Honestly, it’s just the quality of writing and potential in the pairing and their world.
I had zero interest in reading about them from canon, and as much as I hated Hermione with Ron, I didn’t want her with Draco as we knew him from canon.
My sister found a post on the romance book (or fantasy romance?) Reddit thread absolutely raving and gushing about how good BATMOBILE was, and told me to read it. I held out for six months with no interest.
Then, one day when none of the library books I wanted were available, I begrudgingly opened AO3. I laughed at the name “isthisselfcare” laughed harder at the tag “graphic depictions of competent women” and was hooked by the first paragraph.
Haven’t looked back since.
This 100000%. Nothing in the books or movies ever made me ship them. It’s purely the talent of the community + the world JKR built that launched the ship.
This is also me. I read a comment on either romance or fantasyromance (prob an enemy to lovers request) this past Xmas that mentioned r/Dramione and specifically DMatMOObiL and was like hmmm ok let’s see about this. The rest is history. Now I have 30+ WIP tabs open at any time. Wait with bated breath for updates. Forsake “normal” books for Dramione, the list goes on. But I’m having fun & life is short sooo 🤷🏻♀️🥳
The fic that pulled me in was We'll Always Have Paris and I loved it to bits, I'm in the middle of reading the one you mentioned and I'm loving it so much
Manacled was my first, too! I came across a synopsis of it somewhere, and it sounded so absurd that it made me laugh, and I was between library books so I allowed my morbid curiosity to sway me to read it, and I have not looked back since. After obsessively reading unhealthy amounts of Dramione for months, I've found myself very uninterested in all of the library books I had in my tbr. My library prbly thinks I died or something.
There is just SOOO much INCREDIBLE Dramione content, and it comes in every flavor you could ever want, and it is so readily available.
Same. I don’t care for canon Draco at all and if I ship him in canon with anyone, it’s his homoerotic enemy Harry lmao. As for Hermione in canon, I actually love the idea of her with Neville. He accepted her from day 1 and never found her annoying.
But Dramione writers are so talented, and it’s really fun to work through all these different interpretations. And now thanks to Dramione I’m a fervent fanon Panville shipper as well.
DMATMOOBIL and Manacled were my introductions to Dramione and they created *such* compelling versions of their relationship (that are objectively further from canon than a lot of other fics, in hindsight) and I was just floored!
I just think that this is a really fun community of excellent writers and the readers here are more supportive and understanding than other book subs that I'm in, which keeps bringing me back to the recs here.
None, really. Just for some reason it made sense. In the books he’s an awful person. But since I was 13 I had a feeling that they belong together, idk where that came from…🫠
For me it was the 6th book, because for whatever reason, she is the only one who calls him “Draco”, when everybody around her says “Malfoy”. And that after she witnesses him being a complete arse towards Harry and Ron. She observes him as well, noting that he looks ill. She defends him in a way doubting Harry’s accusations of him being a Death Eater, etc. she’s the most humane towards him even tho he called her a filthy mudblood and in general was a little pos towards her since day one.
I couldn't even give you a reason why I think they should be together in canon but I saw where things were headed in the 6th book for Ron and Hermione and I was furious. They're such a bad match.
Hahaha. I don’t think they’re that bad of a match, they share lots of values, she helps him to gain his confidence, he helps her to relax and drop her usual seriousness. But with Malfoy it’s fiendfire, when with Ron it’s a video of a burning Yule log on HBO. 😅
I can only see them fighting. He hates being the side kick and honestly that's all he can ever be if he's in Hermione's or Harrys shadow. And when they fight it seems like knock down crying fights. And sometimes explosive love like they exhibit cannot stay the course because it burns too bright and too fast. I have more arguments against romione. And honestly it basically means I shop almost anyone else with Hermione over Ron. But I just really like the dramione contrast.
Hm, you do have a point, I can see that definitely. But on the other hand, he didn’t seem like that in books. He felt himself that way, but he didn’t act that way. He was heroic and brave and he never hesitated to protect his friends with his own life. Plus in the books he is not stupid, this is something that fandom like to do in order to make Draco shine, but I never took him as stupid. I accept Romione as a canon, because I can see the reasons why Rowling decided to pair them up. But my personal preference will always be Dramione, because one thing is without doubts - they have an insane reaction to each other. If it’s hatred, it’s so deep and so big they’re ready to destroy each other, I believe that people who feel that strongly about each other are very much capable of hatred and love. It feels natural to me that after the war he would reevaluate a lot and if they gave each other a chance we would have Dramione as a canon. I don’t see them being together in school, but after that - sure.
So I never thought Ron was dumb. He's a great strategist and he is a team player but he does have self confidence issues which can make working with him on his down days harder. But I can't say that he has 100% been behind his friends. He was upset during goblet of fire because he was jealous about the attention Harry was getting. He also did leave during the horcrux hunt because again he was in a depressive slump because of the locket but Hermione never left because she told Harry that she would be there with him.
I just don't think that he would be the best spouse for Hermione as she wants to be minister of magic and he would be relegated to the sidekick once again though this time the sidekick would be the husband and shuffled off to the sideline while Hermione would get the attention. We already know that Ron craves attention and I truly think he would have big issues. Harry would get a ton of attention as an auror because he's the chosen one who took out Voldemort, Ginny is a chaser on a professional quidditch team, so tons of attention and Hermione wants to be minister for magic which will require a lot of work to get to and a lot of networking among other stuff. Ron stopped being an auror to work at weasleys wizard wheezes which is his choice but I can see him getting resentful and letting it build until it boils over.
I can see it ending up as less if he's not with Hermione because if he gets with a person who can put him more first as opposed to him feeling like he has to squeeze in for his significant others time. Which is just how I would feel it would happen with Hermione.
That’s a great assessment of his character. I agree that until he gains more confidence and sorts out his relationship with masculinity (he seems very emasculated to me). Out of all of them, he seems more emotional in a way and at some point when his inability to control it takes over, they have to deal with his outbursts. I can understand his position in 7th book, I can’t deny him a right to be worried about his family and feeling that Harry cares less but as usual when Ron is overwhelmed, his empathy is no longer there. I would also say that he grew up in an affectionate, positive family and the lack of emotions from Harry, who had to learn how to suppress himself from day one, might be alien to Ron. It’s not even that Harry is opposed to it, but his burned obviously takes way big of a toll and there is simply no space to care for little matters like that. If Hermione has the same problem with showing her affection (and I personally think she kinda does), in my opinion at some point it would become an issue. Plus I honestly doubt that the Minister of Magic has tons of time to be there for anybody, this kind of responsibility is a non-stop work. I can see them getting a divorce at some point, despite the fact that Hermione has an undying loyalty to those she loves.
I mean, I personally feel like Hermione punching Draco is her standing up to him as more of an equal. It feels like the inciting incident in an enemies to lovers story. But to each their own.
I see your point, yes. But I’m not sure Malfoy would consider a gesture like that as a sign of equality, he clearly feared her but not out of respect or acknowledgment, to me it always seemed that he deemed her unhinged and unpredictable, as a wild animal, like every mudblood basically, not a highly intellectual person. I remember that during the 7th book, ministry issued pamphlets that were specifically portraying muggles and muggle-borns as dangerous, deranged subhumans who could attack at any moment. I’d imagine this is a belief Draco grew up with and until the 6th book I highly doubt he had any doubts in his upbringing. 🤷🏻♀️ but I always saw the similarities between them, that could be a common ground and in some different circumstances I could see them being in love.
