Laying the Foundation
Recently, I decided to remove my work from AO3 because writing, as a hobby, isn’t benefiting me as well as it used to. I made an author’s note to inform readers of my decision, and some of them reached out to ask for a summary of how I would have finished my WIP series had I continued to write it. I’m happy to oblige, but I need to start by sharing a lot of background information. That’s why this post is titled Part 1 of 3: Laying the Foundation. In it, I’ll explain what made me want to write Dramione fanfiction in the first place and what my original intentions were for my most popular story, Between the Lines. I promise the relevancy of Part 1 will become clearer in Part 2: Framing the House, where I’ll describe exactly how my story went awry and in Part 3: Installing the Windows, where I’ll give readers a detailed look at how the sequel to Between the Lines might have ended.
I was late to the Harry Potter fandom. As a middle schooler, I read the first three books, but each time I considered tackling the Goblet of Fire I decided against it. I thought, “Why would I read that giant book when I could read two or three smaller ones in the same amount of time?” Additionally, I saw all the films as they came out, but I just wasn’t that invested in them. Basically, I was not a proper fan. Until — Well, until Half Blood Prince, the film, was released. That’s when things started to change for me. I was surprised to learn the seemingly inconsequential bully character, Draco Malfoy, had a larger, more important role to play than I had anticipated. His arc intrigued me enough that I went back and read the books from start to finish, hoping to learn more about him. But the books didn’t say as much about Draco as I had hoped. So I thought to myself, “Fanfiction is a thing, right?” In other words, I initially dipped my toes into this hobby not because I was interested in a ship, but because I wanted to explore Draco's life after the war, what he learned from his experiences, how he managed to cope — all that delightful angsty redemption arc stuff! Of course, I quickly came across Dramione stories. And almost as quickly, I realized, "Yeah, Draco getting a redemption arc and falling in love with a Muggle-born intertwines perfectly, doesn't it?" So there I was, reading fanfiction, looking at fanart, and just having a jolly ol’ time. And then —
I came across a Pinterest post one day and it planted a seed in my mind which would eventually become Between the Lines. The Pinterest post said JKR shared in an interview that Draco fancied Hermione when they were at Hogwarts, but he had to hide his feelings because of his pureblood parents and because of Lord Voldemort. [Sidebar! I’ve never been able to confirm JKR actually said this, but the seed was planted regardless. If anyone can confirm and has a link to the interview, I’d love to see it!] So I saw that on Pinterest and as much as I liked the idea, I thought, “Really? Draco had feelings for Hermione but was horrible to her anyway? That’s a lame detail to throw at the readers after the fact, JKR!” [Second sidebar! She does that a lot of that, right? I ignore her these days so I’m not sure, but I’m told that’s kind of her M.O.] Feeling skeptical, I read the books again, wondering if the dynamic between Draco and Hermione would come across any differently this time. And you know what? It actually did. This second start-to-finish read through, which I will refer to for several upcoming paragraphs, was ages ago now. As such, please forgive me if I get some details wrong. But what follows is a summary of the canon patterns I noticed, as best as I can remember them. Throughout the first three books, Draco and Hermione have very few direct interactions with one another. In fact, in Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets, they exchange words only once. That’s the memorable scene in which Hermione says, "At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent." And Draco says, "No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood." There are additional moments in these two books in which Draco makes fun of Hermione or is otherwise hateful towards her, but they happen either 1) behind her back or 2) when she’s around but Draco, even though he’s talking about her, isn’t talking to her. So that was the first thing I found interesting in my read through: Draco is horrible to plenty of other people, but when it comes to Hermione, at least early on, it's almost as if he's too nervous to interact with her directly. Hmmm. Interesting. That certainly got the ol’ hamster wheel a-turnin’. In Prisoner of Azkaban, the order of events are a bit different from book to film. In both, Hermione doesn't smack/punch Draco until pretty late in the school year. But in the book, it’s the same day she misses Charms (because she forgets to use her time-turner). Then, Harry and Ron find her in the common room sleeping on her Arithmancy book and she says "I was thinking about Draco and lost track of time.” It’s also the same day that, after waking her in the common room, they go to Divination and Hermione freaks out on Trelawney and storms out of the classroom. It’s all set up in a way that makes us, the readers, believe that she was on edge because she’d been juggling so many classes. But what if there was more to it than that?
