folklorisms

400ish words | prompt: bond | @drarrymicrofic

Draco opens his door to Potter on a Monday morning. 

Potter is thicker than Draco thought he'd ever be. In five years, he's grown into himself, heavy and strong. The ocean wind ruffles his hair. 

"No," Draco says, closing the door. 

Potter puts his foot in the jamb. 

"Malfoy—"

"No—I said no."

"Do you want to die, Draco?" Potter's voice shakes in the struggle: Potter's got his hand around the edge of the door and Draco's got his shoulder against the back. "That's it, isn't it? You want to die."

"Go away."

"Why didn't you tell me!" 

Draco snarls as Potter bullies his way into his roof apartment, broad shoulders rustling the sketches taped to the walls.

"I've been looking for you everywhere." Potter is dressed like a wizard, which is strange. Everything fits, which is stranger. He sounds desperate, and Draco wonders what his life is like now. "There's no more time left." 

Under Potter’s gaze, Draco feels naked, so violently seen. It's always been like this. Potter rips everything out of him with just a look, and doesn't even realize.

"I deserve better," Draco whispers. 

Potter is shocked, then angry. "You would rather die than bond to someone…what? Too stupid? Too common? Too—"

"I don't want to beg you to love me! I don't want to force you to, and I don't want to beg. And if we complete the bond it will be both. Please don't make me do both. I don't—I don't deserve it. I deserve someone who actually, who really—" 

Potter kisses him. Draco makes a high sound, arms twining around Potter's shoulders. He jumps at the same time Potter moves his hands to catch him. Draco's ankles hook in the small of Potter's back. 

"I don't want to," Draco says between kisses. "Don't let me be the thing that traps you."

Potter rests his forehead against Draco's. "Stop," he says. "Just stop." 

Draco is tired. He feels a little less alive each day. He doesn't believe Harry will ever love him, but Harry's hands are warm and their lips fit together like they were made to, and the one time they'd shagged they'd both held each other after and sobbed. Draco's been running a long time. Harry chased him. Harry found him. 

Quietly, Draco says, "Alright."

Draco might be on top but Harry’s about to whoop his azz

400th attempt at Lineless art and I’m still learning new things ahhhh

✧ Keeping a running list in their head of things to tell someone, even though there's no one to tell.

✧ Talking to the cat. Not in a playful way. In a confessional way.

✧ Lingering at the checkout counter a beat too long because the cashier made eye contact.

✧ Watching the clock on Friday evenings and feeling something they can't quite name drop in their chest.

✧ Answering "what did you do this weekend?" with something tidied up and social-sounding, leaving out the two days they saw no one.

✧ Muting their TV just to hear how loud the silence actually is.

✧ Ordering too much food and eating alone with the plates set out, taking up the whole table.

✧ Spending longer than necessary in public places (bookshops, grocery stores) because being around strangers is close enough.

✧ Re-reading old messages from people who don't talk to them anymore, not out of longing but out of proof they existed to someone.

✧ Getting very invested in strangers' lives online: their updates, their kids, their ordinary days.

✧ Starting conversations with service workers and then feeling ashamed of how much they wanted it to continue.

✧ Making plans they know won't happen just for the brief warmth of having something to look forward to.

✧ Dreaming about people they barely know.

✧ Waking grateful, then embarrassed.

Body language is one of the most powerful tools you can use in your writing, especially when it comes to dialogue.

It reveals emotion without needing long explanations, and it gives your characters presence long before they speak.

Here are some physical cues you can use to bring your scenes to life:

Crossed arms / defensive stance → guarded, annoyed, uncertain

Fidgeting with sleeves / tapping fingers → nervous, impatient

Lingering touches / brushing hands → affection, tension, desire

Tightened jaw / clenched fists → anger, restraint, frustration

Averted eyes / looking at the floor → guilt, fear, embarrassment

Stepping back / leaning away → distrust or discomfort

Tilting head / raised eyebrows → curiosity, challenge

Shoulders relaxing / exhaling slowly → relief, vulnerability

When should you rely on body language?

