I’ve been a long time fan and shipper of Dramione so I’m so excited to be talking about it today in my Potterhead July post. Potterhead July is a month-long celebration of Harry Potter, hosted by Aentee @ Read at Midnight.
Draco Malfoy is my favourite character in the Harry Potter series, and of course Hermione was my childhood heroine. Naturally my teenage self shipped the two of them and I spent most of my high school years reading Dramione fanfiction on harrypotterfanfiction.com. I remember going to the school library early in the morning and printing off one-shots or chapters of longer stories so I could read them during class. I remember doing particularly badly in science one year because I sat in the back corner of the room and read about Draco and Hermione instead. It’s a bit of a wonder that my career is in scientific research to be honest…
There are certain tropes that appear in Dramione fanfiction over and over again. And these are tropes that I continue to love to this day. In fact, a lot of these tropes I will actively look for in books that I’m reading regardless of whether it’s fantasy or contemporary. Unfortunately, a lot of the fanfics that I read in the past are now unavailable and I haven’t been keeping up to date with new fics so I can’t really give many recommendations 😦
FROM HATE TO LOVE
I absolutely love the enemies to lovers trope. This was probably my favourite kind of plotline when I was reading Dramione fanfic as a teen. I think the reason for this is because a hate to love kind of story allows for lots of great development (if done well), and in some cases, lots of great banter between the characters. Any story where Draco and Hermione go from hating each other, to becoming friends and realising that they’re made for each other is a win in my book. And to be honest, it’s a fool-proof method. I mean, look at Pride and Prejudice and how well-loved it is.
Some of my favourite books right now have a hate to love romance, like What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick, Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, and Blue and Gansey from The Raven Cycle.
FORBIDDEN LOVE
Obviously Draco and Hermione are from rival houses, which makes any relationship they have kind of forbidden. And I love the forbidden relationship or star-crossed lovers storyline. It’s secretive, passionate and sometimes angsty, which I’m a huge fan of 😀 If there’s a story where Draco and Hermione have to keep their relationship secret from Harry and Ron or the Malfoys, I’m there!
I have so many forbidden romance favourites but two of my absolutely favourites are The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore and My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick. And of course, this explains why I love Cassandra Clare’s books so much! Ooh and The Winner’s Trilogy!
SECOND CHANCES
I love Dramione fanfics that take place after Hogwarts and after the war. And this is because I love a good redemption arc or a second chance story. I feel like there isn’t as much angst in these stories and they’re more just feel-good stories about someone who’s done some bad things and wanting to make up for it. Also I love reading about an older Draco who isn’t as bratty as the school-kid Draco. An additional bonus to post-Hogwarts second chance stories is that usually Draco and Hermione have the support and approval of their friends and family, which allows for a greater focus on the romance itself and not on the little things going on in the background. But of course, I love second chance romances set in Hogwarts too because second chances are just the best! If you’re looking for great post-war Dramione fanfiction, Anne M. Oliver on FF.net has some great ones.
Of course, I love Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson and the romance in Illuminae.
ARRANGED MARRIAGES
And finally, arranged marriages. In Dramione fanfiction, I love reading stories where a new marriage law requires purebloods to marry muggle-borns. Inheritance requirements have the same idea too I guess. This is a little bit similar to the hate to love trope but I like the idea of putting them in the same room and getting them to just deal with it. Or you know, just make out HAHA. I remember reading and loving one years ago called A Dowry of a Single Galleon. I’d like to reread it one day because I’m pretty sure I’ll still love it now.
The first favourite novels that come to mind with the arranged marriage or forced marriage trope is The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh and A Court of Thorns and Roses (which I actually liked before ACOMAF ruined the whole series for me).
But even though I love these tropes, I’ll pretty much read anything where Draco treats Hermione like a princess. Cos I can replace her with myself in my mind HAHAHA XD
Check out the Potterhead July schedule here! You don’t want to be missing out on other great Harry Potter-themed posts.
