There has been a lot of hate in the dramione tag recently, with people saying the ship doesn’t make any sense as Draco bullied her at school and that Hermione could never be able to forgive him for that. Since you ship it, I’d like to know how you overcome this issue and why you like it better than romione or drarry specifically.
I feel like this is going to be long, but it’s an interesting question lol. My answer will have to be taken as a whole; if you just read the first lines, you won’t get my point at all. But I think it is worth reading. It won’t be a ‘how to ship dramione’ (if you want that it would probably need another ‘essay’ like this one tbh hahaha). I’ll mostly explain why it isn’t wrong and why it isn’t the bully and the victim trope. I hope anti dramione will read. The whole thing.
Ok, so first of all, people all have different scales for right andwrong. If I was Hermione, I wouldeasily be capable of forgiving Draco. I don’t usually ship a bully with thebullied, to be honest, but Draco and Hermione are a whole different thing.They’re far from just… this. I consider every ‘problem’ as unique and try notto categorize people. I don’t have a category for bullies and a category forbullied. It’s not even that black and white. Draco was bullied and abused too,by a lot of people. Hermione bullied him too (slightly and she was mostlyinfluenced by Ron and Harry, and… it was probably merited, though extremelyunnecessary sometimes, like when he was lying on the floor, helpless, and theyliterally kicked him. Like, seriously, it’s not because you think what Dracodid to her was worse that it means Draco didn’t suffer as well, because he did (thinking the opposite is kind of sexist, because yes, boys have feelings too),and simplifying the both of them as just the bully on one side and the bulliedon the other is just… dismissing what hewent through too. It’s not all about Hermione, guys). Talking about this,to do a quick comparison, Draco bullied Harry like a thousand times worse, andto be completely honest again, I’d have preferred being Harry way more thanDraco as all the things Harry told Draco or did to him are like hundreds oftimes worse to me than what Draco did to Harry. I would even have preferredbeing Hermione if I had to choose the kind of bullying I had to go throughbetween her being bullied by Draco, Harry being bullied by Draco and Dracobeing bullied by Harry. At least if it had been done to me. Maybe you have adifferent vision of things, but things don’t get on people’s nerves the sameway. And they don’t hurt the same.
Ok, let’s start FOR REAL now.
Now let’s think aboutit… Who actually started? Hermione (same thing between Ron and Draco… Ronis the one who started). Draco dreamt of being on the Slytherin Quidditch team.He had been chosen as the seeker. Andwhat did Hermione say? That he had no talent at all and had been picked on theteam only for his money (rude lol). Draco was already insecure. He had talked abouther to his Father and his Father had abused him because of that. Even in frontof Borgin. He abused Draco because he talked about her and because she wasbetter than him at school. He made him feel ashamed, and not especially loved.Draco wanted to make his Father proud. But, Lucius was proud his son was on the team, finally, as Potter had already beenon the team since the previous year (year Draco hadn’t said a single bad thingto Hermione), and he gave brooms to the whole team. Hermione denied that and made him sound like anidiot in front of people who despised him, and even in front of someone he hadoffered his friendship to (and Harry had refused it to him, as Harry thought hewas a Dudley number 2 and because Ron had laughed at him as he had heard thingsat home and was prejudiced just as Draco was towards his family). And she madehim sound like an idiot in front of his team also. So yes, he insulted herback. With a word he didn’t quite understand yet back then, ‘mudblood’. Whatdoes mudblood mean anyway? That your parents are muggles? That you’re notreally… one of them, a part of the community of wizards? Draco repeated thewords a few times, it’s true. He used it again, but not that often. But thefirst time he used it, Hermione didn’t even understand the meaning of it, which is normal since she’s a muggle-born. Shecouldn’t care less, as she didn’t understand herself the meaning of it, andeven less the deeper meaning behind it. They were 12. When I was their age, Iwasn’t even in high school yet. And it is true that later that year he said hewished she would be one of the students to be attacked, but god, he was 12. I’vesaid worse things in primary school, without meaning them really. But shewasn’t there when he said it in the common room. He thought he was talking toCrabbe and Goyle, who were even worse than him, but pure idiots at the sametime. He didn’t want her dead for real.He just didn’t think it through and never tried to be rational about it. Atleast at this age. And effectively, Hermione didn’t understand herself theword. She only saw the reaction of the other kids, especially the older ones.Draco saw he was getting a reaction when he would say this, so he kept sayingit. But the books are from Harry’s perspective, you know. And pretty mucheverything Harry sees of Draco is bad. If someone wrote a book and I was a character, they could write allthe things I’ve said or done that weren’t nice, leaving the rest, and… Maybeyou’d consider me a bully too, though nobody would tell you that in real lifeto be fair. It seems worse also as it’s in a book and you read it fast, andonly the ‘significant’ moments. Hermione and he were in almost all the sameclasses. They weren’t trying to kill each other every two seconds. They maybeeven did some team work sometimes and it isn’t included in the books. They wereat least comfortable enough to go see the other one to say anything they neededto say.
