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Divination for Skeptics

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The latest in magical advancements is an enchantment that reveals the bearer’s romantic compatibility with another person. Effectively eliminating uncertainty from dating, the charm can tell you whether or not you’ve found The One with a precise, Hermione Granger-approved calculation of traits and preferences. It’s a foolproof method of predicting relationship happiness. It’s also, for Hermione, positively dreadful news. Dramione, post-war, soulmate AU.

356 pages, ebook

First published September 4, 2019

40 people are currently reading
1090 people want to read

About the author

olivieblake

28 books179 followers
Fanfiction pen name for Olivie Blake

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5 stars
229 (17%)
4 stars
434 (33%)
3 stars
433 (33%)
2 stars
165 (12%)
1 star
35 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 167 reviews
Profile Image for Aviva’s Library.
282 reviews3,887 followers
August 23, 2023
Thought about dnfing it the whole time, but I had already made a bound copy of it and didn’t want all that effort to go to waste… so i skimmed the whole thing instead.

I had a really hard time getting into it. It had a super slow start (especially for the size of the story) and I didn’t love the overall writing. It was a bit too woke/modern for my taste and didn’t feel like it fit with the timeline of the story. It was set in 2002 and yet the author was using phrases and references that weren’t really a thing then.

I also felt like there was a lot of unnecessary filler that I couldn’t care less about and not enough build up where I wanted it most.

And to top it all off… there was a third act miscommunication breakup (which I absolutely loathe)
Profile Image for bubblegumpopper.
967 reviews18 followers
December 16, 2020
This one started out really strong for me. It had a unique writing style that was initially engaging and I liked the concept of the story. Unfortunately, it started wearing a bit thin for me. It felt like I was reading a Gilmore Girls script where everyone was going out of their way to sound pithy. Theo was initially humorous, but eventually it made no sense that he went around acting unhinged all of the time and literally no one thought to ask him what his motivation was. You know that scene in Truman Show where Jim Carrey's character starts to suspect he's living in the world built around him and he just starts behaving erratically to try and elicit a response and everybody pretends like everything's normal and peachy keen? That was Theo in this fic, only that isn't the storyline of the fic. It's just Theo behaving increasingly odd and all of his friends completely ignoring it. It felt like believability was sacrificed for humour, which would be fine in a short crack fic, but in a work this long just kind of started to grate on me. Hermione was also missing all of the emotional intelligence that we know she has from canon and was written more like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory: logical to the point of hyperbole. The romance between Draco and Hermione was not bad though. It was just a story of two people slowly falling in love, which I kind of liked. I liked that it wasn't this grand romantic thing, but rather more of a realistic representation of a growing relationship. Went with 2 stars because "It was ok" is the most apt description of my impression of this.
Profile Image for Amna.
673 reviews47 followers
December 4, 2023
Dnf @ 40%

Wanted to love it, it’s so popular, but it was so completely not my style like everything I don’t want in a dramione
Profile Image for Mel.
243 reviews2 followers
July 21, 2025
My first Olivie fic and it did not disappoint.

“Maybe he was actually furious with her, or maybe he wasn't at all. Maybe he wanted to lie down beside her and feed her grapes. Frustratingly, there no longer seemed to be a distinction between sensations.”

Profile Image for Emily Montgomery.
389 reviews16 followers
February 15, 2024
It’s a lot of unhinged antics and witty banter- which I personally enjoyed. What surprised me was the moments of depth and tenderness between both friends and then Draco and Hermione. Also, I really enjoyed how the problems in the wizarding world felt realistic and grounded. It’s bonkers but in a very endearing way.
Profile Image for Arielle.
110 reviews2 followers
January 15, 2023
Creative idea and cool message - is compatibility between two people an innate clicking of two personalities and such ~or~ a volitional choice that can be tended to across time. The characters were interesting and rather different from cannon, but intriguing in a way the author made them her own. I did rather enjoy the writing style and the ending, leaving the reader with a little room for imagination and choice to make their own decision.
Profile Image for Lar.
225 reviews
July 25, 2025
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT IN A BOOK✨

No really, this was so crazy. The writing and dialogue between the characters felt EXACTLY like Arrested Development. It was definitely refreshing to have funny dialogue! It’s so hard to put humor into books imo, so this was a fun change of pace.

The premise is completely bonkers— George invents a charm to show your compatibility with others, which sends everyone in the wizarding world into a total tizzy.

To read this book you DEFINITELY, certainly, no way about it, MUST suspend disbelief. If not, you will hate this book. And I think that’s partially why I’m feeling more 3 stars instead of 4. This book is written SO well that it reads like a real actual published book, and I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around this not being a canonical HP text.

