u/BethyJJ

The last 2 years I’ve been really struggling to get into anything and I’m on the verge of giving up on this genre (dealing always having loved RH more than any other books😭) but first I’m going to make a last ditch effort to recapture the magic.

PLEASE hit me with the books that you can read again and again, the ones who never fail to pull you out of a slump, the ones you’d kill to read again or the first time!

Any trope, any sub genre, no triggers except cheating.

All I ask for is good, immersive writing that hook you!!

Please and thank you🥺

Ive been thinking about character bashing in Dramione fics, especially in “the Malfoys are actually the good guys” stories, and I’ve come to the conclusion that bashing is just lazy writing.

(Not always ofc. Sometimes a fic is intentionally crack or parody or a very specific AU where the author knows exactly what they’re doing, tho sadly most of the time bashing just comes across as bad writing)

The reason I think it’s lazy/poor writing is because instead of doing the harder, more interesting work of showing us *why* the Malfoys are good/changed/misunderstood/strategically aligned with the right side/moraly complicated, the story just makes everyone else worse.

Like Harry becomes a terrible friend (not because he’s the oblivious abused boy he is in canon but because he’s selfish and uncaring, not to mention he’s lost ALL his positive traits). Ron somehow becomes secretly blood prejudiced (or straight up someone who’ll beat up his gf). Sirius is an abusive, stupid drunk. Molly is the Devil Incarnate (completely with pitch forks and horns and an insane amount of greed that wouldn’t be satisfied with all the gold in gringotts, or at least all of Harry’s). And with all the “good guys” being evil or incompetent or stupid or vile, suddenly the Malfoys look like the best people in the world. NOT becuse they’ve been developed or has more depht, but because everyone around them has been butchered and they look good by comparison.

It’s so freakin LAZY!

I don’t need the Malfoys to be soft or secretly perfect people in order to enjoy a “Malfoys as the good guys” fic. In fact, I’d rather they not be. I want them to keep some of their canon traits (I love stories that really focuses on or amplified their ambition, cunning, pride, political intelligence, self-preservation, loyalty to family, sharp edges, questionable methods etc). Show me how those traits could be redirected for good. Show me Lucius and Narcissa outplaying their opponents. Show me Draco learning, changing, and still being recognizably Draco. Show me the Malfoys switching sides for complicated reasons that make sense within their worldview (don’t show me them having been good all along and the “light side” secretly being a bunch of manipulative racists who don’t realize they’re racists).

Bashing makes it seem like the author doesn’t know how to write complex, nuanced characters. Like ppl don’t do evil things because they wake up thinking, “Ah yes, time to be evil.” In their own minds, they have *reasons*. They think they’re protecting someone, preserving something, surviving, obeying some fucked up code or whatever. That doesn’t excuse their actions but at least their choices make sense.

And that applies to all characters, not just the ones we want to redeem.

If Ron has prejudices, show where they come from. Show how they manifest. Show whether he recognizes them, denies them, grows from them, or doubles down. If Harry is a horrible friend, show me why and what happened to change him from canon (not that he was the best friend to Hermione in the books, but like he’d never stand by and not care if ppl called her mudblood for example). If he’s going to shit on Hermione, show us WHY (give him a reason, trauma from his past, fear of abandonment etc) don’t make him do it just because the plot needs Hermione to abandon him and run into Draco’s arms (she can run into his arms even if she has a support system?? If he’s not compelling enough to draw her without everyone else being shit then you need to work on your characterization)

The problem with bashing is that it often removes complexity from one character in order to create sympathy for another (which cheapens the whole thing). A well-written redemption or allegiance shift doesn’t need canon “good guys” to be destroyed in order to work. The Malfoys can be interesting, sympathetic, and even morally superior in certain moments without turning everyone else into caricatures. Hermione can choose Draco without Harry and Ron being monsters. Draco can grow without being secretly innocent the whole time. Narcissa can be loving and ruthless. Lucius can be clever and morally compromised. The Weasleys can be flawed without being villains. Harry can be traumatized and imperfect without being irredeemable.

So yeah. Rant over I guess😬😆

(If anyone has any really good Malfoy redemption stories with morally complex characters and no character assassinations, PLEASE send them my way!!)

Edit to clarify: some of my favorite fics actually have “bashing” tags, and when done “right” (when it makes sense, when it’s rooted in existing traits or history or we see the reason why or we’re shown the progression of a characters descent etc) it can be quite enjoyable. I don’t think ALL bashing is lazy (like I said at the beginning of this post, there are exceptions) there’s just so much of it that is. Especially when it’s used as a prop solely to elevate other characters.

So I don’t usually read many fics with Harry as the main character (I prefer reading a female POV) but I just read a fic now where Harry died at the end of the war and woke up in a different dimension and he struggled so hard with PTSD etc and was just so HURT, and there was this one chapter with Sirius where he sort of broke down and Sirius took care of him and my heart hurts😭 but in a good way? So now I’m suddenly craving some caretaking fics where Sirius sees Harry struggling and is really there for him, if that makes sense? Any ages, any time period, any (or no) pairings. Don’t care as long as it has that hurt/comfort witu Siris please 🥺🥺

Edit to add link to fic mentioned above as suggested: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62401453/chapters/159680239

Hi all!

Just read and fell in love with c’est la vie by cywscross and i desperately need more! I don’t really care who goes to what universe or what the pairings are, I just want to read about someone ending up an a parallel word where things are different and maybe some ppl are alive who were dead or some ppl are completely different than the original world. Basically the person traveling should be thrown by the differences at least a little!

I especially enjoy Harry reuniting with Sirius (cause it gives me all the feels!) but like I said Any traveller is fine!

Please give me all your reca!

Looking for any fic where someone soul is displaced or sent back in time, and entered into another body. I don’t care which character is sent back, it can be Harry or Ron or Hermione, any side character, or smaller character, or original character. I just want to see someone get body snatched, and the new soul having to navigate a new life and relationships that they know nothing about😅

Thanks in advance for any recs!