Now, 13 years old and older, aka that time you started High big fucking lol school.
Hermione tried toreason him, as early as in book three. But she thought he was right, in fact.She tried to change his mind, while she shared his views. The only differencein book three between the two is that Hagrid was her friend, while Hagridwasn’t his (his Father told him awful things about Hagrid, which were probablytrue to be fair, and Hagrid was prejudiced too towards his family. He had beenin detention too with him and he had been scared as fuck that time, even beforeentering the forest. He and Hermione agreed on how dangerous Hagrid could besometimes, on how his classes were ridiculous as well, etc. She didn’t punchhim because he was mean to her or anything, but because he was saying meanstuff that she knew were true in a way. After all, Draco had really been hurtby Buck; it was an accident, at least in the book. But Hagrid was Hermione’sfriend and she saw how he liked Buck and she didn’t want Buck to be hurteither. Hell, she wouldn’t want any creature to be hurt. When Draco was hurt byit, she was the first to react and to say he needed to be transported to theHospital wing).
Year four, Lucius stillknew who Hermione was. He made her feel uncomfortable. Lucius did, not Draco.Then after the match at the world cup, Draco was alone and asked her friendswhat the hell they were doing and that they should hurry up to bring hersomewhere safe. Hermione didn’t know what to think, as Draco couldn’t care…The way his Father had looked at her earlier… But then he explained theproblem was she wasn’t a ‘witch’, that the people out there were attackingmuggles and that for them, it made absolutely no difference if she was a muggleor a muggle-born. She could simply be a target, just like that. Ronald wouldn’taccept it, so Draco told him to ‘have it his own way’, but that Ron was wrongno matter how stubborn he would get. And he said a pretty mean stuff, which tome sounds extremely sarcastic though… like… if you don’t hurry up you’llend up like these muggles, in the air, like… Yo, they’re showing theirknickers to everyone, can’t you see? Is that what you want? Because… That’swhat he said, right? Not in the nicest way, of course, but it was direct. Healso thought Ron and Harry were being stupid at the moment, and he had fungetting them a bit angrier, especially Ron who seemed to only want to slap him(as usual). Then Hermione decided they should leave, and when she startedwalking, Draco called her and said she should keep her head down, taking in herappearance, with her big bushy head. He said that because curses were comingtheir way and she could be hit by one at any time and get hurt. So he bulliedher that time, but warned her as well.
Then next thing, in thetrain, she was still totally curious about him, probably because of thisreason. And she started eavesdropping; even asking her own friends to shut upbecause they were talking too loudly and she couldn’t understand what he wassaying anymore. She got angry at what he had said, to his own friends, inanother compartment at that! And when he visited them a few minutes later, shewas still angry. She told him shewanted him to leave, and he did right away, without big drama except for alittle sarcastic line that was not even directed at her. Then next thing, herealized her teeth were smaller (because of him, though it was an accident thattime in Potions and his spell had been directed at Harry, not her at all and hedidn’t even deny being the one to cast the spell). He was eavesdropping whenshe told Ron someone had invited her to the Yule ball. It ended up with hercalling him a bouncing ferret, having imitated his own ‘style’ just before. Dracoalso noticed, and he probably was the first one to, that Ron liked her morethan as just friends. He made several comments about that.
