aibidil:

This
is not a 2017 “best-of” or “favorites” list, but rather a list to highlight
some of the amazing ways that the Drarry fandom has been tackling important
issues this year. It’s been exciting to watch and I’m so eager to see what
everyone will come up with next. (Many of these fics fit more than one category,
so the categorization is a bit random in places.)

Race/Ethnicity
and PoC Representation

Changing Tides by
anonymous for HD-Erised: Draco has spent half of his
life spouting the things his father has taught him without much thought about
how he feels about what he says. When he unexpectedly comes face to
face with the Dark Lord, he grapples with the harsh realities of the world and
struggles with his changing views on life. Instead of doing what’s expected of
him fifth year, he joins Dumbledore’s Army and learns how to defend himself,
how to make his own choices, and how he can be something greater than his
father’s example as he grows into his own man rather than his father’s shadow.
The choices he makes change both his and Harry’s fates, intertwining their
paths until they converge. Through tackling the cultural implications of
PoC Harry, MA explores Harry coming to terms with his identity as an orphan
without connection to his family.

Dear
Enemy by @gingertodgers: An anonymous
benefactor makes a generous donation to Harry Potter’s School for Squibs in
exchange for a weekly letter from the Boy Who Lived. What begins as a chore
soon becomes the only outlet Harry has to talk about the war, love, life, hope,
redemption, his renewed obsession with a certain blonde nemesis and how he
really, honestly, believes that this will be the year Puddlemere United reclaim
the Quidditch League Cup. Dear Enemy features diversity in every sense of
the word and PoC that don’t feel tokenised. And Draco, whose whiteness is
always highlighted, having a mixed-race son whom he adores is especially
exciting.

Hogwarts Crammer by @waspabi: ‘You’re a wizard, Harry’ is easier to hear from
a half-giant when you’re eleven, rather than from some kids on a tube platform
when you’re seventeen and late for work. Waspabi’s Hogwarts Crammer is
compelling from start to finish, and features PoC Harry and Hermione.

Tales
from the Special Branch by @femmequixotic: When Gawain Robards asks him to form Special Branch seven-four-alpha,
Harry Potter knows they’ll have to work outside the confines of the law–even
though they are the law. Tales from the Special Branch is amazing for lots
of reasons, including PoC representation and Jewish Pansy! 

Wild by @seefin: “No,” Harry said, by way of
greeting. Malfoy’s blonde head rose slowly, carelessly. “Get out.” “I feel as
though we’ve already established this, Potter,” Malfoy responded. “And I feel
that what we established was that you telling me to get
out of places really doesn’t make me more
likely to vacate them.” Wild is a
great story with lots of non-standard magic and PoC Harry.

Body
Diversity and Fat Positivity

A Matter of Opinion by @goldentruth813:
Harry and Draco have been together for over a
decade with a life of happiness and memories to look back upon, but when one
story in the Prophet questions their relationship, Draco finds the insecurity
it weaves threatening to destroy everything they’ve built. GoldenTruth tells an amazing
story of Draco coming to terms with his changing body as he learns to move past
his insecurities.

The Words We Say by @agentmoppet: Harry knows with certainty
that he and Draco Malfoy are in love. Until one day, he doesn’t, and then the
only thing he knows is that he is losing him. A companion piece to A
Matter of Opinion, and another great look at the story.

The
Things We Did and Didn’t Do by @gingertodgers: Harry is due back from
visiting Hermione and Ron in Australia, 3 months after finally spending the
night with Draco. It’s time to DTR. Chubby!Harry and discussion of how body changes
can cause anxieties about a relationship.

Age

Harry Potter and Draco
Malfoy, 75 Years of the Golden Couple by @gingertodgers: The epic love story of Harry Potter & Draco Malfoy,
narrated for the Daily Prophet (Or the Quibbler) from their rocky start at
Hogwarts, to the fighting in opposite sides during the War, to the rebuilding,
to the marriage/partnership until their old age. I would love something about
the “big picture” of Harry/Draco’s relationship, from 11 years old to
110 years old! Another great one from GingerTodgers looking at the long-run
of a relationship.

