Dramione: Enemies to Lovers and Everything In Between

INTRODUCTION TO MEDIA FANDOM | DECEMBER 14TH 2023

Dramione ENEMIES TO LOVERS AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN

LAUREN BASHAM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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THE POWER OF FAN FICTION

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CANON HERMIONE GRANGER AND DRACO MALFOY

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FANON HERMIONE GRANGER AND DRACO MALFOY

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THE ENEMIES TO LOVERS TROPE

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THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND THE ENEMIES TO LOVERS TROPE

ENEMIES-TO-LOVERS | HERMIONE GRANGER AND DRACO MALFOY FROM ENEMIES...

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THE GROWTH

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THE GROWTH (CONT.)

INTRODUCTION TO MEDIA FANDOM December 14th, 2023

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Dramione The Power of Fan Fiction

In the mainstream, fan fiction, the unsanctioned adaptation and re-working of media texts, is often written off as juvenile, cheap smut, or “not real writing.”

On the contrary, in the words of published author Dr. Casey Lawrence, writing fan fiction is incredibly useful in developing literary skills like plot construction, character development, and continuity and for gaining instantaneous feedback and building community (Lawrence).

Fan fiction is, in fact, the fastest-growing form of writing in the world (Mirmohamadi 5). Fan-written works have even ventured into the mainstream in the last decade as the film 50 Shades of Gray was originally based on Twilight fan fiction (Cuccinello), and the After movie franchise, popular with teens and young adults, started as fan fiction about Harry Styles from the boy band One Direction (Bien). One of the most intriguing aspects of fan fiction is how fans can completely transform the meaning of a text.

Through writing and engaging with fan fiction, fans create narratives that creatively play around with interplay between knowledge of the source text and knowledge of the fanon, the noncanonical knowledge about a text, which is the sum of the community’s shared interpretive creations (Hellekson and Busse 136).

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Dramione Canon Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy have an almost exclusively antagonistic relationship in the Harry Potter books and films. Draco Malfoy’s family is a part of the Sacred TwentyEight, the twenty-eight British wizarding families that were still “truly pureblood” by the 1930s. Draco was sorted into Slytherin House, and throughout the books and films, he often exhibited disdain, prejudice, and arrogance towards both those outside his own house and non-pureblood wizards. Hermione Granger’s parents are both Muggles or non-wizards, and she was sorted into Gryffindor House along with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

Hermione views Draco as part of the group of students who embody the negative traits associated with both Slytherin House and pureblood supremacy. Hermione generally finds Draco's behavior and attitudes disagreeable, while Draco treats Hermione, and especially her blood status, as a stain on the wizarding world. Their interactions are usually aggressive or disdainful, reflecting the broader tensions between their respective groups.

(Basham)

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Dramione Fanon Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy Transformative works such as fan fiction and and their accompanying art tell a much different story.

Although these two characters have absolutely no pleasant interactions in the books or movies, there are currently 26,050 works under the “Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy” tag on the fan fiction site Archive of Our Own (AO3) which follow the development of a romantic relationship between them; the most popular fan fiction by hits under this tag, Manacled by senlinyu, has 370,515 words, 73,330 kudos, and 5,541,958 hits on Archive of Our Own, or AO3 (Basham).

What exactly is it about the pairing of Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger, commonly referred to as Dramione, that has made millions of fans so enthralled with a relationship that does not exist in the Harry Potter world as J.K. Rowling created it?

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Dramione The Enemies-to-Lovers Trope As previously mentioned, fan fiction plays around with the interplay between knowledge of the source text and knowledge of the fanon.

Inherent to the characters of Draco and Hermione, as J.K. Rowling wrote them, are certain dynamics and personality traits that, when coupled, are very intriguing to readers and fans.

The potential for an “Enemies to Lovers” story with this pairing is very alluring for fans of all kinds of media. The enemies to lovers trope is a significant factor contributing to the widespread fandom of this relationship that does not exist in the Harry Potter books or films.

The novel Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory in 1485 contains one of the earliest instances of this trope in Western Literature. In the novel, Lady Lynette is wary of and rude to Lord Gareth when they first meet, mistaking him for a lowly kitchen worker. However, his chivalry, patience, and bravery win her over in the end (Kabir).

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Dramione The Psychology Behind the Enemies to Lovers Trope Psychological evidence supports the appeal of the enemies to lovers trope in storytelling. Relationship expert Marisa Peer notes that the heightened emotional intensity between characters who initially perceive each other as enemies or rivals generates dramatic tension and a sort of verbal tugof-war. Peer emphasizes the thin line between love and hate, suggesting that these emotions elicit similar reactions, fostering a powerful interaction (Bond).

