A Lifetime Ahead to Prove That

What a wonderful topic for a dissertation @realistic-but-optimistic - I would LOVE to read it if you ever publish/want to share. And I definitely have some recs for fics that have their own mini fandom and/or are ‘The Drarry Classics’

What We Pretend We Can't See by @gyzym [131k words]

Seven years out from the war, Harry learns the hard truth of old history: it’s never quite as far behind you as you thought

This is THE fandom classic almost everyone has read and talks about. It features a redeemed, slightly obsessive, charming Draco. Grimmauld Place plays a huge role in the fic and Ron/Hermione are wonderful. Overall 10/10.

Running on Air by @tinyhistory [75k]

Draco Malfoy has been missing for three years. Harry is assigned the cold case and finds himself slowly falling in love with the memories he collects.

I genuinely do not know if any fic rec can do justice to this masterpiece. It’s so beautiful and poignant and somehow nostalgic. The language, the plot, the pining and the mystery are all breathtaking. You have to read this one yourself to believe me. This is definitely a major fandom classic.

Tea and No Sympathy [70k] by who_la_hoop

It's Potter's fault, of course, that Draco finds himself trapped in the same twenty-four-hour period, repeating itself over and over again. It's been nearly a year since the unpleasant business at Hogwarts, and Draco's getting on with his life quite nicely, thank you, until Harry sodding Potter steps in and ruins it all, just like always. At first, though, the time loop seems liberating. For the first time in his life, he can do anything, say anything, be anything, without consequence. But the more Draco repeats the day, the more he realises the uncomfortable truth: he's falling head over heels for the speccy git. And suddenly, the time loop feels like a trap. For how can he ever get Harry to love him back when time is, quite literally, against him?

If you like Groundhog Day style fics, this is the winner! It has over 32k kudos on AO3 which is INSANE! It’s super well written and keeps you hooked until the very end. And it’s not just this one, every fic by this author is a classic in its own right. Especially ‘written on the heart.’

Right Hand Red [73k] by @lqtraintracks​

Harry felt Malfoy's breath on his lips as they came together over the bottle, hands firmly planted on the floor as though they each needed their familiar soil, refusing to cross into enemy territory.

Except that Malfoy no longer felt like his enemy.

Malfoy felt inevitable.

No rec list can be complete without an eighth year fic. The fandom is FULL of eighth year fics and they’re perfect for anyone craving a Harry Potter continuation but with Drarry. This is one of my absolute favourite ones. It features a lot of party games and it’s really nice to see Harry and Draco have a chance at a normal school year for once, something they’ve been robbed of for so many years. There’s a lot of pining and healing in this one and I felt all the feels when I read it. 

Away Childish Things [151k] by @letteredlettered

Harry gets de-aged. Malfoy has to help him.

This one. This one. THERE ARE NO WORDS BUT I WILL VALIANTLY ATTEMPT. I love it. It explores Harry’s childhood in a way very few fics have managed to and it really really tugs at the heartstrings. It’s gorgeously written and evokes so many emotions. Please read this one.

Stop All the Clocks (This Is the Last Time I’m Leaving Without You) [44k] by @firethesound

Living with Draco was difficult; living without him is unbearable. But if there’s one thing Harry learned from the war, it’s that even when one life ends, the rest of the world goes right on living.

Full disclosure- I haven’t read this and I don’t know if I ever can. It features MCD (main character death) and I really struggle with reading fics that don’t have a happy ending. Having said that, it is a fandom classic and everyone who has read it, RAVES about it. They say it’s gorgeous and beautiful and devastating. What I can confirm is that firethesound is an amazing author and I have read several other fics by them which could also be considered fandom classics. Especially ‘All Our Secrets Laid Bare’ which is the ultimate Auror partners fic and ‘A Convenient Impracticality’ which is the ultimate fake dating/friends-with-benefits fic. 

Dwelling [83k] by aideomai

Curses, James and Lily Potter ride again, several Ministry balls, a teenage Summer of Love, a grim young adult dystopian winter, a few different Draco Malfoys, secrets and the problems re: not having any, alternate lives, impossible lives, real lives, allusions to Dirty Dancing, and just because it's not called the Mirror of Erised doesn't mean you shouldn't know better.

