His Little Bird

by thewanderers'wanderingdaughter

Birds should be watched and not kept. But Draco never was one to obey rules. It's their sixth year. Draco still hates Hermione, but finds he's becoming obsessed with her. Really dark. Non-con situations.

Genres: Fan Fiction, Dark Romance, Dark, Harry Potter

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[⚔Irunía⚔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I recommend this fic to those who love

dark and toxic Dramione,
non-con (straight-up rape by the hero if you insist),
an obsessed Draco, who does like to play with his food before going in for a kill, and
a Hermione that resists him at every step and hates his guts with an admirable consistency throughout the whole story.

The thing is that this series (4 books in total) doesn't give Draco a redemption arc. None. 🌚

Draco is the true villain of this story. As someone who has already read the second part, I can only say that he doesn't get better. He gets progressively worse. Almost unbearably so.

I found it utterly fascinating how Draco's deranged mind, cruel and detached from all things beautiful, came up with the most exquisite and reverent passages. Psychopathy gave way to poetry, or, better said, in his case, they both interwove into a tight pattern wired on her. The object of his obsession. Hermione.

What had he learned from all his observations?
That she was remarkably similar to a bird: surrounded by an air of delicacy, but strong and extremely intelligent. He was always fascinated by her hair—her heavy curls danced with the smallest shake of her head, how it framed her face when she wore it down. The way she walked, how she moved her hands—captivating. Her laugh had charmed him utterly. She didn’t really laugh in his presence—not real laughter, more often she would snort in derision at him or exhale sharply if he tried to make a joke she didn’t approve of. But during meals, and sometimes during classes when she was in more favorable company, she would laugh freely and happily. Every time he heard it he wanted to capture it as soon as it left her white throat and store it for his ears only. He knew sometimes she could tell he was watching her; as any bird would when it realizes itself in the company of a stranger, she would tense up and freeze. Draco found her unease delicious.

William Shakespeare by day, Ted Bundy by night. 🌚

From his vantage point, Hermione looks so enchanting, so beautiful, and so brilliant, a reader can't help searching and straining to see deeper layers, hidden meanings and undercurrent motives when they watch her character in the act.

Draco was so endearingly proud of her at all times, especially when she bested him (that's his kink skskskks), I kept forgetting he's the same person who actually planned on kidnapping, raping and marrying her once he was done with his mission to kill Dumbledore. 🤩

The way Draco's thoughts alternated between rape fantasies and admiring in a proud fashion how brilliant, perfect and fierce his girl is had me giggling softly. 😍

Unfortunately, the author didn't quite manage to convince me that Hermione is indeed that fascinating. I thought she's a bit too stubborn (beyond reason and common sense), sulky and not nearly as clever as Draco appears to think she is. Her character came off as a bit one-dimensional.

I took notice that I had a hard time perceiving her as a fleshed-out, separate character — (allegedly) independent, willful, full of vibrancy and life, rather than a mere tool that served as an object of the MMC's obsession.

Her resistance took on almost automatic, reflex nature: she counteracted Draco every step of the way and always in a similar manner; never changing her tactics. Which made it hard for me to see past her victim profile, and, absurdly so, sympathize with her too.

I think this fic would have been much more enthralling (than it already is) if their relationship dynamic had more complexity: Hermione's unwavering and intense revulsion towards Draco made sense, but being a constant in their interactions, it started taking a toll on the edge and unpredictability of their story.

"No one will hear you," he whispered, and her blood ran cold.

The things Draco thinks, says and, more importantly, does in this fanfic are unredeemable. But the truth is that his character never wants or even needs redemption.

Malfoy pulled back and grinned at her, a genuine, wicked smile that showed teeth.

He's the pure evil that awaits the right time to come out and play. Against all odds, as in despite the obvious malice that Draco personifies, he's a surprisingly milti-layered character. His thought process is written in such a way that the malicious fixation that's ruining an innocent person's life takes on a dreamlike, poetic quality.