When you want to show an emotion instead of naming it

When dialogue alone feels flat

When you need subtext (what they won’t say out loud)

When two characters feel differently than the words they’re speaking

When you want to make a scene more sensory and grounded

Are they really calm, or is their foot tapping like a warning signal? Are they truly angry, or is it just the way their jaw tightens when they’re hurt? Are they saying “I’m fine,” but refusing to meet anyone’s eyes?

Body language adds layers. It tells the truth when your characters won’t. It can add to the rage bubbling on their lips, letting the reader know when they're just about to blow up.

[F01]  [R]  crowds  [S]  against  a  wall,  their  hand  sliding  up  [S]’s  side.

[F02]  [R]  takes  [S]’s  chin  between  their  fingers,  tilting  their  face  up  slowly.

[F03]  [R]  steps  between  [S]’s  knees,  hands  settling  on  their  thighs.

[F04]  [R]  leans  in  close  to  [S]’s  ear.

[F05]  [R]  grabs  the  back  of  [S]’s  shirt  and  pulls  them  in.

[F06]  [R]  pins  one  of  [S]’s  wrists  above  their  head,  the  other  hand  resting  low  on  their  waist.

[F07]  [R]  runs  their  thumb  over  [S]’s  lower  lip,  slow  and  deliberate.

[F08]  [R]  presses  their  forehead  to  [S]’s,  breathless,  waiting  for  a  reaction.

[F09]  [R]  hooks  a  finger  in  the  collar  of  [S]’s  clothes  and  tugs  them  closer.

[F10]  [R]  cages  [S]  in  with  both  arms,  gaze  dropping  to  their  mouth.

[F11]  [R]  slides  their  hand  around  the  back  of  [S]’s  neck,  guiding  them  forward.

[F12]  [R]  pulls  [S]  onto  their  lap  with  little  warning.

[F13]  [R]  backs  [S]  onto  a  bedroll,  hovering  just  above  them.

[F14]  [R]  traces  a  line  down  [S]’s  chest  slowly

[F15]  [R]  stands  behind  [S],  one  hand  settling  firmly  on  their  hip.

[F16]  [R]  tilts  [S]’s  face  toward  theirs.

[F17]  [R]  slips  their  fingers  into  [S]’s  hair,  pulling  gently.

@drarrymicrofic | wc: 231 | prompt: book

Chapter Four: Intentions must be stated plainly, with appropriate respect, ideally accompanied by a sincere compliment and an invitation specific enough to prevent social ambiguity.

“Didn’t think you were a reader, Potter,” drawled a voice behind him.

Harry slammed the book shut. “What are you doing here?”

“Buying books,” Malfoy said, shifting the pile in his hand. “A radical activity, I realise, in a bookshop.”

Harry glanced at the titles. “Romance, really?”

Malfoy flushed. “I am a man of refined emotional and literary appetites. Do not look so startled.”

“You read smut.”

“No, I read literature.”

“With shirtless pirates.”

Malfoy sniffed. “And what, pray, are you doing in the self-help section?”

“It’s just a book on… etiquette.”

Malfoy leaned in before Harry could hide it. His eyes widened. “A Guide to Pure-Blood Courtship Customs. Potter. Which pure-blood are you attempting to court?”

“As if I’d tell you.”

“If it’s Smith, I’ll vomit. Blaise? Theodore? Merlin, not Pansy—”

“No, no, no, and absolutely not.”

Malfoy listed out several other names, to all of which Harry said no.

Malfoy looked genuinely upset. “Well, who else could it possibly be?”

Harry’s face went hot. “Bloody hell. It’s you.”

“Oh,” Malfoy said faintly. “Oh.”