Being a ferret musthave been a very traumatic experience for Malfoy, so clearly it wasn’t nice.But she definitely didn’t mean it entirely as she was concerned when ithappened to him, she was angry at Mad Eye and thankful McGonagall had beenthere. Then, the next thing, Draco sees her at the Yule Ball and finds her sopretty he is completely speechless, at the point that after the Yule Ballhappened, Pansy started telling everyone for months how ugly and definitely not pretty Hermione was. Pansy wastalking way more about how Hermione was notbeautiful despite everyone thinking she was beautiful than of her blood.And only after the Yule Ball (and in the train before 6th year,Pansy is, black on white, checking to see how Draco would react at knowingBlaise found a blood traitor pretty… Like… Pansy’s jealousy can’t get anymore obvious). If you want to give Hermione a bully, that would be Pansy waymore than Draco. Draco wasn’t the one to talk about her to Rita Skeeter, it wasPansy. Draco wasn’t the one to read her the articles out loud. It was Pansy.Draco actually didn’t say a mean word to her for like a year, or more after theYule Ball. Hell, I think the next thing he told her was that time he tookpoints from her in fifth year. And that time, Voldemort was back to life, and hefelt so ‘important’. Well, that’s how he wanted to feel, but he didn’t feel that way. His parents wouldnever have accepted him to be a death eater yet, nor accepted him to hear the‘conferences’ with or about the dark lord. He wanted to be a part of it, in asimilar way as the golden trio wanted to be part of the Order already as well.Except that they weren’t on the same side. Draco didn’t witness anything reallybad during his fifth year; Voldemort was silent. Voldemort had no reasons toreally ‘hate’ Lucius either. Draco thought the beautiful world his Fathertalked about would be there again, and that his Father would finally be proudof him. Draco thought all these bad years he had spent at Hogwarts would beover and something better would arrive soon.
He startedunderstanding the sad reality when his Father was sent to jail. Harry hadalready talked against his Father in newspaper earlier that year, and then Luciuswas sent to jail because of the golden trio, etc. And at the end of the schoolyear, Harry yelled at his face how proudhe was to have been the one to send his Father to jail. Draco was already tryingto understand why things had turned out so wrong, and he really loved hisFather, and he didn’t know what to expect from now on as they were heading backhome. He tried to attack Harry in the train, but Harry and his friends werefaster (Hermione wasn’t there) and turned Draco into something similar to aslug, then put him in the luggage net so his mother finds him that way (whichis incredibly horrible, especially since her husband had just been sent to jailand that there are chances Voldemort was already at the Manor). Draco reallydidn’t have it easy. People had great expectations when it came to him. Andback to Pansy, Hermione despised the girl way more than she disliked Draco.When they were made prefect, Hermione complained because she had been named prefect too. She didn’t make any comment aboutDraco being a prefect too, despite Ron bringing it up. Hermione didn’t ‘hate’the guy. It’s such a strong word. She knew where he was coming from. Pansy isanother story. It is obvious she did hate the girl. And when she hated someone,it was extremely obvious. Just look at how she punished the ones who wouldbetray the D.A. Just look at how she locked Rita Skeeter in a jar, in the formof an animal, only because she was writing stuff (mean stuff, but still) in thenewspaper. Just look at how she brought Umbridge to the centaurs. Just look athow she quitted divination and told the guys several times Trelawney wasrubbish, etc.
And despite Draco‘hating’ her in the first books, except the first one of course, and thatbecause of her blood, he never brought up the ‘issue’ of her parents beingmuggles. Nothing stopped him, right? Wasn’t it even supposed to be his realissue with her? He talked a lot of times about Molly and Arthur. He evenlaughed directly at Harry’s face for being an orphan and made ‘jokes’ about hisparents being dead. In this sense, Drarry is actually way more toxic thanDramione can be, for example (I have nothing against the ship, thanks lol). That and how Harry yelled how much he was proudto have destroyed his life and sent his Father to jail. This is the kind ofthings I couldn’t forgive easily.Why? Because it remains. Because it was uncalled for, sometimes out of aspecific context. Because it was meant to be mean and was meant to hurt. Nothing else.
Draco thought believingin blood ideals was normal, and hell, it was actually normal. Not a lot of people believed in it anymore, but it wasstill normal in his family. And in other countries as well. Hermione knew it,too. She went out with Krum, who was going in a school where no muggle-bornswere accepted. At all. There were pro pure-blood laws. Draco could read booksand check the law and see that he was right. His parents told him it was rightto think this way. He was a kid. He believed it. He believed it, because that’sthe society he grew up in.