Oh my goodness, this fic ruined me. In the best possible way. If you want a glimpse into how Harry’s life could have been if his parents had been alive and if Harry and Draco had been friends from the start, this is the one. There's a huge twist which makes the fic EVEN better. I don’t want to spoil too much but this one is worth a read. Another fic by the same author, ‘Far From The Tree’ is also gorgeous. It’s a newer fic so I wouldn’t say it’s a classic yet but the plot is SO unique. It features Harry’s grown up kids coming back into the past and how that could affect Harry/Draco’s relationship. All the characters are super well written and it’s one of my personal favourites!

Other notes:

I made a Drarry rec list when I first got into the fandom. I would say almost all the fics on this list are also classics/very well liked. 

Another great way to find classics are through this link. They are Drarry fics on Ao3 (30k+ words) sorted by the number of kudos they’ve received. I would say all fics on the first five pages can be considered classics. 

Here are three other SUPER adored authors in the Ao3 fandom: Bixgirl, Saras_Girl and GallaPlacidia

All works by Bix and Saras_Girl are considered classics. GallaPlacidia started writing for the fandom only a couple of years back but she has such a knack for writing both these boys, it’s absolutely insane. I’m 100% confident her fics will be considered classics in a few years! Especially ‘The Bucket List’ and ‘Ship of Theseus.’

"Sherlock..."

"Quiet, John."

"It's just that...the hat is quite difficult to see around."

So this is basically an amalgamation of these two lists of favorites, but here you are. :)

Adunatio by Vixenette

All Kidding Aside by ms. commas and ampersands

Being An Historical Record of Events Surrounding the Unfortunate Truth-Or-Dare Game of February the Twenty-Second, and Consequences Thereof by sodomquake

The Blood Blistering Brew by Deena

Boiling Point by Persica

The Dating Disasters of Sirius Black by kabeyk

Don’t Look Back Into The Sun by Froody

For Whom the Pants Toll by lorax

It Was Only A Kiss! by remuslives23

The Middle Man by kabeyk

Pair by sodomquake

Redeeming Time by Minx

Seven Things That Didn’t Happen On Valentine’s Day At Hogwarts, Or Maybe They Did by rageprufrock

The Sharing of Breath by kjcp

These Four Kings by escribo

Three Weeks Outside Time by Thistlerose

To Kiss a Bloke by Risu-chan14

Truth or Drink by pezzy387

Very Bad Things by freudian fuckup

It reminded me of Red, White and Royal Blue in the best way possible!!!

It has:

An LGBT relationship (mlm 🏳️‍🌈)

Discussions about mental health (depression, anxiety, OCD + characters asking how they can help each other through panic attacks and depressive episodes, but also having healthy ways to deal with them on their own and understanding they need therapy and love doesn’t fix all)

A main character figuring out his sexuality (he thinks he’s on the asexual spectrum!!!!! Ace rep woooooo!) 🖤🤍💜

Fun and distinct side characters!

Characters asking for consent!! Out loud! To touch, to hug, to kiss!!! Everything!!! We love to see it!

Also, for the fans of….. tropes 👀 it has:

Idiots in love. Oblivious fools.

Y e a r n i n g 😩

Kind of fake dating 👀 “It’s just for practice haha. Unless…..?”

Hiding their relationship bc they can’t let people know (forbidden romance? Ooooooooh)

THERE WAS ONLY 1 BED MWAHAHAHAHA

(there's even more btw!!! check out my full spoiler free review on goodreads hehe!)

Posting today because I won’t be around tomorrow:

Happy Book Birthday, ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS 🎉

Dare To Think by femmequixotic  (Tales from the Special Branch series)

Fic summary: After recent events in New York, Seven-Four-Alpha are set to return back to London. They’ve captured their primary target, but by no means settled their case. They’ve still got rogue Dementors at Azkaban, prying investigators from Luxembourg, and a far larger Death Eater threat to manage, not to mention pressure from their own higher ups. Draco is reeling from his loss, and Harry is trying to be the best boyfriend he can, which may mean not being Draco’s guv any longer. Harry’s uncertain what his team’ll find as they press deeper in the investigation, but he knows they will all be tested, perhaps more than they can bear. But they haven’t a choice, have they? It’s the bloody Death Eaters, after all, and the political integrity of Wizarding Britain and their magical allies hangs in the balance.

