#manacled draco

[gxdsfavgal]

no fictional character will affect me the way Draco Lucius Malfoy has. he truly has my heart everytime the leaves start to turn orange.

[senlinyu]

In manacled if Draco could cast a patronous (I’d like to think once he and Hermione escaped to the island and were content and safe he could cast one) what shape would it be? Would it be a dragon to match Hermione’s? Or would his patronous change to something representing her, like Hermione’s changed for him? I’ve been thinking about this for ages and wanted to know what you thought!

Honestly, I have trouble thinking that Manacled Draco could cast a patronus. I don’t even think that Hermione ordinarily could, her ability to create one at Sussex was very much driven by the sense of utter desperation that she felt. I don’t know that she’d ever be able to cast another one after that. That said, I’m not sure exactly what form Draco’s patronus would take if he were able to cast one. Because Hermione’s patronus was both symbolic her love for Draco but it was also representative of the change in her. Draco was not the only dragon at that point. Hermione at Sussex was a hundred times more deadly than Draco was during his “Death Eater Catwalk” and almost everything she does there is an avalanche version of Draco’s past actions or threats: she kills every last person in Sussex, she razes an army of dementors, she slaughters her way across a battle field using many of the same techniques that Draco used when he came for her. Draco is calculating and restrained because of his amorality, whereas Hermione is righteous vengeance. So I think of Hermione’s patronus as being her love for Draco having turned her into as much of a dragon as he is.  However, I don’t think Draco would think of Hermione as a dragon. I think he has a tendency to regard her as less greedy and savage than he sees himself. She’s not a lioness, I don’t think he’d see her as having that level of bombasity, but maybe like panther or a puma? 

[dramionesteamship]

As someone slowly coming to terms with the fact that I don’t have a good relationship with food, I’m still struck by how much that little detail in manacled hurts that Hermione specifically told Draco she loved salty fried foods (chips off a greasy spoon) and then spent her first year being fed regularly eating nothing but unsalted and boiled foods. The exact opposite of what she told him she’d want before she lost her memory.

[s-n-a-k-e-p-i-t]

Might fuck around and read Manacled again just to feel something

[senlinyu]

So, in Manacled, it seems like the reason Hermione never says I love you during the flashbacks is because she feels like leaving things unsaid means "tomorrow will come" but what is the reason Draco never says it? Does he feel the same way or is it because he isn't good at opening up?

Draco is an interesting contradiction because he has a massive possessive streak but he’s also quite afraid of it. He regards what happened to Narcissa as being the direct result of Lucius’ possessive nature, and that’s a line he’s constantly walking. Which is why when his feelings for Hermione develop his first instinct is to reject her and then once their relationship really takes off he becomes increasingly controlling even though he’s trying not to be possessive. But he sort of inevitably slides into it as his desperation grows and he loses his sense of control over their circumstances. 

He always regarded the relationship as doomed and so I think that to him saying “I love you” and wanting her to say it back felt more permanent than saying “mine.” Because he always planned to eventually send Hermione away and expected that he wouldn’t be able to go with her. And so saying “mine” was more intended as “mine right now” than “mine forever.” Because one of his greatest fears was following in Lucius’ footsteps and loving Hermione into her grave.

[senlinyu]

Why didn't Draco just get Hermione to the safe-house and then tell her good-bye?

I think he wanted more time to say goodbye to her than that. And he had a very twisted sense of romance and what a happy ending could be. So in his mind the best possible outcome was getting Hermione safely away in a context where she wouldn’t come back before he got killed. That was his best case scenario.

To Hermione that outcome was not option. That was not on the table. Surviving without Draco was no more a best case scenario to her than surviving without Hermione was for Draco.

Draco miscalculated because Hermione doesn’t think like him and she lacks his singular focus/prioritization. He assumed that when cornered with the choice between saving him and saving the world, that she’d choose the world. So using Ginny, he thought he’d cornered her into finally choosing the world and as a result he was finally getting his best case scenario outcome of ensuring she’d leave and never come back.

[senlinyu]

When Draco gets drunk in Manacled and kisses Hermione while she is staying at Malfoy Manor, this must be one of the first times he has been drunk since she has arrived since we haven't seen him with his guard down any other time. Is it? Why didn't he just stay away from her if he was that unguarded?

He was going to, but then she started panicking about him dying and that parallel with the past was enough that he forgot himself and apparated straight to her.

[senlinyu]

Why wasn't Draco angry like he said he usually was when he was drunk, the first time he drank with Hermione?

Because it was the first time he’d ever gotten drunk when he wasn’t lonely.