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malfoygrass · 3 years

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Drastoria based on TaySwift's That's the Way I Loved You

2 reasons I’ve avoided this prompt for ages: first, as romantic as it is, I’ve always thought that the ‘The way I love you’ is a song about a person unwilling to move on from a toxic relationship and second, I also think that out of the three people in the song, Astoria is the person currently being dated by the singer.

So to finally fill this prompt, I’m going to do it, side by side with TS ‘Exile’ which is honestly for me a more Drastoria take on The way I love you. This is probably one of the few occasions I include Hermione in a story. So, dramaine shippers. sorry in advance.

Exiling the way I loved you

She is sensible and so incredibleAnd all my single friends are jealousShe says everything I need to hear and it’s likeI couldn’t ask for anything better

“Are you all right” Astoria whispers noticing his far away look and squeezing his hand “you know it’s okay, we don’t even have to stay in this party if you don’t want to”

“Astoria it’s your award party!” Draco chuckles “You are the guest of honor my love”

“Yeah, but this was organized by my colleagues in the Ministry, if I had to chose between their comfort and yours, you know I’d rather spend my time with you anyway” She smiles, like if putting his needs over hers is the most natural thing in the world and Draco knows, that everyone in the room is jealous of the beautiful girl whispering in his ear calming words.

The tremors in his arms subside as she encourages him to breathe, Astoria is beautiful inside and out. He knows he doesn’t deserve her….And yet he wants to.

“I am okay, I promise” Draco nods squeezing her hand back and looking at the center of the room “I just didn’t expect Granger to be here too, that’s all”

I can see you starin’, honeyLike she’s just your understudyLike you’d get your knuckles bloody for meSecond, third, and hundredth chancesBalancin’ on breaking branchesThose eyes add insult to injury

Had they really broken up eight months ago? to Draco it felt like longer, recovering from a breakup like theirs was not easy, but he was doing better. He could feel Hermione’s eyes following him around the room, zeroing in the tender way Astoria held on to Draco’s arm. His marked arm, like Draco was just another doting boyfriend being dragged to a boring office party and not THE Draco Malfoy. And the fire in her eyes made him miss her so much.

He could remember how much he loved her, the bushy haired muggle born with bright ideas and even brighter dreams who didn’t pull her punches. Fighting with her was exiting and fun almost as fun as making up.

“Your needs are valid too you know” Astoria whispers kindly “you don’t have to hide it, not with me”

And Draco stares into her eyes, like coming back to earth after a long flight in the air. Because being with Astoria doesn’t hurt, it’s so comfortable, just so easy. She makes it easy. To care about her, because she cares about him.

There is no awkwardness that Astoria cant understand, no tremor in his hands that she cant soothe, if he screams, her voice can pull him back from the brink. And it’s so very easy to forget himself in her presence, she’s been where he’s been and she heals everything she touches and he’s so bloody terrified of hurting her. Because she’s so fragile, unlike Hermione, he can’t bear to hurt Astoria, she’s never hurt him or seen him as anything other than who he is. If he hurt her there would be no alibi between them, no justification for breaking her.

Being with Astoria is so easy for him and it terrifies him. How much he’s grown to care. How willing she is, to hold his hand and walk by his side.

But I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rainAnd it’s 2 AM and I’m cursing your nameYou’re so in love that you act insaneAnd that’s the way I loved you

He knew what it was like to hate Hermione in his teenage years, it was even more obvious how he grew to love her during adulthood, after getting to know her beyond apologies and bad manners Draco had fallen for her in a very insane way. She opened up new ways of thinking for him, she was willing to fight for what she believed in, not only with him, but also on his behalf. And Draco couldn’t lie and say he didn’t miss that.

But at one point, he just got tired of fighting.

I think I’ve seen this film beforeAnd I didn’t like the endingYou’re not my homeland anymoreSo what am I defendin’ now?You were my townNow I’m in exile seein’ you outI think I’ve seen this film before“ Congratulations Astoria, your speech in favor of children’s rights this year was truly excellent” Hermione said shaking her hand “You deserve this award” Hermione’s eyes tell a million different stories, war, joy, longing.

“It’s the least I can do” Astoria on the other hand accepts her congratulations with the grace of someone trained to hide her feelings from childhood to avoid conflict “I’m just glad that all the pureblood privileges I was born with can finally serve a good cause” her kindness is sincere, Astoria would endure anything for the children in the orphanage she founded, even her boyfriend’s much more accomplished ex “My contribution to the world might not be much, but I know this award will make a difference in the lives of some very good people”

There is no pretending in her gaze, the girl who goes around trying to mend the fence between purebloods and the rest of the Wizarding world is genuine as can be. One can dislike Astoria for wanting to unite what is left of the old pureblood houses with the new way of thinking in the Wizarding world, but it’s impossible to hate her efforts in preserving the history of the magical community. Her dainty hands are always extended to help and they always hold Draco’s warmly.