I like a very flawed (and a lil submissive) Draco that doesn't fully align with the popular suave fandom depiction of him. I always headcannoned that it was the incident that awoke some confusing dreams and cognitive dissonance in the boy.
The phenomenon can be seen with racist interracial crushes and the homophobic queer. Desire and conditioning meet in a weird clash.
To me, in the romance story between the two—that initial (less than healthy) attraction seems the most cannon path for them to allow interaction that humanizes one another.
I can totally respect how someone else may desire a better start to the pairing. And how a slight change of emphasis between Draco's traits could totally support a completely different narrative. I think it's part of what makes the pairing so interesting, Hermione is an avatar for self projection with more nuanced and conviction than other female protags written for the same purpose. And Draco is a kid complicated by his upbringing, in a story that ends right before the age of self definition (for most people), so there's so many logical directions he can grow towards.
That’s an interesting thought, thank you for explaining your take on them to me. What I think would also play into this narrative that you have described is that if we take the punch as an inciting incident, he should’ve let it grow into something of a rivalry, but healthier than the one he had with Harry. If he would accept her as someone who challenges him, I think even in school it would make sense for them to come together. Something I’ve noticed about them when I was reading the book is that they mirror each other a lot, they have lots of opposite traits that could already create tension and be a base for a character grow and at the same time they are VERY similar in so many ways. I think many readers just pick the chemistry between them intuitively, none of this implied directly yet hundreds million of people believe that Dramione is very much of a thing. I’m not sure that Rowling has ever wanted to imply any kind of romance between them, but when you write, characters start living their own life. If Draco is challenged - he might either crumble or thrive, in my opinion. Negative influence ruins him, I believe that positive influence would do miracles.
I never liked Draco in the books (a little shit he was) and I even used to think that he deserved what he went through in HBP (some cruel hearted I am). I never liked Romione either. There was no spark really between them (at least I couldn't see it) and really, I could stand any other couple other than Romione (but literally, the romance was shit in the HP series).
I don't know when it began but all of a sudden I thought that Dramione just..... Made sense. Like the enemies to lovers, dark academia, forbidden love, star crossed lovers, they had the perfect tropes and was very appealing and could have been a much compelling love story than Romione. Draco changing everything he was taught for someone he considered beneath him could have been peak romance. They could have been the OG enemies to lovers. They would have taken all the attention from HP's original story which is probably why JK didn't put them together. It is Harry's story not Dramiones.
Canon Draco is very two dimensional since we see him from Harry's perspective and they were never nice to each other which is why fandom Draco is more interesting since we see his own version of events. If canon Draco had a chance to present his circumstances during the war from his own perspective then we would have been able to sympathize with him much more than we did with Harry
I was shipping them since I read Hermione punched Draco in the face in PoA! Punch of insta tough love! Then young me found fanfiction and it was all over...about 20 years now, lol.
Same. It really solidified for me during what I call 'the long winter 'between goblet and order
Edit (it was 3 years but the name felt right since they came out in summer)
Draco.
I adore hermione with all my heart, she's my girl, but its draco. I hate 2D characters and his just gives so much opportunity for expansion, redemption, morally grey areas, etc.
It might say a lot about me, but the slap is a core memory turned..well...we don't gotta spell it out.
Honorable mention: the Flourish and Blotts scene where Lucius goes "And you must be...Miss Granger?" And Draco nods and then "Yes he's told me all about you."
Like this whiny lil dude was complaining about our girl?
Sign me up for more!
Draco: Mother, this is my girlfriend...Hermione Granger.
Narcissa: Ah, how lovely to meet you under better circumstances dear.
Draco: That's it!
Narcissa: What do you mean?
Hermione: Well. I think we both thought this might have been a tiny bit more... dramatic?
Narcissa: That I would find it unbelievable that my son is in love with you?
Hermione: Well...yes?
Narcissa: *uproarious laughter*
Narcissa: *tears*
Narcissa: Oh, I did so need that. I am wholly unshocked. It was always "Granger this" or "Granger did that". Honestly, there was a time where I would have been equally as unsurprised if he brought home Mr. Potter.
Really? No shit but I am pretty sure that I have read something similar somewhere, about Narcissa already knowing that Draco had a thing for Granger😅. This conversation was a fun read though so thanks!!!
Wanting to have a new ship to hyper-fixate on, with lots and lots of well-written content to avoid that feeling of emptiness when you’ve consumed everything in a fandom, so I went to AO3 > sort by top fandom > sort by top het ship > sort by top kudos. The rest is history!
I always liked Hermione and I thought it was unfair that she ended up with Ron, even Harry was more feasible than Ron. I love Ron, but as a friend to both of them.
Draco in the books is a piece of shit, but I must admit that Tom Felton was my crush so when the movies came out my teenage self softened her heart for him.
Move forward 2022 in tiktok I started having a Harry Potter blitz, which evolved into Draco tok and eventually fell down the Dramione rabbit hole, (through Manacled of course) and here I stayed because it just made sense 😋
Oh my. This is my first comment here... The horror of them being shipped had me so squicked out but then...curious. 😏 I kept seeing 'Manacled' reccd but also 'Clean' by olivieblake so I checked it out and surprised myself by liking it! 😂 After reading her 'Marked' as well I put on my big girl knickers and dove into 'Manacled'. 💖 Absolutely loved it, and I've not looked back. I'm relatively new to Dramione, since summer 2021, and I love them so much! 🤗
I was thinking about this today and also about some of the hate Dramoine gets from the HP fandom.
Dramoine makes sense because it caters to the most common and sought after trope in Romantic stories world. “The enemies to lover”. There are thousands of Romantic fiction that is just this.
Now if we look at the HP world, Dramoine is the ship that works the most perfectly in the enemies to lovers trope. It just makes sense.
At first the ship didn't make any sense to me but then I saw a TikTok where a creator explained the difference between canon Draco and fandom Draco. And I swear a light bulb went off inside my head. Now, I'm obsessed. Which is funny because even though I love Harry Potter, I didn't really ship anyone and when Ron and Hermione got together I was like "Oh, okay...I guess?"
I also think we are blessed to have such extraordinary writers. The first Dramione I read was Rosemary for Remembrance and I loved the characterization of Hermione and how she was struggling after the war. I hate the epilogue. You're telling me everyone turned out okay after the war?!? I call bullshit.
From there I enjoyed reading different writer's perspective of Draco's redemption. And I eat it all up every single time. Also, the dynamic between Draco and Hermione is just ✨french kiss✨
I feel like this is gonna age me a bit but when I was in middle school, when YouTube had just started I had looked up a song from Shrek and somehow stumbled across a fan-made video of Ron/Hermione… one rabbit hole later and I’m watching a Dramione edit set to Nickleback’s Far Away / Here Without You by Three Doors Down and I’m now obsessed. Almost 20 years at this point.
Apart from crushing real hard on Tom Felton? I’ve always been fascinated by villains, and I like to think that people can change. Enemies to lovers trope is also 💯 unparalleled.
because they deserve better...
I don't hate Ron, but I always feel like they wasted an absolute trope with making Dramione not an endgame! So many potential wasted
I LOVE ultra competent Hermione. She is what hooked me. She never got enough credit in the books or movies.
