Eighth year is one of my most favorite tropes. I just love the idea of these characters in a familiar setting post-battle. I’ve shared many of my favorite eighth-year recommendations in three posts. I hope you find some favorites!
Part Three includes 40+ fics over 10k words.
In Search of Sunrise by @indreamsink. T, 10.4k. Unable and unwilling to walk away from a dare, Hermione is forced to stay up all night with Draco Malfoy. Sometimes, one night is enough to begin to understand a person.
Alternative Medicine by @drpearlgatsby. T, 10.4k. Post-traumatic Hermione and Draco share a common room at Hogwarts. What could go wrong?
us alive, right here, feeling lucky by @malfxys, aster_notz. T, 11.4k. Hermione Granger returns to Hogwarts after a year away in Australia. Draco Malfoy returns to Hogwarts after a year away in Azkaban. And then Hermione starts receiving anonymous packages in the mail.
Alternatively: the one in which they share chocolate, and fall in love.
The Mona Lisa Conundrum by @aetherioswrites. M, 12.5k. Draco is certain Hermione Granger would keep her room the same way she keeps herself. Prim and proper, like the perfect poster prefect she is. She even has the alliteration down. But when he walks into the Head Girl's dorm to find crumpled parchment and empty gin bottles littering the place rather than colour-coded studying schedules, he thinks he might be wrong.
Open Doors by @kyonomiko. T, 13.1k. Hermione starts her holidays off right, a surprise from her parents rekindling one of her old traditions. It's just a shame she has no one to share it with.
A Wager (of sorts) by @ladykenz347. T, 13.8k. Head Boy, Draco Malfoy, and Head Girl, Hermione Granger, decide to settle their endless bickering in a wager... of sorts.
Educating Draco Malfoy by Padfoot the Marauder. E, 14k. After accidentally hearing Hermione getting herself off in the shower, Draco realises that he isn’t the only one pretending to be something he isn’t.
Nothing I Deserve by rubykrishna. E, 15k. “Are you going to keep your head down and ignore me if I kiss you again?” Wisps of her breath fanned up into his face. He released a shaky breath and clenched his fists at his side, aching to touch her.
“You shouldn’t want to kiss me again, Granger.” He tried to sway her, but his argument sounded like a whimper. A slow smile spread to her lips and she quickly dipped her tongue out to wet them.
“But I do.” She said. “And if you’re not going to stop me, who is?”
Splash of Color by Kyonomiko. T, 15.1k. A little bit of fate, a little messed up magic, and Hermione Granger is stuck with a curse pointing her somewhere she never thought to look, bright as a neon sign.
The First Rule of Fight Club... by ladykenz347. M, 15.9k. No one returned for eighth year unphased by the war. The students, it seems, have found a way to heal themselves but it comes with a specific set of rules. The first one is the most important: Hermione Granger is not permitted in Fight Club.
Right Way Down by uselessenglishmajor. E, 16.6k. Draco has a plan. Hermione has a problem.
Hogwarts’ first post-war Head Boy and Head Girl are going to have to work all their issues out.
Learning to Breathe by @frumpologist. M, 17k. Immediately post-war, Hermione realizes that the wizarding world still thinks she’s less than. They may have defeated Voldemort, but his elitist beliefs still plague Britain. She’s returned to Hogwarts for her eighth year, but memories of the war still haunt her. So, when Draco Malfoy approaches her to apologize for the horrible things he’s done to her since first year, despite not believing his sincerity, Hermione accepts his apology. She never expected it to turn into something more.
Sad Eyes by @caitybellfics. E, 17.5k It's their 8th year and Draco had planned to make the most of it. He hadn't expected to be the only person that noticed Hermione Granger was falling apart.
Under the Wings of the Shadow by @acciomjolnir. T, 17.7k. It's after the war, and Hermione finds herself retreating to Hogwarts for eighth year, detached and downtrodden after the events of the war. Few from her year have returned, but due to the terms of his Ministry probation, Draco Malfoy must return. Much to Hermione's chagrin, his terms turn out to have an effect on her living arrangement...
The Seeker by @canttouchthis87. T, 18k. After a life-altering Quidditch accident during his Eighth Year at Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy is forced to reconsider what it means to be alive. As he reluctantly embarks on the journey to recovery, he’s surprised to find he’s not alone.
Wait for Me by @sweetestsorrows. E, 18.1k. As Draco and Hermione struggle to cope in the months after the war, they find comfort in one another. Of course, it's entirely unexpected. The challenging history they share is still so fresh in their memory and there are wounds from the traumas they've endured that have yet to heal. Naturally, there's some anxiety as the two former enemies shift from being partners and friends to discovering that they both harbour feelings for the other. And yet, they learn that only by finding the strength to be vulnerable can they move forward—together.