But he changed hismind, didn’t he? The problem with ‘the bully and the victim’ is usually thatthe bully will tell the victim that he or she has changed, but in fact he orshe didn’t really. That’s where Draco and Hermione are different. First,Hermione knew Draco wasn’t evil at all. She didn’t even think he had it in himto really hurt someone. She didn’t even think he had it in him to be a deatheater, and even with proofs she wouldn’t accept it. Because she knew better.And there wasn’t a power imbalance. Some people say that, but I don’t thinkit’s true. Hermione was so stubborn and independent. She would try to reasonhim, she would defend him, she would ask if he was alright when he was hurt,she would walk towards him and shout at him with no hesitation because he wasmean to other people. She would tell him to shut up. Most of the times shewouldn’t even care. And most of the times in the book, she wasn’t even aware.Because he wasn’t talking directly to her, because she wasn’t there, or becausehe was doing it in her back. Like when he would imitate her in class instead oflistening to said class. When he would say sometime cryptic, she would alsoalways understand. She knew how he worked. When Harry would say something weirdabout Draco, she would be like: that doesn’t sound like him to do that, etc.She didn’t ‘hate’ him. She thought he was annoying. She was mostly annoyedbecause she would agree with him when she shouldn’t, because he was trying totell things without really saying them, and she was curious because she knew heknew more, but she also knew he wouldn’t tell them what he knew. She was mostlyannoyed because he, Harry and Ron would always fight over Quidditch, and shehated Quidditch exactly for this reason; because it caused fights. She wasmostly annoyed because he wouldn’t shut up. She was mostly annoyed because sheknew she was a muggle-born and she wanted to succeed and to prove to the othersthat she belonged. And if she didn’t feel like she belonged at first, it wasn’tDraco’s fault. When she arrived at Hogwarts the first year, it’s with Ron shehad problems for at least two months. Two months with no friends in an unfamiliar placeand world is definitely long. But yeah, Ron was young. He couldn’t know howmuch it was hard for her.
Draco had the same wishas her. He wanted to belong. He was jealous of Harry in the latest books, because Harry had Hermioneand Ron as friends and their friendship shone. He had always hated Ronald, forgood and bad reasons according to him. He had no rational reasons, despite whathe thought, to hate Hermione, and even though he thought she was annoying a bittoo with her know-it-all attitude (to be fair, Ron and Harry were often annoyedtoo lol) and despite the fact he had been abused at home because of her, hestill wished he had a friend like her. And yes, even that time in Diagon Alleywhen the golden trio entered the shop and Draco was there with Narcissa, Dracodidn’t say Potter was there; he told his Mother about Hermione being there. Narcissa,two years later, recognized her at the Manor because of this precisely.
Draco changed a lotduring the war. When the golden trio was at the Manor, Draco tried his best tonot identify any of them. Hermione included. Even when his Mother asked him towait before identifying her because she wanted to say how sure she was that itwas ‘Granger’ because she had seen her before in the store and all, he stillhesitated afterwards. His mother had just said it was her and still he wantedto lie and say it wasn’t her. Bellatrix wasn’t even in the room at that moment.When Hermione started being tortured, he was sent downstairs and he ran in thestairs to get the goblin, and he was shaking and looked pale and determined. He didn’t wanther to die, he didn’t even want her to hurt; it made him looking sick! When thechandelier fell on her, it hurt him so bad in the face because he was justbeside it. He didn’t try to move and was looking in the direction of thechandelier. He would have had time to move or to turn around, like everyoneelse (hell, even Bellatrix who had been holding Hermione had the time to move) buthe probably hesitated, still frozen in place, realizing it was going to fall onher, and it’s not like he had the time to do anything; Bellatrix had beenholding her. And right after, Harry stole his wand just like that, seeing thatDraco was too weak to fight. So weak that Narcissa actually had to help himstand up.
POST WAR !!!!!!! (w/ TCC spoilers, none about the plot though)
Hermione and Harrydefended him at his trial. While Harry had had his visions to realize Dracodidn’t enjoy being a death eater (visions he hadn’t even shared with her) andthe battle of the Astronomy Tower, Hermione came to her own conclusions. Evenbefore knowing for sure that he was a death eater, she knew that if he was, hewasn’t one at heart. Honestly, I’m not surprised at all she tells Ron in TCCthat he (Ron) should let her deal with Draco alone. She always did, and alwayshad been irritated at Ron’s impulsive reactions (which was exactly what Dracowas seeking back then).
