My research centres on three popular Dramione
fanfictions, building on existing fan scholarship to
analyse how these writers engage HP critically,
transformatively, and combatively.
Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being
In Love (isthisselfcare, 2021–22)
Exemplary of Dramione’s romance genre, its
major affective tropes, and Dramione’s unique
relevance to cultural fan studies.
Until the Ink Runs Dry (AccioMjolnir, 2021)
Epistolary; reads the canon combatively and
overtly opposes Rowling’s characterizations,
foregrounding Draco’s redemption arc.
Manacled (senlinyu, 2018–19)
Giant of dark romance, represents the power of
fanon to entirely eclipse the cultural and
commercial relevance of canon. Also slated for
commercial release in 2025.
Discussion
Why Dramione?
Dramione is a fan-made name for the
speculative romantic pairing (“ship”) of
Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy from
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.
The Dramione fandom is a prime example of
what Kristina Busse calls “interpretive
community” (2017), or a community actively
engaged in communal interpretation and
transformation of a given canon.
As a community, Dramione shelters enough
sub-genres and tropes within its macro- and
micro-fanons to arguably constitute a unique
romance genre on its own.
Of all ships, Dramione has been particularly
vulnerable to commercial interests within the
last few decades, which speaks to its
cultural impact.
Why Fanfiction?
Fanfiction is a form of literary
interpretation–often as intellectually
engaged with the source material as
academic scholarship (see Busse 2017).
Fanfiction and fandom have a direct impact
on trends in the commercial book trade,
meaning that literary scholars should be
wary of overlooking fanfiction in studies of
contemporary literature.
As a fanfiction reader and writer, my
literary research bends naturally towards
fan and reader-response studies.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Jamie
Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards,
University of Victoria.
My thanks to Dr. Mary Elizabeth Leighton.
Deepest gratitude to my fandom friends for
existing, and to the Dramione community
for being an intellectual and creative haven
for me all these years.
The Fan/Study Contradiction
Fanfiction cannot truly be understood
outside of its context...
...but an academic treatment of the genre
demands a certain amount of distance.
This essential contradiction is fundamental
to fanfiction studies–fan scholars often
adopt auto-ethnographical approaches in
their research. Studying fans as a fan means
grappling with continuous duality.
Harry Potter and Digital Fandom
Fanfiction generally lives on digital spaces
such as the Archive of Our Own (AO3),
Fanfiction.net, Wattpad, and Tumblr.
Scholars attribute fanfiction’s movement from
niche print culture to digital phenomenon to
the advent of HP’s online fandom.
Nearly 500,000 fanworks exist under AO3’s
“Harry Potter” tag; over 600,000 exist on
Fanfiction.net (March 2024).
References
Life After Canon: Dramione Fanfiction’s Literary Reconstruction in Harry Potter Fandom
Fan Texts
Fanfiction as genre
Fanwork is distinctly postmodern–thriving
on pastiche, reproduction, trope, and
unconventional fantasy.
Fanfiction as literary phenomenon
Interpretive communities question the
bounds of authorship and the very
essence of traditional literary study.
Fanfiction moves textual cultures beyond
the delineations of the book industry.
Studying fanfiction
The personal, legal, and affective
vulnerability of fan writers necessitates a
sensitive scholarly approach to fanfiction.
Fanfiction as a cultural artefact cannot be
divorced from its context without losing
meaning; approaches must acknowledge
paratext (tags, engagement, host site).
Dramione’s fanons
Popular fanons–ie. romcom, redemption,
and dark romance–have cultural and
commercial impact beyond fandom.
Character transformation in Dramione
fanon often completely transgresses the
bounds of Rowling’s canon.
Anatol, Giselle Liza, editor. Reading Harry Potter Again: New
Critical Essays. Praeger, 2009.
Busse, Kristina. Framing Fanfiction: Literary and Social Practices
in Fan Fiction Communities. University Of Iowa Press, 2017.
Felski, Rita. Hooked: Art and Attachment. University of Chicago
Press, 2020.
Firestone, Amanda and Leisa A. Clark, editors. Harry Potter and
Convergence Culture: Essays on Fandom and the Expanding
Potterverse. McFarland & Co., 2018.
Gray, Jonathan et al. Fandom: Identities and Communities in a
Mediated World. New York University Press, 2017.
Gupta, Suman. Re-Reading Harry Potter. Palgrave Macmillan,
2003.
Popova, Milena. Dubcon: Fanfiction, Power, and Sexual
Consent. The MIT Press, 2021.
Literature Review
My research draws on fan studies, HP studies,
and affect theory, as well as cultural analyses of
fandom and digital fanfic.
Matthew Hills defines the “acafan”, a split
fannish/academic identity assumed by fan
scholars (2002).
Kristina Busse notes the place of fan writers
in women’s literary tradition (35), as well as
the precarity of pseudonymous fan identity
(20) and fanfiction’s distinctly postmodern
impact on notions of authorship and
aesthetic ownership (122).
Suman Gupta argues for the irrelevance of
J.K. Rowling in relation to the phenomenon
of transnational HP fandom (34).
Kali DeDominicis differentiates between
popular perception of HP fans as noncritical,
and the actual depth of analysis and
engagement that they enact in transforming
villains and minor characters (Firestone 90).
Maya Wei Yan Linsley | Supervised by Dr. Mary Elizabeth Leighton
University of Victoria, Department of English | Spring 2024
I acknowledge with respect the Lək
ʷəŋən
(Songhees and Esquimalt) and W SÁNEĆ
Peoples on whose traditional territories I live
and learn. I acknowledge also the Neutral,
Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee Peoples on
whose traditional lands I was raised.
