#skeptiquewrites

I’m honestly feeling pretty proud of myself. Four weeks in a row of Happy Hour! Hopefully I can keep this up!

Congrats! It’s Friday! Let’s celebrate!

The Real Thing by @skeptiquewrites (5,172 words, rated M)

Harry only means to cheer Draco up after a terrible breakup. He doesn't mean to fall in love.

This is a fic I love to reread. As someone who has had that experience of finding their joys again after a bad break-up, I find Draco very relatable. I appreciate Harry’s gentleness and the way he holds space for Draco and his passions in his own life. I love Draco’s caution and how they tentatively build something together.

Skeptique has a talent for careful consideration of characterizations. Each character, regardless of importance to the plot, is so well thought out in this fic. This is the only fic I think I’ve ever read with a fire brigade Ron, and even though it’s only mentioned briefly, it’s such a great career choice for him. I adore the small, protective part Ron plays in this fic. There’s a description of Hermione where it says that she considers herself “morally compromised if she didn't live out every single ideal she had” and to me, that’s it. That’s Hermione in a sentence!

I’m going to leave you with my favorite quote. It shows the depth of longing in this fic:

“Draco, I don't want you to kiss me if you're thinking about someone else."

I hope this can be a fic you enjoy and reread as often as I do!

Lots of Love and Happy Friday!

No Distance by @skeptiquewrites (drarry, E, 4.9k)

Hidden Gems: Special Edition

5 7 underrated works by @skeptiquewrites

It’s been ages since I did a Hidden Gems post so I’m probably a bit rusty but I thought this was the perfect way to celebrate our dear Tee. I’ve loved her work ever since the first fic I came across, and I am over the moon that she was the first fandom friend I was lucky to meet in person earlier this month! We immediately hit it off and had the BEST time around - dinner at a cute Vietnamese place, a walk along the canal, ice cream treats while talking fandom & life. A perfect date night that could have been pulled out from one of her fabulous summery fics if you ask me 😌

It was even harder to choose how to celebrate her birthday having met such a lovely person - after many single recs and lists I was like “what else is there???” But after some thinking with the help of my partner in crime @sweet-s0rr0w I came up with the idea of boosting some of my favourite hidden gems by Tee, fics that I don’t see recced often but deserve all the attention and buzz. They will tug at your heartstrings and make you fall even more in love - not only with Drarry but with summer aesthetics, its endless possibilities, and with Tee’s quiet, charming, elegant, wistful and seductive writing.

These are all shorts but each perfectly placed word and well executed plot contain new and unique universes. Each clever line and lush dose of mutual want - either followed by delicious smut or equally sexy doses of quiet intimacy - fill me with different but wonderful emotions. I think the banner pic translates very well one of the best feelings I experience reading her fics: how special it is to celebrate the little things, how powerful yet vulnerable we are when facing the inevitability of falling in love, how one magical second spent on summer nights, as fleeting and removed from our traditional sense of time and space as they might be, can last forever. I hope the fics and quotes I selected below give you a tiny taste of the magic contained in each one of her short, brilliant love stories. Happiest of birthdays, my dear friend! ♥️

⌛️ light that covers us (T, 117 words)

Lovers in dangerous line of work.

"Always on borrowed time," a singer croons in the background. Draco turns up the Wireless. “God, I hate that song."

🗓️ Four Seasons (M, 2k)

A romance in four seasons.

There was something lovely about being out of excuses, Harry thought. Everything was possible. "What are you in it for, then?" Harry asked as they crossed the threshold.

🌊 On The Shore (T, 3k)

Draco takes up wild swimming. Harry joins him.

Harry turns his face towards the sun and he doesn’t quite smile, but there is something content in his expression that makes Draco a little more willing to share this place.

🎸 Lights Down Low (T, 4k)

“Will we ever learn? We’ve been here before.” Recording the Hallows' fifth album with Draco brings up the past in a way Harry’s never expected.

The music’s a little wistful, haunting even with no words, recorded in the middle of the night. Harry has done this dozens of times before and for other people. There is no way he has forgotten how to write a song.

🎇 No Distance (E, 5k)

Harry doesn’t believe in resolutions, because a new year doesn’t mean feeling any different. But something feels possible, meeting Draco again in Zurich. The past is the past, but the future can be different. Sequel to Nothing Left to Burn.

“Poor thing,” Draco responds and presses his lips to the back of Harry’s hand. It's a little mocking, but Harry's heart hasn’t taken the memo.

Bonus 1: fresh out of Bodice Ripper!

🎤 The Real Thing (M, 5k)

Harry only means to cheer Draco up after a terrible breakup. He doesn't mean to fall in love.

“I don’t know that he cared what I wanted. I don’t know if he knew what I wanted.” Harry wanted to ask Draco what he wanted, the exact contours of what might please him and how.

Bonus 2: Femslash!

🧣She Was Pretty (E, 4k) - Lavender/Parvati

In the aftermath of the war, Lavender Brown rediscovers herself in a tiny flat above her Diagon Alley tea shop. Parvati helps.

I cannot tell you how excited I've been to have this lovely writer on to rec - I fell in love with the fic she recced and I think it's a great pick for the holiday season. If you haven't read it before, I think it'll be the perfect read to get you into the Christmas spirit. Without further ado, here's the lovely @skeptiquewrites!

I was delighted to be asked to write a Happy Hour for December by the Drarry Librarian. I still consider myself more of a reader than anything.