Rating: Very. Very. VERY NC-17. You’ve been warned.

Pairings: Drarry, Blaise Zabini/Jake Durant

(Prequel is here, ~15K; Book One is here, ~258K; Book Two is here, ~358K)

Okay, you guys, Chapter Seventeen of Dare To Think has just been posted, which means the entire book is now complete. (So any of you waiting to read it until it was done can start here at the beginning!) 

It’s been eight months writing this book. Eight months that have been filled with a lot of ups and downs. I especially want to say thank you to those of you who were so patient with this chapter being late. @noeeon and I have gone through an enormous life change recently which will be good in the end but which has been ridiculously stressful and frustrating. Thank you so much for accepting my flakiness. It means the world to me that you guys have been so kind and supportive and understanding. So much love to you all. Seriously.

With the end of Dare To Think, the Tales from the Special Branch series has now reached 1,018,224 words since the first story went up in February 2017. I am stunned by this, and thrilled, and to all of you who’ve come along for this wild and bumpy ride–you are the best readers I could ever ask for. Thank you, thank you, thank you; while I started writing this series for my own enjoyment, I keep writing it because of the love and excitement all of you have for these wonderful, amazing, infuriating characters. I hope you’ll join me as we start the final descent in this story–it’s going to be so much fun to write. 

The last book in the Tales from the Special Branch series will be called Set Me Free, and I’ll post the first chapter of it on Sunday, May 13. (You can follow me here on Tumblr for updates or subscribe to the series on AO3.) I’m going to take a few weeks off to regroup, to give @noeeon and @sassy-cissa a chance to rest, and to let myself have an opportunity to reread the series from the beginning so I don’t fuck up my own canon as I start to weave threads together. In the meantime, if you’re bored, I recommend looking over @daysundercover‘s Special Branch Murder Board–there are some definite plot points on there that may be in the process of being addressed. :D :D :D

Again, so much love to all of you–you really are the best. And to @noeeon and @sassy-cissa, you both know you mean the world to me. This story would not be anywhere near what it is without all of your help and love and support. I love you both so damn much, I can’t even tell you. Thank you for always being there when I’m freaking out, and for always telling me to shut up and get back to writing. You are the most amazing team; I couldn’t do this without you. With great affection, Femme

Previous stories in the Tales from the Special Branch series:

Can’t Get You Out of My Head (15K)

Lost In Your Arms (258K)

@drarryspecificrecs asked me if i had a masterlist of my rec lists and i did not and figured i should make one. And then like a month passed. So I’m doing it now. 

This list has EVERY SINGLE LIST IVE MADE (of 3 or more fics) starting at december 2017. I scrolled down to 2017. Because im terrible at tagging my posts.

Long fics (50-150k) 

Even longer fics (150k+)

Pirate AU ( + one greek myth AU)

My favourites

‘Iconic’ drarry fics (this is more like a part 2 of my favourites list)

Draco has a parseltongue kink

BDSM

sub!draco dom!harry

Fashion industry Draco

Draco meets Dudley

Podfics

Top 10 smut written in 2017

Top 10 fluff written in 2017

Veela! Draco

Beauxbatons! Draco

Self Harm 

More fluff recs

Healer Draco and/or Healer Harry

A/B/O fics

More A/B/O (i…… forgot this existed??)

long haired draco

Snape as mentor

Draco in the muggle world

Drarry as dads 

More Drarry as dads

Dating Service

fics where one or both are cold 

Draco dealing with muggle things, or fixing things (+ one flower language fic)

strong!harry

muggle AU

power bottom!draco 

Getting walked in on 

drarry as kids

This was a very very hard list to make because I read so many good fics this year. I excluded all Erised fics, which made it a little bit easier to narrow things down to 10 out of the hundreds that I must have read.

This Christmas, I Give You My Everything by loveglowsinthedark

Summary: 

“I didn’t mean to imply that I wouldn’t risk it for you.”

“I see. Because you would? Risk it for me, I mean?”

Harry’s reply comes out a growl, his arms tightening around Malfoy. “I’d risk everything for you and you bloody well know it.”

This holiday season, Harry decides to claim the gift he wants more than anything else.