Like most of the fanfic I’ve read, I think, “okay yeah I could see this happening, these characters don’t deviate so much from the actual books.” But THIS book took me on a wild read.

THEO NOTT IS A PSYCHO and I love him. Absolute insanity. The dude is seriously crazy and one of THE most unhinged characters I’ve read in a book, but kind of in the best way.

A big problem I had with this was that Hermione, frankly, sucked. She pissed me off most of the book and I didn’t feel that her redemption was all that great. ALSO I know this is a “me” problem, but she just didn’t act like how I have always personally viewed Hermione Granger.

Malfoy was a little closer to how my brain has constructed him. The part where he “sulked into his salad” is burned into my brain and I’m not even mad about it. Hilarious. But there was no groveling, no apologizing, no nothing for what happened to Hermione because of him. I LOVE a good redemption arc, which is why I love Dramione— the dude was a total dick and in these fanfics he does everything he can to make up for that! But this one didn’t have that. I think actually that a groveling Draco would’ve been out of character for this book, given its frivolous and light nature, but alas.
Profile Image for Jenna B.
129 reviews
December 16, 2023
I thought the story was very unique and it reminded me of something I’d see on Black mirror. I always love when Theo is included in fics and he really was the star of this one. We love a goofy, fun Theo.

To be honest, I didn’t love how Hermione was portrayed and actually found her quite annoying at times. I wanted her to stfu during certain scenes 😅

I don’t normally care about or notice “writing styles”, but I found this hard to read at times? Some sentences would seriously take up half a page and I felt like I had to go back and reread it to get all the things that the author mentioned. It felt like run-on sentence after run-on sentence. Maybe I have a smol brain.

The author does have an eloquent way of writing, but I did find my self skimming through some parts because I was like get to the point please 😅 I remember feeling a similar way when I read one of her published books.

A song that reminds me of this song: Labyrinth by Taylor Swift ✨✨✨
Profile Image for Émi (Slavic Reader).
383 reviews106 followers
December 29, 2020
Wasn't expecting this to turn out to be a story that strongly resembles a hilarious rom-com if it isn't one in it's own right. It combines modern and traditional humour, whilst managing to sound very British. A good light read all in all. I was looking to read something whilst being too tired to read anything too complex, and this also scratched my latest reading mood itch. The blurb is what misled me initially to expect more angst rather than comedy.

However, not one of the top fics I've read. I struggled to connect to Hermione as she often felt emotionally withdrawn and even dead. Her thoughts were pure logic and it almost felt like she was a robot at times. And although it was exceptionally funny, I can't rate it much higher because of how much I struggled with the one of the POVs.
Profile Image for Ronnie Cryer.
124 reviews4 followers
March 13, 2024
I have so many things to say about this I don’t know where to start. First of all, her style of writing is not for everyone and I can understand that. But it is for me, the writing reads like a semi more emotional Leigh bardugo and my GOD is she funny as hell. There were multiple points during this where I was just laughing out loud to myself.

Also I have to seriously admire her dedication to the characters personalities. Although at some points I found myself thinking this is what Hermione would be like if she had a touch of the tism. Honestly this isn’t my favorite version of her.

All that being said Olivie Blake can write so well. Certain excerpts of this will stay with me for a long, long time and the confession speech had me in tears. I love reading an author with a truly unique perspective on common emotions. I will definitely be picking up her published works.
Profile Image for Jaid.
178 reviews37 followers
August 9, 2023
Re-read for an Olivie Blake tier list to give to my friend who’s moving through the greatest works of Dramione.
——
I love Dramione (as most know), and I love Olivie Blake's writing. But this one was a bit of a miss for me. It had a very great premise, and great for the first 30%, but something got lost along the way. The characters fell flat, and I wish there had been a little more depth.
Profile Image for Chelsi.
425 reviews10 followers
June 15, 2023
I was wondering around chapter two why I was hating this and then I noticed who the author was. Yep makes sense. 1.75 stars. This was wildly ooc and nonsensical. She just loves the sound of her own voice doesn’t she?
Profile Image for Mia.
134 reviews
March 1, 2022
So much intellectual rambling my brain hurt
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Novia.
115 reviews2 followers
January 11, 2022
Just not my cup of tea, I'm sorry.
Profile Image for Jo Hoffman.
176 reviews1 follower
July 16, 2024
So funny and adorably quaint. I enjoyed Clean and Marked, but I loved the genre change for this one. Read it incredibly quickly, and really helped me out of a reading slump.
Profile Image for Tasha Kravec.
178 reviews3 followers
November 7, 2025
This was…unlike anything I’ve ever read. It was clinical, in a way, but still enjoyable for the most part. I feel like this is what DMATMOOBIL tried to be, but did not accomplish (for me, personally). This fic worked in the ways the aforementioned fic did not.

