Fic Recs Wrap Up - May 2023(ノﾟ∀ﾟ)ノ⌒･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*☆

Secret Love Song by Writcraft @writcraft

If there’s one thing Draco’s certain about, it’s that Harry Potter’s hiding something. When he gets to the bottom of Harry’s closely guarded secret, a flippant solution brings them closer together and forces Harry to confront his past. Rec Post

Back Where We Began by Cassiara @cassiaratheslytherpuff

Harry has to go back to Hogwarts to get his NEWTs, and being well into his twenties he figures the course will pass without too much trouble. Enter Snape’s old Potions book, a bonding spell, and Draco Malfoy. Rec Post

Like Diamonds We Are Cut With Our Own Dust by raitala @raitala

Draco has borne the mark of the Dark Lord for over ten years. It is familiar to him, but he pays the price for it every day, and Harry has noticed.

Featuring artwork by @alekina Rec Post

Fearful Trill by Vukovich @vukovich

Harry should have come out and met someone when he was younger. He should have seen a doctor about the pain in his hip while youth was still on his side. Now, he’s made his peace with dying young, but maybe not with dying alone. Draco should have got the Kiss. He should have died in Azkaban decades ago. Instead, guards throw him in a Ministry lift with a dying man who could stand to live a little. Rec Post

Unexpectancy (Into you) by PollyWeasley @polly-weasley

Draco supposed that starting Eighth Year in Hogwarts fucking Harry Potter was a good start. Both of them were in the closet, for a lack of better words, and both of them were having fun with each other, no bonds attached, no uncomfortable talks, no need to tell their friends whatsoever. It was good to both of them, especially when you considered that the Wizarding World was stupidly ignorant and homophobic, and Draco was already suffering enough because he looked like he was gay. It was better just to keep it a secret. But when Draco suddenly finds out he ended up pregnant of Potter’s child, there was nothing he could do except face the world and reveal his secret. Would Potter accept to reveal his, too, for the sake of this new life? Rec Post

you look so fine by michi_thekiller 

In which Draco is a Veela and Harry is his mate.

“When Draco Malfoy turned 16 years old, he thought he’d make a night of it. He went to a club, met a bloke, and then promptly took himself next door pay-by-the-hour hotel, determined to get the most bang for the Galleon, in a manner of speaking.

Not even one full Galleon into it, Draco Malfoy lost his virginity.

It all went just how he’d always imagined it, and it was, all in all, a bloody good time.

Waking up the next morning, however, next to a bloody ribcage and a man’s intestines strewn all over the bed like thick wet streamers - that was a bloody bad time.” Rec Post

Here Be Dragons by birdsofshore

Harry doesn’t want to waste his time investigating illegal dragonhide trading, whether it involves a fetish club in Knockturn Alley or visiting a remote island in Wales. Why the bloody hell does Malfoy always have to be up to something? Rec Post

Like a Star Across My Sky by InsertAuthorHere @unmistakablyoatmeal, lq_traintracks (lumosed_quill) @lqtraintracks

When Draco discovers Harry Potter is his new landlord, he’s convinced he’s going to lose his shop. When Harry discovers Draco Malfoy’s been invited on his friends’ annual ski trip, he’s certain his holiday is ruined. This is the story about how neither one of them is right. Rec Post

Once a Malfoy by enchanted_jae

Months after their divorce, Draco requests a huge favor from Harry. Rec Post

Here are a few more fics I've read recently that y'all might like to check out as well! (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

New Message by Mosrael @mosrael

Harry Potter has a crush on his roommate--like, a BIG one--but he can't say anything to him, can he?! Naturally, he does what any early 2000s young adult would do and asks the internet for help, and gets a lot more back than he expected.

Life skills outside the curriculum by Endrina

It was "Witch Weekly", of all people and organizations, the first to notice and comment on The Boy Who Lived’s absence from the ranks of first years at Hogwarts. The magazine went on to elucubrate that the young hero was studying at a foreign school, possibly Beauxbatons or Holzschuhkäse.

This Ain't the Garden of Eden by Romaine@romaine2424

In 2020, Hit Wizard Harry is starting to enjoy his life. He’s divorced, and no longer Head Auror. His biggest project these days is trying to remodel 12 Grimmauld Place for him and the kids.