Reading with Jenna || book blog 
I’m a total sucker for the hate to love and arranged marriage tropes as well! It’s probably because I like to see the best in people and give them second chances. I recently finished writing the first draft of a novel that I’ve been working on in which I try to do the whole hate to love relationship between two of my characters and man is it tough to write.
While I didn’t ship Draco and Hermione when reading the books as I grew up, I do now like reading fan fiction that pairs them together. If you’re looking to read some great HP FanFiction, here’s a list.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/annamenta/shut-up-theyre-so-in-love-i-cant-even?utm_term=.ctpKzlxYl#.mhjDb9kG9
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Ooh thanks for the list of fanfic recommendations! I’ve been a little bit out of the HP fanfic loop in recent years but looking to get back into reading more Dramione soon!
I love all of these tropes so much! There’s just something super appealing about hate to love storylines because there are so many ways that it can be done and the development that you see in the characters and their relationship is amazing. Hehe, I hope the one in your novel is going well and not giving you too much trouble.
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Oh my god what did I just read? (LOL KIDDING BUT DRAMIONE MADE ME CRINGE 😥 Ron+Hermione 4ever)
I absolutely LOVE the hate->love trope and arranged marriages too! If you haven’t checked it out, Laura Thalassa writes a really awesome series called “The Queen of All That Dies” and it has those two tropes in them. Serious shipping occurs in those books ;).
Awesome post!
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Haha to be honest, I’ve never understood Ron and Hermione. Ron was such a jerk to her pretty much the whole time! Though to be fair, I haven’t reread the entire series since I was much younger so maybe I’ll feel differently now… Doubt it. I’ll always be pro-Dramione XD
Oooh I just looked up The Queen of All That Dies and it looks really good! Will definitely try to get my hands on it.
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Oh my goodness, I have a soft spot for Dramione fanfiction. (Then again I also love Lucissa fanfiction…so I kinda just love the entire family.)
This is an awesome post! It’s making my Potterhead-self so happy!
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I love Lucissa too! The Malfoys are just amazing. I really love Dramione fanfic that heavily features the Malfoys or is set at Malfoy manor. There’s just something super appealing about that family!
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I know. I mean they are pure blood snobs but I get the feeling that if Narcissa had her way…they would be out of the whole mess.
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This is awesome Jenna – I had no idea you were a Dramione fan. 😀 I’m not a big fan of fanfiction myself (oh dear), but I love the fact that you got these certain preferences through fanfic. GIVE ME ALL THE HATE TO LOVE ROMANCE I WILL GOBBLE THAT STUFF UP SO FAST
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HATE TO LOVE IS MY JAM. I literally cannot have enough of it. Just put me in a room with all the hate to love romances in the world and I’ll be happy.
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Awwww I loved reading this post and your point of view of why you loved Dramione so much! It’s interesting seeing the elements of their relationships and how that has inspired you to look for those same elements in fiction.
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I honestly didn’t realise how much my previous fanfiction experiences have affected my reading preferences these days either until I was putting together this post! It was definitely interesting to reflect back on it and see how it’s made me the reader I am today. Dramione 4eva ❤
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I love the way you laid out this post and the tropes that you’ve come to appreciate from loving Dramione. I am a fan of a lot of these tropes, especially the Hate to Love and the redemption themes, because who does not love a good antihero? Draco totally got the short end of the stick in terms of characterisation in HP7, thank goodness for fanfic. His character development was so amazing in HP6, why, JKR?! And thank you for all the book recs along with it!!
Thank you so much for joining PotterheadJuly *squishes you*
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I KNOWWW. He was so neglected in HP7 T_T. Luckily I had all those fanfiction authors who rewrote it for us Draco lovers 😀 Ahhh I’m so glad you liked the post. It took me a while to come up with the topic and I was so unsure the whole time I was writing it.
