Getting Started with Dramione FanfictionDraco Malfoy and Hermione Granger: Enemies-to-Lovers Tropefest

If you’re brand new to reading Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger (from the Harry Potter series) romance fanfiction, it can be a bit overwhelming.

Why do people like this pairing? There can be several different reasons for the appeal of reading this pairing. One is a classic enemies-to-lovers progression from being a Pureblood bigoted Death Eater to being in a place to be able to fall in love with the brainy Muggleborn. Fanfiction does great work at redeeming a villain (Draco) and making him likeable; this brings lots of ways the story can diverge from canon and bring out a lot of author creativity. Many of the alternate universe stories also explore different characterizations of Hermione, by bringing out her devious Slytherin-like traits (she did canonically trap Rita Skeeter in a jar and blackmail her) or by hypothesizing that she is a secret Pureblood, setting up similarities between Draco and Hermione, and ultimately their suitability for each other. And finally, another reason why this pairing may be popular is the fan obsession with putting together actors Tom Felton and Emma Watson, who portrayed Draco and Hermione in the Harry Potter films, respectively; they’ve stated publicly that they are merely friends but have reminisced fondly of the time when Watson had a crush on Felton when they were young.

There are tons of different timeframes and scenarios that are used with this pairing. If you’re reading on Archive of Our Own, the tags or summaries will often specify a general category for the story. I’ve listed as many of the common categories I can think of below with a short description of it. I also tried to include a link to one example within that category. My plan is to write a separate post for each of these categories and give a round-up of recommendations within it. We’ll see how that goes since there are so many!

Sixth Year Retelling

This story will often follow the events on Half Blood Prince, where Draco has been given the task of killing Dumbledore and Hermione is lamenting over her romantic woes with Ronald. These two will often find each other in some vulnerable position and offer comfort to each other.

Example: Clean by olivieblake

Seventh Year Retelling

This story will often be a retelling of the Horcrux Hunt of Deathly Hallows, most often with the story pivoting away from canon at the point where Draco holds Dumbledore at wandpoint at the end of sixth year. Either Draco will escape the Death Eaters on his own or capitalize on an offer of protection from the Order of the Phoenix. There are many fanfics that will combine sixth and seventh year stories together as one continuous story.

Example: Disappearances of Draco Malfoy by speechwriter

Eighth Year at Hogwarts

With the subpar education at Hogwarts with Headmaster Snape at the helm and our trio being on the run during seventh year, fanfics will bring everyone back to Hogwarts for an eighth year of education. Many stories will have Hermione just wanting to get back to normal and/or Draco needing to fulfill the parameters of parole. Stories set in this timeframe often have a repentant Draco making amends for his bigoted past and a forgiving Hermione giving him a chance.

Example: Rebuilding by Colubrina

Post-Hogwarts

Young working professionals who are otherwise unattached are the main characters of these stories. Draco and Hermione will often be working in separate environments, cross paths, and get to know each other in a new setting away from their school days. There is a wide breadth of fanfic in this category with most stories being your generic 20s-aged rom-com.

Example: The Right Thing To Do by LovesBitca8

Epilogue-Compliant

There is a very small sliver of the fanfic universe that plays along with the “Nineteen Years Later” epilogue published at the end of Deathly Hallows. The story will often take place when the second generation of Potters, Weasleys, and Malfoy are late teens or adults. There has been either death or divorce to leave Draco and Hermione single and willing to give each other a chance at romance.

Example: Confessions by SaintDionysus

AU – Marriage Law

In a world where the magical population has been decimated by war, the Ministry of Magic has passed a new law requiring that magical persons need to marry and procreate. There are lots of variations here where the ministry is involved in matching couples together and there may be a letter notifying the person of their match. This story basically forces Draco and Hermione together, mostly due to compatibility in intelligence or other features.

Example: The Beginning of Everything by RiverWriter

AU – Hermione is Muggle Royalty

This one is really really fun. For as much crap as Hermione gets for being a Muggleborn at Hogwarts, Draco is surprised to learn that she is actually a big deal in Muggle England, with servants and everything. Usually a light-hearted and humorous type of story.

