Nocturnus

by In Dreams

When an underground power stirs in France and threatens the fragile post-war balance in England, Draco steps into a seat of power to which he is the heir by birthright, determined to protect his family. Intent on justice, Hermione volunteers for the role of his partner and adviser, neither of them aware of the ancient and twisted web of chaos they're about to walk into.

Genres: Fan Fiction

ebook

Published November 5, 2022

About the author

Also goes by In_Dreams on AO3.

Reviews

[Bella]

DNF @ 30% 🥱

[Sarah Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story but for me personally, it didn’t feel like Dramione. The two main characters could have been anyone. I liked the story but it felt disconnected from the the two idiots I adore.

[Lexie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roughly 477 PDF pages

Well now. This was very interesting, though to be truthful when the trappings of the known HP world were absent (namely things like discussions about the time during the books) this felt wholly original.

In fact it could VERY EASILY become an original piece of work and it sometimes felt more like the HP affiliation made it harder for me to feel immersed.

The nitty gritty about the Nocturnus feud with Avance/Alba was fascinating. As was how they were dealing with the long reaching ramifications of it. It has a similar feel as A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES or Kate Mosse's books.

It did get a bit repetitive at times, mostly on Draco's part (to show his insecurities maybe or guilt over the past?) but the mystery of it all, as well as how Draco and Hermione fought to work perfectly in sync was engaging.

[Kate]

DISCLAIMER: I love fan fiction and reading people’s work. I AM SO APPRECIATIVE of the author's time and effort they've put into this. I like to record my reading and opinions since I've read so much. This is my honest opinion but I appreciate the writer and their craft. I NEVER want to discourage someone from writing - so please don't listen to my silly little opinions. PLS don’t be mad at me.

OK! This one was a bit rough for me. As you can see it took me about a month to finish, which is quite long. I had a couple issues with this story. Mainly, I just couldn't get into it. I absolutely think this story could better as a more flushed out stand alone story. But as a post-Voldemort-HP story...the stakes just aren't high enough and this order is believable - or rather, I'm not able to suspend my disbelief enough to get into this. I felt like everyone's allegiances to the "Order" and "Lunae" just didn't make sense to me...the story humanized some characters but over a 1000 were faceless and didn't have a true allegiance to Draco. IDK...just didn't make enough sense to me. Also, while I appreciated the varying syntaxes and ease of read, the story was so repetitive and slow. I kept waiting for something to happen and got almost bored waiting for the planning to be over. I think the pacing until Draco almost died was very intriguing but as soon as they went into hiding, the momentum just kinda fell and never picked back up. 2 stars


AGAIN, these are just my thoughts thank you so much for writing and sharing this story!! (hopefully no one ever reads this review LOL)

[Sarina Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5
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858 pages
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***Disclaimer that I will ALWAYS respect any fanfic author despite if I have negative reviews or rant about something. They put out their hard work—that they pour their love and energy into— for free and I’ll always have admiration and respect for that, despite whatever my opinions on the fic may be. The only reason I post reviews on fics at all is so that I can personally look back to see what I thought of a story in case I forgot or in case I’m considering a reread. I don’t think fics should be rated like published books are (which is why I’d prefer my reviews of fics aren’t read at all) and only write these for personal future reference and to help me remember. If Goodreads had an option to make reviews private, I would. I’m also very critical and easily annoyed so my opinions are probably exaggerated and should be taken with a grain of salt. Just because I might not like something doesn’t mean others won’t love it***

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Very original plot for a fanfic, to the point where it didn’t feel like a fic at all. This could easily be turned into a published book without any copyright issues. I also liked the original characters (all my love to Hugo 🥰 his character development is was amazing but heartbreaking). I genuinely think the author could turn this into a published novel and hope she eventually tries to do so.

That was kind of to the fic’s detriment, though, because I didn’t feel like I was reading a dramione fic at all. Or like this even took place in the Harry Potter world. Hermione and Draco, as characters, were quite boring and one dimensional with little personality. Both the characters and world were so different that this felt more like a random fantasy novel than anything. The only times it really felt like a Harry Potter fic were the scenes where Harry himself was there, and those were the only times the fun dynamics of the characters really came into play. And the magic/political system in the book had a bunch of plot holes.

This was lowkey boring and slow and it took me forever to read it, and I kept seeing how many pages were left because I just wanted to be finished with it (though I think a lot of my boredom came, not from the writing, but from the fact that I was looking for more romance and plot action and less battle strategy and politics and this just wasn’t what I was looking for—definitely just personal preference) and there was hardly any romance or movement in the story. They just got together and that was it.

The first and last 20% of the story were probably my favorite parts. Everything else was a bit slow for me.

Overall the originality was cool but I was bored and this just wasn’t what I was looking for.

[Belle S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up to 4. I really enjoyed this- it was like stepping into an entirely new world with characters you already knew. The one thing I missed was the usual band of friends who didn’t feature in this at all with the exception of Harry when the fighting really needed him and brief appearances of Theo and Blaise. This was a beautiful story and a beautiful concept. Th author drew you in with the most magical descriptions and the image of Hermione and Draco in their midnight blue regalia and crowns really will stay with me forever. The idea of the Nocturnus order and the affiliation power drawn from the moon really appealed to me as a constellations and moon girlie. I enjoyed the fight they fought as well. I did feel at times we got more of the intrigue and war- down to the meetings with the magical creatures- more than dramione but it was a hard balance to strike and I think the author did beautifully. Again really enjoyed this- felt like a whole new book with a familiar leading pair. I also loved Hugo Bergen, what a well developed and lovely character, Lunae Ortus Draco needed a best friend like him.

[Aisah McGuire · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me this one just lacked everything I love about Draco and hermione. There was no brooding. It wasn’t a true enemies to lovers and the forced proximity wasn’t really giving. It wasn’t a slow burn so I felt like once I hit the 40% mark I was bored. I also wanna see a morally grey Draco and this wasn’t giving that.

[Susie]

I won't give this a rating as this is a fanfiction which is offered for free but I do want to track my reading.
I will say that this author is very talented and she could easily turn this into an original published work with only some minor changes as this felt like a fully original idea that really only borrowed some familiar characters.

[Sami · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stopped reading it one day because it got so slow and kept looking at it to pick up again and never did. DNF at 50%.

[Kathryn]

I'm so bored at 34%... It's a cool idea but is dragging and feels redundant. Not much on-page conflict, not much development in the relationship, not much feels like either Hermione or Draco.

[Christin Schaeffer]

DNF

[Hayley]

DNF

[Chelsea Hecht · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like (not loved) the story line. However, replace the names and I feel like this could have been any fantasy story. It didn’t feel like a Dramione fic.

[Elisa]

I’m counting this as a book and nobody can tell me otherwise. It has 57 chapters, ok?

[Courtney]

2. dm & the seven

[Rhian · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 54% - WHY is this book dragging so much? The concept could be so fantastic but the characters feel bland & underdeveloped, the plot is dragging and feels like it’s being changed and twisted as we go because of the lack of cohesiveness, and I just can’t find myself caring about it anymore :((
Really sad bc it could’ve been excellent!