More than One Way To Win by @scullymurphy. M, 18.3k. “That’s damn near impossible, even for me.” Blaise shook his head. “I think we’ve hit the bar. Is there anyone who would be more difficult to shag?”
His words were hanging in the air when Draco felt a magnificent plan spring fully formed into his mind. Could it work? He thought it could. A grin split his face and he said, “I know someone.”
Stained Glass and Library Stacks by @one-equaltemper. E, 18.4k. Hogwarts students who had their seventh year disrupted were ordered back for an eighth after it's discovered that the toll of the War has begun to change their biologies. Hermione soon realizes that she's drawn to someone she never anticipated being friends with, let alone more.
The Rivalry by @floorcoaster. T, 19.2k. Hermione wants the top spot at Hogwarts. Draco tells her he's going to win it easily. Only one of them can be right.
From your head to your toes by slytheringheights. E, 19.4k. It's the last night at Hogwarts before Hermione, Draco, and the gang have to enter the real world. A party in the Hufflepuff common room is exactly what's needed to break down old rivalries.
The Christmas Admirer by TheMourningMadam. T, 20k. Hermione receives a 'coupling journal' as part of a Hogwarts gift exchange. She finds herself quite taken with the person writing her notes through these journals. What will she do when she discovers the flirty man from the journals' pages is the same shy Slytherin she avoided?
All It Has To Be by @lithelies. E, 22k. Leave it to Hermione Granger to ruin their mutual silence with a (not-very-drunk and very questionable) confession about the Library.
Breaking the Barrier by floorcoaster. T, 22k. The teachers at Hogwarts have instructed the student leaders to plan and coordinate events throughout the year to encourage "Interhouse Unity and Cooperation." Hermione thinks the Valentine's Day scheme is a little ridiculous--but also possibly their best idea yet. There's no telling who she might end up meeting.
Best Shot by AccioMjolnir. M, 23k. It's eighth year and Hermione is trying to navigate her post-war friendship with Draco Malfoy and a relationship with Ron Weasley when she gets an unexpected visit from someone who knows her better than anyone: herself. Thrown back from the future, an older Hermione drops a bombshell on her: she has only three days to set things right, or Draco dies.
Still Frame by in_dreams. M, 25k. While assisting with the rebuilding efforts at Hogwarts, Hermione stumbles across an old book of photographs - and one of them looks exactly like her. In an effort to understand, she recruits Draco Malfoy, but the truth goes deeper than either of them could have realised.
Operation Get Draco Laid by in_dreams. M, 33k. The war is over, and Draco Malfoy is tired of being the perfect, obedient pureblood heir. Now he wants to lose his virginity, stat. And since Draco is back at Hogwarts for his eighth year, there should be plenty of opportunities... right? Dramione.
Head Games by MissFantastic. E, 37k. Inspired by the cliché challenge, Draco Malfoy is made Head Boy and is horrified to find that Hermione Granger is Head Girl. Draco decides the only thing that would make the situation bearable is to seduce the little know-it-all. He comes up with a foolproof plan - but does he really know the Gryffindor Princesses as well as he thinks? At least Draco can control every detail of the seduction - or can he?
Rule number one by mismatchedsockz. E, 39k. Hermione knew about sex.
She wasn’t a clueless, naive girl. She knew the process and the purposes, to get pleasure or to make children. However, she had never experienced anything of that sort. Too busy with a war on her shoulders, she never got the time to even think about the intricate feelings of maturity.
Until one day, she found a Professor who was willing to teach her everything she didn’t know.
Tea and Necromancy by @saveourskinship. M, 40k. “I’m dead,” she said.
It seemed a simple thing. Her friends laughed.
But Draco watched her and only her. She blinked. Her friends carried on but she didn’t. Her lips didn’t twitch in response to the morbid, gallowed joke, her eyes didn’t crinkle in nightmare’d amusement.
He realised he’d transitioned from observant to staring and looked away. But it prickled at him.
Something wasn’t right with Granger.
Innocent Monsters by @itscometothis. T, 50k. Draco Malfoy thought he had reasonable expectations for his mandatory Eighth Year at Hogwarts, where he would be confined to the grounds as part of his probation. Isolation, hatred, and passing his NEWTs were really all he had in mind.
What he wasn't anticipating:
1) Having a small firstie latch onto him like a bloody koala
2) Said firstie adopting an erkling as if they didn’t feed on children.
To protect his little nuisance, he’ll have to seek help from uncomfortable places, including the Swottiest Witch of Her Age. Joy of all joys.