He pushed aside the fabric to reveal a breast and stared at it hungrily, at the pert little nipple, stiff with fear and cold and bent down to greet it with his tongue.
 
She cried out again, turning her head on the pillow to look away from what he was doing. 
 
“Stop,” she pleaded, gripping his shirt in white-knuckled fists. 
His mouth had wrapped around her nipple—he alternated between sucking on it and stroking it with a flattened tongue. She shifted underneath him in discomfort. He took her hand and placed it on his cock. She didn't try to fight again, his increased force on the spell had her docile as a lamb. For all his effort it seemed something was still missing—her eyes were mutinous. She glared daggers up at him and he wrapped her delicate fingers around his throbbing cock, moaning in pleasure. A great shudder ripped through him and he tore himself away from her breast to claim her lips again.

All sexual content in this fic (no sexual intercourse yet) is pure, unadulterated non-con: violation of mind and body.

My favorite part was when Draco broke into Hermione's conscience using Legilimency and saw that she had been sexually assaulted (forcibly kissed by om), got jealous that someone had had a taste of her lips, and proceeded to assault disrupted and traumatized Hermione himself out of jealous fury. 🌚


P.S. the writing is very evocative: lush with emotion, detail and substance.

His Persephone, sequel

[Meredith is a hot mess · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Well-written but I found Draco more multi-faceted than Hermione. His one-sided obsession with her combined with her consistent repulsion in response to his advances at every turn grew tiring and flat. No forced seduction here -->The sexual assault ended up making me feel uncomfortable. (which is saying a lot for me -- the dead dove warning is legit here). At the end of one chapter I saw a few comments that mentioned Hermione is not the brightest in this fic, and I agree. She was described as 'bright', yet was consistently outsmarted by Draco.

I don't consider this a romance at all (which tbf this is warned about via tags in this fic). One thing appealing to me about dark romance is the author bringing forth a MMC that is villainous, yet revealing some positive traits about him. The heroine may have internal angst knowing the boy is no good, yet she can't help but feel some confliction because she admires xyz quality about him. This adds complexity to the dynamic. Hermione's consistent repulsion she felt towards Draco made this a less complex dynamic. If she had admired one part of him--felt some confliction--it would have made this a 4 star read for me.

The writing style was engaging and addicting. I enjoyed the slow-burn and witnessing Draco spiral downwards as result of his growing obsession with Hermione. I'll be reading part 2.




Fav quotes:

The snow outside fell thickly, in sheets, muffling whatever odd sounds that threatened to break the cushioned silence of the Hogwarts grounds. The sun was halfway gone beneath the horizon, the sky darkening rapidly. Warm and tucked safely inside the Head Student dorm, Hermione sat curled up by the window in her favorite armchair, knitting a hat made of a deep plum yarn. Her hair was loose, fanning over her shoulders and chest. The remaining sunlight catching in her dark brown hair made it glow; making each strand look like it was made of a honeyed blonde.



He wanted to pull it and hear her scream.

💀

...

His eyes strayed to her again. Piece by piece he had been unwrapping the enigma that was Granger, and the more he discovered, the deeper he wanted to dive.



What had he learned from all his observations?



That she was remarkably similar to a bird: surrounded by an air of delicacy, but strong and extremely intelligent. He was always fascinated by her hair—her heavy curls danced with the smallest shake of her head, how it framed her face when she wore it down. The way she walked, how she moved her hands—captivating. Her laugh had charmed him utterly. She didn’t really laugh in his presence—not real laughter, more often she would snort in derision at him or exhale sharply if he tried to make a joke she didn’t approve of. But during meals, and sometimes during classes when she was in more favorable company, she would laugh freely and happily. Every time he heard it he wanted to capture it as soon as it left her white throat and store it for his ears only. He knew sometimes she could tell he was watching her; as any bird would when it realizes itself in the company of a stranger, she would tense up and freeze. Draco found her unease delicious.