Draco Malfoy is recovering from his wife’s death. But is happy with his Ministry position as Temporary Head of the Department of Intoxicating Substances, and with his son who he adores.

This all changes quickly when Minister Shacklebolt decides not to run for another term. The assumption is that 'all is well' in the British Magical world, and that Hermione Granger-Weasley will easily be voted in as the next Minister for Magic. However, Draco knows better. He knows she has a strong competitor who is wooing those who live in Knockturn. And if he wins, the Ministry, and all that has been accomplished the previous twenty odd years, will be destroyed.

Still the pine-woods scent the moon by fluxweed @fluxweeed

You’ve learned to ignore the stench of perpetual horniness that Harry—twenty years old and finally free—exudes. That is, until you walk into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place and find him naked, spread over the table, with Draco Malfoy pounding into him from behind.

In Bad Faith by fencer_x, SoldSeparately Art by @secretartlair with fic written by @fencer-x

Draco Malfoy just can’t catch a break. Between the magical curse upon his bloodline, his hair misbehaving, and that strange pit full of demons in his basement that he had absolutely nothing to do with, it just hasn’t been a banner year for him. Luckily, Harry Potter is here to make things ten times worse.

Anatomy of a Wolf Heart by orphan_account

MALFOY HEIR FOUND ALIVE IN WEREWOLF FIGHTING RING

Three years ago at the tragic Battle that freed our great Wizarding World from the grip of a megalomaniac Dark Wizard, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, our world lost many Witches and Wizards. Among the dead and missing was Draco Malfoy, the only son of notorious Death Eaters Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, both of whom volunteered their home for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to use as a headquarters. Sources have confirmed that the young Malfoy took a vow to follow in his parents footsteps by taking the Dark Mark.

Inside sources have uncovered that the Malfoy heir has been found alive. Aurors recently went undercover to expose a fighting ring involving illegal potions and unregistered werewolves. Among those rescued was Draco Malfoy.

( •ॢ◡-ॢ)-♡ I hope you enjoy these fics as much as I have! Happy reading, y’all! xoxo Carey  (◍•ᴗ•◍)♡ ✧*💜💙💚💛❤💗💕💖

♣♦ Wizard Hearts ♠♥

Whee!! Although I'm still somewhat new to the fandom I really wanted to participate more in the community and seeing all the fun things that come out of the Game of Drarry community, eagerly signed up for my very first WH. It was a lot of fun to work with my team and cheer each other on and of course, binge some wonderful Drarry. 🤩 If you love to read Drarry, like low pressure and light competition, and bonding with other Drarry lovers I highly recommend giving it a try! Here's my response to the survey with some thoughts and of course highlights of what I got to read!

