty and breathless.

“Are you touching yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“I want to come.”

“Maybe I wouldn’t come riding you,” Draco whispers.

“Draco…”

“Maybe I’d climb off you after you’ve spilled deep inside me, and we could switch. Maybe I could fuck the come out of you again, because you’re a dirty, needy little sl—”

Harry comes with a sharp, bitten off cry.

It spills down his fingers, splashes onto his t-shirt.

Draco chuckles. Harry hears him light another cigarette. “Good boy,” he croons.

“Fuck you,” Harry says with a breathless laugh, his head spinning. He gazes at the night sky through the foggy pane of glass above his head.

“Soon,” Draco whispers.

[smehur]

Drarry fic recs #4

Marginal Notes by @blamebrampton

When you're 18, and nothing is as it was meant to be, sometimes it can be hard to let the right people know what you are thinking. Thankfully, Draco Malfoy owns a quill.

What a delightful story! I loved the thoughtful, grounded, calm Draco and how well he applied his wit (and the penchant for fixing things?) to solving other people's problems. It's a bit on the side of wishful thinking - I don't really believe someone could change that much over night - but it's nice wishful thinking that I enjoyed and would happily inflict on myself again. Among other things, I enjoyed the crisp, flawless writing. It's not often the editor in me wouldn't change a single word in a fic. I very much plan to read BB's entire catalogue.

The Boy from the Piano Shop by @soliblomst

After going blind in a reckless attempt to avenge Ginny's death, Harry battles with severe depression. One day, he stumbles upon a quaint piano restoration shop in the heart of London and meets the owner, a kindly old man, and his introverted young apprentice, whose voice sounds strangely familiar. As Harry and Draco slowly reconnect through private piano lessons, the small workshop becomes Harry's refuge, offering him a glimmer of hope in a world without eyes.

Finally got to read this fic everyone's talking about. And for good reasons! It's heartbreaking and wholesome, starkly realistic and hopelessly romantic, all at once. I'm often annoyed by shallow depictions of low self-esteem that goes with depression, especially when it's used as an artificial obstacle in the way of romance ("I'm not good enough for you, so even though I love you, I'm breaking up"), and this is one of the few stories (by which I mean all my reading, not just fanfiction) where I could completely believe it, and sympathize with it. (Bonus points for not being used as an obstacle in the way of romance.) The general lack of obstacles in the way of romance was incredibly refreshing and welcome, as was the lack of drama around the revelation that Harry Potter is secretly friends with Draco Malfoy. Everything is very mature, to the point where I think the story would be better set in their 30s than in their 20s, but I didn't mind. Harry's grief is all-present and at times, harrowing, but never gratuitous, and it's well-balanced by the peace and joy he finds in Draco's company. The two scenes where Draco unexpectedly dons a scarf are etched in my memory forever. An incredible piece.

i stay by @hogwartsfirebolt

The darkening sky is dangerous for the shape of Harry’s desire, it makes it seem reasonable, as though it were a natural conclusion of having Draco once again within reach, rather than the mirage it actually is.

I said it before, and I'll say it again: this fic is exquisite. Tense and tender in perfect proportion and filled with a dazzling array of sensory details that painted each scene like a work of art. Although I could see what was coming in the end (thanks to expert foreshadowing), the finale still stole my breath away. A wonderful read!

All Life is Yours to Miss by Saras_Girl & podfic by originally

Professor Malfoy's world is contained, controlled, and as solitary as he can make it, but when an act of petty revenge goes horribly awry, he and his trusty six-legged friend are thrown into Hogwarts life at the deep end and must learn to live, love and let go.

Oh, this was such a joy to listen. I think I had a smile on my face for the whole duration of the podfic (about 12 hours), minus the few minutes when there were tears instead. I don't know where to start with the praise. The meticulously constructed world of Draco's self-imposed loneliness? The supporting cast of interesting and well-rounded original characters? The tangible, eminently relatable trials and tribulations of a teacher's life? Or maybe the deceptively simple concept at the root of the story, allowing Draco to break out of his shell on his own? Oh, how I love this gentle, fragile, vulnerable Draco hiding behind impatience and aloofness and his sharp tongue. And the fearless, unstoppable Harry, his bouts of bad temper and his naked honesty. And Stanley, with that inevitable, ill-timed tack-tack-tack! Everything felt so true, so real, so close, I felt just as exposed and frightened as Draco, just as desperate at his inability to make a move. I know I said this half a dozen times by now since I started reading fic in this fandom, but I can't help it. This may be the best fic I've ever read.

Correction! The best fic I've ever heard! The reading was impeccable, possibly the best I've heard so far, and infused the story with even more life and love and laughter. A beautiful, unforgettable experience.

Heartbeat by @saxamophone (eight_of_wands)

Harry hates Draco. Draco hates Harry. Only it's not hate, not even a little bit. Featuring: a cooperative independent study, golden hour on wrecked sheets, water from fountains of dubious origin, purple Mardi Gras beads, and a bird with silly legs. Also featuring: heated arguments, infidelity, unquenchable desire, and heartbreak. Over and over again.

I'll be honest: this fic did not grip me at once. I could even say I struggled through the first few stances. But then came the understanding of what "I hate you" means and I read on with eyes wide and heart thumping (Malfoy, Malfoy, Malfoy) and I was so very richly rewarded. Among all the things I loved about it, the most memorable are the incredibly vivid images and impressions of New Orleans, and the moment of searing, all-consuming jealous rage that I regret to say I could relate to all too well. The confrontations were exquisite, the dialog sparking with tension and more importantly, with truth. There's no melodrama here to create suspense, it's all raw and real and indeed, heartbreaking. But hearts can mend. :)

Many, many, heartfelt thanks to all the authors in this amazing fandom and to all the readers helping spread the word. 💞