"How do I feel?" he repeated, his eyes fluttering open to look at her. "I feel . . . "
He touched her cheek, an unexpected smile settling comfortably across his face. "I feel like I'm finally clean."
Okay, so for starters. Holy moly, Olive Blake. No wonder people adore your writing so much. This was beautiful. This was gorgeous.
While it didn’t quite make me a dedicated Dramione shipper, I do definitely see the potential now, and I quite liked the characterization of them in this fic.
While Draco’s redemption always comes easily to me as it’s an idea I’ve loved for a while, I was really determined to not let my pre-exposure to Fanon-Draco get me. And so I waited, and the character development came along quite nicely. I like how it wasn’t a huge shift as well. No big “Maybe I’m Not A Blood Purist” moment. It was subtle, a couple cracks in the glass before anything further. It made it feel more realistic, because a change in beliefs is a huge thing, but it doesn’t just come across your mind one day, it’s gradual.
I also loved how Hermione’s smarts weren’t really snarked at very much after a certain point. Draco worships the ground she walks on by the midway point, I’d say.
”I would die for you, Harry. I would. But I’d kill for him.”
So what were my few problems with this fic? There were one or two things that irked me, but they were pretty impactful, so.
First off, a lack of personal-lives. This is not canon, this is WILDLY different from canon, and so I felt like we needed to know more about these versions of the more important side-characters. Harry was a bit flat, but I understand why as he wasn’t present for very long. Ginny was essentially just book-Ginny, which was quite alright with me, but Ron was exceptionally disappointing.
Look, I know. As a Romione fan being thrown into this whole new side of the fandom, I can’t really complain. I knew what I was getting myself into. But while Olivie claimed he wouldn’t betray them or anything in an early author’s note, which I suppose technically he doesn’t…his characterization felt off. To me, at least. I’ve always loved Ron’s character, and while he does share some characteristics with this version of him in canon, I do find him to be a touch meaner in this fic. Which—again—I suppose is pretty necessary in a lot of Dramione fics, but I wish he hadn’t done something to tick Hermione and myself off. The secondary guy just not being HER guy is always a welcome trope for me. It works in Veronica Mars, and I figure it could work here.
Second, as much as I’m unsure where I stand ship-wise now, I don’t think it’s Romione, Dramione OR Harmione (NEVER HARMIONE, GOOD GOD). This fic, in fact, did not convince me fully, but I sort get y’all more now.
Next, the characterization of Snape had to be my least favourite thing in this fic. Narcissa’s portrayal was frankly excellent, and this goes for both Hermione and Draco as well, so what happened with Snape? I think that Olivie isn’t the sort of Marauders stan I am, if anything. Considering that the third installment in this series is James/Lily, clearly there are a lot of things we see differently in that era of the Wizarding World. But, essentially, Snape is overly romanticized in this fic, and treated like some sort of God when he’s actually just a greasy coward and a slightly more covert Blood Purist.
My last problem would be the pacing. It takes at least ten chapters before it becomes interesting, in my opinion. Once I pushed through those, it was good, but I didn’t like waiting so long.
And okay, I lied. One more thing. Their first kiss felt the slightest bit (Okay, a very large bit) rushed to me, but maybe I just hate insta-love/insta-sex very much.
“Maybe in his eyes, she was art.”
To end on a good note, I will say that I found myself genuinely excited to come home after a long day of work and dive straight into this. Hell, I didn’t even wait that long. I opened Ao3 as soon as I was dismissed. The writing is exquisite and I would tell anyone who doesn’t ship Dramione to read it anyway. It packs a real punch.