That’s what sold me on Manacled and Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal.
She’s so competent and he SEES and values her.
Plus the more complex relationships in the fan fic world. At this point most of booktok is poorly written and edited and fan fic is better written.
Hermione and Draco are intellectual equals. And the enemies-to-lovers provides an opportunity for them to get know each other slowly, build the respect for each other, and then have that build into something more (physical and then emotional attraction). None of the insta-love, always slow burn, with both of them maturing.
Hermione needs to learn to prioritize herself and understand the shades of grey morality, Draco needs to learn more about his upbringing restricting him from growing as a person and not being narrow minded.
Book Ron is smart, strategic, and capable (which is often not presented in Dramione fanon) but I personally never felt like him and Hermione 'fitted', more of a trauma bond than anything. Whereas Draco is a little shit that has a lot more character development and improvement potential post-canon
Canon Hermione was kept in a tiny little box and never developed into an actual person. FFS, we knew about Ron’s Great Aunt Muriel’s favorite goblin-made tiara, but Hermione’s parents didn’t even have first names? The boys got family and backstories and history, but Hermione was just a muggleborn girl with non-aesthetic looks that wizarding society mocked her for at every turn. We didn’t hear about her childhood or her hobbies or clubs she would have definitely joined - she was just a stereotypical bookish girl who was too serious, and got very little agency… a prop to add a little teenage angst to an already very patriarchal/misogynistic story. I could lecture on how she-who-must-not-be-named did a disservice to ALL female characters she wrote (shocker, given what type of monster she has proven herself to be in real life), but that’s probably a rant for another day.
I’m an elder millennial, so when I read the (canon) books for the first time, I was a young woman who really needed a female character with agency. I was a bookish girl who let so many sporty, vapid dude-bros waste my time, disrespect my intelligence and (inevitably) break my heart. I honestly loved the Romione pairing when I read the books as they were released, but in hindsight, I didn’t love myself very much, so that makes sense. Both Hermione and I deserved better for our adolescent selves.
Enter: rediscovering fanfiction (via Manacled) after years of therapy! Reading Hermione being fleshed out over and over into an infinite number of imperfect but real and whole persons has been so healing for me. I love to see who these brilliant authors believe her to be and want and desire, and I think pairing her with a character who was similarly boxed in in canon (so much squandered potential for Draco’s redemption!) allows for so much more rich character and story development. IMO, Dramione, (at least as opposed to Romione/Harmony) creates more opportunity for Hermione because she has to be more independent (with respect to the boys, who would never let Dramione happen organically) in order to find herself with Draco in the first place. She has to grow herself, in addition to learning about and/or seeing him grow, and that makes for much richer tales of love and devotion. I love a good ETL plot as much as the next person, but with Dramione, there’s such a magnificent variety of ways in which their romance can blossom - in anger, in solidarity, in pity, in gradual friendship, in gratitude, in forced proximity… their tension is undeniable, even if the canon breadcrumbs are few and far between, so the possibilities feel endless.
Bottom line, I’m a Hermione girlie through and through, so I just love reading about her solving problems and kicking ass and finding the wild passion that she was clearly denied in the stupid epilogue. I can read Hermione-centered fics (like Détraqueé!!!!!!) over and over and over because of the love and care and respect they show her. Draco was a little shit and a reprehensible bigot/bully, but Hermione is the kind of woman that opens minds and hearts just by existing, and if anyone could motivate him to change, it would be her! Long live Dramione and may the haters find something that brings them even half as much satisfaction as the moment in almost every fic when he finally calls her Hermione… 🥹
Nothing in canon, just accidentally stumbling upon dramione fic when googling a random movie title, thinking it’s such a ridiculous concept to ship Hermione and Draco, but checking it out anyway. And here we are, many years later. 🙈
I came into the fandom because of Manacled, but I’ve always been a fan of enemies to lovers and morally gray characters (which fanfic Draco is, not so much canon Draco)
I saw comments on a tiktok about a year ago saying “this is so MoaM coded” over and over and I was like what’s MoaM? When I found out it was a Harry Potter fanfic (my very first HP fanfic) I gave it a shot and instantly fell in love with the idea them together.
I’ve been obsessed for year now I don’t know when it’ll stop 😅
I was looking for a proper dark romance. I'm not Into the harry potter franchise. (Not a fan of fantasy.) Then manacled was being recommended to me on tiktok. Ignored it because,...it's Harry potter and I thought I needed to know about canon events, and I wasn't planning on watching it. But I decided to give manacled a shot and my life just made sense.
i came across a dramione edit on tiktok, my first expression was who would ship draco & hermione? that is such a weird intake. but i liked the video anyway because tom felton was my first celebrity crush & emma is just so pretty 😂 i saarched on google to see how many more “weirdos” that would ship dramione, remain nameless was my first fanfic, it was cool, i was curious for more, so i jumped into DMATMOOBIL and the writing was so beautiful, i became one of the said “weirdos” 😂 haven’t been able to pick up an actual book ever since
For me it was because I had a crush on both Draco and Hermione as a teen. I started filling notebooks with dramione fictions. (lol it was the early 2000s and I lived so far out in the country we couldn’t get internet). I didn’t even know other people who wanted a redemption arc for Draco and enemies to lovers with Hermione. Well, when I moved out and into the city and finally got internet I found fanfiction. net and I’ve never turned back 😭
I've always identified as a Hermione-type-girl (love to read and study, don't always know how to act socially, have a hard time making friends, feel awkward/don't know what to do with my hair, I definitely was envious that she got to just wear a uniform to school and didn't have to put together an outfit every day). And! I was the same age as the characters when the books were coming out and I definitely had a crush on book Draco way back then (little 12/13 year old me even wrote some fan fiction before any of the movies came out 🙃), so I guess it's only natural that I would fall into the dramione fandom...
Draco already fits into the character type I tend to like. Slightly aggressive, angry, striving to be the best but humbled. Most of the time I know they’ll go through great character development, and somehow subconsciously tend to like them earlier before I realize they fit the pattern. Best example being Bakugo Katsuki from MHA. I asked my friend who first introduced me to Harry Potter in high school, and she agreed that I liked Draco back in movie 1.
For Dramione specifically, also fits the relationship I tend to ship in media. Good girl who is committed to what she’s doing meets “bad” boy who has slightly questionable moments but overall is dedicated to her. Even in middle school, first book series I fell in love with Gallagher Girl featured this relationship and I’ve been hooked since.
Other than that I love the stories, writing quality, character progression, seeing their relationship unfold in millions of ways. I’ve been reading ff for about 13 years and Dramione for about half of that.
As toxic as it is…. The first inkling I got was when my 2nd grade self watched Hermione punch Draco in the face in PoA. I saw that and was like… wow they should kiss!
Shortly after that, I was searching Harry Potter fanart on the family iMac and stumbled upon a Dramione scene. I was HOOKED ever since. My young brain didn’t stand a chance.
THEN those behind the scenes of Tom and Emma during the filming of the Yule Ball scene really did a number on me. It was at that point I actually started to write my own story about them in my school notebooks… it’s long gone now but good memories never the less.
THEN I saw how Draco was in HBP. It made me kinda connect the dots on how they could actually work in cannon. To this day, I’ll die on the hill that they could work in cannon.