“And how is Draco treating you these days?” Hermione asks politely and to her credit, her friendly stance doesn’t waver. And she looks at Draco with sad resigned eyes, that he knows his perceptive girlfriend understands very well.

“He treats me very well” Astoria replies smiling at Draco tenderly “there have been so many challenges with the Greengrass Foundation and people still think that they can walk all over me just because I am young, but Draco always defends me” Astoria never misses a chance to give Draco credit in public for everything he does for her, trying to show people that he is in fact a human with emotions but that doesn’t bother him, it’s her way of showing that she’s proud of being at his side “Although he still has to learn that I’m human instead of porcelain”

“And Astoria still has to learn that her health should take a priority when the healer starts making house calls” Draco has learned to be calm in her presence, less snappy with his comebacks, he turns to Hermione and if he can’t hide the hurt in his eyes when he talks to her, then who can blame him, at least he keeps it out of his words “And you Hermione? I heard you are about to win the record for youngest Minister in History” okay, maybe the accusation in his tone needed a little work.

“The Daily Prophet exaggerates” Hermione chuckles

She respects my spaceAnd never makes me waitAnd she calls exactly when he says he willShe’s close to my motherTalks business with my fatherShe’s charming and endearingAnd I’m comfortable

“Do you mind if I leave you two for a bit? I need to go to the bathroom” Astoria says after a few minutes of small talk “I think those canapes really didn’t agree with me”

“If you remain there for longer than usual, I’ll assume it’s serious and send a healer after you” to any other woman, including Hermione, the sentence would sound controlling. But not for Astoria. She could in fact be troubled if left in the bathroom too long and Draco has learned to be as vigilant with her triggers as she is with his. There are shadows in Astoria’s eyes and collarbones that speak louder than he ever will. So she just smiles and shakes her head, indicating that for now, nothing is wrong.

“That was very diplomatic of her” Hermione sighs “No wonder her father has done so well as head of international relations”

“She is, and she’s also very perceptive” Draco agrees “It’s a talent I think, how to make peace in the middle of a battlefield; my mother says that I couldn’t have asked for a better public relations manager”

there is an awkward pause until Hermione finally breaks the silence

“I’m sorry about it too you know” Hermione says at last “About how we ended things, I didn’t mean for things to get so out of control” she snorts in a self depreciating way “But still, what does it feel to be dating the poster girl for pureblood noblesse oblige” and if there’s an edge of disdain in the last part of her sentence well, Draco lets it pass

“You mean as opposed to the brightest witch of the Century?” and if the disdain is also felt in Draco’s voice, well, he hopes Hermione will let it pass too “It’s certainly more comfortable” he’s tried so hard not to be resentful of their breakup, but nevertheless “There’s certainly less lying to my parents at least, less broken antiques in my house too, less unfair accusations too”

“Draco we were self destructing” Hermione says with a huff of frustration “I know I was at fault, but you were no picnic either, our relationship was headed in the wrong direction”

“But why didn’t you try to talk to me?” Draco looks at the floor “ All you needed to do was say something”

“I did! all the time, you just wouldn’t listen” And the sadness that drenches her eyes is heartbreaking

All this timeI never learned to read your mind (Never learned to read my mind)I couldn’t turn things around (You never turned things around)‘Cause you never gave a warning sign (I gave so many signs)You never gave a warning sign (All this time)(So many times) I never learned to read your mind(So many signs) I couldn’t turn things around (I couldn’t turn things around)'Cause you never gave a warning sign (You never gave a warning sign)You never gave a warning signAh, ah

“I wasn’t like Astoria, Draco, I couldn’t afford to sit patiently at your side waiting for you to understand me, anytime I expressed my needs I felt like I was screaming into the void”

“And anytime I tried to express mine you wrote them off as pureblood dramatics”

“But did you really have to leave in the middle of the day? Hermione, we had a fight with my parents and the next thing I knew the girl who claimed to love me was gone”

“You told them I would leave the muggle world for you Draco!” the hurt in Hermione’s eyes feels palpable “ I had to let you go, I was suffocating”

Draco opens his mouth to refute her, but it’s been eight months... He sees Astoria come back in the distance only to be stopped by some ministry official trying to congratulate her.

And to Hermione, all he can say is “I understand Hermione” because, after all this time. He does

She can't see the smile I'm fakingAnd my heart's not breaking'Cause I'm not feeling anything at allAnd you were wild and crazyJust so frustratingIntoxicating, complicatedGot away by some mistake and now

They both look at Astoria at the same time and wave at her with a smile in their faces. And Hermione sees exactly what Draco means when his fake smile conveys to Astoria that he’s okay.

