WIP Snip

🎵, 🎧, 📺! Kisses 💞

Dear Vee,

Oh, my heart skipped a beat when I saw your ask!

🎵 Hozier, Seventeen, Yorushika, also RADWIMPS

🎧 Gasoline - HAIM

📺 Friends

Sending m o r e kisses, and protective charms! Thank you for gracing me with your presence 🥺

“He’s getting distracted, he realises. It’s Malfoy, he thinks—the smell of him, so near—and he inches even closer and lets his head drop onto Malfoy’s shoulder. It’s good here—the curling ends of Malfoy’s hair are close enough that they stir every time Harry breathes out, and he watches the slide and quiver of the glossy strands with fascination. And better yet, when he blows gently, the hair moves off Malfoy’s neck, and then Harry can see the whole creamy stretch of it and more: the sharp tensing line of Malfoy’s jaw; the three beauty spots like a constellation on Malfoy’s cheek; the silvered line of a scar that runs from below Malfoy’s collar to just behind his ear. He’s noticed all these things before, of course, but he can’t remember why he hasn’t ever really looked at them before, or told Malfoy how lovely they are.” — If It Takes All Night by tackytiger | Read here

This is for @tackytigerfic whose fic didn’t stop running in my mind after reading it, mostly this scene, or, scratch it—all of it hunts me, especially tacky’s approach and style of writing.

This is easily my favorite portrayal of Harry who finds his friendship with Draco after the war conflicting. His yearning, his hesitation, and good lord his undeniable attraction were conveyed with raw intensity that was both sensual and captivating. I enjoyed how there’s not much dialogue and instead it took me inside Harry’s mind. It was so sensory that it made my skin tingle.

Tacky, the writer that you are. I’m in awe of your ability to craft such compelling stories. Please marry me.

PS. I just need to mention again that the scene with Draco’s beauty spots and scar killed me. I am forever including that every time I draw him.

What are your favorite drarry fics?

oh. ooooooooooooh oh oh.

here are my staples:

draco, the magic dragon - libbydrew a fic i first read on livejournal (showing off the varnish of my casket here) that i thought about regularly for the almost two decades i fell out of fandom. canon to me tbh. libby invented my draco rubric: proud lil showboat even when everything around him has gone to rancid shit, sarcastic and aloof personality as a poor facade to distract from the big ol' gaping well of hurt.

Potter took a great breath, then let it out slowly – a low whistle between his teeth. "Malfoy, I had no idea. I thought—" "Why are you here?" Draco cut him off before the idiot embarrassed them both. Their shared past was water under the bridge – even if Draco had drowned in it.

nightingale - michi_the_killer

another back-in-my-day fav, even though i can only stand to read half of it. actually even thinking about it is making me stare off in a distance for upwards of three minutes. this one i would hand off wrapped in about a million miles of caution tape. + also a huge fan of michi's gory veela fic.

It was better than fighting, Harry thought, although sometimes he still wanted to rip into Malfoy, to hurt him. Other days, he thought, it was better than anything.

rookie moves - peu_a_peu

what can i say that hasn't already been said - peu is a MASTER. if you somehow know who i am but haven't read this, reassess your life choices through professional means but not until after you read this.

“Feels kinda big,” Malfoy said, smirking. “For a guy your height.” “My height is average,” Harry said, although he was undeniably glaring upward at Malfoy’s face when they stood so close together. “And it is kinda big.”

stately homes of wiltshire - waspabi another one that crept into my heart and made a home. hard to choose between this and waspabi's other drarry fic, but there's something about the decrepit manor is suppose that just does it for me. a perfect harry and draco, perfect soft reaching towards each other.

Draco smiled and dragged Potter from the shop before he could charm any more elderly ladies with his unkept, take-care-of-me-I’m-confused-and-have-nice-shoulders aesthetic. Once outside in the drizzle, he realised he still had his hand around Potter’s forearm. He yanked his hand back immediately.

i wake up falling - warmfoothills

warmfoothills :,) just reading this moniker makes me vision go soft around the edges. their writing has made me out loud, quietly say "oh," multiple times. the prose is darling, this story is such a brief, aching glance. it was also really hard to pick just one (flashback, warm nights i also go in for).

