Just Here For The Fandoms

Lmaoo

It's disrespectful

drarry shipper but not in a jkr fascist apologist way but in a hot, post-modernist, tumblr poems, enemies to lovers, by the grace, dialectics of forgiveness, fuck blue lives, harry deserves happiness kind of way

Hijacking this to say:

I think that HP fandom — and, in some ways, Drarry fandom in particular — becomes more important the more we learn about and process just how much of a disappointment JKR is as an author and a person.

People who grew up on Harry Potter and were shaped by the stories and the world and the people we met through that have felt a tremendous sense of loss and hurt over time as this thing that was, and is, so important to us has been poisoned by the truth of its creator. Fan works allow us to learn where she didn’t, to tell the stories that she refused to, and to give the characters we love the room to process and grow and analyze and hurt and find themselves and be happy in ways that she wouldn’t allow them to. It lets us keep the parts that made us who we are while condemning the parts that made it problematic and to explore the stories that she unintentionally planted the seeds for but was too hateful or cowardly to tell herself. It can be healing in the wake of being betrayed by someone you thought was on your side.

Drarry as a pairing is important because of the ways that it makes so many of us, especially queer people, feel seen. Harry was a child who was abused and hated for the way he was born, and he was forced to live in a literal closet. Draco was raised in at best a sheltered, bigoted, small world; at worst, a cult. He had to learn the harm that he did, realize the faults of the people he trusted above all others, and begin the journey of unlearning everything he thought he new (although we only canonically get hints of this). Both characters were queer coded, regardless of JKR’s intentions. Both characters were put through traumas that would have left very few people able to truly relate to what their lives were like. There’s so much room in their dynamic to allow writers and fans to sort through complicated feelings on ourselves, on trauma, on queer identities, on healing, and on forgiveness. That’s always been essential, but I think it’s even more so, now. (A lot of this applies equally to Wolfstar shipping.)

On a lighter note, I find it hilarious to think about how angry JKR must be about the fact that — at least on AO3 — Drarry fics outnumber Hinny* by 5-to-1** 😂

*I’ve got no problem with Hinny shipping; Ginny is a fantastic character, especially in fandom. But there’s something super satisfying about having your OTP happen to be one that would piss off someone you really want to be petty toward!

**as of 7/12/2021 and excluding fics tagged as including both pairings, a “Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter” tag search returns 50,085 results, while “Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley” returns 10,667.

***Yes, I did just footnote a tumblr rant. No, this one does not refer back to anything. Yes, I am conflicted about that.

are you a “mark for later”, bookmarking unread fics on ao3, bookmarking unread fics on ur browser, 25 fic tabs open, or a “i’ll just find this later in my history” gay

Yes. All of it, yes.

Drarry for Beginners: 8th year

Nice Things by aideomai (2020, M, 22k)

Aideomai has the ability of turning even the softest plot into something poignant, quietly devastating, full of feels and gentle catharsis. This is one of the most emotionally rewarding 8th year fics I’ve ever read - we get to see the kids coming back to Hogwarts and sharing a gatehouse, where they bond and heal together in their own time. The tentative domesticity sucks you in and Harry’s childhood issues are explored in such a sensitive way. His friendship with Draco is as gentle and inevitable as their falling in love, and these two soft bois filled my heart with warmth and longing. This fic is a gorgeous comfort read and it will make you wish you could live inside this verse forever!

Like Lightning at your Fingertips by potterwatch (2019, T, 43k)

And they were roommates, but make them sad and insomniac instead. This fic is a triumph - a sensitive and introspective story exploring grief and all the subtle ways in which the war changed these kids’ lives. But there’s also a powerful sense of nostalgia and familiarity about their last year at Hogwarts that makes this both melancholic and hopeful. Harry and Draco’s tentative friendship runs in a very organic way, laced with easy banter, quiet understanding and old magic shenanigans. I love how their shared room becomes a sacred space “removed from time, sleepless and unending” - such a gorgeous imagery! If you’re looking for emotional payoff combined with sentient Hogwarts and ancient magical theory, this is the place!

Right Hand Red by @lqtraintracks (2015, E, 73k)

Shared dorms, sneaky party games, inter-house cooperation. I’ve reread this fic so many times and it never gets old - the cozy and magical 8th year universe LQT creates conveys perfectly the bittersweetness of growing up and enjoying your last moments at school before letting your childhood behind. More than the world-building, the character arcs are brilliant here, and remains so consistent it’s hard not to picture this fic as an extra book. There’s banter, longing and unresolved sexual tension, and as the characters grow and their ties get stronger, the light atmosphere morphs into something wholesome that gives us the closure the books never could. Get ready to bask in the warm joy of youth nostalgia!

Nice Things is probably one of my all-time favorite Drarry fics. It's so lovely and soft and has just the right amount of gut punch.