This time of year represents a lot of contradictions for me: the joyfulness of gathering with my loved ones, the loneliness that springs up as I revisit old places and things. I love all the lights and candles, and bundling up against the cold. I can’t stand the disappearing sun, and the long hours of darkness in my part of the hemisphere. It’s sweet, but sorrowful too.

So back in July, I knew I had to pick @sweet-s0rr0w’s Waking Up Slow with all of @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm’s beautiful illustrations. Wireless has always been one of my favourite fests in current fandom, and 2023 was no exception.

Waking Up Slow by @sweet-s0rr0w (24,941 words, rated E)

'Twas the night before Christmas, although it’s July Draco’s a shopkeeper, no-one knows why There’s hiking and witch caves, freak snowfalls and more Bad Christmas jumpers, nosy neighbours galore Narcissa’s here too, but… something’s amiss And what’s in those chocolates that’s making them kiss?

From the first paragraph, I was in love with Pickerings Christmas Shop and Cheddar, Somerset. It came to life with careful, beautiful writing of Harry’s curiosity and Draco’s initial sharpness, and Joy’s saturated, poignant use of colour.

Besides the writing, I love how many direct references to other fanfics that Sweet has with the footnotes. It always reminds me how key intertextuality is to fandom. We’re all in conversation and all participating in a gift exchange of sorts.

Waking Up Slow is just as wonderful in December for a read (or re-read in my case) as it was in July. Scorching, weighty, interesting, and I can recommend it for a slow morning, lazy afternoon or under the covers late night fic reading.

After all, ‘tis the season.

Draco nods.

"Oh and one for the road?" Draco doesn't know what that means until Harry has pulled him into a kiss that is steady but as thrilling as the first. Only a stupid fucking Gryffindor would pull a move like that. Heart on sleeve, heat of the moment. Draco likes being kissed by Harry Potter in a pub like nothing else matters. The eruption of whispers barely registers.

Winner Takes It All by @skeptiquewrites (Drarry, E, 41k)

While Pride Month is technically over, I know we have Pride in our hearts all year long.

If you missed the Pride in the Library series, here are the links to all of the wonderful contributions! Thank you to all of our wonderful contributors who were willing to take the time to write about fandom, friendship, queerness, and community.

Click on the X to see their post!

@thedrarrylibrarian ❤️X❤️

icarusinflight (@candybarrnerd) 🧡X🧡

@lou-isfake 💛X💛

@stavromulabetaaa 💚X💚

@writcraft 💙X💙

@getawayfox 💜X💜

@wolfpants 💕X💕

@nv-md ❤️X❤️

@academicdisasterfic @saintgarbanzo 🧡X🧡

@tackytigerfic 💛X💛

@babooshkart 💚X💚

@lqtraintracks 💙X💙

@skeptiquewrites 💜X💜

Thank you again to everyone who took the time to contribute. Thank you for sharing your hearts with us, for opening yourself up in this way and bolstering our spirits. Thank you all for showing us the meaning of fandom community.

🏳️‍🌈 Lots of Love and Happy Pride! 🏳️‍🌈

Several people have been kind enough to let me publish their thoughts on fandom, community, and queerness to celebrate Pride in the Library. Today's our final piece, and it comes from @skeptiquewrites

All my life, queer people had talked to me as kin, and I didn't understand until I came out. I knew that I was bisexual when I was a teen, and it took me a while to come to terms with myself. Once I did, I think I approached it the way I approached much of the rest of my identities as a Black woman: with openness and defiance. This is who I am, take it or leave it. I came to fandom with that attitude.

What this fandom and writing fanfiction afford me is the ability to express that pride with vulnerability. In community, it lets me really dig deep and show the other side of that joyfulness. There is always defiance, of course. The creator’s virulent bigotry is very much opposed to that. And just as we inherit personal histories, we inherit community histories. Continuing to resist that in narratives is important to me.

In fandom, I found a community. I found people who would nurture and cultivate that creative expression in all its fullness. I found people who understand what I meant, people who read generously and joyously and critically. People who let being queer and trans in so many ways be reflected in their stories. People who reflected their experiences with love, friendships, work, sex, family, struggle, and triumph. People who talked back to the text, interrogated it.

I have immense gratitude for the friends who make this possible. They read my work, edit it, rec me other fics & books, encourage my rest and cheer me on. But this also extends to all the strangers who read along silently or leave comments about the parallels to their own multifaceted lives. I see myself in them, too.

Thank you, Tee, for joining me in the Library. I love that you’ve found a place where you can be vulnerable, and that you were willing to share your community experience with us. Thank you for joining our Pride in the Library celebration. You gave us the perfect conclusion.

If you want more @skeptiquewrites be sure to check out her work on AO3! I love her On The Shore. It’s so gentle and tender, and from the first time I read it I fell in love. I’ve read it twice since.

Hi Tee, thanks so much! 💜

3. A fic that made you laugh out loud:

@sorrybutblog’s Heartlines was a delightful surprise on that front, it’s not exactly crack-y but its sense of humor is the perfect combo of clever & charming, and some lines are surprisingly funny! I had so much fun reading it I couldn’t resist reccing it here.

15. A fic you wish you could display on your bookshelf:

Far From the Tree is an obvious choice that surprises no one, so what about a hidden gem? Clear as Mud by Scoradh is an all-time fave when it comes to short fics, incredibly well-written, scorching hot without being explicit, with a striking and peculiar Draco as a bonus. Every time I revisit it I am awed by this author’s sharp, nuanced style. Big rec!