Title: Don't Look Backl
Author: Onyx and Elm
Rating: NC17/M
Genre: Romance
Status: WIP
Library Category: Restricted Section
Pairing: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Summary: It's the smell of it. Chemical. Bitter and sharp as a raw edge on metal. Just a hint of it as she passes him at breakfast — but enough to stop her dead, mid-step. There is Wolfsbane in his tea. Draco/Hermione. Sixth-Year. Werewolf AU.
Links: FFN - https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13701592/1/Don-t-Look-Back
AO3 - https://archiveofourown.org/works/26453452/chapters/64455256

The premise for this work is simple: Hermione discovers that at some point over the summer after fifth year, Draco has been bitten and infected with Lycanthropy. Her curiosity drives her to seek Draco out and learn more about how he's dealing with his condition. Shortly thereafter, she discovers she has been bonded to Draco as something called a Paramour; the implications of which involve shared physical and emotional sensations. The fic essentially follows Hermione's perspective as she attempts to navigate this new relationship.

So it's a dressed up Soul Bond fic. I've never been particularly keen on this trope in fanfiction as it's usually just a cheap way for an author to pair two characters together. The bond itself is rarely explored in depth, merely acting as an invisible hand which pushes the characters together but then swiftly fades into the background. I've always just found it to be lazy writing.

This fic has pleasantly surprised me in that regard. The bond between Hermione and Draco remains in the foreground of the story once it's introduced. Seeing Hermione and Draco learn more about the intricacies of the bond and it's effect on them is actually compelling. The lore about Werewolves and Paramours that the author has constructed is interesting. You can tell the author has taken care in crafting this bond and as a result it avoids the major problem I normally have with this trope. Moreover, this information is well-spread throughout the work in smaller chunks, rather than info-dumped, which I appreciate. I find myself looking forward to when the next piece of information will come up in the text.

The prose in this work is (for the most part) technically sound and engaging. I never found myself skimming over any sections, which is a rarity for me when I read fanfiction. The dialogue is enjoyable and feels mostly natural. Some parts of the narration feel a bit stilted, but I find them few and far between. One clear annoyance I do have is that I feel the author overuses italics for emphasis, which does feel a bit grating at points.

This story is narrow in scope. The plot centres around Hermione and her relationship with Draco. This has the effect of pushing the other characters to the margins. I don't mind this, as it is a romance and I do like the pairing. But I could see someone who's more ambivalent on this pairing not enjoying this fic as much because of the intense focus on the two characters to the exclusion of others.

Characterisation in this fic is enjoyable. Hermione and Draco feel OOC in that Hermione quickly offers to help Draco manage his condition, which Draco also quickly seems to accept. It felt a bit too easy when I first read this fic, but I suppose it's explained away by the bond drawing them together. Hermione is darker than her canonical counterpart. She feels a bit more sultry too. There are a couple points in the work where she feels like an outright temptress. I like this, it makes Hermione feel very entertaining to read about. Draco is also a lot of fun. He seems a lot more bitter about his current situation than Hermione does, which is to be expected. He also occupies a more passive (for lack of a better term) role in this story then might be expected. He's more resistant to the implications of the bond then she is, and Hermione drives forward the sexual elements of the plot. Having said that, he still feels like he has agency and he's not entirely reactive, but Hermione is the dominant one in this fic. In spite of their differences from Canon, they both still feel recognisable as Hermione and Draco. There is definitely the sort of friction you'd expect between these two characters. Their interactions are a lot of fun.

There are smutty elements sprinkled in. But it is sparse. It is certainly not the focus of the fic. What is there is well-executed, and it builds effectively on the tension the author manages to develop between Hermione and Draco. As of now, the story isn't particularly explicit, but the author has tagged the story as having 'Explicit Sexual Content' on A03, so I thought it best to play it safe and note that it belonged in the Restricted Section.

Overall, this fic, whilst not perfect, is very enjoyable and I believe it would make a suitable addition to the library. The author has made regular updates since the fic was first published back in September (70k words since then) and I trust that this story won't end up abandoned. I would say that this story is a must read for fans of the pairing and that those who aren't as keen should give it a try - you might be surprised.

4/5

 

It's the smell of it. Chemical. Bitter and sharp as a raw edge on metal.

ugh. Melodramatic Hr/D? No, thank you.

 

Spoiler

The consent issue is a fair concern. The shared sensations is certainly an element of the plot that needs to be handled with care. I'm reminded of the masturbation scene in chapter 12. Hermione being encouraged to masturbate by the third entity, which Draco feels the effects of and which drives him to do the same is on the face of it a well executed bit of smut which pushes their relationship forward just enough to keep the plot moving. But it gets dicey when you remember how resistant Draco is to the whole idea of a sexual relationship with Hermione. Even with the soul bond, does she really have the right to do it?

Obviously she was encouraged by the third/wolf entity, and I think that the author does well to establish and develop the sexual tension between the two of them to the point where you can reasonably say that Draco is just lying to himself. But it's still a sensitive part of the plot and I think it could get into some uncomfortable territory if the author mishandles it to the point where this dubious consent issue seems to be romanticised.

There's also the whole "Draco's body gets possesed occasionally" thing which has the potential for even more explicit discomfort. Draco's body being used like that whilst he isn't in control of it could very much be considered a form of rape and it has a very small margin for error in terms of execution by the author.

Having said that, this three-way relationship that seems to be developing between Hermione, Draco and the Wolf is actually very interesting. I'm curious to see how the author plans to resolve the split mind thing Draco has going on. I'm going to optimistacally assume that it's probably going to involve Draco actually accepting who he is since being bitten and the subsequent restabilisation of his identity would cause the seperate personality to merge. Or something like that lol.

It's been a while since I've read her previous work. But I do remember Draco in that fic being extremely unpleasant at points throughout, which did catch some ire from readers at the time. However, it wasn't like his awful moments came out of nowhere. They were consistent with his initial characterisation in the fic, so I don't think there neccersarily needs to be a worry about things going off the deep end as of right now. No gurantees of course, but I'm optimistic!