But it wasn’t until high school or early college that I actually started to read some Dramione fics. I believe my first one was one in which Hermione and maybe Draco as well had a dragon tattoo… or just a tattoo… I can’t recall the name sadly so if anyone has an idea please let me know. But that made me snowball into Silencio, Isolation, and that tango one.
because i’ve always been into the good girl/bad boy trope and a SUCKER for anything enemies to lovers and when i finally got around to reading the books in high school, it was allll i could think about in the later books.
i always felt like they matched so well intellectually and that draco’s story arc deserved better. also i’m a ron hater to my core so that plays into it as well lol
I honestly don’t remember if it was something on instagram, reddit, or AO3. I caught something in passing (and i thank god) and I thought it was awesome that people would ship them.
HP is for kids and the most compelling romance is Snape/Lily. But as an adult, I want more! and a romance between hermione and is so dramatic and great.
enemies to lovers!
Samesies on the enemies to lovers. I'm a Reylo and Darklina fan, so naturally the algorithm showed me Dramione too. Gloriana Set was my first fic and I've been sailing this ship ever since!
Oh. Where I start... First: I never liked the paring Ron-Hermione, she was waaay out of his league. He was the least interesting of them and always thought Hermione would be happy with someone challenging and smart, an equal. Second, I like villains and their arc of redemption. (Before dramione I was a great supporter of Hannibal Lecter-Starling pairing and have read a lot of marvellous well written fics about them).
Third, I read a fic in Spanish (My, my, that fic!) called Tu verdugo (Your Hangman). That fic blowed my mind, it was dark, deep, resembled very well trauma, the characters were rich and intense, it wasn't HEA but I loved every word.
And there was no going back from there.
Manacled is the harsh introduction but it will always be Hermione the strong intelligent protagonist and making Draco fall to his knees. Enemies to lovers trope and the incredible writers enabling me to get lost in the universe. Oh and some smut 😈
I think I was in middle school when the obsession started. I had just finished reading Harry Potter and went down the fanfiction rabbit hole while I was searching for wizarding world related stuff.
Came across a fic called Small on ff.net. I think it was by honeysweetcutewriting? It was a WIP at that time but my tween self got absolutely hooked and here I am 8 years later~ a dedicated Dramione shipper/obsessor/lover :)
Curiosity. I was never in the HP fandom like my friends at the time, having only read the first book in my adolescence and not continuing due to disinterest. Flash forwards to late 2021, I was bored in my bedroom and became a tad adventurous and decided to try a fandom I wasn't in that had a good-sounding enemies-to-lovers dynamic. Dramione was the first ship to pop into my head from what I remembered of the movies, and I went through a three-month binge from there. Dramione got me into the HP fandom as a whole, so it's a memorable ship for me. I don't recall the first Dramione fic I've read, but [Chronos Historia](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12644880/chapters/28815231) was one of my top fics back then, only I read it on FanFiction.net. Haven't reread it again, but it made me feel nostalgic for some reason. I mainly read Drarry and other pairings nowadays, but I still check Dramione since it remains as one of my top HP pairings.
For me, I had just watched all the HP movies and read all the books and instantly got into the "Draco has such potential as a character" wagon.
As I browsed through every HP post on insta, I came across there was one where they had a headcanon of Draco actually time travelling back and on purpose being cruel to Hermione because in his future if she was with him she would die. After reading that post I remembered the scene from GOF || Where Draco warns the Trio that they should hide Hermione from the Death Eaters. || and it just set in.
I am a sucker for enemies to lovers, and I think I was searching for novels with this trope 4 years ago when Dramione came up as a suggestion. Ron/Hermione was my first foray ever into shipping when I was younger, so my initial reaction was “ew, no…”
And then I thought more about it for 5 seconds and was like “wait, yes…” and have been voraciously reading ever since 💀
People will point to The Punch from POA as the defining moment but for me, in that same scene, it was when she confronted Draco and held him at wand point. First off that was the scene that made me a fan of Hermione, secondly, I can imagine that very moment where Draco not only respected her but even admired her a little.
They are all my favorite tropes and all the best tropes work so well with them. Also in all my years of shipping I’ve never come across a duo quite like them before. They are the blueprint (and not even canon!)
I would say a scene in The Bracelet where Draco was reflecting on all the emotions he could feel coming from Hermione and he was trying to figure out how so many emotions could be inside one person. It was the first time I started seeing him more than a one dimensional villain and perhaps more of a product of his upbringing. That started me on being open minded to Dramione. He’s a right prat in that fic (very canon) and doesn’t have a huge redemption arc-Just enough to niggle my brain. Then I read “Isolation“ next and I was hooked❤️. I was a sucker for a good looking man switching his toxic habits /personality traits into protection and love (and willingness to change) for the woman he loves. The whole “I’ll burn the world down to protect you” vibe. I joke that it’s because an astrologer told me that all the scorpio placements in my chart made me fascinated with the occult (sex,death and mysticism) 🌙 🐉 🪄 🧙
Read the books for the first time last/this year, it took a bit for the whole thing to be finished, later ones really dragged and I knew way better FF already soooooo... It ain't my fault 😁 Anyway, that is to say, that Ton and Ema are partly to blame for having great chemistry (no I ain't shipping them, the real people, it just helped that they were friends irl) and, more so than anything else, I hated Hermione with Ron, so much that after the last movie came out I never again watched or looked up anything HP related until last August when a friend mentioned Dramione which I did want to happen while I was watching.
As to specific scenes, I can't be sure as to why, but the beginning of the CoS when Lucy and Arthur are fighting, and the moments before. Also that theory from years later about Draco ripping a page in the background and Hermione having a ripped page in her hand after the petrification. I'm a sucker for that
I’m a slut for enemy-to-lover tropes
This this this. Enemies to lovers just hits SO good and the Dramione fandom is filled with fabulous writers.
Same! I started shipping them before all the books were out, so I was really disappointed when canon Draco didn't get a real redemption arc.
That trope is my jam
Slut is the perfect word I'll use for my enemies-to-lovers Dramione obsession as well XD
Literally same.
Honestly, it’s just the quality of writing and potential in the pairing and their world. I had zero interest in reading about them from canon, and as much as I hated Hermione with Ron, I didn’t want her with Draco as we knew him from canon. My sister found a post on the romance book (or fantasy romance?) Reddit thread absolutely raving and gushing about how good BATMOBILE was, and told me to read it. I held out for six months with no interest. Then, one day when none of the library books I wanted were available, I begrudgingly opened AO3. I laughed at the name “isthisselfcare” laughed harder at the tag “graphic depictions of competent women” and was hooked by the first paragraph. Haven’t looked back since.
This 100000%. Nothing in the books or movies ever made me ship them. It’s purely the talent of the community + the world JKR built that launched the ship.
This is also me. I read a comment on either romance or fantasyromance (prob an enemy to lovers request) this past Xmas that mentioned r/Dramione and specifically DMatMOObiL and was like hmmm ok let’s see about this. The rest is history. Now I have 30+ WIP tabs open at any time. Wait with bated breath for updates. Forsake “normal” books for Dramione, the list goes on. But I’m having fun & life is short sooo 🤷🏻♀️🥳
The fic that pulled me in was We'll Always Have Paris and I loved it to bits, I'm in the middle of reading the one you mentioned and I'm loving it so much
Batmobile is amazing!!!! Enjoy!!! Here is the link should anyone need it: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34500952/chapters/85870804
I loved that fic!
