Dramione sideblog

it goes from ‘HA like I could ever like that insufferable know-it-all’ to ‘so what if she’s attractive I still hate her’ to ‘It’s just lust draco YOU’VE GOT THIS’ to ‘NO I HATE HER I HATE THIS’ to ‘father gon kill me’

Hello lovely people! I’m currently looking for a beta/anyone willing to read some of my work and critique it. I am currently working on a harry potter world fanfic and if you’re into that and you would like to help me out please let me know! I would even be open to creating a ‘deal’ were we beta eachothers work! I do ask that whoever is reading the work has some harry potter background knowledge!

Hi there!

Well, I actually loved Neville from the very beginning, and shipping is usually also about liking the characters. So, I always wanted Neville to have a nice relationship. And I think he would be the kind of guy who can be with a strong woman. I actually like that Neville /Luna is a thing in the movies. I like them both and I adore them as friends.

Neville has the appeal of a truly humble man, someone who might not believe that anybody would fall for him. He is also someone who is very kind, friendly and gently and therefore much more attractive than he knows himself. That is such a good basis for fic. You know all these articles in Witches weekly about eligible bachelors and Neville would always wonder why for Merlin’s sake he keeps coming up in these columns. lol.

We don’t learn much about Pansy in canon, just that she is a ‘mean Slytherin’, a side-kick of Draco. Fanon has elaborated on Pansy quite a lot. I don’t even know if her dark hair and her bob are ever mentioned in canon? Nor her fashion interest? She is one of the girly girls hated by JKR, that is about all we know. And of course she always backs up Draco with insulting the Gryffindors.

So, I always was a sucker for Slytherdor ships, or nuanced Slytherins, and with Dramione as my fav I was sort of looking for other possible ships? And Slytherdor has this delicious enemies to lovers. So Paneville, NottPott, Hansy are all ships I like. I also like Luna with Slytherins. I know Luna is a Ravenclaw but she is sort of a honourable Gryffindor (someone blocked me for saying this, so I’m saying this again. lol).

And I always had the headcanon that Pansy’s infamous attempt to deliver Harry to Voldemort had a relatable back story. I think Pansy was trying to prevent people she loved getting hurt. I think she had younger siblings in Hogwarts. That is obviously just my imagination, but a Pansy who has some depth has a lot of appeal for Slytherdor.

To me, Pansy is a reasonable pretty girl who cares about her appearance but who also has some insecurities and is somewhat afraid to commit herself. So that is also an interesting dynamic, especially if you look at Neville who I think wants a stable love life.

So, my Paneville history is probably developed from  “Why not?” at the beginning to “They fit perfectly and should be together in every universe or at least in my fics” now.

Wow, just wow! I always had the feeling that JKR does not really understand her characters.

Nor does she understand her own world building. I mean you do not introduce an enslaved kind of beings with an individual like Dobby who burns for freedom only to then make the entire race of elves 'happy' to be slaves. I mean, I don't mind that individual elves like Winky or Kreacher internalised their status as slaves (because it happens) but the very worst thing about the elves is that JKR describes it as if George and Fred have it right when they claim that the elves don't want their freedom. That is almost as bad as claiming that maybe killing muggles is bad but that wizards are nevertheless superior (which she does not claim but that is what is at the core of her classist ideas: classes are wonderful as long as the nobles are good people....)

I actually headcanon that the elves were cursed when they were enslaved in addition to their enslavement so that they have difficulties to fight for freedom and articulate their wish for liberty! I wrote a whole fic to fix the elves situation because it bugs me so much!

@batmansymbol gave a perfect reason why Hermione initiated S.P.E.W. in her fic 'Disappearance of Draco Malfoy' : as a muggleborn she felt empathy for other beings /persons that were looked down upon. And I think this is a perfect explanation. The plight of the elves is deeply relevant to Hermione and that is why she founded S.P.E.W., not some desire to fight for the elves do that she could feel better.

You could also argue that the only elf she has met at that time was Dobby and extrapolating from Dobby the elves wanted nothing more but getting clothes.

You could argue that Hermione is not very subtle with S.P.E.W. and she certainly could handle this more deftly. She definitely should try to speak with the elves. But I can't believe that JKR interprets this in a way that Hermione only wants to feel good about herself. Her biggest flaw is that she always thinks she is right but everybody makes fun of her because of S.P.E.W. She is ridiculed and declared insane about it. And I doubt she is too stupid to realize that her friends also make fun of her because of that. Ffs almost the whole third year is Hermione fighting for elves and creatures (like Buckbeak) and literally no one, no one at all praises her for that. Sry, not sry, that can't have made her feel 'better'. She gets no points for that, no one claps on her shoulders and tells her how 'woke' she is. If she is after getting 'woke points' she sure does not get any....

She does not do that for herself and I am baffled like you that JKR could midunderstand the character she invented like that. Yes, Hermione is neither subtle nor clever about it. She is bossy about it. That is who she is. And she is barely 14 and the only elf she ever knew wanted to be free more than anything else.

I should not be surprised though. I mean JKR wrote a bunch of grey characters and insists that they are 100% good. So, yes maybe what she wanted to write and what she actually did write are two different things.

Hear me out:

- There is a huge separation between magic people and normal people

- Magic people are educated in an old castle

- The head of the magic people is a manipulative very old man (even if he does not look that way)

- The manipulative old man’s family lost members because of their discussions about how they could make grisha/magic people be accepted

- The manipulator has a good goal: the mutual acceptance of magic people and non-magic people

-His methods are questionable/dubious/manipulative

-He tries to manipulate a lonely young person into doing his bidding by forming an emotional attachment

Only difference is that Dumbledore succeeded while the Darkling did not (although his greater goal of grisha acceptance might be successful at the end. who knows?)

