Name: Jaden Malfoy reviewed Chapter 1 on Jan 04, 2014 03:39 pm

I think you're spot-on about D/Hr. When I first got into HP fanfic, which just after OOTP came out, I started out reading both D/G and D/Hr, but I eventually stopped with D/Hr because I felt that Draco was so often written OOC in order to make the pairing work. As others have said, I find it nigh impossible to imagine that Draco would ever allow himself to be with a Muggleborn, even if he is heavily redeemed. I do like seeing them as "friends." I had a lot of fun writing them as sort-friends in EOTH, and it felt believable to me that they might come together to work on a problem. We can't necessarily conclude from canon that Draco is super intelligent or anything, but I think he can be quite analytical, and I can see Draco and Hermione connecting on some level in that way. Just not romantically. But then, I'm positively OCD about writing Draco as canonically as possible, so maybe that's just me ;)

Anywho, I'm sorry you lost the rest of the essay and good luck continuing on with it! It's really good and really interesting and I agree with a lot of points. For the most part, I was overall pleased with Deathly Hallows (at least, having resigned myself to the fact that H/G would happen and that D/G never would). BUT, Ginny's character was one of my chief annoyances with DH. She was completely reduced to "Harry's girlfriend." She got no Crowning Moment of Awesome - you look at other characters like Ron, Hermione, Mrs. Weasley, Percy, Neville, Luna, they all got their cool moments and take-downs, and Ginny got absolutely nothing. We were TOLD that she did cool stuff at Hogwarts, but since JKR chose (wrongly, IMO) to basically leave Hogwarts out and follow the trio's boring tramping around in the countryside instead, we didn't get to see any of it. (Seriously, wouldn't the Trio working to find Horcruxes and destroy Voldemort from Hogwarts as a base have been MUCH more interesting? They could have hidden in the Room of Requirement with Neville! That's my other big beef about DH.) The only good to come out of it, IMO, is that you can write fic about Draco and Ginny being at Hogwarts during this hellish year, without the trio present. (Which I intend to do :D)

Author's Response: Thanks! :) I didn't see your review until now, so I hope you read my response at some point. :) I really, REALLY would love to see your take on Draco/Ginny during the final year. I've rarely seen that topic really taken on, and there's so much that could be written about it. (And I'm reviewing your fic very VERY soon!!) Believe me, I don't think that everything about DH was bad, or that it was a completely terrible end to the series. It wasn't Jean Auel's *Land of Painted Caves* (which made me glad that I never really got into the EC fandom.) There were quite a few things that worked very well. The way that the intricacies of the plot were tied up was impressive. Snape's final characterization was great (as much as I think that there were still problematic aspects there.) But I do think that what happened to both Ginny and Draco in DH forms the key to the aspects that DID bother me about it. That's really the theme of the next chapter, which WILL be written, no matter what. (glares at evil drive. Well, it's in California right now, so it's a metaphorical glare!) ;

Name: LifeofDracoandGinny reviewed Chapter 1 on Nov 30, 2013 09:20 am

DG are the OTP and always will be. YOU CANNOT CHANGE MY MIND OTHER SHIPPER PEOPLE! Sorry, moment of mild rage there. But yeah.

Author's Response: It's all good. :) You know, I agree, even though I don't necessarily look at pairings in exactly the same way that I did in the past. The thing is that Draco and Ginny have some very important reasons why the two of them *as individuals* fit together as a couple. I've talked about some of them, and some are still to come in the next chapter! :) And thanks SO much for being a reader and reviewer.

Name: Rinney reviewed Chapter 1 on Nov 11, 2013 05:29 am

I'm looking forward to reading this essay, as well as taking part of the discussions that I know will indeed follow this essay.

Being a fan going on 8 years of D/G royalty, I do believe that this upcoming Era of the pairing can be bigger and better than ever. Our dominion of the first Era was mostly fueled by the fact that the HP books were coming out around the years where these pairings were thriving, so we had new material to work with as well as the universe expanded along with our creativity. But great things do not need to end simply because a series ended. In fact, now that we have all of the HP books out to follow along with the canon, our imaginations no longer need to be limited by the prospect of "What comes next." We know what comes next in the canonverse, so what's left for us now is "How do we take this -farther-?" The possibilities are now endless, and that's why I personally believe that the next Era can, and will, be better for us to take our favorite pairing and soar.

I really do look forward to reading this and adding my own two-cents as it goes along!

Author's Response: Yay! I love this review!! I think you say it well. Yes, it was fun to work with emerging canon, but the thing is that we always KNEW that a D/G ship wasn't going to happen there. (Even though I do think that more D/G interaction was originally planned for the books... anyway, I'll get into that in the next chapter.) We have so many possibilities now... so many places that we can go. And I'm going to talk about why and how! :)

Name: SomethingsWicked reviewed Chapter 1 on Nov 10, 2013 04:35 pm

I honestly am excited to see what ideas you have. It's difficult being a D/G fan when there aren't as many new fics popping up, when the classic well known authors disappear and take their stories with them, and when the excitement for the whole HP fandom in general dies down. I can't wait to see what you think this next generation of fanfiction will hold and what new information will help revive it.

Author's Response: There's SO much coming up in this essay that I think you'll be interested in. :) Believe me... the HP fandom will be picking up again; I don't think that's the question... LOTS about why... but the question now is what that will mean for us, and more importantly, what we WANT it to mean. And, oh yeah, I talk about exactly why I believe that authors taking fics down is such a staggeringly bad idea for so many reasons. Worst. Idea. Ever. They might as well get a BB gun and start shooting themselves in the foot. I get kind of opinionated in that section, I'll warn everybody... ;)