Being the powerhouse she was, she always walked quickly and with purpose, her face straight and focused, but she was still approachable and often asked for advice and help, while most students tended to avoid Draco and his cold, removed demeanor. But at times, when she got too quiet, he would glance at her and find this serene, dreamy look on her face, like she had let her guard down and allowed herself to loosen. He had learned that when she was in this state, unfocused and unoccupied, she was more likely to be open to conversation.



And there was still her music.

...

No being could make music like she. The sounds leaving her lips moved him so much that he often longed to join in but he always held back, letting the little bird sing her song. Even when she was not there with him she was always there in her song. Wherever he went he fancied he could hear her, her music dancing around his ears, as if daring him to catch her.



It unsettled him, that he wanted her. He wanted to rake his hands through her curls, to kiss her, every part of her and claim her as his. Wanted to hear it from her own mouth, the blissful confirmation. Sometimes her voice haunted his dreams. Shaking his head lightly, he tore his gaze away from her and looked out the window. Heavy snow was falling, framing the diamond panes on the window behind Granger. Would it be too much to hope for a storm?

[Birjis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Triggers rated.

[The Aqua Pisces · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay so you Harry Potter fans don’t hate me, but I've never read the series, the closest I've come to anything Harry Potter was a few snippets of the movies here and there, still never watched any of the movies fully and I know the movies are never the same as the actual book. On that note, it was hard to take the book so seriously with all those funny names. I also very much enjoyed this dark read, although I know it's dark it didn't feel so dark, and again I don't know if it was the names of the persons or buildings or the spells that made it not seem terribly dark 🔦 and I love a good dark read and I feel this was one was made with training wheels. I'm currently reading the second book or I suppose per the author this was the sequel to the book I'm reading now.

[Clarice · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this is a tough one to review. On one hand it's a relatively well written fic with an interesting plot and decently developed characters. On the other hand a romance it is not, I wouldn't even put it in the same category as a "bully" or "dark" romance. It's unapologetically violent and dark, or Draco is at least, almost even sometimes to the point of being out of character.

The Draco in this fic to me is much more unhinged and psychotic than in the main series. He does some things to Hermione and others where I don't think his character in the main series would have done. I also don't think his character in the main series would have ever been able to kill Dumbledore like he did in this fic. As crazy as he is in this fic, to me he has the potential of becoming more evil than Voldemort is. His obsession with Hermione makes him crazy, but it also gives him a goal to create a world where he can pretty much keep her for forever. In this world he wants to end up creating, he can't be a follower of Voldemort, but a competitor and eventual defeater of him.

Characters like Lucius and Snape even at some points address Draco and pretty much say "Dude, what you want to do to Hermione is nuts" and Draco's like "I don't care, she's mine, AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME!" I consider Lucius in the main series to be crueler and less rational than Draco, and Snape to be apathetic towards these kind of things, but ya Draco has a way with people in this fic.

Again I want to mention this fic is very, very dark and does not pull any punches in the trigger warning department (violence and assault), the author has a full list of the trigger warnings on AO3 where this fic is posted. Hermione does not reciprocate Draco's feelings/obsession at all by the way, it's very much so one sided. I would only recommend this fic to people who like darker reads and are ok with there being no pay-off feelings wise.

There's 3 more fics in this series, the next one is called "His Persephone", and it looks like the story gets a lot darker, didn't think it could but ya looks there's no cap on Draco's level of crazy.

[Dove · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was so disturbing. I couldn't finish the series.

[Ceilidhchaos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dramione. Evil Draco. Imperius. Harmony. Dead Dove. Mind the tags

[blueberry]

DNF

(Spoilers for part 4 of this fic "The Education of a Lady")

Once again the totally obsessed and ultra-jealous/possessive hero who decides to agree to share the heroine with other men and get off on it 😑?

Not what I signed up for unfortunately.

[Isabella Hood · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75 ⭐️

I’m in shock 😀

[Yasmara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should have read the tags and description better. Then I wouldn't have read this.. The whole non-con SA/Rape situation was far much and made me feel disgusting.

