I Can't Stop Reading About The Same Two Idiots Falling In Love

Me 🤝 Dramione

Oh hey! I am no longer a one-hit wonder! I am back from my nine month hiatus (oops) and hope to be publishing regularly. Since I am not sticking to an editorial schedule, I’ve made all posts free for the time being—yay!

Now back to more important stuff…idiots in love.

These are the idiots in question

If you follow me on Instagram, you are aware of my on-going obsession with fanfic, specifically Harry Potter fanfic. More specifically Dramione fanfic. If you are like, ya, lost me, Kendall, don’t worry. I’ll get you up to speed.

Minor Harry Potter spoiler below.

Dramione is an alternate universe where Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy end up together, rather than Hermione and Ron and Draco and Astoria (barf). The most well-known fanfic in this genre is Manacled by SenLinYu. (Pssst, SenLinYu is becoming a published author and is removing Manacled at the end of Dec. Run, don’t walk to download the PDF to print or MOBI version for your Kindle.) I was unprepared for what I was about to experience. If crystal meth had a literary doppelgänger, it would be this fic. One hit and you’re hooked.

Seeing the characters I grew up with in a dark, more mature narrative that was incredibly nuanced, heartbreaking, and clever, was something I did not have on 2024 bingo card, but I found myself voraciously reading the 600+ devastating pages of Manacled.

And thus my obsession with Dramione fanficion was forged through tears, trauma, and awe.

I love the creativity and variation that fan fiction offers. The characters are kind of the same, but malleable—the situations, experiences and even personality alter slightly with each story. Perhaps it’s because I was a big Barbie fan as a kid that obviously manifested into a Sims obsession as I got older.

And it’s refreshing after reading so many formulaic published works.

I surmise that because fanfic is such “low-stakes” AKA no bottom line, no corporate editor/publisher breathing down an author’s neck regarding sales and that it’s just fans celebrating their love of these characters in a unique way that makes these stories so unique and impactful. I mean SenLinYu started Manacled on her phone’s Notes app.

I say this regarding all fan fiction genres, (because there’s a lot out there and I am very late to this party that definitely started on Wattpad) but also want to give a shout out to the 60k plus members of the Dramione fan fic fb group I am a member of—I’m definitely not alone in this and there is definitely something special about Dramione fan fiction.

Not this.

And Ron? He can’t come to the phone right now, ‘cause he’s dead. (To me.) Listen, book Ron isn’t that bad, but movie Ron? Atrocious. I refuse to acknowledge him beyond this point.

ANYWAY.

What this longwinded introduction is leading to are a few of my favorite Dramione fan fics to recommend to you!

But before that, I’ll answer my most asked question when I do my Dramione sales pitch: Do I need to know a lot about Harry Potter? My answer? Kind of…you definitely need to know some of the world building and magic terms. You’ll definitely need to know some of the main characters, but I completely erased certain characters from my head (Parvati Patil, I’m lookin’ at you) and I was able to follow. I did end up rewatching the movies after Manacled, which has helped jog my memory of canon plot lines in my continued voracious fanfic obsession.

Without further ado, here are my favorite reads from 2024.

Come on in the water’s fine.

(Don’t worry every single one of these recommendations features these idiots figuring out they have feelings for each other.)

Manacled (Duh.) What if Voldemort won? That is what this story goes on to answer. And does so in the most heartbreaking, yet enthralling way possible. It’s dark and beautiful. I really wish I could erase my brain and reread it for the first time again. The last line is devastating and keeps me up at night, but DON’T PEEK. It packs such a powerful punch if you arrive to it at the end.

The Auction FYI This is also being removed from AO3 by the end of the year. This is another dark AU (alternative universe) post-war story. Similar to Manacled, but different. (I adore Nice Narcissa™.) It is CRIMINAL that there is no epilogue for this story, but it is part of a trio called The Rights and Wrongs. It’s a little confusing, but basically The Right Thing To Do and All The Wrong Things are separate from The Auction in that Voldemort fails in those stories. One story is from Hermione’s perspective and the other from Draco’s. And of course they’re both idiots who eventually fall in love. It’s a really great balm after finishing The Auction.

Bring Him to His Knees Draco has an animated dragon tattoo across his back in this one. Need I say more? This was the perfect mixture of dark and light and even though I am a Harry/Ginny shipper, I really loved the dynamic of Pansy and Harry. (FYI: For this fic you’ll unfortunately need an AO3 account to access. It’s pretty easy to sign up, but it takes about two to three weeks to get approved, but once you are, you’ll be able to access this.)

Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being In Love The absolute GOAT. This is such a fun read and so creative. “These fucking nuns.” – Draco Malfoy

Oops! I Joined the Good Guys I did not know I needed to know the physical reaction of Rodolphus LeStrange touching Umbridge, but I in fact did. I aspire to write something that is this laugh out loud funny. Roxy also wrote The Hogwarts Photography Club, which is next on my TBR.

The List This is LIGHT. If you adore The Holiday, you’ll love this. Fuck Ron.

Remain Nameless This surprised me! I honestly feel like this portrayal of Draco is the most canon when it comes to how he’s portrayed in the final three movies. Lots of self-loathing and figuring out his place in the world after everything.

Measure of a Man I really loved this story, but it is slow. This is one of the longer fics. It’s 588k words. To put that into perspective The Odyssey is 198k. So when I say it’s a slow burn, it’s SLOW. But I listened to it as a podfic for all of my walks this summer and fall and it kept me very entertained. Scorpius has my heart. ❤️

I haven’t worked up the courage to read Secrets and Masks yet.

What else is currently on my Dramione TBR? I’m so glad you asked.

This is my running list as of 12/22. Honestly? I add to it daily, but I fear anything more would be overwhelming even to an obsessed psycho like myself, so I plan to prioritize these in 2025.

In related news: 2025 is looking BRIGHT.

So now you know what I’ve been up to for the past nine months. Really exciting stuff if I do say so myself.

But what are your thoughts? Did I convince you to dip your toe in the water of HP fanfic? It’s okay if I didn’t. Reading is subjective.

But I am always correct in *my* assessment. 😉

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Oh good. Substack has just informed me that I used up my entire word count on Dramione.

If you enjoyed this, please share with friends, family, and foes alike.

I’ll be back in the new year with a full issue of Natural Selection.

Until then, I’d love to know: for my fellow book lovers/readers, would you rather have an FB group or a Discord group where we can continue this TBR discussion (beyond Dramione, I promise!)? Comment on this post or DM me on Instagram!