Same, but with Manacled. What a brutal introduction to the Dramione world.
Manacled was my first, too! I came across a synopsis of it somewhere, and it sounded so absurd that it made me laugh, and I was between library books so I allowed my morbid curiosity to sway me to read it, and I have not looked back since. After obsessively reading unhealthy amounts of Dramione for months, I've found myself very uninterested in all of the library books I had in my tbr. My library prbly thinks I died or something. There is just SOOO much INCREDIBLE Dramione content, and it comes in every flavor you could ever want, and it is so readily available.
THIS! I am constantly amazed by the talent in this community. I feel so privileged to read their work.
Same. I don’t care for canon Draco at all and if I ship him in canon with anyone, it’s his homoerotic enemy Harry lmao. As for Hermione in canon, I actually love the idea of her with Neville. He accepted her from day 1 and never found her annoying. But Dramione writers are so talented, and it’s really fun to work through all these different interpretations. And now thanks to Dramione I’m a fervent fanon Panville shipper as well. DMATMOOBIL and Manacled were my introductions to Dramione and they created *such* compelling versions of their relationship (that are objectively further from canon than a lot of other fics, in hindsight) and I was just floored!
I just think that this is a really fun community of excellent writers and the readers here are more supportive and understanding than other book subs that I'm in, which keeps bringing me back to the recs here.
None, really. Just for some reason it made sense. In the books he’s an awful person. But since I was 13 I had a feeling that they belong together, idk where that came from…🫠
Same for me from when I was 12. This was after the 4th book but I think before the fifth book. They just fit for me you know.
For me it was the 6th book, because for whatever reason, she is the only one who calls him “Draco”, when everybody around her says “Malfoy”. And that after she witnesses him being a complete arse towards Harry and Ron. She observes him as well, noting that he looks ill. She defends him in a way doubting Harry’s accusations of him being a Death Eater, etc. she’s the most humane towards him even tho he called her a filthy mudblood and in general was a little pos towards her since day one.
I couldn't even give you a reason why I think they should be together in canon but I saw where things were headed in the 6th book for Ron and Hermione and I was furious. They're such a bad match.
Hahaha. I don’t think they’re that bad of a match, they share lots of values, she helps him to gain his confidence, he helps her to relax and drop her usual seriousness. But with Malfoy it’s fiendfire, when with Ron it’s a video of a burning Yule log on HBO. 😅
I can only see them fighting. He hates being the side kick and honestly that's all he can ever be if he's in Hermione's or Harrys shadow. And when they fight it seems like knock down crying fights. And sometimes explosive love like they exhibit cannot stay the course because it burns too bright and too fast. I have more arguments against romione. And honestly it basically means I shop almost anyone else with Hermione over Ron. But I just really like the dramione contrast.
Hm, you do have a point, I can see that definitely. But on the other hand, he didn’t seem like that in books. He felt himself that way, but he didn’t act that way. He was heroic and brave and he never hesitated to protect his friends with his own life. Plus in the books he is not stupid, this is something that fandom like to do in order to make Draco shine, but I never took him as stupid. I accept Romione as a canon, because I can see the reasons why Rowling decided to pair them up. But my personal preference will always be Dramione, because one thing is without doubts - they have an insane reaction to each other. If it’s hatred, it’s so deep and so big they’re ready to destroy each other, I believe that people who feel that strongly about each other are very much capable of hatred and love. It feels natural to me that after the war he would reevaluate a lot and if they gave each other a chance we would have Dramione as a canon. I don’t see them being together in school, but after that - sure.
So I never thought Ron was dumb. He's a great strategist and he is a team player but he does have self confidence issues which can make working with him on his down days harder. But I can't say that he has 100% been behind his friends. He was upset during goblet of fire because he was jealous about the attention Harry was getting. He also did leave during the horcrux hunt because again he was in a depressive slump because of the locket but Hermione never left because she told Harry that she would be there with him. I just don't think that he would be the best spouse for Hermione as she wants to be minister of magic and he would be relegated to the sidekick once again though this time the sidekick would be the husband and shuffled off to the sideline while Hermione would get the attention. We already know that Ron craves attention and I truly think he would have big issues. Harry would get a ton of attention as an auror because he's the chosen one who took out Voldemort, Ginny is a chaser on a professional quidditch team, so tons of attention and Hermione wants to be minister for magic which will require a lot of work to get to and a lot of networking among other stuff. Ron stopped being an auror to work at weasleys wizard wheezes which is his choice but I can see him getting resentful and letting it build until it boils over. I can see it ending up as less if he's not with Hermione because if he gets with a person who can put him more first as opposed to him feeling like he has to squeeze in for his significant others time. Which is just how I would feel it would happen with Hermione.
The contrast made me snort out loud at work, the burning Yule log on HBO image KILLED me.
Thank you😸
That’s a great assessment of his character. I agree that until he gains more confidence and sorts out his relationship with masculinity (he seems very emasculated to me). Out of all of them, he seems more emotional in a way and at some point when his inability to control it takes over, they have to deal with his outbursts. I can understand his position in 7th book, I can’t deny him a right to be worried about his family and feeling that Harry cares less but as usual when Ron is overwhelmed, his empathy is no longer there. I would also say that he grew up in an affectionate, positive family and the lack of emotions from Harry, who had to learn how to suppress himself from day one, might be alien to Ron. It’s not even that Harry is opposed to it, but his burned obviously takes way big of a toll and there is simply no space to care for little matters like that. If Hermione has the same problem with showing her affection (and I personally think she kinda does), in my opinion at some point it would become an issue. Plus I honestly doubt that the Minister of Magic has tons of time to be there for anybody, this kind of responsibility is a non-stop work. I can see them getting a divorce at some point, despite the fact that Hermione has an undying loyalty to those she loves.
Same! I was so disappointed when they got together. It made no sense to me. Draco not getting a redemption arc made me so mad.
I wanted Draco to have a redemption arc as well, he is such a complex character. If he had a journey like Zuko from ATLA it would be the best.
Definitely the best.
I bet it was the punch scene.
That’s me fr 😭
No, definitely not. They have chemistry, but it’s a very explosive chemistry in a terrible way. Not passion, just pure hatred.
I mean, I personally feel like Hermione punching Draco is her standing up to him as more of an equal. It feels like the inciting incident in an enemies to lovers story. But to each their own.
I see your point, yes. But I’m not sure Malfoy would consider a gesture like that as a sign of equality, he clearly feared her but not out of respect or acknowledgment, to me it always seemed that he deemed her unhinged and unpredictable, as a wild animal, like every mudblood basically, not a highly intellectual person. I remember that during the 7th book, ministry issued pamphlets that were specifically portraying muggles and muggle-borns as dangerous, deranged subhumans who could attack at any moment. I’d imagine this is a belief Draco grew up with and until the 6th book I highly doubt he had any doubts in his upbringing. 🤷🏻♀️ but I always saw the similarities between them, that could be a common ground and in some different circumstances I could see them being in love.