Harry swallowed. “Draco Malfoy, you're stupidly pretty, I’m serious about this, and I’d like to take you to dinner.”

“For most dialogue, use a comma after the sentence and don’t capitalize the next word after the quotation mark,” she said.

“But what if you’re using a question mark rather than a period?” they asked.

“When using a dialogue tag, you never capitalize the word after the quotation mark unless it’s a proper noun!” she snapped.

“When breaking up a single sentence with a dialogue tag,” she said, “use commas.”

“This is a single sentence,” she said. “Now, this is a second stand-alone sentence, so there’s no comma after ‘she said.’”

For @drarrymicrofic - Prompt: Spell - 1115 words

Anything over 1k should not be considered a microfic. This is ridiculous. I know! But I got carried away. Sorry!

“Legilimens,” Harry whispers for what must be the tenth time today.

Draco stiffens, jaw clenched. There’s a hard stone the size of England sitting in the pit of his stomach, a stone he’d very much like to extract and fling right at Robards’s stupid head.

It would be entirely deserved and not the least bit excessive, Draco thinks.

After all, that’s all the prick deserves for deciding on a whim that all Auror partners should learn the art of bloody Legilimency, with daily training sessions on top of that.

Robards dropped the horrific news at the weekly department meeting three weeks ago: “Being able to  maintain a mental connection with your partner on the field can be extremely valuable. You need to learn to link your minds. It’s a skill every auror is expected to master. It could literally save your life.”

Draco thinks he’d rather died, if he had the choice. That would be a far better option than letting Potter wander free in his mind, with full access to ... well, everything.

If Draco were normal about Potter, he reckons he’d be fine with the whole Legilimency thing—not thrilled, but okay ... fine.

If he had a normal crush, he could probably gather all his inconvenient feelings and shove them into some dark corner of his mind, lock them behind a door, or burry them in a bloody drawer or something—surely there was a place like that where you could dump all the things you’d rather die than have discovered, such as your extremely powerful and unrequited crush on your Auror partner for example.  

But here is the thing:  Draco Malfoy is not normal about Harry Potter, nor are his feelings, and if Potter were to step foot in Draco’s mind, he’d be hit by the enormity of it. No drawers would ever be big enough. Potter would be horrified, and Draco would die of mortification.

“Try to relax this time,” Harry says stupidly.

“I’m relaxed,” Draco replies, fingers tightening around the armrest of his chair.

Harry shoots him an unconvinced look, then voice softer, “Okay ... I’m going in.”

Draco braces himself then feels Harry pushing softly at the edge of his thoughts. It’s warm and lovely and Draco hates it. He stiffens and does what he needs to do to protect his heart.

“Malfoy!” Harry sighs, irritated.

“What?” Draco says innocently, pretending he has no clue what Harry is about to say.

“Your walls! They’re up again. Put them down.”

“They’re not up.”

“They are! I can’t get through your mind and make the connection if your walls are up.”

Draco feels Harry pushing harder, trying to force his way in. Draco resists, pushes back, but the bloody wanker is powerful, Draco knows he only has so much time before his walls inevitably start to crumble. He can already feel the cracks.

“Jesus, Malfoy, you’ve built a bloody fortress in there. What the hell?”

Draco rolls his eyes, crossing his arms. “Have you considered you can’t manage to get through because you’re pants at Legilimency and not because of my non-existent walls?”

Harry gives him a pointed look. He shifts his grip on his wand, then says, eyes looking away, ”It worked with Justin.”

Draco’s stomach lurches. “You practiced with Justin?”

Harry has at least the decency to look slightly guilty. “Well, I had to know if I was the problem." He rubs the back of his neck. “Justin suggested it when I told him we were struggling.”

Of course he did. That sneaky little fucker. Of course that rate-face, slimy piece of shit was going to jump at the opportunity to prove he’ be a better partner than Draco. Of fucking course. Draco can’t stand him. He fucking can’t stan--

“You’re mad,” Harry says, surprised.