Astoria doesn’t feel smothered or suffocated by Draco’s overprotection, she feels.... Loved.

She doesn’t argue when he brings up pureblood rituals and traditions infront of her friends or relatives, because she understands why he does. Astoria has no need to explain her point of view on issues that are clear to her, she grew up speaking the same language Draco did, she knows what hurts about being a pureblood and what doesn't, what has been done wrong and what was done right. She doesn’t need to force Draco to understand her, he does it instinctively because she lets him take the leard in their relationship.

Astoria Greengrass might not have fought in the war, but she’s the type of woman people go to wars for. A daughter, a sister a friend and a lover.

“Do you love her?” Hermione asks, half anticipating and dreading his response.

Draco knew what Hermione was really asking. She who had made his world explode in a million colors, who constantly challenged his mind and made him do crazy things to get her attention and boasted of how Hermione was unparalleled in everything she did. Was he really happy with someone like Astoria.

“I don’t know” He chuckles in a self depreciating way “All I know is that it’s as easy as breathing” He looks at Astoria again and his voice softens “ She accepts me for who I am, I don’t have to change anything about myself when I’m with her... it’s also a bit terrifying to be honest”

And Hermione understood, all of Draco’s life he’d been subjected to the expectations of others and tried to live up to what people wanted him to be. His parents, the death eaters, the pureblood comunity...Even her.

In fact hadn’t that been the biggest thrill in their relationship? Beauty and the beast style, her trying to change him into someone better. It was amazing how much they did together, the world couldn’t hold them down.

But had Draco ever been loved for who he was? Dark Mark and all. With all his flaws and virtues?. With no expectations? Had he ever just been given affection without strings attached?

“Sorry I took so long, Fredrick Supplesmith wanted to know who I bribed to get the progressive children’s toys bill passed so fast” Astoria sang cheekily joining them once more and effectively ending their conversation “did I miss something?”

I think I've seen this film beforeAnd I didn't like the endingYou're not my homeland anymoreSo what am I defending now?You were my townNow I'm in exile seein' you outI think I've seen this film beforeSo I'm leaving out the side door

“No, Hermione was just telling me about Potter’s new adventure, dreadfully boring stuf really” Draco shrugs silently daring Hermione to say anything

“He’s right, you know how obsessed Draco has always been with Harry, I just thought that he should know about how the Potter wedding preparations are going, Ginny just wants to elope but nobody will let her”

“I can’t say I’m surprised, Daphne got married last summer and our parents alone were unbearable, I can’t imagine how it must be for Ginny” If Astoria notices something amiss she doesn’t let it show. To her it’s enough that Draco isn’t visibly uncomfortable anymore

“Ugh I remember that, Theo had to charm a whole new string quartet when the Nott ancestral song was played before the Greengrass in C minor” Draco added welcoming the change of topic “Why chose Nott Abbey as a venue when Greengrass Keep was available is the mystery of the century”

“Speaking of weddings I should get going, Ron is expecting me at eight to hold a friendly intervention with the Weasleys” Hermione swiftly excused herself from the converstaion. She didn’t think she could bear to hear about the rituals and traditions the Noble house of Greengrass had to welcomed their pureblood inlaws. Perhaps one day, but not yet.

Draco and Astoria nodded and let her go. Easily returning to their conversation and at least on Draco’s end, finally putting a finishing word on a chapter of his life.

Now things were going to be better. The future was bright for Hermione and so it was for Draco and Astoria. There would no longer be regrets over past history.

#drastoria #drastoria au #dramione #Draco Malfoy #astoria greengrass #songfic #draco x astoria #sorry dramaione fans

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loracarol · 6 years

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I may or may not do a Proper Review of the Twisted Tales series at a later date, but here’s my brief summary/review of the first three. This WILL contain spoilers.

Also @fantastic-nonsense, have you heard of/read any of these? I know that fairy tales are kind of your jam. :V

A Whole New World

Easily my favorite of the three by far

Really leans in to the whole “the same Disney Movie You Know but with One Twist” thing they claim to have going on

Jafar gets the lamp

And that’s where it all goes to shit

Everything builds off of this one singular change in the timeline - while things are built up/expanded in the past, frankly it’s nothing that goes against the actual movie.

For example, the King being little more then a man-child ignoring the problems in his city. Not specifically mentioned in the movie but given the King’s personality/the slums we see, it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

Building on Aladdin’s past friendships - again, not something we actually see in movie, but not necessarily ooc either.

Also Jafar kills the Sultan, uses magic to raise the dead (the genie can’t do it, but Jafar uses his newfound power to look for a way around that.)

BUT YEAH there are zombies all of a sudden, including children.

This book was baller, 10/10 would recommend, even if just for the Holy Shit What The Fuck-ness of it.