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Great post nice to meet another HP hardcore fan 🙂
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Thanks! I love the entire Potterhead July event. It’s been wonderful reminiscing about my HP fangirling days 😀
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Haha. Great post. It made me smile a lot. I am conventional though.I love the Ron Hermoine pair
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Ew. Haha just kidding. But I really didn’t understand Ron and Hermione in the books. He was so mean to her all the time T_T. I guess I just didn’t like Ron’s character in the books. But I have to admit that I haven’t reread the entire series since HP7 came out and my impression of Ron has probably changed since I’m much older now.
Who am I kidding? I will always love Draco more XD
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I never thought about Dramione having this significance as a ship! It’s really cool when you put it like that. I definitely agree that stories where people start out as enemies and become friends and maybe even lovers are great (maybe because it is a common experience?). Thinking of their relationship like that is quite fascinating. Second chances and forbidden love are also very romantic in their own ways, although I do wish that Rowling herself would have given Draco a few more redeeming moments in the books—it’s still really easy for me to look at the original texts and think that he was a truly horrible person. I think there should have been a little something extra in the canonverse to make Draco a more likable character, because as good as fanfiction is, knowing that he was intended to be a better person by the end of the series in a very obvious way would make me feel even better!
Also, adding other books that you enjoy with similar tropes/storylines is just pure genius. *applause*
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I agree! Draco was definitely neglected in the series. He had really good character development in HP6 but then was kind of ignored again in HP7. Like you mentioned, I do like that Rowling made it clear that he wasn’t all bad at the end of the series but I would’ve liked to have seen more development in that last book. I mean, more Draco is always good right?
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Oh god, Dramione was my main HP ship and although I’m not a SUPER HUGE FAN of Harry Potter, I really, really, really love this pairing for all the reasons you mentioned. I love that it’s “forbidden”, that there’s some angst and history, and that to be with each other both of them need to do a lot of growing up.
Have you ever read nelpher’s Thirteenth Night? It’s a Dramione fanfic where Draco’s memory is erased as part of this government thing and Hermione is assigned as his case worker. SO DRAMATIC. SO SAD. SO GOOD. 😀
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Dramione is just the best. There’s just no competition. I do like Blaise and Ginny though… but Dramione takes the cake anyway. And no, I haven’t read Thirteenth Night but I’m going to rush off and google it because it sounds right up my alley!! *running away now*
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I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT! That fanfic has twisted my heart and broke it and stitched it right back up. It was such an emotional landslide and the relationship grew slowly, which I always enjoy seeing.
I’m actually not the biggest fan of Ginny for reasons I don’t know myself, but I’ve also enjoyed some Blaise/Ginny in the past – usually as a side pairing in Dramione fics. 😂
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I’m not a Dramione shipper (I’m not even a big fan of Draco to be honest), but I always find it interesting to hear about why other people ship the ships that they do. It’s so interesting to hear what people seeing pairings when you don’t see it yourself. It’s also interesting because I enjoy quite a few pairings where they start off antagonistic with each other, but for whatever reason, Hermione and Draco were also just too much of enemies in the beginning for me to get into shipping them.
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I actually don’t really remember how I got into reading Dramione fanfic. It might have been because I liked Draco and Hermione separately but I feel like there might have been another reason. But once I started reading it, I realised how much I enjoyed the tropes and just continued to read it. I also really enjoy James and Lily fanfiction. I think they’re a wonderful pair too ❤
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Ohhh the arranged marriage fanfictions are sooo good. I was much more of a Harry/Draco shipper myself but I did dabble in the occasional Dramoine and they’re so good! Hate to love is also fantastic. And it’s always great to see Draco love. I often felt that he was a much more complicated character that we only saw some of. Which is why it’s so great that fanfiction is there so our imaginations can run wild
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Hehe I also enjoyed Draco and Harry fanfiction! I guess it shares very similar tropes with Dramione. Draco in love is just a wonderful thing ❤ He needed so much more page time in the series and I'm a little sad that he was neglected. But like you said, that's exactly what fanfiction is for!
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