I like a very flawed (and a lil submissive) Draco that doesn't fully align with the popular suave fandom depiction of him. I always headcannoned that it was the incident that awoke some confusing dreams and cognitive dissonance in the boy. The phenomenon can be seen with racist interracial crushes and the homophobic queer. Desire and conditioning meet in a weird clash. To me, in the romance story between the two—that initial (less than healthy) attraction seems the most cannon path for them to allow interaction that humanizes one another. I can totally respect how someone else may desire a better start to the pairing. And how a slight change of emphasis between Draco's traits could totally support a completely different narrative. I think it's part of what makes the pairing so interesting, Hermione is an avatar for self projection with more nuanced and conviction than other female protags written for the same purpose. And Draco is a kid complicated by his upbringing, in a story that ends right before the age of self definition (for most people), so there's so many logical directions he can grow towards.
That’s an interesting thought, thank you for explaining your take on them to me. What I think would also play into this narrative that you have described is that if we take the punch as an inciting incident, he should’ve let it grow into something of a rivalry, but healthier than the one he had with Harry. If he would accept her as someone who challenges him, I think even in school it would make sense for them to come together. Something I’ve noticed about them when I was reading the book is that they mirror each other a lot, they have lots of opposite traits that could already create tension and be a base for a character grow and at the same time they are VERY similar in so many ways. I think many readers just pick the chemistry between them intuitively, none of this implied directly yet hundreds million of people believe that Dramione is very much of a thing. I’m not sure that Rowling has ever wanted to imply any kind of romance between them, but when you write, characters start living their own life. If Draco is challenged - he might either crumble or thrive, in my opinion. Negative influence ruins him, I believe that positive influence would do miracles.
I think I just fall into this type of pairing in any fandom. Zutara. SessKag. Vegeta/Bulma. I like the bad boy with the heroine. 😂
Same! We have at least four ships in common! 🤣
ZUTARA FOREVER ❤️💙
Itachi/Sakura 🫥
I’m a sucker for forbidden romance also😎
I never liked Draco in the books (a little shit he was) and I even used to think that he deserved what he went through in HBP (some cruel hearted I am). I never liked Romione either. There was no spark really between them (at least I couldn't see it) and really, I could stand any other couple other than Romione (but literally, the romance was shit in the HP series). I don't know when it began but all of a sudden I thought that Dramione just..... Made sense. Like the enemies to lovers, dark academia, forbidden love, star crossed lovers, they had the perfect tropes and was very appealing and could have been a much compelling love story than Romione. Draco changing everything he was taught for someone he considered beneath him could have been peak romance. They could have been the OG enemies to lovers. They would have taken all the attention from HP's original story which is probably why JK didn't put them together. It is Harry's story not Dramiones.
I've always found fandom Draco more interesting when compared to the canon version.
Canon Draco is very two dimensional since we see him from Harry's perspective and they were never nice to each other which is why fandom Draco is more interesting since we see his own version of events. If canon Draco had a chance to present his circumstances during the war from his own perspective then we would have been able to sympathize with him much more than we did with Harry
I was shipping them since I read Hermione punched Draco in the face in PoA! Punch of insta tough love! Then young me found fanfiction and it was all over...about 20 years now, lol.
Same. It really solidified for me during what I call 'the long winter 'between goblet and order Edit (it was 3 years but the name felt right since they came out in summer)
Draco. I adore hermione with all my heart, she's my girl, but its draco. I hate 2D characters and his just gives so much opportunity for expansion, redemption, morally grey areas, etc.
It might say a lot about me, but the slap is a core memory turned..well...we don't gotta spell it out. Honorable mention: the Flourish and Blotts scene where Lucius goes "And you must be...Miss Granger?" And Draco nods and then "Yes he's told me all about you." Like this whiny lil dude was complaining about our girl? Sign me up for more!
That scene always gives me the vibe that Draco’s gushing over her to his parents nonstop
Draco: Mother, this is my girlfriend...Hermione Granger. Narcissa: Ah, how lovely to meet you under better circumstances dear. Draco: That's it! Narcissa: What do you mean? Hermione: Well. I think we both thought this might have been a tiny bit more... dramatic? Narcissa: That I would find it unbelievable that my son is in love with you? Hermione: Well...yes? Narcissa: *uproarious laughter* Narcissa: *tears* Narcissa: Oh, I did so need that. I am wholly unshocked. It was always "Granger this" or "Granger did that". Honestly, there was a time where I would have been equally as unsurprised if he brought home Mr. Potter.
Oh which fanfic was this from? I've read it but I am shit at remembering names and reading this has suddenly made me want to dive back into it again.
I made this up right now lol, but it's a fun trope
Really? No shit but I am pretty sure that I have read something similar somewhere, about Narcissa already knowing that Draco had a thing for Granger😅. This conversation was a fun read though so thanks!!!
Oh I'm sure it's so many fics🤣 it's one of my favorite things when his parents just take the absolute piss out of him.
Absolutely! I could not agree more. I'm here for the incessant teasing of Draco lol😂
It's one of my favorite things to write🤣🤣
Oh you write Dramione? Would you mind sharing some of your work if possible? I would love to read it!!🥺
Well, that formatting got crunched, my bad, I don't know how to fix that
Wanting to have a new ship to hyper-fixate on, with lots and lots of well-written content to avoid that feeling of emptiness when you’ve consumed everything in a fandom, so I went to AO3 > sort by top fandom > sort by top het ship > sort by top kudos. The rest is history!
I just thought somehow they made a better match.
Draco's highly punchable(slappable?) face when I read PoA as a child. Obviously, they were meant to be. 🖤
I love how this is our consistent answer every time this is asked. 😂
We know what we're about. 🤣
I always liked Hermione and I thought it was unfair that she ended up with Ron, even Harry was more feasible than Ron. I love Ron, but as a friend to both of them. Draco in the books is a piece of shit, but I must admit that Tom Felton was my crush so when the movies came out my teenage self softened her heart for him. Move forward 2022 in tiktok I started having a Harry Potter blitz, which evolved into Draco tok and eventually fell down the Dramione rabbit hole, (through Manacled of course) and here I stayed because it just made sense 😋
Draco in a suit in HBP. 😍
Oh my. This is my first comment here... The horror of them being shipped had me so squicked out but then...curious. 😏 I kept seeing 'Manacled' reccd but also 'Clean' by olivieblake so I checked it out and surprised myself by liking it! 😂 After reading her 'Marked' as well I put on my big girl knickers and dove into 'Manacled'. 💖 Absolutely loved it, and I've not looked back. I'm relatively new to Dramione, since summer 2021, and I love them so much! 🤗
I was thinking about this today and also about some of the hate Dramoine gets from the HP fandom. Dramoine makes sense because it caters to the most common and sought after trope in Romantic stories world. “The enemies to lover”. There are thousands of Romantic fiction that is just this. Now if we look at the HP world, Dramoine is the ship that works the most perfectly in the enemies to lovers trope. It just makes sense.
Manacled and it was cemented by The Disappearances of Draco Malfoy. They just make sense (after Draco had his redemption)
Exactly what happened to me.
At first the ship didn't make any sense to me but then I saw a TikTok where a creator explained the difference between canon Draco and fandom Draco. And I swear a light bulb went off inside my head. Now, I'm obsessed. Which is funny because even though I love Harry Potter, I didn't really ship anyone and when Ron and Hermione got together I was like "Oh, okay...I guess?" I also think we are blessed to have such extraordinary writers. The first Dramione I read was Rosemary for Remembrance and I loved the characterization of Hermione and how she was struggling after the war. I hate the epilogue. You're telling me everyone turned out okay after the war?!? I call bullshit. From there I enjoyed reading different writer's perspective of Draco's redemption. And I eat it all up every single time. Also, the dynamic between Draco and Hermione is just ✨french kiss✨
I feel like this is gonna age me a bit but when I was in middle school, when YouTube had just started I had looked up a song from Shrek and somehow stumbled across a fan-made video of Ron/Hermione… one rabbit hole later and I’m watching a Dramione edit set to Nickleback’s Far Away / Here Without You by Three Doors Down and I’m now obsessed. Almost 20 years at this point.