Night Changes by @writcraft: Draco and Harry have spent
years dancing around one another, but Potter’s straight and married. Until one
day he isn’t. This lovely fic has older, well-rounded characters who
are still figuring life out.

Disability

Balance,
Imperfect by @bixgirl1: When Harry sustains an injury
in the line of work, he no longer knows how to navigate the life he loved, and
finds help and solace from the most unexpected source. Balance is great because it
consciously and tactfully tackles the mental health aspects of a disability and
allows Harry to finally work through his trauma.

Mental
Health

What We Pretend We Can’t See
by gyzym: Seven years out from the war, Harry learns the
hard truth of old history: it’s never quite as far behind you as you thought.
My
love for this fic knows no bounds, and anxious and obsessive Draco is one of
the reasons. “You do understand that it’s not — that I’ll always be this
person, don’t you? That you’re not going to calm me down with sex?”

Quiet by @silveredglass: Draco is alone in the Slytherin dorms until Harry starts
coming to visit. Silv’s fic is amazingly sweet and atmospheric, tackling
healing from war trauma.

The Malfoy Conudrum by
anonymous for HD-Erised: Harry’s miserable living with
his memories at Grimmauld Place, so after a chance meeting he takes the
opportunity to move somewhere new. His housemates, though, are rather
unexpected. Especially the blond, pointy one… A great fic that deals well
with depressed Harry.

Heartache
by @bixgirl1: “Harry doesn’t think about Malfoy anymore. Not really. Not
intentionally. What if the
one person you least expect is the only one who really understands what you’ve
gone through? This 8^th year fic deals with PTSD.

Queer
and LGBT Issues 

Adventures in Solitude (Are
You There, Sirius? It’s Me, Draco) by anonymous for HD-Erised: Draco is grateful to have had Sirius’ portrait to confide in
all those years ago, about his sexuality and unwanted feelings for a classmate
named Harry. But when he gets the portrait out of storage after twenty years,
the secrets he has kept from Sirius all along come out. Secrets about Draco’s
role in the war… and secrets about Harry Potter. This fic does an incredible
job of capturing teenage sexuality crisis and putting it into perspective later
in life.

Out and the
Open by @henrymercury: The war is over, and Draco
finally has the courage to decide who she is. The war is over, and Harry finally has the freedom to
decide what she likes. Trans!Draco and poly dynamics.

The Light that is Blinding
Me by anonymous for HD-Erised: After Flourish and Blotts
stop stocking the books of Harry’s favourite author, he is directed to a queer
bookshop and discovers it’s owned by none other than Draco Malfoy, who has more
in common with Harry than either of them realise. MA wrote this incredible,
heartwarming fic that uses queer spaces and queer life as a setting; it is
completely fluffy and romantic and 100% a love story with a happy ending; AND
YET it also addresses all the nastiness in the political world—hate crimes,
homophobia—and has the characters in the world, in public, engaging in it all. 

The Only True Goal of the
Universe by punk_rock_yuppie: It
comes up, as most juvenile things do, in a game of Truth or Dare. An 8^th
year fic featuring trans!Draco.

Gender,
Consent, and Sex

Embers
by @shiftylinguini: Werewolf
Alphas aren’t meant to be alone, or to suppress their ruts indefinitely like
Draco has been since he was bitten eight years ago. He needs company,
companionship, to knot ― he needs an Omega Heat Companion. At
least, that’s what the Healers say, and even Draco can admit contacting the
person they’ve referred him to might be nice. Of course it turns out to be
bloody Potter. Groundbreaking AOB that subverts standard power
dynamics and trope-standard ideas about consent and restraint.

Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong
Love by @aibidil: A group of wizards’ rights
activists retaliate against the Ministry after Hermione Granger wages a
campaign to outlaw love potions. The group invents a sexual assault potion that
throws the Ministry into chaos and starts a debate about the horror of magic’s
role in sexual assault. Auror Harry Potter, Potions expert Draco Malfoy, Senior
Undersecretary Hermione Granger, and Wheezes’ love potion expert Ron Weasley
are assigned to the case. As they pursue the attackers and navigate the murky
legal nature of consent, Harry and Draco are forced to confront their own
desires. I
feel like an ass reccing my own fic, but I was told to include it. Consent!
Love potions! Feminism! Political debates! 

Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
by @agentmoppet and @decanthrope: Harry’s used to finding
distractions to avoid studying, but propositioning Malfoy to get rid of the
pesky problem of their virginity is on a whole new level, even for him. This story is incredible for
realistic sex, safe sex, awkward sex!

You and Me
by @bixgirl1: When Harry sits down with Malfoy, he’s really
only looking for a reprieve from the constant stares and whispers. (Mostly.)
What he gets instead are a series of strange events that lead to a friendship
that is something else, questions that nobody knows how to answer, and the
realisation that the person that Harry doesn’t know how to hate, anymore, seems
to be the person who knows exactly what he needs. A story in which everything
is complicated. And yet, somehow, none of it is. A really fantastic story
involving serious kink negotiation.

Family
Dynamics

Shibboleths by
anonymous for HD-Erised: Muggle Immersion co-Professor
Harry Potter spends his days hanging with his son, reading to his
“dog,” teaching magical kids about the internet with his cousin
Dudley, and irritating Snape’s portrait. He’s understandably annoyed when his
cosy life is interrupted by the Headmistress hiring on Draco Malfoy to be
Hogwarts’ new Ancient Magical Cultures and Spellcasting professor. But then the
explosion happens, and it turns out they’ll all need Malfoy’s knowledge if they
want the magical world to survive. Shibboleths is awesome for one million reasons,
but one thing I love about it is the family dynamics: seriously enviable group
parenting of children (Mum Three!), deep exploration of Dursley family issues,
etc.

Walking on the Air by @frnklymrshnkly: In which Molly won’t stop
themeing Christmas Eve and Harry has a rebellious streak. I can’t get over the family
that frnkly paints here. Harry/Draco live in a townhouse with Astoria/Ginny/Luna
to raise their children together. I want to live in this fic.

Poly
Dynamics

Electric Light by @seefin His gloves are from last year and the left one
has a small tear in the charmed leather that he has to keep out of sight of
Professor Sprout, who would go into a whole lecture on health and safety if she
saw it, and then insist he wore a pair from the lost and found bucket in the
corner of her mouldy old office. Seefin writes this gorgeous little story that
brings out the H/D/N relationship so incredibly well.

Electric
Violet by @henrymercury: “If I
could go back and tell my past self,” Draco says, as he hasn’t stopped
saying yet and presumably never will, “that one day Harry Potter would
present me with a large purple dildo…” He trails off, apparently unable
to describe quite what the outcome of this hypothetical interaction would be. “Harry
wins,” Neville wheezes, “it’s too good. It’s just,” Nev stops
because he’s laughing too hard again, “Harry, did you think we didn’t have
enough dicks between us already, or something?” I rec this
fic constantly because it is so incredibly funny, but it’s also a wonderful
exploration of a three-person relationship and henrymercury really highlights the
way they each offer the other something unique.

Claiming
of Grimmauld Place by anonymous for HD-Erised: When Grimmauld Place begins
fighting against Harry’s ownership of it, he decides he needs help to train the
historic home — but little does he expect that it’ll be Malfoy who’s most
suitable for the challenge. However, as Malfoy and Harry get closer, Harry
comes to understand that expectations aren’t always the best path by which to
guide his heart — and in the process learns just what is needed to make a house
a home. This
fic is mostly great for other reasons, but it has a really lovely development
of Luna/Pansy/Ginny as a side relationship, poly side ships being a trend in a lot of recent Drarry fic.