i have been rereading The Pure and Simple Truth by lettered and it is the best and my favorite (i have…a lot of favorites. if i am speaking in the singular i don’t actually mean singular. in this case ‘favorite’ probably means ‘in the ever-reordering top 3’.) and i just. love it.
summary: Harry, Draco, and Hermione go to a pub. Harry, Draco, and Pansy go to a pub. Harry, Draco, Pansy, and Hermione go to a pub. Harry, Draco, Hermione and Ron go to a pub. Harry, Draco, Hermione, Ron, and Pansy―you guessed it―go to a pub. I could go on. In fact, I did. Harry, Draco, Hermione, Pansy, Ron, Blaise, Luna, Goyle, Neville, and Theodore Nott go to a pub. In various combinations.
this is literally what happens in the fic. it is a story about people talking to each other and being friends. if you like things to Happen in fic then maybe this is not for you. this is very much for me, though, because all i want is characters caring about each other, and this is 65k of characters caring about each other. the ultimate ‘show, don’t tell’ if you will. basically gen, but still one of my favorite executions of h/d, and among my favorite executions of all of their friends. just so, so enjoyable. even amidst the very heavy dialogue and otherwise straightforward, minimal writing, and even having already read it, this fic gives me so many Feelings.
“Are we getting afters?” said Luna.
“Of course.” Malfoy grinned at her. “We can get that mousse you like.”
“I love afters,” said Luna.
“Potter was very judgemental of my liking starters,” Malfoy said.
“I like starters too,” said Luna, and put another mushroom in her mouth.
“I just prefer the in-between,” said Harry. “Is that so wrong?”
“No,” said Luna. “I think that a meal is like a friendship. You begin with little bites and tastes. Some are spicy and some are a little sweet. You’re really just grazing, here and there. And then there’s the in-between. It’s what fills you up―really getting to know who a person is, deep down. Learning to understand whether they’re worth all the pain and time and heartache, and learning whether they like mushrooms. Once you get to the dessert part, you know they’ll always be there for you, and you’ll always be there for them. That’s the sweetest.”
“Meals end,” said Harry. He was trying again not to think of Hermione and Ron.
“Oh, well I don’t think it’s a perfect metaphor,” said Luna. “I think that a friendship dessert can go on and on. They’re not without their crunchy parts.”
“When you put it that way,” said Harry, “I prefer dessert.”
“When you put it that way,” said Malfoy, “I prefer the in-between.”
“Mostly I just like food,” said Luna, and so they ordered mousse.
:’)
reveals for the dth fest went up today (i hadn’t realized it would be so soon! probably would have held off on the post yesterday haha) so i can now say i wrote this piece of silliness:
Magic Tricks (at ao3 / at the dth fest) - Harry/Draco, PG-13, 5,665 words - super secret spying! muggle magic! wandless magic! fake identities! english literature! thwarted plans! cheekbones!
a fun respite from more serious endeavors :)
the Draco Tops Harry Fest at @ LJ is done posting, and there’s been some really great stuff!! I still have a bit of catching up to do, but of what I’ve read, these are my favorites:
- The Perfect Husband (9,300) I’ve already linked to it and reblogged a rec, but I really dig this. very gritty and unpleasant but I enjoyed the emotional journey of it and its conclusion.
- It Never Occurred to Me That I Would Fall in Love with a Frenchman (6,600) Dursleys! Malfoys! Draco with a fake French accent! this story is in turns hilarious and very, very touching, and I love it. favorite of the fest probably.
- This Worship of an Extinct Fire (30,500) very interesting! one of the few longer ones in the fest and that length includes a lot of worldbuilding and magic and stuff, which is fascinating. mostly I enjoyed how twisted it is, tbh. a Draco who is doing good for selfish reasons is always intriguing. and i have a weird love of very unromantic stuff.
- Hey, Potter (16,000) a lovely 8th year fic complete with the things I love about 8th year fic—characterizations that transition well from the last book, and adorably clueless teenagers.
- Trust Enough to Listen (7,477) this fic is very funny (surprise nudity at Hogwarts!), and the portrayal of Harry and Draco’s relationship is quietly lovely.
so that time maria wanted h/d recs she wanted short recs and i gave her a 20k, a 50k, and a 320k, so clearly i have to redeem myself by actually giving her some short recs. the following are all under 10k and are all delightful. (this is not actually a very long post. they just all have excerpts.)
The Perfect Husband
Fandom:Harry Potter
Title: The Perfect Husband
Format: Fic
Author/Artist: Currently Anonymous
Pairing: Harry/Draco, some explicit Harry/Ginny
Rating: NC-17
Warning(s): Some serious angst. I mean, it was so heavy duty, I thought about just scrapping the whole thing a couple of times. I am really not made to write this kind of emo self-flagellation. Read if you’re willing to put up with a whole lot of internal head drama.
Length:9,300 wordsSummary: “Malfoy tilts his head back, locks eyes with Harry, and he’s so open, so eager to comfort that Harry wants to punch him till he bleeds. Instead, he leans down, presses a tender kiss along the freckled bridge of Malfoy’s too pointy nose. Malfoy’s just like Ginny, in a way. So naïve and trusting, so willing to believe the perfect man Harry will never be.”
