All HP fanfic on AO3 ranked by kudos #3
Ok. So. This is a heavy one. Not just for content, but for literally everything. First off I’ll just get into a basic summary of the plot. So in this au Voldemort won the war with Harry Potter and kills him. The remainder of the order are either killed, or if they’re women, they are turned into slaves purposed to help repopulate the wizarding world. Hermione is sent to Draco malfoy to be raped until she is pregnant because she has some memories and that are locked in her mind that a magical pregnancy might unlock. Word count is 370,515. Main ship is dramione. Trigger warnings: rape, assault, gore, major character death, PTSD, panic attacks, assault, torture.
Oof so after reading that I’m sure you’re wondering, but how can they make Draco and Hermione end up together if he repeatedly assaults her? Well dear readers, that is what I like to call a fucked up relationship. I would’ve enjoyed this fic a whole lot more if I knew it wasn’t going to end with dramione as endgame. I understand why the author wanted that to happen, she put the readers and the characters through so much I suppose she felt like they deserve a happy ending. However, considering the circumstances of the fic, I do not think it should’ve happened that way.
One thing I really really enjoyed about this fic was the writing structure. The first 25 chapters follow Hermione through her surrogacy enslavement with Malfoy after the war is over. After that are 75 chapters of flashbacks to Hermione during the war written in chronological order. After learning all this crucial information we are brought back to present day and the post-war life with Hermione as a Surrogate slave, but knowledgeable about the past. Holy shit it was so cool. While I was reading the flashbacks I kept remembering the situation present Hermione was in and getting to excited for what it all meant when it tied back together. Really well done.
Obviously what I didn’t like was the relationship. I’ll be honest, I do not enjoy hetero ship fics so I’m probably very biased in writing this so take it all with a grain of salt. There is a bit of smut both consensual and non consensual but nothing too graphic. It’s pretty light for a rape fic. The relationship was very deep and confusing with the war and trauma. Because of this, I feel like it would’ve been a better ending if dramione didn’t work out and they parted ways rather than staying together. It’s a bit stokholmy and I don’t think it’s a healthy relationship.
The characterization makes a lot of sense. For the most part. I do feel like Draco is out of character in places, mostly when he does things in aid of other people not himself, I feel like his loyalties and allegiance is very confusing and not explained enough why it is the way it is. Hermione is very different from the books but it is completely justified by the context of the fic. The author kept a consistent character base and developed her well from there.
I’m a bit annoyed at the end because there was a moment where i felt like the author didn’t really know how to save all her characters because of the intricate rules of her universe, so she just wrote the answer into existence. It felt really cheap to me. The answer to all their problems literally appeared in one chapter and oh my god they never thought of it before because it was a secret that no one knew about. I didn’t like it that much.
So this fic succeeded in confusing me. I think the author is very talented and has a beautiful sturucture to her story. However I morally disagree with the relationship how it is presented in the fic. If the relationship had panned out differently maybe I would’ve liked it more, but it didn’t. I would say read it if you’re super into dramione because it’s a staple in the dramione subculture. (Literally people print it out in hardback copies). If you’re triggered by rape obviously dont read it. It’s a long process but a very cool au, so read it for the discussion topic, but otherwise maybe skip this one.