Kiss, With Tongue by @sportivetricks. E, 59k. Frustrated with the male propensity to 'shag and run,' the girls engage in a contest to see who can go the farthest by Valentine's Day without going all the way. But perhaps they should have chosen their partners more carefully…
Jealousy by @rainsrabble. M, 59k. "Oh come on Granger, don't be such a stick in the mud. Your precious Gryffindor ex isn't hesitating to string your heart out for everyone to see. He doesn't care that you are being humiliated. He doesn't care that everyone is spreading horrible rumors about you. All I'm suggesting is to give him a bit of his own back," he paused then, his voice going softer, suggestive. "I know you have it in you, I've seen you in action. Rita Skeeter, Umbridge, Me…you don't hesitate to serve it up when someone's got it coming. And he's got it coming Granger."
5 am, waking up by mysterious_intentions. T, 68k. He didn’t want this. Never did. Hermione Granger isn’t some stranger— she is his classmate, someone he spoke to regularly before, someone he saw every day, someone he wasn’t remotely friends with, but someone who wasn’t nothing either.
But now, faced with the opportunity to lord his superiority, he finds himself wondering what the fuss is all about. Pureblood and mudblood is just…blood. Blood is blood, and blood is red.
What You Call Sin by into_the_midst. T, 71k. The war is over, the trials completed, and the castle rebuilt. In hopes of a quiet, conflict-free year, Hermione, Ron, and Harry return to Hogwarts to finish their NEWTs. But at the welcome feast, a new plan for unity is unveiled, and all students are resorted. Despite the calls for forgiveness, resorting the students brings back old prejudices and sheds light on new.
Hermione can't imagine Ravenclaw Tower ever feeling like home, especially not when it means living with Draco Malfoy.
Atonement by @lunamionny. M, 108k. 'We are all broken. That's how the light gets in.'
When Hermione and Draco return to Hogwarts for their eighth year, they’re both broken and both changed in irrevocable, albeit different, ways. But when the school’s new mind healer implements an innovative new treatment, it ignites the possibility that, maybe, Hermione and Draco can help each other piece together the scattered fragments of themselves that the war has left behind.
Initially Yours by @hufflepuffmommy. M, 112k. Upon waking up on his 18th birthday, Draco Malfoy noticed three small letters on his wrist: HJG.
That same day, Hermione Granger also woke up with letters on hers: DLM.
"What does it mean?" she asked quietly.
"It means… we're soulmates."
And We All Fall Down by rumaan. M, 122k. The spring term at Hogwarts starts with a bang with the return of Draco Malfoy, back for his eighth year after a stint in Azkaban. But all is not right with Draco, and Head Girl Hermione Granger can't help but get involved.
The Fixer-Upper Club by @charlipetidei. M, 140k. Since the war, Hogwarts castle has been left in a state of disrepair, not unlike some of the students within its crumbling walls. When Hermione decides to return for an eighth year of studies, she finds herself setting out on a restorative journey that might just fix more than a few broken windows.
The one where Hermione and Draco rebuild the castle, themselves, and each other.
Breath Mints / Battle Scars by @onyx-and-elm. E, 148k. For a moment, she's almost giddy. Because Draco Malfoy's been ruined by this war and he's as out of place as she is and — yes, he has scars too. He's got an even bigger one. She wonders whether one day they'll compare sizes.
Sugar and Spice by @inlovewithforever. E, 156k. (Hermione/Draco/Theo) Contrary to what she claimed, it wasn’t grass and new parchment and spearmint toothpaste she smelled.
A mind-boggling amalgamation of confusion followed by a peripheral realization, and then instantaneous fear made her flush so severely that the room went fuzzy around the edges of her vision as she choked out the lie.
It was old parchment housed in the restricted section, tart green apples, and something spicy—not cinnamon, cloves?—that lingered inside her nostrils. She was woozy, her lids drooping heavily, even as a small part of her brain screamed at how wrong this was. A larger, louder part of her shoved the shame down in favor of baser instincts. Those instincts dampened and dissipated and the shame crowded in the further removed she was from the delicate, unmistakable scent wafting from the cauldron.
Falling Dark by ScullyMurphy. E, 250k. Sequel to Bending Light. It's a year since Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy parted in Italy with promises of love and fidelity. The Battle of Hogwarts is over and Voldemort is dead. And although the price paid was high, Hermione is ready to start the rest of her life, and her eighth year studies, with Draco by her side. No hiding and no shame.
But when Draco finally arrives at Hogwarts, it's obvious that things are very wrong. Why is he acting so strangely? And what happened during the long months he lived as a double agent, passing secrets from the Death Eaters to the Order?
No one is talking, but Hermione will get to the truth, even if it means breaking her own heart in the process.
If Bending Light was the warm, lazy Italian summer, this is the dark, brooding Scottish winter. Dress warmly.
Pop on over to Part One or Two (and feel free to check the Master List of Recommendations if you’re seeing this as a reblog, because I’ll keep my lists updated there as I have new recs to add).
prguitarman
origamiaround
vaporwave
blakekathryn
2087
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snowghoul
dededos
areudirty