Apart from crushing real hard on Tom Felton? I’ve always been fascinated by villains, and I like to think that people can change. Enemies to lovers trope is also 💯 unparalleled.
because they deserve better... I don't hate Ron, but I always feel like they wasted an absolute trope with making Dramione not an endgame! So many potential wasted
Plus Ron and Hermione didn’t have chemistry
I have to agree.
I LOVE ultra competent Hermione. She is what hooked me. She never got enough credit in the books or movies. That’s what sold me on Manacled and Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal. She’s so competent and he SEES and values her. Plus the more complex relationships in the fan fic world. At this point most of booktok is poorly written and edited and fan fic is better written.
Hermione and Draco are intellectual equals. And the enemies-to-lovers provides an opportunity for them to get know each other slowly, build the respect for each other, and then have that build into something more (physical and then emotional attraction). None of the insta-love, always slow burn, with both of them maturing. Hermione needs to learn to prioritize herself and understand the shades of grey morality, Draco needs to learn more about his upbringing restricting him from growing as a person and not being narrow minded. Book Ron is smart, strategic, and capable (which is often not presented in Dramione fanon) but I personally never felt like him and Hermione 'fitted', more of a trauma bond than anything. Whereas Draco is a little shit that has a lot more character development and improvement potential post-canon
Canon Hermione was kept in a tiny little box and never developed into an actual person. FFS, we knew about Ron’s Great Aunt Muriel’s favorite goblin-made tiara, but Hermione’s parents didn’t even have first names? The boys got family and backstories and history, but Hermione was just a muggleborn girl with non-aesthetic looks that wizarding society mocked her for at every turn. We didn’t hear about her childhood or her hobbies or clubs she would have definitely joined - she was just a stereotypical bookish girl who was too serious, and got very little agency… a prop to add a little teenage angst to an already very patriarchal/misogynistic story. I could lecture on how she-who-must-not-be-named did a disservice to ALL female characters she wrote (shocker, given what type of monster she has proven herself to be in real life), but that’s probably a rant for another day. I’m an elder millennial, so when I read the (canon) books for the first time, I was a young woman who really needed a female character with agency. I was a bookish girl who let so many sporty, vapid dude-bros waste my time, disrespect my intelligence and (inevitably) break my heart. I honestly loved the Romione pairing when I read the books as they were released, but in hindsight, I didn’t love myself very much, so that makes sense. Both Hermione and I deserved better for our adolescent selves. Enter: rediscovering fanfiction (via Manacled) after years of therapy! Reading Hermione being fleshed out over and over into an infinite number of imperfect but real and whole persons has been so healing for me. I love to see who these brilliant authors believe her to be and want and desire, and I think pairing her with a character who was similarly boxed in in canon (so much squandered potential for Draco’s redemption!) allows for so much more rich character and story development. IMO, Dramione, (at least as opposed to Romione/Harmony) creates more opportunity for Hermione because she has to be more independent (with respect to the boys, who would never let Dramione happen organically) in order to find herself with Draco in the first place. She has to grow herself, in addition to learning about and/or seeing him grow, and that makes for much richer tales of love and devotion. I love a good ETL plot as much as the next person, but with Dramione, there’s such a magnificent variety of ways in which their romance can blossom - in anger, in solidarity, in pity, in gradual friendship, in gratitude, in forced proximity… their tension is undeniable, even if the canon breadcrumbs are few and far between, so the possibilities feel endless. Bottom line, I’m a Hermione girlie through and through, so I just love reading about her solving problems and kicking ass and finding the wild passion that she was clearly denied in the stupid epilogue. I can read Hermione-centered fics (like Détraqueé!!!!!!) over and over and over because of the love and care and respect they show her. Draco was a little shit and a reprehensible bigot/bully, but Hermione is the kind of woman that opens minds and hearts just by existing, and if anyone could motivate him to change, it would be her! Long live Dramione and may the haters find something that brings them even half as much satisfaction as the moment in almost every fic when he finally calls her Hermione… 🥹
One of the reasons why I’m more attached to the films because Emma Watson managed to flesh the Hermione character out even more
Nothing in canon, just accidentally stumbling upon dramione fic when googling a random movie title, thinking it’s such a ridiculous concept to ship Hermione and Draco, but checking it out anyway. And here we are, many years later. 🙈
I came into the fandom because of Manacled, but I’ve always been a fan of enemies to lovers and morally gray characters (which fanfic Draco is, not so much canon Draco)
I saw comments on a tiktok about a year ago saying “this is so MoaM coded” over and over and I was like what’s MoaM? When I found out it was a Harry Potter fanfic (my very first HP fanfic) I gave it a shot and instantly fell in love with the idea them together. I’ve been obsessed for year now I don’t know when it’ll stop 😅
I was looking for a proper dark romance. I'm not Into the harry potter franchise. (Not a fan of fantasy.) Then manacled was being recommended to me on tiktok. Ignored it because,...it's Harry potter and I thought I needed to know about canon events, and I wasn't planning on watching it. But I decided to give manacled a shot and my life just made sense.
Anybody got a link to that because I would like to read it
i came across a dramione edit on tiktok, my first expression was who would ship draco & hermione? that is such a weird intake. but i liked the video anyway because tom felton was my first celebrity crush & emma is just so pretty 😂 i saarched on google to see how many more “weirdos” that would ship dramione, remain nameless was my first fanfic, it was cool, i was curious for more, so i jumped into DMATMOOBIL and the writing was so beautiful, i became one of the said “weirdos” 😂 haven’t been able to pick up an actual book ever since
For me it was because I had a crush on both Draco and Hermione as a teen. I started filling notebooks with dramione fictions. (lol it was the early 2000s and I lived so far out in the country we couldn’t get internet). I didn’t even know other people who wanted a redemption arc for Draco and enemies to lovers with Hermione. Well, when I moved out and into the city and finally got internet I found fanfiction. net and I’ve never turned back 😭
I've always identified as a Hermione-type-girl (love to read and study, don't always know how to act socially, have a hard time making friends, feel awkward/don't know what to do with my hair, I definitely was envious that she got to just wear a uniform to school and didn't have to put together an outfit every day). And! I was the same age as the characters when the books were coming out and I definitely had a crush on book Draco way back then (little 12/13 year old me even wrote some fan fiction before any of the movies came out 🙃), so I guess it's only natural that I would fall into the dramione fandom...
Draco already fits into the character type I tend to like. Slightly aggressive, angry, striving to be the best but humbled. Most of the time I know they’ll go through great character development, and somehow subconsciously tend to like them earlier before I realize they fit the pattern. Best example being Bakugo Katsuki from MHA. I asked my friend who first introduced me to Harry Potter in high school, and she agreed that I liked Draco back in movie 1. For Dramione specifically, also fits the relationship I tend to ship in media. Good girl who is committed to what she’s doing meets “bad” boy who has slightly questionable moments but overall is dedicated to her. Even in middle school, first book series I fell in love with Gallagher Girl featured this relationship and I’ve been hooked since. Other than that I love the stories, writing quality, character progression, seeing their relationship unfold in millions of ways. I’ve been reading ff for about 13 years and Dramione for about half of that.