Phoenix Repair Services by carpemermaid

Summary:

Phoenix Repair Services — We’ll bring it back to life as if it was new! Draco hires a suspiciously private wizarding handyman to fix his kitchen when he returns home to find it destroyed. He expects a middle-aged wizard with greying hair and a pudgy gut to show up. Instead, he gets Harry Potter—with a utility belt and a charming smile—who is more attractive than he has any right to be.

Cabin Fever by aphiceland

Summary:

“We’re trapped. We’re fucking trapped!” Malfoy exclaimed, throwing his hands above his head and turning away in disbelief. “I’m trapped in a fucking love-cabin with Harry Potter!”

Harry and Draco end up trapped in a twisted, perverted, and royally fucked up house in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, also known as a Love-Cabin. Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like.

Moon-Eyed by loveglowsinthedark

Summary: 

Draco Malfoy, Head of Veela Affairs at the Department of Magical Beings, does not do people favours.

Harry Potter, recently turned werewolf, is not “people” – not to Draco anyway.

Does Draco plan to fall in love with Harry when he decides to help him? No. Does he end up falling in love with him anyway? Pft, what do you think?

Proof of the Pudding by gracie137

Summary:

When Goyle’s bakery opens on Diagon Alley, Draco doesn’t expect it to the place he ends up finding love, but then again things with Potter always had been anything but what Draco expected.

AKA: The One Where Goyle somehow ends up running both a bakery and a match making service.

Better To Burn Than To Fade Away by Ren

Harry Potter is a legend in the world of broomstick racing. He’s won almost every cup, trophy, and bowl – except for the historical London-Nome which has been on hiatus for the past several years. Now the London-Nome is starting again, and Harry will do anything to pull off one last big win.

Draco Malfoy is one of the organizers of the London-Nome. The race is infamous for its accidents, but Draco is adamant that this year nothing will go wrong. However, between bad weather and international problems en route, the biggest trouble is he can’t stop running into Potter.

Fallaway by PalenDrome (nerdherderette)

Summary:

Following his disastrous outing at the Ministry Ball, Harry is determined to learn how to dance. So why do his lessons with Malfoy leave him feeling like he has two left feet?

[excerpt]:

Blaise softened upon seeing Harry’s expression. “If you’re serious, however, I know the best person for the job. The man could teach an Erumpent to pirouette. He also happens to be in town for the next ten days, which may be just enough time to whip you into tolerable shape.”

“I can’t go through another night like tonight. Do whatever you need to make it happen, Blaise.” Harry took a deep breath. “Please.”

Inclement Weather by jadepresley 

Summary:

Draco is the best Unspeakable the Ministry have; his skill in magical control makes him the perfect person to help a struggling Harry Potter learn to contain his wild magic.

Or, Harry needs to learn control, and Draco needs to learn to let go.

Naked by bixgirl1

Summary:

Harry and Draco are sent on an undercover assignment to catch a Dark wizard — which might not be so bad if it weren’t at a Muggle nudist resort.

Now Draco has to deal with a very interested Harry, temptation he’s long-since learned to ignore, and threats around every corner — including the one to his heart.

The Rules of Matchbreaking by PalenDrome (nerdherderette)

Summary:

When Draco gets fired, he reluctantly agrees to break up a girl’s relationship for her disapproving mother. Through word of mouth, the one-time gig turns him into a professional Matchbreaker, however he winds up falling for one of his clients and must somehow balance his secret job and love life. [excerpt]:

“So who is it? The Curse-breaker and the Veela? The head of the Department of Magical Transportation?” Draco’s eyes lit up. “The Dragon-tamer?” Now that particular Weasley could be fun.

“No. It’s Harry,” Hermione said, the name exploding out of her in a rush.

Draco blinked, stunned into silence.

“Harry,” he said, after he recovered his faculties. “You want me to break up Harry and the Weaselette?!“

//Edit 

It has been brought to my attention that Ligabus Filium was originally published in 2015 and reuploaded in 2017, so it’s been made into a bonus rec and another fic, Better To Burn Than To Fade Away has been added to my top 10. Thank you @snowgall for pointing it out to me!

Bonus: 

Ligabus Filium by Tessa Crowley (tessacrowley)

Summary:

The three Garridebs aftermath.