@unpretty

it’s DIRT

unmute for comically aggrieved farmer

Chapters: 24/? Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel, Batman - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Tony Stark/Jason Todd Characters: Tony Stark, Jason Todd, Clint Barton, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Bruce Banner, Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Alternate Timelines, Kid Fic, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Slow Burn, Team as Family, Canon-Typical Violence Summary:

The bodyguard is incredibly well-respected in the superhero single parent community. He is also, Tony’s realizing, something of an asshole.

Cho: *tells Harry the next Hogsmeade visit in on valentines day*

Harry: hmm?? I wonder?? why she’s telling me this?????

I can’t stop laughing

Harry Potter: the worst liar in the history of liars. 

Every Adult In “Harry Potter” Let Us Down At Some Point And That’s Important a 900 page dissertation by me

And that includes Joanne Kathleen Rowling a tear stained afterword by me

Hagrid Is The Exception a rebuttal by me

The Time Hagrid Told Voldemort How to Take Out Something Protecting an Object that Grants Immortality When He Was Drunk and Other Well-Meaning Fuck Ups a lengthy chapter

You’re Absolutely Right a retraction

How dare you assume Molly Weasley has done anything wrong ever

That Time Molly Yelled At The Twins And Ron For Saving Harry From Abuse And Starvation, Thus Likely Communicating To The Abused Kid In Her Presence That His Welfare Was Less Important Than Not Borrowing The Car, That Time Molly Was Utterly Condescending About How Harry Is A Child And Doesn’t Deserve To Know Anything In A Way That Probably Heightened His Determination To Prove Otherwise, That Time Molly Said The Twins Put Together Aren’t As Good As Any Of Their Brothers Over OWL Results That They Worked Hard On And Were Proud Of, That Time Molly Forcibly Cut Her Adult Son’s Hair Right Before His Wedding, That Time Molly Spent A Year Being Mean And Rejectful Toward Her Son’s Fiancee, That Time Molly Sent Hermione A Deliberate “Fuck You” Present For Easter Because She Believed A False Story Written In Witch Weekly Without Making Any Attempt To Ask The People Actually Involved, Those Times She Made Her Youngest Son’s Christmas Sweaters His Least Favorite Color, And Every Time She Belittled Her Husband’s Hobby, The Twins’ Interests, And Bill’s Appearance Because She Couldn’t Be Bothered To Understand Or Value Or Even Be Kind About Them a detailed reminder that no one’s perfect and sometimes what one person doesn’t mind or see hits another person hard

Florean Fortescue Just Wanted To Sell Some Ice Cream And Help Harry With His Homework He Is The Only Adult Who Didn’t Mess Up Until Getting Killed By Voldemort, RIP an increasingly strident addendum by me

OK You’re Absolutely Right Florean Fortescue Was In Fact Perfect As Far As I’m Aware a concession by me

It baffles and infuriates me that Hogwarts students don’t take Latin or Greek. Accio? Literally “I summon.” Lumos? Fucking “light.” Expelliarmus? Expel weapon!! Ooooh I wonder what Levicorpus does– you Dumb Ass Bastard. You ILLITERATE. It’s called Levicorpus, it lifts someone’s body, it LEVIES your goddamn CORPUS-

Hermione ghost wrote this

the slytherins making a drinking game where they take a shot every time draco malfoy talks about harry potter

Madam Pomfrey banning the drinking game the very next day, after 90% of Slytherin house is admitted to the hospital wing with alcohol poisoning

#She drags Albus Dumbledore down to the hospital wing to show him the damage#Slytherin classes have been cancelled for the day as nearly everyone is here#too drunk to function#most are silent#but a few will occasionally look off into the distance with a sneer#and under their breaths#in the most disdainful and haughty voice they can manage#will mutter#POTTER#causing a fit of giggles to ripple through the room#Dumbledore agrees to ban the game and makes the announcement at dinner that evening#the only Slytherin in the Great Hall at that time is#of course#Malfoy#who turns red and immediately mutters that obviously this is Potter’s fault#Snape takes a shot#Harry Potter (x)

Oh my god it got so much better.

Snape takes a shot

A bunch of drunk Slytherin kids giggling in the nursery is more than I could’ve asked for

Marvel + ao3 tags

it’d be really funny if batman just got this reputation of absolutely HATING bruce wayne. like, gotham starts to realize that the two are never in a room together even though bruce wayne gets kidnapped by supervillians or targeted by the mob or whatever like three times a week and the entire city is like whoa. batman really just said fuck this one guy in particular. he saves everybody from murderers to toddlers but batman really just cannot stand bruce wayne’s dumb ass. and bruce wayne always leaves the place when batman gets there because hes just like. too polite to say anything. the joker keeps breaking into wayne manor to ask what bruce did to piss batman off so much

Anyone else?

I feel seen and I'm not sure I like it

Two weeks. Schools have only been back for TWO WEEKS. Only ONE of those weeks was actually with students in the classroom! The other week was just a teacher work week!

I hate this country. I hate this state. I hate this government. Fuck you, Henry McMaster and Donald Trump. This is on you, and it’s only just beginning.