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Oath Breaker #1

Oath Breaker

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Fandom: Harry Potter
Relationships: Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Black Malfoy/Severus Snape
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At the start of seventh year, the Malfoys perform a dramatic double-cross against the dark lord and Draco educates Harry in an old school of magic. With a wild dragon chase, narrow escapes and an unlikely romance as Draco is forced to reveal to a hostile wizarding world that the Malfoy family is dark.

620 pages, ebook

First published November 25, 2007

7 people are currently reading
275 people want to read

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K.C. Anathema

6 books4 followers

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5 stars
65 (38%)
4 stars
58 (34%)
3 stars
32 (18%)
2 stars
9 (5%)
1 star
6 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Julesmarie.
2,504 reviews88 followers
November 23, 2017
UPDATE 8 Sep 2014
Just finished my first re-read of this fic, and am delighted to say I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

The history, explanations, and descriptions of how dark magic works in this AU are every bit as fascinating the second time through.

This is just such a fun world to be in!

Favorite Quotes:
"Or were you so busy sulking that you didn't hear the whole 'switched sides' part of the discussion?" He sidestepped Harry and continued walking towards the dungeons.

"What do you want me to do, join the golden trio on some merry adventure risking life and limb to save the school and win Gryffindor another thousand house points?"


Which was ridiculous. Why murder them when he could simply make them painfully sick and watch their suffering? Much better for extortion and revenge.


"Why are you like this?" Harry whispered, his face only inches away. "It's ugly. This stupid hate you have...you shouldn't be ugly, Malfoy. You shouldn't hate the whole world."

Still afraid to move, Draco couldn't help a bitter laugh. "Then change the world."

To his surprise, Harry almost smiled.

"I think I will."



"Do not do anything untoward." Lucius paused. "If you hurt him, I'll set you on fire."



ORIGINAL REVIEW 2 March 2013
I was first drawn to this one by that fantastically beautiful cover art. I'll admit, though, that even reading in the little blurby-snippet that Draco educates Harry in dark magic, I wasn't prepared for just how dark this was going to be. Once I accepted the fact that this wasn't going to be another fun, fluffy drarry story, though and settled into Draco's delightfully dark little mind I found myself totally LOVING this story.

Ms. Anathema takes JK Rowling's world and adds some of the most fascinating, and original elements to transform it into something entirely unique.

Draco is wholheartedly and unabashadely a dark wizard. But in this twist on the Potterverse, being a dark wizard means more than simply supporting Voldemort. In fact, Voldemort is simply the latest in a long line of wizards and witches seeking to fight against the Ministry and its regulation of magic. A line that goes all the way back to Merlin, Mordred, and Morgan le Fay.

Dark wizarding families trace their bloodlines back to that time, and even use different spells than "normal" or "light" wizards. (The fact that the "dark" spells are mostly in Old English or Old French, and therefore sound and seem fantastically druidic was simply an extra bonus for my inner history-geek.) This explanation for why being a Pureblood means so much to Draco was fascinating.

Honestly, so, SO much about this was fascinating: the history of dark magic, the history of the dark families,

Set against this fantastic world, the actual relationship between Draco and Harry was a little disappointing. The slow-ish build-up was perfect, but then it seemed like everything just happened all of a sudden. And I didn't quite believe it.

I loved being in this world and learning about this AU history so much, though, that even being a little disappointed in the relationship doesn't make this less than a 5 star read. I know there's a sequel, and I'm looking forward to reading it too!
Profile Image for Dropspun.
70 reviews
May 1, 2016
"Oath Breaker" and "Oath Breaker II" by K. C. Anathema is a delightful melange of tradition, history and survival set in J. K. Rowlings "Harry Potter" universe...with a twist -- several of them as a matter of fact. Ms. (or Mr.) Anathema brewed up a realistic world where nothing is purely black (except Voldemort) or truely white, both in terms of history (which the winners wrote), and the sacrifices some wizards made to simply keep themselves (or their bloodlines) alive. Neither side comes out looking like angels; very realistic indeed!

There were two things I loved best about these stories. The first is how an outnumbered group of people (witches and wizards) battled overwhelming odds for the right to be left to live in peace (the story of minorities everywhere) and the emotional ups and downs of the relationship between Draco Malfoy and his parents with all the durm and strang that happens between parents and most children. The fact that Draco has three parents (and why not -- whatever works!) and that he's ashamed of certain aspects of his body (how many adolescents can identify with that!) was just gravy in a story where no one is perfectly good or absolutely evil (even Lord Voldemort was just classified as crazy). And then there's Draco and Harry attempting to straddle and reconcile two worlds, along with witches and wizards being killed or sent to Azkaban simply because they didn't "get with" the program put forth by those in power...if there was ever a story that demonstrates that the world is not fair and what happens when the balance of power swings too far in any one direction, this is it.

Non-warning: this is not an "X" rated (or even "R" rated) story, although the fact that Harry and Draco do get together (and learn to cooperate) is central to it. Oh yes, and there is a threesome thrown in, so if the concept of a marriage between more than two people of the opposite sex offends, you won't want to read this.