Example: Love’s Labour Found by Peanutbuttertoast

AU – Pureblood Hermione

The pureblood Hermione story is usually brought about with Hermione being secretly adopted by the Grangers. She’s possibly the long-lost daughter of a pureblood house and secreted away for her protection. Sometimes, she’s hidden for nefarious purposes but sometimes it’s just unfortunate luck. This type of story can be problematic in that Draco gets to hold onto his bigoted pureblood idealogy sometimes, but most of the time, it’s just a fun little wrench in Hermione’s origin story.

Example: Presque Toujours Pur by ShayaLonnie

AU – Slytherin Hermione

Remember when Hermione blackmailed Rita Skeeter? That is a classic example of Hermione behaving in ambitious and cunning Slytherin ways. In some stories, we can imagine that the Sorting Hat has overlooked the bigoted nature of Slytherin House and put our clever Hermione right into it. We’ll usually see the Slytherins believing in House before blood and accepting Hermione into the fold.

Example: The Green Girl by Colubrina

AU – Hermione is Voldemort’s Daughter

Hermione being Voldemort’s daughter is a spin on the pureblood Hermione story, except that she’s usually kidnapped as a baby away from Voldemort by Dumbledore (or his agents) as revenge or to prevent her from turning dark. I enjoy this type of story because it humanizes Voldemort a little bit and shows him somewhat trying to be a father. Hermione will often end up with Draco here after some show of loyalty to her from the Malfoys.

Example: Riddle This by CJ Red

AU – Dark Hermione

Dark Hermione (or morally grey Hermione) will often coincide with being Voldemort’s daughter. She’ll be fighting for Voldemort’s side of the war and not Dumbledore’s. What’s interesting in these stories is figuring out Hermione’s motives and why she’s supporting what she does. And since she and Draco are on the same side, it’s natural for them to get together.

Example: Step Into Darkness by cleotheo

AU – Voldemort Wins

When Voldemort wins and Harry dies, things are dark. That’s all there is to it. Muggleborns are oppressed. Those who fought for the Order of the Phoenix are either killed or enslaved. It’s not a great setting. The big question is how do Draco and Hermione get together in this terribly tragic environment.

Example: Manacled by SenLinYu (very dark! check content warnings!)

AU – Wartime Continues

In some cases, the war against Voldemort lasts longer than the events of the original seven-book series. As time moves on, the Order of the Phoenix will need to improve their tactics and accept help from Voldemort’s defectors. Oftentimes, Draco (and his friends) will realize that they no longer want to follow Voldemort and then throw themselves into the Order’s protection and ranks.

Example: Not Quite Dark Magic by hiccupfound

AU – Soulmates

I love a great soulmates story, especially if it involves soulmate-identifying marks. At some point, as the magical population comes of age, some scars or marks will appear somewhere on their person to indicate their soulmate. With Draco and Hermione, there will usually be some phase of denial before they accept each other. And with Hermione, there may be an additional layer of skepticism, having not grown up in the magical world.

Example: Initially Yours by HufflepuffMommy

AU – Veela

With the Malfoy’s pale white blond hair and fair features, it is very similar to the description of our quarter-Veela Fleur Delacour. It seems reasonable that the Malfoys could have a bit of Veela ancestry as well. This type of story will typically involve some type of maturation for Draco and a realization that he has a fated mate (Hermione). He’ll need to claim her or perish.

Example: A Thing With[out] Feathers by SenLinYu

AU – Werewolf

Usually Draco will be the werewolf (bitten either accidentally or as a punishment from Voldemort) and Hermione is his fated mate.

Example: Becoming Beta by crochetaway

Omegaverse

The Omegaverse is an alternate universe scenario that has a lot to do with mating and breeding. Usually a male character will be the alpha (super strong, bulky, protector type), most characters will be betas (average, nothing special), and a female character will be the omega (small, subservient, to be protected). In this type of Dramione story, oftentimes Draco will be alpha with Hermione as an omega with very poor understanding of scents, mating, phermones, mating heats, etc, since she is a Muggleborn who is unfamiliar with this magical phenomenon. Expect lots of smut in these types of stories.

Example: All You Want SenLinYu

Want more Harry Potter fanfic? Here’s a spreadsheet of my all-time favorites.

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