snowgall

What follows is a list of my picks for the best Drarry fanfiction of 2015
(37 fics, sorted by date published)

Note: There are so many lists of favorite Harry/Draco fanfiction, but I'm doing 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.

Once again, this list was hard to pare down! I read more fanfic published in 2015 than in any other year, and between my LJ blog and hd_storyroom, I recced 93 Drarry fics from 2015. Consequently lots of good fics aren't included on this list. In the end any list is just an arbitrary thing based on one person's no doubt flawed opinion. It says nothing about the quality of any fics not on 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?

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 something reasonable. (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.

Yesterday vaysh got everyone on a Trope Meme kick, which was tons of fun. And then in a comment thread, she went and said:

"It would actually be fun to make rec lists of fics to go with the trope. It would take ages, though. :)

So I went through the original list of 28 tropes and tried to find a representative (and awesome) HD rec for each one, while also trying not to duplicate any fics. But I decided that the original list was inadequate.

• Some tropes needed to be renamed to more clearly fit HP (e.g. "High School/Uni AU" --> "8th year")
• Some tropes needed to have subcategories within the trope (e.g. "Vampires/Werewolves AU" --> "Creature!fic" --> Veela, Werewolf, Vampire, etc.)

Once I did that, however, I felt like too many good fics were not being represented, so I added a bunch of additional HP tropes (second list at the end). All in all, I've recced 66 fics from 56 authors!

And even after all of that, there are still 4 tropes from the list that I could not think of any recs for:

• Coffee House AU/Food Service AU
• Fake Out Make Out
• Incest
• Selfcest

And also let me know if you think I missed any important tropes or fics that should have been recced instead

hd_familyfest

harrydracompreg

Seizing Second Chances by momatu, NC-17, 28,300 words

This was such a lovely, lovely story, and so well told. Harry is raising three kids alone after Ginny's death, and Draco is still mostly keeping to himself and out of wizarding society after the war and his own loss five years prior. Once they meet up again, there are all these wonderful tentative and careful steps between the two of them as they each start to feel attraction and try oh-so-carefully to determine whether the other might be interested in men. Harry's bisexulaity is dealt with perfectly, as is the delicate subject matter of the recent death of a spouse and past loss of a newborn; everything is handled with great emotional sensitivity. The UST just builds and builds, along with the developing romantic relationship, and all leading to a most delicious and satisfying sex scene at the end. Highly recommend. (extended rec at hd-storyroom)

The Green Vial by eidheann_writes, NC-17, 31,400 words

This was *such* a beautiful story. I loved how the author took the time to really let their relationship develop, and was realistic about how difficult it can be to get pregnant, even for people who are trying. And wow, the amazingness of the sex scenes! I love it when sex scenes are integrated into the story in a way that's crucial for plot and character development and are not only hot but give us so many feels. The whole fic just left me with a silly grin on my face and feeling like I'd just had a treat. (extended rec at hd-storyroom)

And Hope Says, Perhaps Today by this_bloody_cat, R, 10,300 words

Beautifully written, with achingly deeply felt emotions on Draco's side. I liked that Draco needed time before agreeing to go back to Harry in the end. Gave me lots of lovely feels.

come with me into the light by tryslora, PG-13, 21,000 words

Well-written, compelling story. Harry and Draco are both wonderfully characterized and make you care about what happens to them.