As I said, the problemwith ‘Bully and the victim + romance’ is the bully saying he or she wouldchange, the victim believing him or her, while it isn’t true. That is whatcould end up being toxic or an abusive relation. The thing is Draco is genuine.And that he decided to change on his own. Hermione didn’t have to ask him tolol. He genuinely wanted to change, and knew he had been wrong big times. Heeven confronted his parents about these beliefs, telling them where he nowstands. Astoria is a pure-blood, sure, but she seems to be a cinnamon roll. Andshe’s a blood traitor, and by changing his beliefs, he is too. And while I amsure Astoria helped him confront his parents and all, it is obvious he made histhinking on his own, otherwise he just wouldn’t have accepted being with her inthe first place if she was a muggle lover. He accepted her this way, he couldrelate to her, etc. And he had a reason to confront his parents. And he raisedhis child in the belief that every human being is worth the same. He had achild for love, not for the blood line. He was insecure as a Father, as hedidn’t want to be like his own Father. He knows his Father loved him and loveshim; but it’s not because you love your parents and that they love you thatthey can’t be abusive. I know about that. I’ve been in a similar family. Notwith these prejudices of course, but it was just as unhealthy growing up.
And you know what? Inthe tags, I’ve seen a lot of hate too recently, concerning how Hermione is usedonly to redeem him. The thing is… He did that by himself? He changed. Astoriawas the one to bring light to his darkness, but Hermione could have been. That doesn’tmean anything else than what it means. Draco did his own thinking. Making lifeseem more beautiful is another story completely. Draco was probably confusedand insecure and an outcast after the war. He surely secluded himself, and ifwe’re logical, he probably suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress.But to be fair, Hermione probably suffered from post-traumatic stress as well.We never hear anyone of them talk about what happened at the Manor in thebooks. I know Hermione is resilient, but she went through some traumaticexperiences as well, way worse than Draco saying she was a know-it-all and thather hair was all funny and bushy when she was doing potions. Seriously, theywent through a war. Do you seriously think after such a war she still caresabout this? I wouldn’t. Especially since the ‘insults’ are the quality of a 6years old. She could care about mudblood, but the thing is the reason she couldhave cared was because she wanted to prove she belonged. But she became warheroine, she used the word mudbloodon herself, she went back to Hogwartsto finish her studies, she was called the brightest witch of her age, shebecame Minister for Magic, and before that had a high position at the Ministry.And maybe most important, she knew that eventhe one who had told her such things knew he had been wrong. And she knew hewas genuine. And in a world with Astoria and Scorpius, probably even more.But in a world without Astoria and Scorpius too, she could easily know too. Shealready knew in a way, that he at least had started to question hisupbringings. In TCC, he seems important enough to be at Ministry conferences.In TCC, where they aren’t even ‘friends’ at the beginning, they’re still kindof fine. When there’s something, she still tries to reason him. But to be fair,in TCC, JKR has been cruel with him. It’s perfectly understandable how a messhe is.
In an alternateuniverse where Draco is still present after the war and interact more withHermione, a relationship is not impossible at all. Draco and Hermione have alot in common; they have similar general interests, have a same thinkingpattern despite him being more emotional and her more rational. They can relateon a lot of levels, and they could heal together. They could start as friendsand gain a form of trust, they already had in a way to be fair. They couldrealize they work together, that they smile when the other is around, etc. Theycould be each other’s comfort; they could be something good the war created.Hermione could help Draco feeling more confident, Draco could motivateHermione. He would never be abusive to her, as the reasons he could have beenabusive to her do not exist anymore, and as he genuinely wants to be a betterperson. He would not be abusive to her, because when Draco loves, he actuallycould do anything for the other person. He could even sacrifice himself. Hewould never be abusive to her; if anything, he would feel insecure at first andalways try to make up for everything he did to her in the past. Which is why thetwo of them being friends first makes the more sense, in my opinion. And ifit’s Harry who’s friend with Draco first and Draco and Hermione have to bearound each other, not as friends but in a friendly manner, they could also seeeach other in another way, a better way, and start liking who they became asadults. And who cares who you were in the past? If you love each other now,just go for it? You know the past is completely over and that it will never be this way again. Like…absolutely never. You know it can only get better. You know that when you usedto dislike each other, it was before that war. Another era. You know that whenyou used to dislike each other, you didn’t know each other properly and hadn’ttried to. It’s not even about starting back from the start, as there had beenno start. The start being Hermioneinsinuating he had no talent in Quidditch. What hurt him the most that year ishow he broke his leg at his first match (because of Dobby, but also because ofHarry who is actually the one who made Draco fall off his broom on purpose) and that people werelaughing at him, his team captain yelled at him while his leg was broken, theWeasley twins heard that and told the whole Gryffindor team, who then startedthinking what Hermione had said had been true; that he had been chosen for hismoney or his name. Draco wanted to be someone. He didn’t want to be liked forhis money. But it seems that’s the only thing that seemed to work in the end.And if what’s said is true in TCC, that he really wanted to become aprofessional Quidditch player, than this just probably got even worse for himto have been told such a thing, thing people ended up believing.