[champagnezuko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good lord. Acquiring Book 2 now.

[TJ ☾ · Rating 1 out of 5]

started fantastic and then quickly devolved into a wattpad teen melodrama

[♡ nills · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only give 3 stars, because this story messed me up so fcking hard. I read it years ago, but after I finished the whole series, I just couldn't read Dramione stories for months.. I was freaking traumatized and I wasn't ready to read any Draco/Hermione fanfiction. DEFINITELY mind the trigger warnings! Toxic, unhealthy, and traumatizing, you definitely need a stomach for this one.. Well-written, but very disturbing at the same time.

[Rory · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 STARS.
lots of trigger warnings, disturbing, but not bad

[Kaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first want to say this is rated 3 stars by me, not because it was a terrible read or badly written, it’s just because the story is not my niche. But it might be yours. Regardless, this author is talented. It’s a beautifully written story. Mind your triggers.

I’ll be the first to admit, I love dark and questionable fiction. Absolutely love it. I love the thrill and it makes your adrenaline rush. And that’s exactly what this book did. Although, some parts made me physically Ill. My stomach was turning, and I was crying, connecting with some characters despair. Despair isn’t even the word. They were tortured. And that’s why this is rated 3 stars. I’ve never had a story make me feel like that, that was fiction. That’s talent, I finished this story and it’s sequel simply out of spite 🩷

[Annalyssa Beamesderfer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am 100% apart of the Fandom now. I loved Manacled and I loved "His little Bird". Malfoy is dark, and a man Obsessed. This is non-consensual with a villain, there is no redeeming qualities for Malfoy. He does not have any hero moments at all. He takes what he wants when he wants to. Herminie is his without question, even if he has to force it upon her every second.

[Violett · Rating 3 out of 5]

im gagged. that boy psycho ash he needs some therapy and a whole bunch of meds. hermione, my sister get behind me! i will protect u from this devil boy😡.

no but yeah hes insane on steroids. i rlly wanted hermione to fight more cuz wdym u didnt find a way to break his imperius😒😒 miss girl need i remind u that ur HERMIONE GRANGER, THE BRIGHTEST AND BADDEST WITCH OF HER AGEE?!?

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Kinda wish he would have forced her to cum once along the way and that she’d have like the smallest bit of annoying attraction to him. Over it was a great read for those of us that love a bad guy.

[Candace · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first dramione fanfiction I didn't like. It was set in the middle of the series, before Dumbledore dies, and Draco was horrible. I would classify it as horror, and poor Hermione was weak, and her hatred and fear of Draco never changed. I also found myself bored in the middle of it lol.

[Sarang Yadav · Rating 3 out of 5]

What the actual MindF**k? This book has everything disturbing, rape, stalking, obsession...you name it. If you are into DARK books might be you will like it, not my cup of tea.

[༯]

I’m just 😦😨😀

[Alyssa Albanese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Look I don’t know what weird phase this is that I’m going through??? I really enjoyed this! Yeah it’s super dark and depressing but I can’t stop reading!!

[Janke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good writing but honestly Draco can suck a d*CK. Haven't been this disgusted by a Draco since reading Edge😭

[Aly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as dark as it has been made out to be. I do definitely love this unhinged Draco though.

[Mara W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could've used a little more...idk, heart?

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love me some toxic Draco.

Having said that, read the triggers.

[Amy XC · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the obsession part until I didn't. 💀

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly suuuper wack

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's start with... if you found this as something to read... you must have been looking. I personally requested THE MOST unhinged Draco Malfoy I could find. This did not disappoint. Mind you... pay attention to the warnings... the first 2-3 pieces of this will gut you, disgust you, make you angry and depressed. It is graphic and unhinged to say the very least. However after finishing the 4th piece which is not on Goodreads to review... this is no less than 4-4.5 stars. I loved it, the ending was really everything I needed after the first couple sections. Please don't not give this one star because you failed to read the warnings, this is not romantic... it's not a love story...