Not Quite Dark Magic

by Hiccupfound

Five years into to the war, the Order is pulling ahead after ages of drastically losing. Draco Malfoy notices. He wants in. He offers himself as a double agent, but the Order requests more. They've created a new spell that binds two people's magical cores together in order to make a nearly unbeatable pair of duelists.

Draco agrees to bind himself to the person most compatible with his magical core. Even if it is Hermione Granger.

Genres: Fan Fiction, Enemies To Lovers, Fantasy, Slow Burn

ebook

First published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
I think this was such an interesting concept and fun war time fic. The ending was kinda like Oop it’s over. But I actually really liked hermione’s characterization in this fic <3
Also there shall be a lot of fan fics read, cause for every chapter I read of beautiful boy, I feel like I need to recover by reading a fanfic lol.

[Eliza · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave up at the 70% mark. I know, I know…but damn it got tedious.

I will say, the plot was incredibly unique, and the writer really had their creative cap on to produce the story line, but it wasn’t really executed all that well.

And I suppose the whole “magically bonded” aspect sorta ruined any real romance for me. It’s mentioned several times that the bond cannot create anything that wasn’t there before, but everything still felt manufactured and unbelievable.

[♡ Rosella Swan ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Word Count: 109,437
Chapters: 31
Rating: 4.75 ⭐

A Dramione war fic with the unique idea of binds. It was intriguing figuring out the dynamics and emotions. But I loved it. Had the perfect balance of plot, friendships, relationships, angst, death, life and love.

[Clothilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concept of magical core binds was really interesting, and I love any story where Redeemed! Slytherins get a lot of air time, bonus points in this fic for some of my fave rare ships 🥰

[Ceilidhchaos · Rating 3 out of 5]

War time AU. Death Eater/Double Agent Draco. Emotionally F#$%d Hermione. A new meaning to slow burn. Almost no smut, which is sad really because magical binding enchantments could have been used in a racier way. Also I honestly was hoping for a HarryxGinnyxTheoxLuna 4some. TW: torture, sex trafficking and infertility
Worth reading, but would not read again.
Werewolf!Theo deserves his own series.

[Chesa Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this one! It very much gave me the vibes of The Fallout or Unchained. I also like that it wasn’t overly drawn out and the plot continued to move forward at a steady pace

[Lauren Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great idea for a plot but the writing leaned heavily on summary at times and POV was disjointed. Wish it had been a little darker.

[Amma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dramione
Yay, I like this skilled Hermione, skilled occlumens... after the last read with a very broken Hermione.

They really emphasized the damage that can be caused by death of one of the bonded especially when the bond is deep... is one of them gonna die?

It is interesting that the bind lasts until death and how willing they both are to do it given that Harry plans for a soon to come battle to be the last one. Will these bonded people be able to walk away from each other?

Her mindset regarding her scars, that she almost has pride in them as her coping mechanism... I get that.

It's a fun concept that they can sense each other... their emotions, locations, etc.

I like the sprinkled details of how the bond works. It's not expository, and it's not presented to me. I just said for the sake of explaining to me. During their first practice duel, he shares how he senses her movements and how she wants him to move. Once, she responded verbally to his thoughts. He felt her relied when he apparated back to the safe house. He grabbed her hand without making a big deal about it. I'm enjoying this. I'm worried about the low ratings - either I'm not seeing it or the story is going to take a downward turn.

I like that they both acknowledge that they desire to be near each other, even though they both know that the bond is causing that feeling and I love that they're both slightly annoyed by it at the same time.

Yeah, good point. She's starting to wonder if the binding they're experimenting with could be more dangerous than they expected and he responds, 'if the worst thing to come out of this war is that some people are codependent on each other, I think we can call it a win'

'What happens after the war when we want to go our own ways, but the bind insists we stay together. Then what? When we can't discern where our feelings stop and the bind's begin?'. He pulls her into a hug she can hear his answer in her mind: I'll never want to leave you.

I enjoyed this story. There were a couple points that were a little out of place- like the Theo/Pansy chapter and the flashback to the start of the bindings chaper. Some of that information added to the story but I don't know if a whole flashback chapter was needed. The end felt like a few wrap up chapters, so fine. Their um intimacy was kind of hard to read. But I thought the progression of their romance felt really natural.

4.

[Weronika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading it a few years back but I probably didn’t finish it and I don’t remember much. I feel like this idea was just not it for me. I like the premise, it’s very creative and I appreciate that so much. I also love love love war fics and I have high standards for them (I’m still chasing the Fallout high). However in this one their bonds were too weird (especially if we take other Order member and their behavior under them). Like it really controlled all of their relationships and I don’t like that. I want them to be themselves, to get to know each other and even be the enemies that they’re meant to be at the beginning without the talk that: ,,no, they never hated each other” bc the bonds worked so their connection was always there mehh.

[Labmonkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid fic. I don't normally read war dramione because it's usually too dark. This was perfect for me and a solid 4 stars. It kept me interested the whole time. There were a few jumps where I didn't feel the scene or what was happening was clear but for the most part the fic itself well articulated.

Dual POV
Soul bonding fic (specifically binding cores to be better fighters)
Some smut that was well written
Not too dark
Little angst
Strong Hermione and the Chemistry with Draco was on point
Slytherin friends. (Specifically Pansy and Theo)

[Bobbi Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️ This had so many of my favorite aspects of fanfics. The angst, soul bond, friendships, falling in love a little than all at once. I loved the concept, and for the most part the pace of the story felt really good and natural. My only complaint is the ending felt a bit rushed or unsatisfying, but overall this is one of my top fics now

[Ophelia Pettington · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a great concept executed poorly. Every time the story had a chance to get better, the author made it worse. Plot holes, character decisions that just didn’t make sense, and plot lines that just weren’t necessary. I only finished it because I am stubborn and rarely give up on a book I’ve started. It was hate reading by the end.

Update 2 days later: The squandered potential has continued to haunt me.

[Sierra Darwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good dramione fan fic. I’m a huge fan of the desperately hard to read and dark slow burners. This one definitely had the potential but didn’t quite meet that mark. Little too short for my taste, but great plot and unique characterization of Hermione and the other beloved hogwarts characters.

[lou · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t really know how to sum this book up, but I do have. Few qualms that made it less than 5 for me

The ending was so abrupt. 2 epilogues and yet I felt a little snubbed


Also the pairings are insane like what do you mean pansy and Neville are tg she would literally eat him alive 😭

[Fer · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it

[Syd :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute quirky little romance, a bit rushed at times but nevertheless and good read! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

[amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

teve um plot bem interessante com a "ligação" mas confesso que esperava mais do final e até mesmo as partes com os pais dele poderia ter rendido uns bons capitulos etc

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.8

[Emilia Cain · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I love you,” she said because she wasn’t sure she would ever tire of it. “I’m yours. I’m yours and you could still ask me for  anything for you and I’d do it.”

[Ceci Monjardin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gusta como la trama es parte de la historia de ellos, y que no todo es fácil y como desarrollan y van quitando los obstáculos poco a poco

[Fia · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved the magic in this book and the whole plot and UGH

[storybooksara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast-paced. The plot falls together very quickly and I wished it was longer. Over all, enjoyed the fic and the creative writing behind it.

[Shawna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes for me to Remeber which fic this is: the one where Draco defects they are magically bonded

[Katie S · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Dracosmuggle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay fic. The bonds were honestly tedious. Offered less benefit and more disadvantages. Could have been executed better.

[loveofafairy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Score: 9/10
Reread: yes

I must say that I was very tempted to keep my initial 4-star rating, but the context of this reread was enough to push this fanfiction to 4.5 stars.

I'm not sure if I am the only one getting this vibe, but for me, this story is therapy for reading Manacled. Hear me out, reading the Manacled flashback is breaking my heart in a very unique and painful way, and NQDM is just my solution. I just choose to look at this story as a brighter and way happier (maybe also a bit crazy) version of Manacled flashbacks. Then, I quickly realized that the people at fault in Manacled are those opposing the use of dark magic.

I found the concept of bonds very fascinating and, it provided an appealing and almost possible twist to the story. Although I still find the foursome (Ginny, Harry, Theo, Luna) a bit weird. I respect the author for how against Ron bashing she is. However, being desensitized to Ron loving transformed her writing into an uninteresting version of the character.

[Veilchen]

I quite liked the aspect of the ongoing war that was a major theme throughout the fic. There was strategy planning, battles and a Voldemort regime described. The Dramione was written well and all characters had depth to them. Since I read it in one go and hadn’t had any complaints or open wishes left- 5/5.

[Liz]

Magical binding, Slytherins switching sides, realistic confused messy Hermione, and a Draco that loves quietly. The concept of bonded pairs for dueling is very unique and why I’ve reread this fic more than a couple times. I love the idea that it creates something specific to each pair. Definitely worth the read if you are okay with war fics and the other platonic/romantic pairings.

[mel ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

”his eyes struck her with how silver and bright they were for the first time. deep and sincere and looking at her like his world might fall apart if she weren’t standing by his side.” i thought this idea was really interesting and creative, sometimes it was just a bit unrealistic.

[Vale · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️