My Notes:I am a complete sucker for stories about people wrestling with internalized homophobia. I’ve seen it too often in the real world, and watching someone go through it in a story and come out the other side is something I like. This story is angsty, and yes, for those who are bothered by it, it includes het sex. It’s all important to the story, and well done. I liked this.
Link: here @ dracotops_harry
If you want to read a good Harry/Draco fic, let me direct you to Salt on the Westen Wind by saras_girl. It starts directly after the final chapter of Deathly Hallows (epilogue be damned). Harry & co. are forced away to a safehouse, forbidden to do magic, while the wizarding world tries to round up the remaining Death Eaters and, respecting his debt to Narcissa, Harry agrees to take Draco to safety with them. In a fit of mutual stupidity, Harry and Draco end up bound together at the wrist with only the knowledge that “trust” will end the spell. It’s really beautifully written and characterized and I have read it three times now. There aren’t really any warnings to give, either. There’s a sex scene and some encounters of homophobia (not the internalized kind tho), and a lot of really terrible romance novels. Here’s the author’s summary:
When the war isn’t quite as over as it first appears, a guilt-ridden Harry is sent to a mysterious safe-house. Among sandwiches, insomnia, and Mills & Boon, he discovers something quite unexpected.
There’s a lot of my favorite things in this—extremely powerful Harry, discussion of deepest feelings and issues being the main ones—and it develops properly with a really nice pace. Ron and Hermione are really well done also and I feel like that sealed the deal for me. It is fairly long though, at 60,500 words. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do!! (And many thanks to Charlie for putting me onto this.)
favourite fics picspam - drop dead gorgeous by maya
“This is a stake-out,” Harry said. “Put that book away because it‟s your duty. And because it kind of makes me want to cry.”
“It is my duty to read this book,” Malfoy announced virtuously. “I am your partner. Your danger is my danger, your case is my case, and your crazy Veela charms are my crazy Veela charms. Except technically not, which is such a shame, because I would put them to good use.”
With that, he returned to the awful book he‟d found in the Unspeakable library. It had a picture Harry found very distressing on the front, and it was called Virgins and Vixens: A Veracious Version of the Vicissitudes of the Veela.
Harry returned to staring over his dashboard at the house occupied by Halperin, Dixon’s silent partner, the man who they suspected of making the plan that had got four goblin children killed. In four hours, they had gathered the important evidence that he recycled.
Malfoy had gathered some other things, but none of them were relevant to the case and all of them upset Harry on many levels.
At this point Malfoy gave another delighted cackle, and Harry braced himself.
“Potter, look,” he said, flashing a brilliant and evil smile, and he showed Harry the picture.
After a moment Harry shut his eyes, because it was shut his eyes or go blind.
“It‟s the ceremonial nightgown of the Veela,” Malfoy told him in hushed tones, as if he did not want to scare his own unholy glee away. “All Veela have to wear it on their wedding nights.”
“Not going to be an issue,” Harry said between clenched teeth.
“I like the organdie,” Malfoy observed, still in those hushed tones, and then he laid his face down on the book and laughed and laughed. He emerged from the book wielding a pencil, and made a mark beside the horrible picture. “That’s your Christmas present sorted out,then.”
(via monsieurfootlybits)
Harry Potter Gives a Shit
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
(Harry/Draco / NC-17 / 58,000 words / Queer as Folk adaptation)
so in november as my renewed interest in hp fic was approaching a peak and i was starting to itch to write some, i stumbled across a fest with a prompt that struck me as completely impossible—harry and draco as brian and justin, respectively. (and ewe, not au!) overcome by the temptation of working out all of the seemingly unfeasible logistics of this, i decided to write it. and i wrote it. and now the fest reveals have happened and i can claim it as my own. if you like hp and qaf, or even just hp, please give it a read! i am sort of very proud of it. mostly that it is a finished thing, that i did, by my own self, which is sort of unprecedented. but also that i think i maybe managed to actually put these two totally discrete works together into a single thing that maybe actually makes sense. possibly. please enjoy it.
SO! the bottom draco ‘adaptations’ fest has wrapped up and the (still anonymous) masterlist has posted. i participated and if any interested parties would like to read mine, please…go for it… :) not just mine, of course—the adaptations theme makes for great fun seeing characters (mainly h/d let’s be honest here) act out plots you like. i’ve only read a handful but will be trying to read all the ones of interest before reveals.
also, the draco tops harry fest has started posting, and i’m participating in that as well. (yes, my first two h/d fics are specifically built around bottom!draco and top!draco. switching is good. y’know.) really loving what’s been posted so far—the perfect husband in particular (gritty and honest and and just lovely augh yes yes; i don’t love adultery fic but this is the sort i can get behind).
So the Bottom Draco ‘Adaptations’ Fest finished posting today (I think??? that is the impression I am getting??) and I…participated…in it…if anyone would like to check that out…? It’s anonymous so I can’t link you to my contribution, but it’s…in there :) I’ve mostly been reading the ones based on things I know and love, which has limited my reading a bit, but I did rather enjoy the Legally Blonde and Bridget Jones’ Diary adaptations. (And I’m rather intrigued by the Taming of the Shrew adaptation posted today, which I’ll probably read tonight in lieu of homework!) Rom-com fun all around! Riffs on familiar plots are fun! Go forth and enjoy!