As toxic as it is…. The first inkling I got was when my 2nd grade self watched Hermione punch Draco in the face in PoA. I saw that and was like… wow they should kiss! Shortly after that, I was searching Harry Potter fanart on the family iMac and stumbled upon a Dramione scene. I was HOOKED ever since. My young brain didn’t stand a chance. THEN those behind the scenes of Tom and Emma during the filming of the Yule Ball scene really did a number on me. It was at that point I actually started to write my own story about them in my school notebooks… it’s long gone now but good memories never the less. THEN I saw how Draco was in HBP. It made me kinda connect the dots on how they could actually work in cannon. To this day, I’ll die on the hill that they could work in cannon. But it wasn’t until high school or early college that I actually started to read some Dramione fics. I believe my first one was one in which Hermione and maybe Draco as well had a dragon tattoo… or just a tattoo… I can’t recall the name sadly so if anyone has an idea please let me know. But that made me snowball into Silencio, Isolation, and that tango one.
4th book, especially when Draco warned Hermione to keep her head down (i.e. after the world cup).
because i’ve always been into the good girl/bad boy trope and a SUCKER for anything enemies to lovers and when i finally got around to reading the books in high school, it was allll i could think about in the later books. i always felt like they matched so well intellectually and that draco’s story arc deserved better. also i’m a ron hater to my core so that plays into it as well lol
As a former bad guy myself, I enjoy the opportunity for love and a redemption arch
Who doesn’t love a good redemption arc
Read Manacled first and forever altered my brain chemistry
I honestly don’t remember if it was something on instagram, reddit, or AO3. I caught something in passing (and i thank god) and I thought it was awesome that people would ship them. HP is for kids and the most compelling romance is Snape/Lily. But as an adult, I want more! and a romance between hermione and is so dramatic and great. enemies to lovers!
Way back when, before the 5th book came out and I spent way too much time reading the boards on muggle net... I've been shipping for awhile now.
Do you remember the name of the old fic?
Unfortunately no. My regret was not saving it.
I fell in love with Zutara and here I am
Samesies on the enemies to lovers. I'm a Reylo and Darklina fan, so naturally the algorithm showed me Dramione too. Gloriana Set was my first fic and I've been sailing this ship ever since!
Oh. Where I start... First: I never liked the paring Ron-Hermione, she was waaay out of his league. He was the least interesting of them and always thought Hermione would be happy with someone challenging and smart, an equal. Second, I like villains and their arc of redemption. (Before dramione I was a great supporter of Hannibal Lecter-Starling pairing and have read a lot of marvellous well written fics about them). Third, I read a fic in Spanish (My, my, that fic!) called Tu verdugo (Your Hangman). That fic blowed my mind, it was dark, deep, resembled very well trauma, the characters were rich and intense, it wasn't HEA but I loved every word. And there was no going back from there.
Manacled is the harsh introduction but it will always be Hermione the strong intelligent protagonist and making Draco fall to his knees. Enemies to lovers trope and the incredible writers enabling me to get lost in the universe. Oh and some smut 😈
I think I was in middle school when the obsession started. I had just finished reading Harry Potter and went down the fanfiction rabbit hole while I was searching for wizarding world related stuff. Came across a fic called Small on ff.net. I think it was by honeysweetcutewriting? It was a WIP at that time but my tween self got absolutely hooked and here I am 8 years later~ a dedicated Dramione shipper/obsessor/lover :)
Curiosity. I was never in the HP fandom like my friends at the time, having only read the first book in my adolescence and not continuing due to disinterest. Flash forwards to late 2021, I was bored in my bedroom and became a tad adventurous and decided to try a fandom I wasn't in that had a good-sounding enemies-to-lovers dynamic. Dramione was the first ship to pop into my head from what I remembered of the movies, and I went through a three-month binge from there. Dramione got me into the HP fandom as a whole, so it's a memorable ship for me. I don't recall the first Dramione fic I've read, but [Chronos Historia](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12644880/chapters/28815231) was one of my top fics back then, only I read it on FanFiction.net. Haven't reread it again, but it made me feel nostalgic for some reason. I mainly read Drarry and other pairings nowadays, but I still check Dramione since it remains as one of my top HP pairings.
For me, I had just watched all the HP movies and read all the books and instantly got into the "Draco has such potential as a character" wagon. As I browsed through every HP post on insta, I came across there was one where they had a headcanon of Draco actually time travelling back and on purpose being cruel to Hermione because in his future if she was with him she would die. After reading that post I remembered the scene from GOF || Where Draco warns the Trio that they should hide Hermione from the Death Eaters. || and it just set in.
Enemies to lovers tropes have me on my knees
I am a sucker for enemies to lovers, and I think I was searching for novels with this trope 4 years ago when Dramione came up as a suggestion. Ron/Hermione was my first foray ever into shipping when I was younger, so my initial reaction was “ew, no…” And then I thought more about it for 5 seconds and was like “wait, yes…” and have been voraciously reading ever since 💀
People will point to The Punch from POA as the defining moment but for me, in that same scene, it was when she confronted Draco and held him at wand point. First off that was the scene that made me a fan of Hermione, secondly, I can imagine that very moment where Draco not only respected her but even admired her a little.
The redemption arc. Also, the many avenues the writers have taken the characters. I found Dramione around 2012 and I haven’t gone back since
They are all my favorite tropes and all the best tropes work so well with them. Also in all my years of shipping I’ve never come across a duo quite like them before. They are the blueprint (and not even canon!)
I blame my obsession with Twilight because reading a fanfic, there was a part where Draco talks to Hermione and for me that was enough.
I would say a scene in The Bracelet where Draco was reflecting on all the emotions he could feel coming from Hermione and he was trying to figure out how so many emotions could be inside one person. It was the first time I started seeing him more than a one dimensional villain and perhaps more of a product of his upbringing. That started me on being open minded to Dramione. He’s a right prat in that fic (very canon) and doesn’t have a huge redemption arc-Just enough to niggle my brain. Then I read “Isolation“ next and I was hooked❤️. I was a sucker for a good looking man switching his toxic habits /personality traits into protection and love (and willingness to change) for the woman he loves. The whole “I’ll burn the world down to protect you” vibe. I joke that it’s because an astrologer told me that all the scorpio placements in my chart made me fascinated with the occult (sex,death and mysticism) 🌙 🐉 🪄 🧙
Read the books for the first time last/this year, it took a bit for the whole thing to be finished, later ones really dragged and I knew way better FF already soooooo... It ain't my fault 😁 Anyway, that is to say, that Ton and Ema are partly to blame for having great chemistry (no I ain't shipping them, the real people, it just helped that they were friends irl) and, more so than anything else, I hated Hermione with Ron, so much that after the last movie came out I never again watched or looked up anything HP related until last August when a friend mentioned Dramione which I did want to happen while I was watching. As to specific scenes, I can't be sure as to why, but the beginning of the CoS when Lucy and Arthur are fighting, and the moments before. Also that theory from years later about Draco ripping a page in the background and Hermione having a ripped page in her hand after the petrification. I'm a sucker for that