Complete – Page 2 – Writing. Reading. Dreaming.

1,271 words, complete @AO3 by Hermit9

Genre/What to expect: Exploration of Malfoy family relationships with some fluff
Rating: G
Pairings: Gen
Suitable for fandom blind readers? Somewhat, although knowledge of the source material would better the experience.

Draco Malfoy and his mother, post-series.

Reviewed by: Concept101

dracomalfoy_wb_f7_dracoandnarcissafacingeachother_still_080615_land Draco Malfoy, in the Harry Potter books, is an antagonist to Harry Potter and a character whose complexity often goes woefully underappreciated.

From an entitled brat, to a teenager angry with the world around him, to an individual conflicted in his beliefs, to someone who learned to trust in his conscience and remakes himself as an individual, Draco Malfoy’s many portrayals through the Harry Potter story is one of the best done redemption arcs I have ever seen.

And it is the latter of those portrayals that Hermit9 manages to nail so well in this one-shot beginning to her Crafts’verse series.

The far wall was stacked with crates and rigid translucent, muggle-made, plastic tubs. Strips of parchments with his mother’s beautiful calligraphy labelled everything.

As soon as you start the story, two things will be obvious to you.

Draco’s lukewarm dislike of muggles, a viewpoint ingrained into him since childhood that he is trying to shake off, is one of them. The other is his love for his mother Narcissa. It is delightfully subtle how Hermit9 portrays Draco’s admiration for her. Every thought he has of her or something related to her speaks of a gentle tone, almost as if you can close your eyes and imagine Draco smiling softly as he thinks of her.

It had started, of course, because of Potter.

This one line tells you more than enough about the relations between the childhood nemeses. Despite the passing nature of Harry’s presence on page, his influence on the events of the story is felt throughout in the form of Narcissa’s new favourite pastime.

Astoria Malfoy as Draco’s wife was done very well by the author. Her dialogue flowed well, and her words about the passing nature of flowers as a gift are a highlight of the story. After reading the story, if I ever had to describe her in two words, it would be ‘nonchalantly wise’.

Yet another character making a brief appearance was Hermione Granger, an unlikely ally to Draco in his quest to satiate his mother’s curiosities. The way she talked about Narcissa having been defined by those around her for her entire life spoke subtly of her having been through a similar experience in her past.

(I wanted more of this Hermione Granger, and apparently the author did too because she is writing a sequel revolving around the relationship between Draco and Hermione. But that is a discussion for another day)

‘The Crafts’ is a story not defined by plot, but by its succinctly written characters, who despite being on the page for mere lines, make their influence felt throughout. It is a story of relationships. It is a story of a broken past and a hopeful future. It is a story about rebuilding.

But at the root of it all, it’s a story about a mother and her son.

One worth reading.

Review examples from AO3

Cute!
Also I was thrilled to see you included the signification for the flowers as a note. I was curious about it and it shows you researched the combination beforehand ^-^

I adore the scene where Astoria explains the meaning of giving flowers to Draco. There was something just so homey, so idyllic about that scene, I really, really loved it. Like a little snippet into their relationship.

A few grammatical issues with the dialogue section, but overshadowed by how lovely Draco and his mother’s relationship is. Him going out of his way to make her happy, it’s just lovely. He really, really does love his mother, and I enjoyed seeing their lives post-war and seeing how they amuse themselves and put themselves back together. Also, loving that it’s Hermione who helps Draco buy the flowers. I bet Ron grumbled about that!

degraswheels01

2.5k words. Complete. @AO3 by PugMaster
Summary in 10: Canadian Teen boys figuring out sexuality.
Pairing: M/M Snake x Wheels
Rating: T

Wheels and Snake are friends, but it’d be better if they weren’t. If they weren’t, maybe things would be different, and he would have made out with Heather without feeling like something was just off. Set during 4×07 “Just Friends.”

Your Host For The Evening: Raeror

Fandomblind Friendly: No. Look for your Local Seeing Eye-Pug for assistance.

So, the Degrassi franchise is the first soap opera to put canon teenagers in the starting roles. Kicking off in ’79, it ran through the entire 80s, disappeared in the later 90s, came back in 01 and has been running ever since. Located in Canada, we are in the 80s version. Now, the canon gives us all sort of angsty things like AIDS, Suicide, Teen Pregnancy, and molestation.

So.

Much.

Molestation.

While this fanfic tones everything down, it still gives off hints at times that relationship issues aren’t the only problems that our protagonists are facing.

So in this story, this guy Wheels (shown in picture) is finished making out with a hot chick (ladies love the mullet) but…. he wasn’t into it. He’s really not that into girls altogether. He knows that he would get labeled as a faggot for the rest of his life if anyone found out, and we start with him on the girl’s porch, panicking as he realizes that his world in on the verge of collapse. Pug does a really good job of bringing this character’s fears to life. I’m reading the words but I can clearly see Wheel’s face as he’s practically shitting himself.

Enter Snake. Probably the best person Wheel’s can talk to for this. Reason 1 being that Snake has a gay brother, Reason 2 that Snake is technically sexually ambiguous in this fic (but there’s a ship name for a reason…).

So Snake has to be the mature one while Wheel’s is scrambling and defending himself in every part of their little back and forth. Pug creates a genuine hurt/comfort/fuck off/shit/ I don’t know what’s next/we’ll deal with this later dynamic. So in the end Wheel’s scoots on off, not as panicky as he was when he started. But there is work to be done, and you don’t know what’s going to happen next. Maybe everything goes well with Heather? Maybe Wheel’s secret spreads and his social life get killed like a dog ran down in the street. We don’t know what happens. We can only hope for the best.

And that’s the realism of teen drama. You don’t know what going to happen next. One minute everything seems fine. And the next minute, everything is gone to all hell because a tiny detail is overlooked. Teenagers are trying to figure out a world they have no clue off. Misteps inevitably happen, and chaos follows. The only thing that really matters is damage control. And that’s what this fanfic is about. Damage Control.

So yeah, give this fic a read if you want some genuine teenage hurt/comfort.

Fan Review (Mine’s better):

-Somecallmemichelle

Well this has been a long time coming, hasn’t it? I mean all the jokes about writing Snake and Wheels together, and you end up being the first one to do it.

Alas, the ship may seem implausible, impossible even, but you manage to arrive to a point where it seems kind of possible (at a glance). Sure, they don’t kiss, but there’s always that possibility in the air.

I think you represented Snake wonderfully, hopeless naive about the matters of the heart, specially those about those who share the same gender, and reminding his brother…well, like it was 1990 and not 2002, when he’s way more perceptive to it.

Wheels, well he sort of stumbles his way into kind of confessing, of course he doesn’t want to do it, he knows well Snake isn’t into that “stuff”, but he just says something stupid, and then it all comes crashing down. like a wave, it splashes around. Though I think he’s sort of relieved. And panicking.

A wonderful oneshot, and a gift that meant so much to me, in a really crappy week. You did such a good job! Thank you (did you convert to the best ship? /s)