Headcanon developed! Those who have read Between the Lines already know how I played with this scene. I like to think Draco took Arithmancy too, and he felt so guilty about upsetting Hermione (to a degree that she smacked him!) that he apologized to her after class. It makes that line of hers, “I was thinking about Draco,” and her being flustered in Divination so much more interesting. An apology that Harry knows nothing about? That’s the first headcanon that really stuck with me.
Anyway, other than that popular smack scene, Prisoner of Azkaban continues to show Draco and Hermione interacting with one another far less often than Draco and Harry or Draco and Ron. However, Draco's behavior towards her takes an obvious turn in Goblet of Fire, starting with the Quidditch World Cup. I know some Dramione fans like to say Draco “warned” Hermione about Death Eaters so that she’d be safe. I like that idea a lot, but what I find more interesting are the patterns which emerge (or become more obvious) throughout the rest of the book. For example, Draco starts addressing Hermione directly more often, and he starts calling her a Mudblood more consistently. I don’t know the exact numbers, but I think he says Mudblood like, twice in the first three books and then like, a a zillion times in Goblet of Fire. Which is awful. Totally awful. I’m not excusing slurs. But why the change? Sure, it’s easy to say it’s because Hermione hit him the previous term so now she’s on his radar. Except she was definitely on his radar before, right? We know this because of the filthy little Mudblood comment and the other rude things he says about her to Harry. So maybe it’s because he’s compensating for something? Hmmm. interesting. Yes, very interesting. Additionally, two other patterns emerge (or, again, become more obvious) in Goblet of Fire. One is a Draco pattern, the other is a Hermione pattern. Both are best explained using examples. On the train ride to Hogwarts, Draco alludes to knowing something about the Triwizard Tournament. But he's secretive and pompous about it, like, "Weasley, don't you know why we need dress robes this year? No? Even though your father works at the Ministry?" And Harry and his friends basically respond with, "You're a jerk, Malfoy. Go away." But it's not until Hermione chimes in, telling Draco to knock it off, that he’s finally listens. He’s like, "Okay, okay, I’ll stop. See you wankers later.” That’s a direct quote.
Now, I don't remember any other examples off the top of my head, but in my read through, I noticed this sort of thing happening a lot. Draco doesn't quit with his antics until Hermione is the one who tells him to do so. Got that? Great. Now, for the Hermione pattern. It’s basically the flip side of Draco’s. He actually listens when she tells him to sod off, and maybe that’s because he’s afraid she’ll hit him again she’s consistently more patient with him than her friends are. While Harry and Ron are quick to assume the worst and fire off hexes and jinxes, Hermione is more likely to roll her eyes or find a funny way to deal with Draco. Take this example. …You're joking, Weasley!" said Malfoy, behind them. "You're not telling me someone's asked that to the ball? Not the long-molared Mudblood?" Harry and Ron both whipped around, but Hermione said loudly, waving to somebody over Malfoy's shoulder, "Hello, Professor Moody!" Malfoy went pale and jumped backward, looking wildly around for Moody, but he was still up at the staff table, finishing his stew. "Twitchy little ferret, aren't you, Malfoy?” said Hermione scathingly, and she, Harry, and Ron went up the marble staircase laughing heartily…
It's a great demonstration of how, in canon, Draco and Hermione are more enemies than not, it’s true. But generally speaking, she finds Draco more tiring than infuriating. Hmmm. Why might that be? Well, maybe it’s because Hermione’s clever enough to know that Draco’s bullying stems from his insecurities more than he realizes. Or, maybe it’s because they’ve shared a few private moments in which he’s shown her his better qualities. Apology after Arithmancy, right? Or, maybe — just maybe — she’s noticed all of Draco’s patterns, the ones I noticed while reading, and she’s drawn some conclusions. That’s right, folks. I not only headcanon that Draco had conflicted and reluctant romantic feelings for Hermione during their years at Hogwarts, but that Hermione suspected as much. As far as I’m concerned, she didn’t like him back but she was flattered that he liked her. She enjoyed feeling desirable enough that Draco Malfoy, despite his upbringing, couldn’t help but fall for her. At least a little. In this way, her reactions to Harry’s suspicions during Half-Blood Prince aren’t all that surprising, are they? It’s Ron who is surprising in that book and film. He’s normally right there with Harry, ready to hate Draco completely. But even he can’t fathom a sixteen year old becoming a Death Eater. Anyway, did I leap straight over Order of the Phoenix? Oops, I sure did. It’s actually my favorite of the books, but by that point in my read through, there wasn’t much left to notice about canon Dramione. Well, other than the previously mentioned patterns continuing within those pages. But really, if you buy into the headcanons I’ve shared thus far, all the interactions between them in the later books start to feel like they have a double meaning. Sure, Draco keeps being a jerk, but a lot of it seems almost playful. (“Who blackened your eye, Granger? I want to send them flowers.”) It's as they have an unspoken understanding where Hermione’s like, "I know you're not as bad as you'd like everyone to think you are," and Draco’s like, "I know you've noticed these subtleties about me, but I'll never admit to them out loud.” In other words, there’s something going on Between the Lines.