1. So I had to participate in a bit of an unconventional way as when I started on my reading, I was going abroad and traveling for a few weeks. Knowing I'd have spotty connection, I made a list of all the tropes and picked out fics I planned to read for each, marking down the lengths. I actually have been out of reading/writing for several months as IRL and other things got in the way, so I wanted to ease myself back into it! I ended up picking Fool Moon by Piarelei to read first, as it was on the shorter end and fulfilled the werewolf trope and from the tags/description, I knew I would love it. And I wasn't disappointed! It was humorous and spicy and just the thing to whet my appetite. After finishing I was hungry for more! 👀 2. The last fic I ended up reading was for the period/historical trope. This just happened to be the last because while I was going through my list, I had to do a couple passes to find fitting fics I hadn't yet read. I am kind of really shite at searching for fics on my own and this being a trope I generally don't go for, I struggled to find something that would pique my interest. Enter the super helpful people who rec'd Romp and Circumstance by wolfpants! This was a delicious and extremely well-written fic full of supremely hot moments and exceptional pining. Although I am far from an expert I would say the period setting made the debauchery all the more fun. 3. While I enjoy pretty much every single Drarry I consume because I am a simple person who isn't a very deep thinker, Mosrael's Love Bites, Or How Draco Malfoy Learned to Let Go and Celebrate His Allure really stood out to me. And given the aforementioned, in my case I feel like that really says something haha! I won't lie and say I do gravitate towards the fast and dirty, short and overly indulgent fics that scratch the itch from the get go but Love Bites was simply put, incredible. 🥺 The premise was golden from the start and combined with impeccable writing, fun and lovable characters (of course Draco and Harry are a given but the supporting cast was just as colorful and endearing), and a really fucking empowering message, you'd be hard pressed to find another fic that does what it does. I cannot stress enough how much I loved this story! 💜 4. My strategy for choosing fics to read was pretty straightforward: for the most part I had ample success with firing up AO3's search feature and pulling up Drarry fics that were 10k+, completed (I refuse to read anything unfinished because I hate waiting!!), and of course had the specific trope. I usually sort from newest to oldest because I think I have read a decent number of older ones and because those have been around longer, I feel like they've already got tons of eyes on them so might as well try and check out something newer? Well it worked to varying degrees of success haha. Then I just scrolled through and read the tags/descriptions and picked something out that caught my eye! For a few tropes that I was really unfamiliar with/wasn't sure what the tag to search for was, I asked others for recs and got some really nice recommendations. 5. I'm fairly certain that a veela fic was one of the very first Drarry fics that I ever read, and it is one of the tropes that I find very fun and entertaining. I ended up reading Once and Never Again by Avonne for the mpreg card but it is a veela Draco Malfoy fic and was absolutely brilliant! I was actually very intrigued by the veela lore that Avonne came up with, and it was doubly amusing to read about it through Draco experiencing the symptoms of nesting and such without having any clue just what the fuck was going on. I know those are common themes in a lot of these fics but it felt creative and refreshing to me! Definitely a very fun (and hot) read, highly recommend! 7. Of course it would have to be from Eye of the Storm by OTPshipper98. 🥺 How could my heart not be torn to shreds while reading this? 😭 The descriptions of Harry's abuse and how it affected his mental state, Draco's empathetic and delicate treatment of Harry, them coming out of the experience having both been put through the wringer... The writing is exquisite and painful and heartbreaking. I absolutely teared up at the part where Harry is trying to ask Draco for a hug but doesn't even know how to oh no I am tearing up now just thinking about it damn! If you want to be repeatedly punched in the heart and then hugged tightly this is the fic for you. 🤧 8. I don't think I've actually read anything under the period/historical setting trope before this. I can somewhat have interest in more fantasy type historical settings, but if it's just set in like, Victorian England or something similar I usually don't have much care for it. Not sure why, maybe because I have a bias that things back then were more boring haha but I never had a Pride and Prejudice phase (never even read it 😅) so I guess that ship just sailed long ago. However, I ended up reading one for a joker card at the recommendation of someone in the Drarry server and it was fantastic! It definitely helped that it had several other tropes that I am VERY into, but Nightcall by Femme and noeon was expertly written and I was quickly drawn into the Edwardian AU they created. Literally could not put it down, and this was the longest fic in my list at 116k words. xD

9. I think this one would have to be the first person POV trope! I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles with getting into first or second person POV fics but I read InnerLilith's Once More With Feeling and was blown out of the water. As it has to do with highly emotional themes, getting to follow the experience through Draco's perspective, completely and fully, was certainly a treat. Honestly, I wonder if the fic would have even worked as well as it did were it NOT first person. Experiencing things through his narration made everything more elevated and vivid, sympathetically.

10. Even long after I've finished reading monika672's The Unfortunate Complications of Being an Animagus, this scene has stuck with me because when I read it, I just thought it was the FUNNIEST fucking thing.

Harry broke out into hysterical laughter, because only he would accidentally fuck his former enemy in wolf form. Only some cosmic joke would have them both being wolf animagi. And so he laughed. Because what else could he do? “Mister Potter, are you alright?” Harry turned to her, his head light from laughing. He could feel himself swaying where he stood. He saw Malfoy still frozen in place, and looked towards McGonagall again. The shock was quickly catching up to him, as he looked into McGonagall’s face, “Not at all Professor.” he said, before his vision turned black and he passed out.