Similarly, clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Ortega asserts that the trope's constant verbal sparring can result in something called affect tolerance.

Dr. Ortega defines affect tolerance as one’s ability to “deal with negative emotions over time,” and the more you engage in a certain behavior, such as bantering, the stronger it will be, ultimately building up to “become stimulating” (Bond). Furthermore, Dr. Tony Ortega explains how these heightened emotions between enemies or rival “can also lead to more impassioned interactions” (Bond).

However, it’s important to note that beginning a relationship in such an antagonistic way can be problematic. In high-emotion situations, such as thrilling verbal banter with an enemy or rival, the parties are often just giving in to their primal emotional instincts. In this case, some “important relationship-building skills such as vulnerable communication and delay of gratification” are at risk of being ignored (Bond). When the enemies to lovers trope is employed in a work of fiction, it can be angsty or even smutty, but importantly, it cannot be abusive.

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Dramione Enemies-to-Lovers | Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy At the time of my data collection, there were 2,099 Works in the Enemies to Lovers Tag on Archive of Our Own, one of the most popular fan fiction websites, that also had the tag Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy

From Enemies...

In Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy fan fiction writers don't have to work very hard to position the two as enemies. In both the Harry Potter films and movies, the characters each represent everything that the other hates.

As a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, the Malfoys are essentially racist against those of a “lesser” blood status than them. Draco’s own prejudice is evident through calling Hermione a mudblood, a slur for a witch or wizard with nonwizard parents, and as his family thinks of the Weasley family as blood traitors because they did not keep their bloodline exclusive to purebloods. On the other hand, Hermione’s disdain for Draco comes from his general bullying towards her and her friends, as well as his prejudice and his antiquated ideas about blood purity.

Although there is so much variety of Dramione fan fiction, many of the most popular ones begin either after the canon events of the 6th book and film, after the canon events of the final book and film, or they present an alternative universe (AU) ending of the last book and film.

Therefore, in most cases, at least in the most popular Dramione fics, the antagonistic relationship between these two characters is an accepted part of the narrative.

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Dramione The Growth...

To understand the growth that allows for the transition from enemies to lovers between these two characters, let's look at an example from a popular fan fiction: From Wiltshire, With Love by MistressLynn

Plot Summary: Hermione convinces Draco to spy for the Order and she becomes his handler. But what are Draco’s true motivations? Hard to say when he's, figuring that out himself. A story of reaching adulthood during war.

(MistressLynn) From Wiltshire, with Love begins after the events of the sixth Harry Potter film when the war between Voldemort's army of Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix, a secret society founded by Albus Dumbledore to oppose Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters, is just beginning. After an encounter on a raid of a Death Eater's house, Order member Hermione Granger convinces Death Eater Draco Malfoy to become a spy for the Order and she becomes his handler. Their initial encounters follow their canon dynamic, as they resent each other due to Draco's arrogance and blood supremacy and Hermione's know-it-all attitude and black-and-white view of morality.

Through 87 chapters and 352,757 words, the growth in this fic happens as Draco and Hermione spend more time together and find each other to be intellectual equals. In an effort to show Draco the error in his opinions about pure-blood supremacy, Hermione takes him to muggle attractions like an art museum and an old space station. They don't stop their banter and disagreements and effectively don't lose the passion in their dynamic. However, throughout the fan fiction, they slowly come to understand each other's unique life circumstances and how their experiences in the war may have seemed completely opposite on the surface but weren't actually so different.

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Dramione The Growth... (cont.)

Although this is just one of over 25,000 Dramione fan fiction on Archive of Our Own alone, the general arc is largely representative of the plot of so many of Dramione fan fictions.

Most Dramione fan fictions—certainly the twelve that I have read and others I’ve heard about from fellow fans—don't shy away from the antagonistic dynamic that the pair has in the films and movies, nor does it ignore Draco’s pure-blood supremacy, his family’s prejudices, or his bullying of her and her friends with during school. Instead, it contronts these issues head-on as the pair works through them as intellectual equals who are slowly come to care for and understand one another.

The tension inherent to these two characters’ antagonistic relationship, which leads to heightened emotional intensity and passion, make the later “Grudging Mutual Respect”, “Mutual Pining” and eventual (semi) happy ending all the more satisfactory.

These two characters, both intelligent and strong-willed, making for a surprisingly fitting match as the heightened emotions inherent to their encounters as—at least initially—rivals, leads to incredibly passionate interactions.

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