Now that I’ve explained all that, let me circle back and drive home a point that’s particularly important to me. The smack scene is THE! PIVOTAL! SCENE! If the Pinterest post I mentioned earlier was the seed which eventually became Between the Lines, noticing how Draco’s behavior changed after that is the soil and the sun that made the seed grow. [Another sidebar! Maybe I should have gone with a plant metaphor for this three part Tumblr series. But, alas, my dad builds houses for a living and, as such, construction metaphors have always spoken to my heart.] Okay, moving on. Remember when I said I first started reading fanfiction not for Dramione but for Draco’s redemption arc? Well, after my canon read through, I was desperate for stories that weaved in mentions of all that I’d noticed. But, sadly, I couldn’t find those mentions anywhere. All I was finding was, like, “They hated each other in school! She doesn’t know if she can forgive him, even though Harry and Ron already have.” Or, on the other end of the spectrum, I saw a lot of Hermione being the one to pine for Draco. She wanted him so much because *reasons!* Listen, you know the kind. They involve Draco being handsome and having a big — Mwahaha. What I’m getting at is that I read a lot of stories that didn’t give me what I was craving most. [Another other sidebar: I’ve since gotten better at finding fics that are more in line with what I want to read. I’ve also gotten better at enjoying fics for what they are, regardless of how they fit with my headcanons. LIke, if it helps the plot, then by all means, make Draco and Hermione full-fledged enemies. Make her hate his stinking guts. You do you, boo boo.] I just wish more Dramione stories would explore the nuances that are right there in canon, waiting to inspire us! With that in mind, I transitioned from being a Dramione fanfiction reader to a Dramione fanfiction reader and writer. I was like, “Let me write the things I want to read but can’t seem to find anywhere.” In other words, the initial goal was to shine a light on what I’d noticed during my read though and to have fun with some headcanons. Pause. *Refers to her notes.* I’m dangerously close to stepping into Part 2: Framing the House territory. I’ll come back to my initial goal more in that upcoming post. For now, let me tell me about a wordsmith who typed a perfect sentence on Dramione reddit one day last summer. I was about halfway done writing Between the Lines when this happened. There was a post about redemption arc, with people sharing what they like and don’t like to see in them. And somewhere in the back and forth there was also talk about Draco having feelings for Hermione during their Hogwarts years. This is the wordsmith’s perfect sentence: “I have yet to read a fic in which [Draco’s] Hogwarts-era behavior juxtaposed with some secret romantic affection feels justified or reasonable.”
Merlin’s pants! I realized that was exactly what I was attempting to do with Between the Lines. I wanted to be the one to pull it off! I wanted to be the Queen of Juxtaposition! If I’m being totally honest, though, I think I failed at that. Yikes. Bummer. If you feel the urge to respond to this post, please don’t focus too heavily on that part. I’m not crying about it or anything. But, hey, now I truly have ventured into Part 2. Let’s step away for a few days and let it simmer. Next time, I’ll share how Graham Montague, that charming bloke, is to blame for everything that went wrong. He spilled the beans on a headcanon that was never supposed to make it into Between the Lines and it all unraveled from there. Ha! Unraveled. See what I did there, dear readers? As always, thanks for coming on this journey with me, especially now that it has taken such a strange turn. See you again soon.