Just the sheer hilarity of poor Harry having the most world upending revelation, having a hysterical laughing fit, and then fainting made me lose my mind. 😂 This fic is incredibly sweet (and spicy) though, and is a great read. 11. Although I'm not sure how to even categorize the emotions I felt about this (complex, painful, frustrating?), corvuscrowned's Ad Infinitum has emotions in spades. There's so much angst and inner turmoil that both of the boys are fighting through; being in a committed relationship of my own, it's honestly one of the scariest things in my life to think about what I would do if my partner ever wanted to leave. Given their history and personalities, their struggles were real and terrifying and you just never know which way the dice will fall. Of course I am glad that they continue to fight for their relationship and always want them to have a happy ending. 🥺

12. Nooooo! How could I pick but one? 🙈 Ugh I think this has to come down to a tie... although I really love the creature tropes (veela, werewolf, vampire), accidental bonding, and coffeshop AUs have a fucking MURDER HOLD on my heart, at the very top would probably be a close tie between Hogwarts eighth year for HP specific and soulmates more generally. What can I say, eighth year fics just hit different for some reason - maybe because of all the volatility that comes out of the direct aftermath of the war when things are still so fresh and raw, and the variability people take with having their relationship/attitudes still being contentious or having a tired Harry taking note of a subdued Draco etc! I just can never say no to an eighth year fic. And just across the board I am a sappy sucker at heart and the idea of soulmates never fails to make me weep! 😭 I love all things sweet and fluff (but won't say no to a dose of angst 😏) and soulmate fics have it all. Plus I feel like there are so many different takes on how it is implemented, so it never gets old! 13. Since we had 2 joker cards I ended up skipping 2 tropes, polyamory/threesome and trans character. The first one I skipped because I am a to-the-death purist, I only like Drarry and just Drarry. So that's a hard stop on what I am willing to read, relationship wise! Sometimes I even have trouble reading fics where the other has prolonged or otherwise relationships of import with other characters, but generally as long as I know Drarry is the endgame that is usually enough for me. 😅 And I skipped trans character since it's not something that personally resonates with me and I do already have my set mental image of Drarry being generically speaking, fairly close to their canon incarnations, so on that note I don't read gender bends either. 14. As I searched for fics to read specifically by trope tags rather than ambling through someone's works, it was sheer coincidence that I ended up reading 3 fics from one writer! And that writer is the lovely drarrily-we-row-along. 😊 I read Accidental Bonding (forced proximity), A Kiss to Build a Dream On (aurors), and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (holiday). All of them had wonderful writing and characterizations - the interactions between Harry and Draco, while of course wildly different across them, were fun and lively and definitely had the essence of Drarry that I love. Whether they are snarking at each other with barely disguised disdain (and lust) or being incredibly sweet and tender with each other when emotional support is needed, I love it all! Now that I have free time I shall definitely be looking into more of their works. 😄 18. This is a really tough question because I think you guys balanced each of the suits incredibly well! There was good variety in each and I appreciated that. God can I just say all of them? 😂 Sitting here thinking about it I've literally changed my answer several times in the past minute lol. If I HAVE to pick one, however, I guess I will have to go with Pentacles! Pretty much every single trope in that suit is one I thoroughly enjoy reading (if not, part of my all time favorites list) so I definitely had a lot of fun completing it. 21. First off, thank you so much for running this event! I've ran similar point accruing/submission checking events before and I know it's so much work to stay on top of everything so thank you for your dedication and hard work! 🥺💜 The effort you guys put into having all the bonus activities on theme and with so much flavor text made everything that much more special and immersive. 🤯 As it was my first time participating I really had no idea what to expect aside from the spreadsheet, so the activities were a really fun surprise and helped foster that team spirit/camaraderie! I struggled to understand a little bit what was required for them at some points but I am fairly certain that is just a me problem lol. 😂 The only other things I guess I would want to note is that from my perspective as a fairly competitive person, knowing the point differentials of the teams from the start might have felt like a detriment/discouragement? Certain teams seemed to have higher participation than others and if I were on a team that was lagging behind with a huge gap, I might have felt less inclined to put my own numbers in. Maybe that's just a me thing but perhaps just having the rankings without the specific point totals included would be better for morale. Also, personally I worried that I over participated in the team activities which I was conflicted about. 🙁 Not to say I didn't want to participate - of course I did and had a lot of fun getting to collaborate with others - but I was scared that I was doing too much and not letting others have a chance... but then the deadline for the activities would be just around the corner and no one else had bandwidth so I just did it anyway. 😭 I just really wanted to make sure our team got the points so I hope I didn't step on anyone's toes. 🙃💦 But overall this was exactly the kind of event I needed to reconnect with Drarry after getting a bit burned out/dragged away by other circumstances so I am really thankful that I got to participate!! 🥰