snowgall

What if it's not all hearts and flowers after Harry and Draco finally get together? (No! Say it isn't so!) In real life, certainly, most relationships suffer ups and downs through the years, and in some cases the downs can break you apart.

While I admit that I generally prefer to read about how these characters get together in the first place (yes, I know, I am such a sap!), these fics do a wonderful job exploring what might come after. And it's often the case that in so doing we get to explore a more nuanced, mature version of love than what we see in the early stages. And that's not a bad thing :)

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( Click for recs )

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Guys...I'm having a bit of a hard time trying to divide up all my favorite stories into rec lists! I'm trying not to make every list about 8th year AND I'm trying to avoid to creating enormous rec posts with 20+ fics! But I seriously have a list of over a hundred 8th year fics I love, and I'm not going to be able to fit them all in by the end :(

For what it's worth, I am also trying not to repeat fics during rectober, so that means trying to place each fic on just one list each, even though some fics could easily fit into two or more. Case in point, who_la_hoop's How to Handle an Enemy series, which could have fit in the earlier party games rec list or the upcoming veritaserum theme. But instead it's here!

And I built a whole theme around it too :) Here, then, are "awesomely smutty 8th year stories which are so good they required sequels" ♥

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by who_la_hoop

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by treacle_tartlet

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by fr333bird

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by firethesound

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I've seen rec requests for this trope before on other blogs, so I know people want to read these fics (and so do I!) The thing is, there aren't yet a whole lot of ABO fics written for the Harry/Draco pairing. Indeed, many of the ones I know of are werewolf fics (see yesterday's rec post). But these are my favorites of the non-werewolf ones I've read so far.

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More bonding fic recs! This set is divided into two subtypes:

• Soulmate Connections - where Harry and Draco are destined to be together and just have to discover that fact
  
• Wand Connections - where the fact that Harry used Draco's wand to kill Voldemort forges a bond which brings them together

Unlike my first set of bonding fics, these fics aren't limited to 8th year, although several 8th year fics still snuck in :)

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Soulmates

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Wand Connections

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The hds_beltane fest is about to end, and 2015 will be its final year. As a retrospective, I have been going back through and reccing some of the best Drarry fics from all of the past nine years of the fest. The recs are divided into three four posts: 2007-2009, 2010-2011, 2012-2014 (this post), and 2015.

Note that this fest also includes Snarry, Snaco, and threesome combinations, but I'm just reccing Drarry.

2012
Harry Potter and the Missing Malfoy by treacle_tartlet, R, 6,000 words
Summary: The War is over, Tom Riddle is dead – properly this time – and Harry Potter has not exactly met the expectations of the Wizarding World. Instead of joining the Aurors, he tends the bar at the Leaky Cauldron and plays Quidditch pick-ups on his days off. And he’s perfectly happy, thank you, until Draco Malfoy goes missing…

Really this was delightful. The author has such a deft touch with banter and light back-and-forth humor. Draco has gone missing, and people keep asking Harry where he is - as if he should know!

2013
Turn Alight by strawberryroseg (aka girlythingsforgeekypeople), NC-17, 6,500 words
Summary: "So, how do we fix this?"
Hermione pursed her lips as she thought. Ron leaned into the table to look around her at Harry, a cheeky smirk on his face. "Do Beltane properly next time?"

The best part of this story are the flashbacks to the developing relationship between Harry and Draco, starting immediately after the Battle of Hogwarts, and continuing for a year until the following Beltane. Draco's state right after the battle is heartbreaking, and his and Harry's tentative steps towards more are wonderfully sketched.

2014
As good a reason as any by thisgirl_is, PG-13, 8,600 words (fest link)
Summary: For something Harry had never heard of before he had joined the Wizarding World, he really hated Beltane.

I really enjoyed this. Their conversation felt so realistic and adult and in character and interesting, and then the kiss, wow! And even though all they did was kiss, it was a bloody fantastic kiss :)

Skulking by teshara, R, 8,000 words
Summary: When Harry follows Draco out of the castle, the last thing he expects is to become caught up in a bonding ceremony. When they realize they’re going to have to learn how to live together neither of them is happy, but sometimes things have funny ways of working themselves out.

Clever story, as the idea of being 'bonded' through companion animals is unusual. The nature of the bond isn't well explained, but that is sort of the point: Harry and Draco misunderstand it as well and assume more is required of them than actually is :)

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Links to my rec lists from all previous hds_beltane fests. Enjoy!

• 2007-2009


• 2010-2011


• 2012-2014 (this post)


• 2015

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The "fall in love while in disguise" trope is a bit more common than the last two mini-themes I did but then, unlike tie-switching or removing Draco's Dark Mark, it's a trope that's not necessarily unique to the Harry/Draco pairing. Indeed it is common across many fandoms and ships (fanlore calls it 'Identity Porn' while tvtropes calls it 'Loves My Alter Ego').

In the case of Harry and Draco, this often involves one or both of them using polyjuice potion or a 'glamour' to make themselves unrecognizable, although it can also be done by having one or both of them receiving anonymous letters from the other.

I'm going to split my list of favorite Drarry fanfics which use this trope into two posts. In this one I'm just going to focus on those fics where both Harry and Draco are hiding their identity. (Next time I'll discuss fics where only one of them is in disguise).

Fics where both Harry and Draco are hiding their identities:

( Click for list )

What follows is a list of my picks for the best Drarry fanfiction of 2012
(23 fics, sorted by date published)

Updated February 10, 2016

Note: There are so many lists of favorite Harry/Draco fanfiction, but I wanted to do something a little different. Rather than create a list based on genre or length or era or whatever, I've decided to do a series of "best-of X year" lists. This means the year the work was published not the year I read it.

More lists:

• Best of 2015
• Best of 2014
• Best of 2013
• Best of 2012
• Best of 2011
• Best of 2010
• Best of 2009
• Best of 2007-8
• Why am I making these lists?

( 2012 list )

General notes:

• The "original post" column provides links to the first place I can find evidence of the work online. However, it can be really tough to determine when and where a work was first published (see my rant here: Dates Matter). So it could be that a fic was actually published earlier somewhere else and I didn't know it. Corrections are welcome.
• I've read a lot of HD fiction, but I certainly haven't read it all, so if I've left off something you think I shouldn't have, I'm happy for you to let me know.
• I may continue to add works to this list but I will try to keep the total number to 25 or less. (On the challenge of maintaining lists)
• My goal is to add lists for other years as well, time permitting.

How my fic preferences will skew the lists:

• I tend to like fics which contain explicit sex, so the list will probably skew that way. However, I prefer that there be an actual plot, not just sex, and I read PG rated fics too--just fewer of them.
• I like almost all the standard tropes, but I don't usually go for non-magical AUs, unhappy endings, dark!fic, or threesomes
• I don't give a toss who's on top or bottom, so you'll find both here.
• I shy away from epic-length fanfiction unless I'm very confident in the author, so most of my recs will be less than 100,000 words.