“What?”

“You’re mad. I can feel it,” Harry  says.

Draco’s blood suddenly runs cold because if Harry can feel it, that only means one thing: he’s managed to get through, though Draco has no clue how, his walls, though shaky, definitely still hold.

Unless … Fuck! The bloody cracks. His anger must have slipped through them.     

“Actually, that’s not quite it.” Harry frowns in concentration while Draco desperately tries to locate the cracks so he can seal them before the whole thing collapses and all hell breaks loose. “You...” Harry’s eyes widened. “You’re jealous.”

Draco coughs, splutters, he almost chokes.

“Jealous? Of rate-face Justin?” He squeaks. “Why the fuck would I be jealous?”

Harry’s lip twitches, one smug eyebrow raised as if to say, You tell me.

“I don’t give a rat’s arse who you practice with, Potter. If you want to waste your time poking around Justin’s stupid head, be my guest. Though, I don’t know what you could possibly find in there, it’s probably just a big fucking empty hole, the guy’s got exactly one braincell,” he taunts.

Harry huffs a laugh, shaking his head. “Right.”

“Actually, come to think of it, you should ask Robards for a change of partner. You’d make a cracking team.” Draco aims for biting but his voice comes out thin, and vulnerable.

Harry hums. His eyes soften, and Draco, horrified, feels the cracks getting deeper and deeper.

“And why would I do that?” Harry says, shooting him one of his infuriating lopsided smile, the one Draco can’t resist, the one that sends his heart bloody racing.  

Draco’s walls tremble. They fucking shake.

Then, softer. “Why would I? When I have you.”

With a deafening sound, the cracks split open.

Draco freezes, heartbeat hammering in his ears, he tries to stop the disaster, but it’s too late. Hopeless. The wall shatters into a million pieces, and suddenly, everything is flooded.  

Harry gasps.

Draco holds his breath, mortified. He stares at the floor, hands shaking. That’s it. His life is over. He will have to resign, go into exile somewhere far way... like Siberia.

“Draco,” Harry whispers as he picks Draco’s wand off the desk beside them and holds it out to him. “Cast the spell on me.”

“What?” Draco croaks.

“Legilimens. Cast it on me.”

Draco looks up, heart pounding. He has no idea what Harry’s on about, but complies anyway. He grabs his wand, points it at Harry’s head, then whispers, voice trembling. “Legilimens.”

In an instant, he’s in Harry’s mind. There’s no walls. Everything is warm and lovely and inviting and ...

Oh.

Draco’s heart stops.  

Oh.

Harry bites his lip, smiling shily at Draco from under his fringe.

“You,” Draco stutters. “You...”

“Yes,” Harry says, his smile huge as he rises, catches Draco by the shirt, and kisses him.

Draco closes his eyes, kisses him back.

a prompt list by @novelbear

✧ their job forbids co-workers from dating so they have to act nonchalant throughout the day and try not to get caught leaving together at the end of their shift

✧ "are you sure we should be doing this?"

✧ the classic "our families hate each other so we have to sneak around"

✧ trying to sneak and climb up to their window at night so they don't get caught

✧ it's possible that one isn't ready to come out just yet and they have to remain subtle around certain people

✧ their friend group introduces their secret partner into the crew and they have to act like they don't know each other

✧ one is a celebrity and can't risk getting caught dating

✧ or one is a celebrity and is already "dating" someone else as a publicity stunt but has their true partner behind everyone's back

✧ "this is so hard, pretending to hate you.."

✧ other people hitting on their partner so they have to pretend like they're not jealous or angry at all

✧ they were dared to date for a week as a joke but they actually fell for each other and act like nothing's going on

✧ "i hate that this is the only time we have together.."

✧ arranged marriage but they both found someone else they truly love

✧ "my baby, i mean [name], [name] is really good at that."

✧ "how long do you think we can keep this up?"

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