I rest my case.

Many many kudos for fixing the horrible 'elves love being slaves' by making that attitude part of their enslavement. That has been my headcanon for years and it's great to see a fellow 'elves must be rescued' fic writer!

hi, thank you so much! and i love that we came to the same headcanon on this aspect, i must read your take on it too!!

like, to stick within the confines of Canon Feeling, i’ve tried to stay as far away from a Fix-It vibe as possible. i have a lot of thoughts about eg Dumbledore and Snape that i will never ever come close to touching, because canon dictates a very clear lens for how we’re meant to perceive those characters.

but in the case of the ‘elves love being slaves’ stuff -- man, i could not touch that aspect without establishing in-universe reasoning for jkr’s batshit decision to have enslaved beings embrace their enslavement. for a series that has heavy social justice overtones throughout, and which does quite well addressing many of those things--unjust incarceration, corrupt government, media manipulation, dehumanizing language and behavior between people--it is mind-blowing to me how far off the rails the depiction of other “magical races” goes.

we all hate the epilogue, but i’m surprised more people don’t talk about the final sentence before the epilogue. the very last words we see in the ‘present day’ are these:

“And quite honestly,” [Harry] turned away from the painted portraits, thinking now only of the four-poster bed lying waiting for him in Gryffindor Tower and wondering whether Kreacher might bring him a sandwich there, “I’ve had enough trouble for a lifetime.”

I think the problem with the social justice aspect is that JKR just wants nice and benevolent wizarding people at the top of society, just like someone who thinks a class system works nicely if the nobles are just decent and nice enough - like Harry and Dumbledore. I think JKR fails to acknowledge the society problems she very clearly wrote into her plot. Almost as if she was blind to the fact. It always makes me shake my head.

Pansy as a mom

It was right then, in a moment so casual it would otherwise be considered uneventful, that Pansy realized she was in love with Neville.

He’d fallen asleep on the longest sofa, Textbook of Pollen Analysis, 6th Edition open on his chest and Hermione’s malign and hideous cat curled in a ball over his crotch.

Which was fine. Who gave a shit? Nobody cared about Longbottom and when and where he slept or ate or showered or repotted sticky, fetid plants or the active interest he appeared to be taking in Luna Lovegood.

Pansy stepped through the low tunnel connecting the 8th years’ dormitory to the corridor outside, threw her satchel into a chair beside the hearth and her robes immediately after, and yanked her tie loose.

Every last thirteen year-old in the castle could go and pox themselves. If Arithmancy tutoring was her self-selected penance for her spiritual crimes, she’d changed her mind. Far better to burn in a boiling lake than be condescended to by a pubescent who already had all the answers.    

The cat regarded her with one baleful honey-colored eye as she clanked a cup too hard on the kitchenette counter, then aggressively excavated a teaspoon of English Breakfast leaves from the tin.

She set the kettle to boil. Why? She had magic. Because it was there, and she felt like it, and her mother and all of her endless judgmental commentary could fucking precede her in the plummeting hand basket.

Pansy poured water over her tea, then lay both hands over her face, rounded her lips into an O and breathed out slowly.

“Is there enough for two cups?”

Pansy opened her eyes to find Longbottom looming over her shoulder.

Apparently before he lay down, he’d shucked his tie and rolled up his sleeves. After that, sleep had scrambled his hair and crinkled his clothes.

Just as he began scrubbing a hand through the back of his disorganized hair, the cloud cover shifted, and sunlight poured through the western windows.

He was gilt: dark hair and sun-gold skin burnished with a drowsy, benevolent yellow.

And then he smiled, eyes soft and listless, one corner of his mouth drawn in a parenthetical curl.

Pansy stared—could feel herself physically performing the act of staring, and was entirely unable to stop it.

“What the fuck?”

She clapped her teacup down on the counter, sloshing a burning mouthful over the back of her hand.

Neville jumped, hopping back on one foot, eyes two circular windows into the inner life of a bewildered man.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

Pansy squeezed her eyes shut, and then opened them.

He was still there, still Neville, and she was still being wracked by a warm wave of—desire, yes, fuck, but—in that moment, Pansy wanted nothing more in the entire world than to suddenly ascend, and then return: as a book, open on this boy’s—man’s, fuck!—chest, or a cat, curled up in his crotch.

“Are you alright?” he asked again, only he wasn’t leaning back anymore, he was leaning in, and his hand, very gently, cupped her elbow.

“I’m fine.” She said it in quite a small way, like a weak, vulnerable, discreditable little mouse.

“You’ve burned yourself,” he said.

McGonagall: “Ms. Lovegood, if you’re going to fill in as Quidditch commentator, do try to focus and only report what happens in the match.”

Luna: “Still no sign of the snitch. Hufflepuff is ahead but Harry doesn’t look worried. I’ve seen him more flustered by Wrackspurts. Cormac McClaggen however appears distracted, perhaps the pressure of being the new keeper, or that Hermione Granger is in the crowd. Cormac stares at Hermione often, he likes to watch her eat during meals in the Great Hall. Sometimes he even- Oh! It looks as if Cormac’s taken a bludger to a.. delicate area. He may not ride a broom for a while. Madame Hooch is shouting at a new arrival. That’s Draco Malfoy. It appears he’s abandoned his position as Slytherin seeker to play beater for Hufflepuff, this may cost Gryffindor the cup. Fun fact: Draco too enjoys watching Hermione Gran-”