“I love you,” he says, unable to stop himself. Draco blinks, a barely-there flinch, like Harry’s taken a swing at him. “I know,” he says, still oblivious to the reference, oblivious to the way his words scoop right into the meat of Harry’s stupid, hopeful heart. “It’s not enough, is it?” Draco shakes his head. Above, the stars watch unfeelingly on.

the pure and simple truth - lettered no one does dialogue with the mastery lettered does. my GOD. my god. i feel like this fic is drarry perfectly distilled.

“What’s he going to be?” Blaise raised a brow. “Pardon?” “You said he says Hermione should be Minister, and all those other things. "What does Malfoy think he should be?” There was something much like pity in Blaise’s eyes. “He thinks he should never, ever be forgiven for the things he’s done.” Harry felt ill. “That’s not fair.” “When has Draco ever been fair?” “I meant―” Harry swallowed hard. “That’s not right.” Blaise looked more pitying still. “When has Draco ever been right?”

far from the tree - aideomai

the writer i avoid talking about the most bc once i start i cannot physically restrain myself from going on about their beauty forever. i sat for forty-five solid minutes frowning, trying to choose between this one and in the hand. and dwelling. okay anyway. i keep a doc of quotes from fics that resonate and it's 50% aideomai.

Draco wondered what Potter thought of this day, in the future the twins came from. If he had told Ginny about it. If he had forgotten it. He couldn’t forget it, could he? It felt burned into Draco’s body already, a final point that he had been moving toward for years without knowing.

i could go on but i think seven is a nice solid number tyvm for this ask!

What Drarry fanart would you use a cover art for your favorite fics :-)

Omg what a brilliant ask!!! I love it 🙌 ok so this took me ages because I tried to match art I’ve seen with my favourite fics, meaning some fics I really love aren’t here because I couldn’t find the corresponding art. I’ve had so much fun doing this, thank you!

1. Far From the Tree by aideomai can’t be paired with anything but @bluebutter-art’s brilliant art, dilf Draco to the rescue!!!!

2. this art by @istehlurvz gives me big The Boy Who Only Lived Twice vibes, power couple!

3. art by @kk1smet and art by @creeeee for @tackytigerfic’s Modern Love, eternal fave

4. art by @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm for Away Childish Things by lettered, perfection

5. this art by @zigster-ao3 is a lovely fit for korlaena’s A Sword Laid Aside

6. King Draco & Knight Harry by @swymsuyt for astolat’s The Compact 👑

7. @bluebutter-art’s gorgeous posh Slytherin Draco for Astolat’s Slithering

8. this art by @missmrah always makes me think of Super Rich Kids by @thusspoketrish

9. this art by @bluebutter-art for Turn by SG 🥺

10. this art by @artdecielle fits Little Red Courgette by @blamebrampton like a glove

11. this art by @danasauurr would be perfect for Mijan’s Eclipse

12. this art by @trashcanprince for Aideomai’s Dwelling, one of my favorite scenes

13. art by @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm for All Our Secrets Laid Bare by firethesound, my heart!

14. this art by @zurka-durka takes me right into the comfort of Like Lightning at Your Fingertips by potterwatch

15. this art by @ginkirikirikiri for eleventy7’s Running on Air, a classic!

Bonus: the amazing The Liars Department by @dorthyanndrarry already has an exceptional cover art by @snarkyships-drarryside and same goes for this breathtaking art @bluebutter-art did for @pennygalleon’s Game On. Love these!

This is a beauty.

Taking this as a sign to stop stalling and read Dwelling. I am so hesitant to start it, afraid of the inevitable devastation of yet another work by aideomai. Any words for me before I dive in?

Bound: Dwelling by aideomai

I could not be happier with how this turned out. I used so many new, fun techniques and materials!

The book cloth, oh my god, it's so beautiful. It's Dubletta in aqua/purple. I am mad at myself for messing up my first go at this cover, but it's okay. It's not very expensive and I still have more.

I stenciled the cover. This was the most trying part of the entire process. Last night, I could not for the life of me get the vinyl to cut properly or weed properly or do anything properly, but the first time I tried this morning, it went perfectly. Go figure. The paint is just a craft acrylic in rose gold.

I (sort of) designed and printed the endpapers with my new color printer. I say "sort of" designed because I used the text-to-vector-graphic AI feature in Illustrator. I am generally not a fan of AI artwork, it creeps me out, but I like how this turned out.

I used toner foil on the chapter headers. SO SHINY! (I got a Scotch laminator, and some toner foil from Amazon and it worked perfectly.)

I would say that I also sewed endbands for the first time, but my attempt was not successful. Oh well, nothing wrong with premade ones! Next time...

