Believe me when I say I detested Draco Malfoy when I read the Harry Potter books, so I’d never thought about a romantic pairing between him and Hermione Granger. But when I first stumbled upon the popular Draco-Hermione fandom years ago, it took me zero effort to get sucked into it. Perhaps it's because the canonical pairing between Hermione and Ron Weasley has always felt awkward and forced to me. And who doesn’t love a good enemies-to-lovers trope anyway?
A few weeks ago, whilst suffering another bout of postpartum depression (which I’m almost certain is from extreme boredom), I came across some fantastic Dramione fan art by Elithien that reignited my interest in this pairing.
From there I dove right into Manacled by SenLinYu, which I’d heard about for a while but had never read. Now that’s a story that goes from dark to insanely dark, to magical and beautiful, to a world of pain, and fuck if it wasn’t the best rollercoaster ride of emotions that a fanfiction has ever given me. It’s a story I will definitely reread in future, after I feel emotionally ready to tackle it again. As far as fanfictions go, it’s a hands-down 5/5 from me. I also enjoyed all the other stories and one-shots from the same writer which were all much lighter and fluffier than Manacled.
Based on the reader comments I’ve seen on Wattpad, it appears as though every Dramione fan has read Isolation by Bex-chan. I remember thoroughly enjoying it the first time I read it years and years ago, but coming back for a reread — particularly knowing more about fiction writing now — I found it to be a hard slog due to all the head-hopping from paragraph to paragraph. At the risk of offending the massive fanbase of this story, I’m giving it a 2.5/5.
The most-read Dramione fanfiction I’ve come across on Wattpad is Draconian by hepburnettes, which stands at an impressive 8 million reads at the time of this post. I absolutely loved the interactions and banter between the characters, however, there was again some head-hopping (not nearly as bad as Isolation), and I was sorely disappointed about the lack of smut. Personally, I just can’t do fanfiction without smut. I'm not asking for it to be detailed or explicit, but when there is zero sex or a complete skip over the (obligatory) sex scene, after I’ve been tortured by 40 chapters of sexual tension, I can’t help but feel robbed. That said, I’m not surprised about the popularity of this story. The main and side characters were lovable and came alive under the penmanship of the writer. It’s a 3/5 from me, likely a 4 if it had satisfied my smut needs, lol.
Years later, my all-time-favourite Dramione fanfic that I still keep coming back to is The Deadline by Lena Phoria. It’s nowhere near as popular as the ones above, and it doesn't contain a whole lot of action and excitement involving Voldy and the war, but it is a sweet, sexy adult romance featuring the original characters in their late 30’s, something I haven't seen much of in Dramione stories.
What’s fascinating is that quite a few Dramione writers I’ve come across also write Rey-Kylo Ren fanfiction. Must be that classic enemies-to-lovers pairing again. I’ve yet to read any Reylo fanfiction, but that might be the next to try!
It’s honestly a little embarrassing being a 30-year-old with an addiction for the same fanfics that attract mostly teen readers, but hey, whatever it takes to save my own sanity in the days of being a stay at home mum. I love all you great fanfiction writers.
If you’re a fellow fanfiction lover, FicSave is a nifty tool for converting stories on FanFiction.Net (and some other fanfiction websites) into EPUB and MOBI formats!