THERE’S NOTHING WRONG IN SHIPPING DRAMIONE.
There’s nothing wrongin Hermione and Draco falling in love. After what they’ve been through, theydeserve their happiness. Hermione’s feelings in canon could be debated, but certainlynot Draco’s. Everything he said about Hermione contradicted with his actions,his words or his thoughts in the end. In TCC, she’s the one who goes after him,again, to try to reason him, to try to explain him they don’t mean him orScorpius any harm. She’s the one asking him to come back because they need him,because they need a strategy. She’s the one who tries, both in TCC and the epilogue,to reason Ron about him and/or his son, and to make things go smoothly. Dracogenuinely smiles at things she says and even says he likes being bossed aroundby her, and the thought of it makes him smile. To himself. In TCC, he defendsher in front of McGonagall and she is moved. She tries to make him comfortablewith and/or not hurt by the others. And yet in TCC they hadn’t spent a lot oftime together. Imagine younger. And with time. The friendship they could havedeveloped. But without Astoria, Draco would want more with her than just afriendship. He wouldn’t push things, but I suppose in the end there would besexual tension and a lot of sparks. It’s either that or them becoming very goodfriends and comfortable around each other enough to cuddle as friends and to beplayful and tease each other. And have intellectual talks also, as to behonest, Draco seems to have become a very well-thought person after the war,and seems very accepting of others. He dislikes conflicts. That made him moreimpulsive lol, but he dislikes it (he either decides to leave or to throwthings because it feels good, aka me lol,or to justify what he’s saying (except with Hermione… he’s just like… k,but I’m right.).
There’s nothing wrongin shipping Dramione. It’s a man and a woman who have been through a lottogether. It started with the worst, when they weren’t on speaking terms, andthen ended up with the best, knowing they could only get better. Ron had beenmean to Hermione too, in first year. She became friend with him for yearsbefore dating him. He hadn’t been as meanas he, but Ron still made her feel unaccepted, like she had no friends.Later he made her feel not good enough for boys, and not beautiful enough. Hewas her friend and he got mad at her for months for stupid reasons. He didn’t believe inher projects, such as s.p.e.w. and he made fun of it, etc. And he made her cryseveral times. I love Ron, Romione can be cute. But they were friends (once again, I have absolutely nothing against the ship). Dracoand Hermione weren’t. Romione has a lot of work to do on themselves as well,they have a lot to forgive each other (these unhealthy jealousy things too),and especially to forget. It’s ok, they were best friends, young too, and theyalways needed to be friends again in the end because at the end of each bookHarry needed them lol, but after Voldemort died they still had to work it out.I wasn’t surprised when JKR said they would need marriage counselling. Not allweddings are perfect and Romione is thus still a good ship, as they werefriends. I love them, still. They’re extremely far from being my otp, and extremelyfar from my own relationship goals as well (especially as I lived it, almost inthe same way as them and at the same age). That doesn’t help, but I love bothof them as characters and after a few months, years of dating they could justbe friends. That’s life as well. Not all relationships work, especially notbetween best friends. It’s great when you still manage to stay friends thoughand I have no problem seeing them staying in extremely good terms afterbreaking up, as they’ve been through a lot together. On the other hand, youhave Dramione. They weren’t friends or anything close when they were mean toeach other. It didn’t hurt as much. There was no betrayal or feeling ofbetrayal anyway, or anything in the slightest. That’s how getting to know eachother isn’t entirely a “we’re starting back from the start”… but a “let’s getto know each other for the first time, this is our real start”. Seriously, highschool is waaaaay behind me, even if I’m still young lol. I hold no grudgeagainst anyone. High school seems like it was in another life, so I can’t evenbegin to imagine what it must feel like after a war. And considering highschool started, for them, during their 3rd year at Hogwarts… Ifeel like I was such a kid at 13, even at 17 lol. Draco was slightly younger when he realizedhe had been wrong big times, when he seemed like he wanted to acceptDumbledore’s offer. When he sacrificed himself and his emotions for the sake ofhis family (its honour and the security of his mother and father. The sake ofit all was on his shoulders. He grew up too fast; he probably needed it though).