I also got "creative" with the page numbers and title/author on the inside pages. I am not the most creative typesetter, so this is exciting for me, ha ha.

Everything also went in so neatly and square, and I am just really happy right now. :)

Body and title and well, actually, all of the fonts in the book are Corundum of some sort.

I’m having a lot of buzzcut drarry thoughts today.

💚 where are you from?

Dear nonnie,

Let’s say I’m from Asia 💚

Thanks for dropping by!

Coming tomorrow!

Pull on your seven-league boots! At long last, my Drarry re-imagining of Howl's Moving Castle will begin posting tomorrow, February 27! There are six meaty chapters (a total of about 60K words), completely written, edited, and ready to roll out. New installments will post on Tuesdays and Fridays. For those of you who prefer to wait for the whole enchilada, the final chapter will arrive on March 15.

Featuring: Harry as Sophie/Draco as Howl, a sassy house-elf apprentice, a Fire Demon who needs to make a bargain, a witch with a grudge, a house that floats in a cloud, some displaced spiders, and one very hairy disaster.

I hope you'll join me for the adventure!

Speaking Up

After months of consideration, I’ve decided to speak up about a deeply distressing experience I had in the Drarry community. 

A little over half a year ago, I was abruptly banned from a community of Drarry writers after a vague statement accusing a member of harassment. I was never told specifically what I was accused of; nobody ever spoke to me or provided any explanation for their actions. When I tried to reach out, I was blocked. 

In a slow trickle of information provided by other people over the following weeks and months, I learned that I’d been blamed for anonymous hate comments left on a fellow writer’s AO3, based on “credible evidence”, which wasn’t shared. 

I want to be very clear: 

I did not leave these hate comments, nor would I ever leave hate comments to anyone. The person who received these comments, as well as everyone supporting their accusations, were people whose work I enjoyed privately and publicly. 

I have no idea what “evidence” anyone could have come up with to support the claim that I left those anonymous comments. Other than knowing that I'm innocent, I've also learned that you cannot determine the identity of a guest commenter on AO3. 

There’s something uniquely jarring and isolating about being falsely accused of having done something bad, without being told what it is and without being given the chance to defend myself, as well as this accusation coming from people I considered friends, in a community that prides itself on being kind and mature. 

Being branded a harasser by people I trusted has had a devastating effect on my experience in fandom, my fandom relationships, and on my mental health. It has made navigating fandom spaces challenging, and had a noticeable impact even on my real, everyday life. I’m still dealing with the fallout of what happened, half a year later. 

For months, I’ve been thinking about how to address this matter. Ultimately, I’ve decided against a more detailed recount of what happened and how it continues to affect me, as I don’t want to invite any further negativity, towards me or the people who targeted me. 

Instead, I want to be clear about who I am and how I engage with the Drarry community. I care deeply about my stories, as well as other creators and the fandom spaces we share. I’ve always strived to uplift others and to be a kind, authentic, and fun participant. As a passionate reader, I will continue doing what I enjoy: reading stories and being vocal in my support of the creators of this fandom. 

Creating and being an active part of the fandom space always went hand in hand for me, and this has been difficult for the majority of this year. As of now, I’m not sure I’ll keep writing in this community, but I’ll take every day as it comes. In the end, I'm a writer with all my heart, and if I end up wanting to stick around, I'll be happy for it. 

In speaking up about this now, I’m giving myself permission to move on. It has seemed imperative to me to understand not only the What of the situation but also the Why. However, in the end, none of my guesses hold much weight. I’ve not been able to find a sensible link between myself and the person I was made out to be. I’ve exhausted myself and my options, and am finally giving myself permission to stop trying to understand the motivations of those who accused me, and instead focus on the positive aspects of being part of this community. 

Finally, I want to say that I strongly believe in open communication. I wasn’t given the chance to respond to the accusations when it mattered the most. Still, I am, and always have been, genuinely happy to talk. To anyone who’s reading this and would like to chat, whether you know about this situation or not: My DMs are open. 

I'm so very grateful to the people who've listened to me, created new safe spaces for and with me, and cared while I did my best to navigate this situation. I'm grateful, too, to those friends who cracked jokes about this mess long before I was ready to. Thank you for being the brightest part of my fandom experience. Your friendship, as well as the incredible stories I’ve gotten to read in this fandom, will stay with me, and continue to shine brighter than anyone could diminish.