While I feel the characterization of everyone was off from canon and filled instead with just pure, unbridled chaos, it actually made for a fun story, of which I was able to suspend disbelief and just take it for what it was. For some fics, that makes it unreadable. For this one, not so much.

Loved the concept of the plot and how methodical everyone was towards quantifying who they’re compatible with, but I do wish emotion played a bigger role. Essentially, this was a deeper analysis on what one thinks they should do vs. what they actually want to do. The personification of Hermione as a swot was really amplified in this story, right at the brink of annoying and nonsensical, but tailored enough to keep her just barely likable. I really did not enjoy how emotionless and robotic she was though, especially towards the latter half of the story. I found her and Draco’s final decision to be together was really lackluster.

I’ve never read Olivie Blake before, so I’m not sure if this is how her writing normally is, but this entire story is run-on-sentence, word salad, stream-of-consciousness madness (which of itself is an onomatopoeia). I’m positive her writing style isn’t for everyone, but I feel like because I have the background knowledge of HP, I was able to keep up with it. Don’t know how that would work with one of her traditionally published books, though. I liked this well enough, so I’ll might have to browse some of her other fics!
Profile Image for Manon.
364 reviews17 followers
February 18, 2024
Come for the hilariously unbeatable NottPott antics, stay for the achingly soft love declarations, as seen here:

‘He was not going to let her down. He was going to tell her he loved her until she got tired of hearing it, begging him to please god, Malfoy, shut up. He was going to fight all her battles with her whether she asked him to or not; until she said I can handle it and he said I know you can but I'm here anyway, if you ever need me, even if you don't. Wherever she was going, whatever she was saying, he was going to be there. If it killed him in the end, he would side with her regardless. She had done as much just by choosing him.’
Profile Image for Cecilia.
442 reviews9 followers
September 3, 2023
A delulu hermione and a begrudgen but hopelessly enamored draco is my preferred brand of idiots in love. This was hilariously pretentious, stretching my absolute favorite characterizations to the brink of chaos. I think I could have easily been put off by it (alas I accept granger as generally mildly daft but she’s certainly not emotionally inept), but lucky for olivieblake I was in the perfect mood to devour the madness.

4.5⭐️ special shout out to theo and his mayhem
Profile Image for WrittenByManyGhosts.
258 reviews11 followers
March 23, 2021
This is the second stories I’ve read by this author and I 100% plan to work my way through the rest! I loved this story so darn much. The story goes in a direction you’re not initially expecting but it’s so darn good! Highly recommend reading!
Profile Image for Jessica Kate Taylor.
228 reviews4 followers
May 24, 2024
5⭐️ no idea why this is rated so low by so many. Devoured this, it was loud out loud funny and writes probably the best characterisation of Theo ever.

Olivie x Dramione is everything I need and more 🫶🏻✨
Profile Image for Hayden Hamby.
288 reviews34 followers
June 27, 2022
Interesting concept and really funny. It only took me so long to read it because I was only reading it at work.
Profile Image for Jenna.
220 reviews4 followers
July 25, 2022
I owe Olivie Blake and Scarlet my life
Profile Image for Erin.
105 reviews
July 20, 2023
This is the first time in over ten years that I’ve read fan fiction but wow this was so much fun :’)
Profile Image for Lana.
46 reviews
November 28, 2023
I see this is a polarizing read for many but I cannot express how much joy it brought me. Harry and Theo? Stop it right now. Perfection. Rom-com but make it magical. So good. Laugh-out-loud funny. Short but oh-so-sweet.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kate Childers.
235 reviews6 followers
March 27, 2024
Omg these two are so awkward 😭 idk how I feel about the characterization of Hermione, she's so. . . Boring? Monotone? Nerdy (coming from a nerd)? But the story was still kinda fun. Impersonal, that's the word I wanted. She's very detached. I keep liking it less and less the more I read 😅 I just don't feel any chemistry between them sorry
Profile Image for Juliana.
99 reviews
April 29, 2024
3.75
This was silly and fun and exactly what I needed from it! Also enticed me enough to put Olivie Blake’s published works higher up on my tbr
Displaying 1 - 30 of 167 reviews

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