It’s far from a typicalhigh school bully and its victim. If you have been bullied, I definitely don’tship you with your bully. Draco and Hermione are just in the specific contextin which they can overcome this. I don’t even know another similar context astheirs. I ship them post war only, or at least when Draco started realizing (onhis own; events can help though) he was wrong and started wanting to change.For himself. Not for someone else. The only reason I would ship them before 6thyear or anything is if they had been friends from the start, in an AU. Butfollowing canon, after the 7th book, with Hermione defending him andall, them becoming friends, etc… (and that’s actually canon!) is my way toship them. Or them discovering after spending some time around each other,friends or not friends, that they are attracted to each other. That happens.And why deny it, when things will only get better. Why deny it, if the feelingis strong. Why deny it, if they can bring something good to the other and both become better people. Why deny it, if they can be happy together and overcometheir past. Why deny love when it comes? Why, if the two of them would make agreat couple and could get along for a lifetime. Why, if Draco is ready toconfront his parents and to fight for her, the way he fought for Astoria? Why,if he is canonically able to act friendly with her two best friends and Ginny,etc. It takes times, it takes talks, maybe. But if they can relate, if theydon’t even need to talk to understand each other, if they’re already actinglike an old couple even before going out together… What is wrong if they loveeach other? What is wrong if they realize the past is… past and can forgiveeach other? Nothing says they have to forget, but I know if I were in theirsituation I would be like… I can’t believe we used to… and that now I justcan’t imagine my life without you.
Love is never wrong.Abuse is. If someone ships Dramione and enjoys it in a toxic way, I don’t getit. What I love about them, is that they’re living in the present. Is that theyaccept each other as they used to be and as they are now, as they understandeach other as they used to be, and as they are now. As they leave behind thepeople they used to be and their flaws and focus on who they are now and today,and on the positive. And with a little kid, they could look forward for evenmore positive.
Draco and Hermione arenot the “bully and the victim = awh romance”. Lol. Far from that. They’re morethan that. Not just as separate people… but together as well. They’re not youand the guy who made you cry in front of the whole class and threw garbage atyou. They’re not you and the guy who spread rumours about you that madeeveryone stare at you on Monday morning. They’re not you and your ex who told everyone you’re just a fucking slut,or something. Far from that lol. These kind of things just happened, and havenothing to do with beliefs. Your bully could change his behaviors, but still be anarse. Draco did change his beliefs. He had beliefs because of his upbringings.Because it was the society he grew up in. He even was supposed to go to thatschool where no muggle-borns were accepted, hell. He changed his mind, confrontedhis parents about it. It’s not about saying… I was wrong to throw garbage atyou because finally you ended up having big boobs. It’s about… Ok, I can’tbelieve I was that misguided and I’m actually ashamed I thought that of you,because it’s fucking horrible and doesn’t make sense. And Hermione be like: itwas time you realized it, git. Maybe if it wasn’t of the war it would bedifferent. Maybe Hermione would have had a harder time believing he wasgenuine. But gosh, I don’t think anyone could deny he is like 394% genuine.Hermione has been through the same war. They need talking. They need to get toknow each other. They need to relate. They need to connect. For the first time.And realize they enjoy each other’s presence. At least, the adult versions ofthemselves. They’ve been through so much their friendship would just be sostrong. Awkward at the beginning, maybe, but they wouldn’t take long to get toknow how the other works and it would be such a relief.
Dramione is beautiful.When well done. Being one of them, I would see it as a gift from the sky. Ilove both characters. And their characters together even more. I love the waythey would interact, once they get to be truly themselves and say what theyreally think when with the other. Dramione is not wrong. The way some peopleship it, maybe is. But Draco and Hermione together certainly is fine. Love isn’t a bad thing, and itcomes from all kinds of places, and sometimes it comes when you least expectit. Just welcome it =).
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