I realize that this contains very little description of the story itself, so here goes...it's the story of Harry learning that what he was taught at Hogwarts showed a very biased view of history and of people who wished to live (and do magic) in a different fashion ("white" magic versus what he was taught was "dark" magic). Throw in massive injustices on both sides (white wizards versus dark wizards) and add a dash of I-will-do-whatever-it-takes-to-stay-in-power and whoever-isn't-wholeheartedly-with-me-is-against-me (we're talking Voldemort for the dark side and Fudge heading up the Minstry of Magic on the light side) and you have a very imaginative story of power struggles, injustices and double-crosses that make for imaginative and interesting reading.

Yes, it has it's drawbacks -- there's a little too much deux ex machina reliance on the dark wizards ancestors helping to restore the balance of power, and for some reason the process of Harry and Draco getting together didn't quite ring true, but that is a weakness in a great many Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy stories (although this author did make the process more gradual than most). The human interplay between Harry and Draco (can I trust him or not), between Draco and his parents (the struggle between independence and the deep desire for a parent's respect), the interplay between Lucius Malfoy and his father, Abraxus Malfoy (who was mighty handy with a whip), the interactions of the Severus/Narcissa/Lucius triangle (seems the near constant sniping between Narcissa and Severus all but drives the rest of the family crazy at times), and the friction between Lucius and Harry (everone hopes their in-laws will like them) makes for a very textured and very human story.

Go. Read. Enjoy!

Profile Image for Roxana Chirilă.
1,261 reviews178 followers
August 4, 2016
After reading "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child", I grabbed one of the fanfics Goodreads kept recommending to me - namely, "Oath Breaker".

The story is written from Draco's perspective and it has a pretty damned good amount of world-building and magic system-building. It's dark, and fun, and gripping, not afraid to steer into darker areas or to make its characters somewhat unlikable.

It's definitely original and well-written - the atmosphere is just perfect, much of the action is exciting. And the random spells and poems in Old English are quite exciting (even if the author makes no claim that the grammar is correct).

During the first half, I was entirely sure I'd end up rating it 5 stars, but towards the end I was less convinced by some of the details. I felt like the upside of dark magic was claimed to exist, rather than proven to exist, and that some of the hierarchy bits were exaggerated, that the Harry/Draco didn't have a very good basis to progress as much as it did, as quickly as it did.

Overall, though, the good bits definitely outweigh the less good bits and I'll be reading more of the series, if only to figure out whether Snape is in fact, errr, dating both Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy.
Profile Image for Kate.
367 reviews27 followers
March 17, 2014
It kept me interested even after I realized from the tone of the romance that there would be no explicit sex scenes. 'Cause really, why else do people read Harry & Draco slash? However, this spin on dark magic was original enough, and the writing good enough, I found myself reading for the whole story's sake and not purely the romantic elements. Although I do admit to being disappointed by the lack of detail pertaining to the relationship dynamic between Lucius, Narcissa, and Severus; it sounded fascinating.
Profile Image for Sarah.
320 reviews5 followers
January 22, 2019
A really, really well-written fan fiction! I was so drawn in by this that I couldn't stop reading until I'd finished it, and it had so many really interesting perspectives that just aren't even considered in the canon. I'm only giving it 4 stars because Harry and Draco's relationship got a bit violent at times, and this was kind of brushed off as acceptable which I wasn't really ok with... Otherwise the characters were so interesting and well-developed, and the plot raced forward and kept me hooked!
10 reviews
July 27, 2014
This was just amazing. The way it fleshed out the idea of dark magic was very well done and the writing never got boring.
Profile Image for Nasai Ivala.
88 reviews2 followers
April 28, 2025
3.5
No suelo leer fanfic Darry, pero estuvo muy bueno, me hizo soltar unas carcajadas.
La historia se narra a través de la perspectiva de Draco, lo cual es muy interesante de leer. Empieza con la traición de la familia Malfoy hacia Voldemort y cómo tienen que lidiar con las consecuencias.
La convivencia forzada con Harry para enseñarle megia oscura, cómo se va desarrollando su relación y cómo son vistos los magos oscuros en la sociedad.
No le doy 4 estrellas porque me hubiera gustado más desarrollo en el romance, le faltó un no se qué.

"—Maldito  elfo  antinatural  —murmuró  Draco.

—Gana  un  sueldo  —dijo  Harry  alegremente—.  Solo  un  galeón  a  la  semana,  pero  algo  es  algo.

—Parece  lo  que  gana  Arthur  Weasley  —rió  Draco,  recuperando  toda  su  arrogancia  al  cambiar  de  tema.—  Je.  El  sueldo  de  los  Weasley."
45 reviews6 followers
September 9, 2021
Really well written. But what’s the point of a racist pureblood hero?
Profile Image for nana.
90 reviews
December 30, 2021
2.5
a fic é boa, o que não gostei foi pura implicância pq não tava como eu queria
Profile Image for Animulus Anima.
2 reviews
September 28, 2017
I could talk about this for ages, but really, I'd have to say that my favorite part of this was the Dark Magic and history. It's romance actually wasn't what was keeping me on this fic, it was the magic. I don't want to say anymore, but you should definitely read this if you're into Drarry.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

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