Once Upon A Dream

Middle of the pack IMO.

I don’t actually have anything against the idea of the plot.

Aurora is highly different from her movie counterpart. It’s not necessarily bad IMO, but it was Distracting.

Aurora and Philip were cute, though.

Aurora’s parent’s get killed before she gets a chance to meet them. :(

But then?? She/the plot seems to agree with Maleficent that it was all their fault for sending their child away??

And, of course, ~Maleficent~ wouldn’t ever do something like that

Ignoring for the moment that they sent her away because Maleficent had put a curse on a fucking baby that was supposed to kill her

and it was only because another fairy intervened that she didn’t die

Maleficent, you don’t get to police how other people deal with that shit when it’s your fault they have to deal with it

And also you killed them and it’s your fault Aurora never got to meet her parents.

I was worried they were going to pull a Maleficent at the beginning with the framing device that Maleficent was the good guy and the three good fairies/the King and Queen were the bad guy, but the twist was nice

Not my fav, and while I did laugh out loud at some parts, I ended up feeling like I was reading about two OC’s who’d snuck into the plot rather then the Disney versions of the characters.

This was especially annoying bc the part where the book “twisted” the tale was around Aurora pricking her finger/Maleficent dying - aka the end of the friggen movie.

6/10 wouldn’t recommend but wouldn’t anti-recommend either.

As Old As Time

This book was very... Yikes

Yikes Yikes Yikes

Okay, maybe I’m overthinking this - I’m not actually Jewish, but it felt like this book appropriated/exploited a lot of Jewish historical suffering?

This one is under a cut bc potential antisemitism

Twist is that Belle’s mother was the Enchantress, but honestly, that didn’t feel like enough of a twist to justify everything that happens in the book

Once upon a time, in a far away land, there was a kingdom. This kingdom had many people within it’s borders, including a number of Jewish people magical folk. Belle’s mother is one of those Jewish people magical folk, only she’s a good Jew magical person with her “Aryan” looks blonde hair and light eyes (tbh I can’t remember if they were green or blue).

Among Maurice’s companions include a man who hates his Jewish heritage magical abilities and thinks of magic as unnecessary/evil.

Belle’s mother settles down with Maurice and has a baby with him, but things are starting to go poorly for the Jewish magical people. A plague arrives and the magical people (you get the point so I’m going to stop now) are blamed for it. Belle’s mom goes to the castle to try and bargain for help and because she is a Good Magical Person she casts a spell of protection on all of the children in the castle.

Meanwhile, magical folk are disappearing, but no one knows where to. To combat this, a series of people - including Mr. Potts - run a smuggling ring to get magical people out of the country. This is Important as things are continuing to go Wrong and the magical people are being blamed for all the countries ills.

In the end, the bad guy is the man who hated his magical abilities. He’s also Monsieur D’Arque - the asylum owner. He experimented on his brain (like, actual brain surgery) to get rid of his powers, and he’s been kidnapping and torturing magical beings since in order to try and figure out how to destroy all magical beings. Let me be clear, he is pretty much a Disney Fanfic Version of Josef Mengele. His experiments were horrible. Belle’s mom was one of those taken*, and she was tortured so badly... It’s horrifying, reading the description.

*As one of her last spells, she had removed everyone’s memories of her connection to Belle & Maurice to protect them, and that’s why D’Arque didn’t go after them at first.

There are other things, too, little bits here and there that really made me feel uncomfortable, like the book was appropriating this historical persecution of Jewish people for it’s own ends, but again, I’m not Jewish, and therefore not qualified to make A Statement on Antisemitism. I’m just noting the things I noticed.

That’s my Number One Big Problem with the book, and why I’d probably give it 1/5 stars, if that. That being said, that wasn’t my only problem with the book. The thing is, it wasn’t a good book that used unfortunate metaphors, it just felt like really really really bad fanfic on top of that. I don’t mention the following because I think they’re equal to what I noted above, I mention the following because these were other things that really annoyed me, and I wanted to rant about it:

Who the fuck are you, and what have you done with the beast?

You know how, in the movie, when the Beast knows that Belle is a chance to break the curse, and he still is an angry asshole to her even though realistically being kind would be more likely to cause her to fall in love with him & to break the spell.

Yeah, forget all that.

Belle touches the rose, learns about the curse, remembers her mother, and knows that she’s unlikely to fall in love with him now that she knows she “has” to.

The Beast, in return, turns into Bad!Fanfic!Draco/Zuko. You know, the kinds that show up in bad Dramaione/Zutara fics. (I’m not saying they’re all bad, but come on, you know what I mean when I refer to Bad Versions Of Those Fics.

You know the archetype.

Despite finding out that he may be Cursed Forever he puts on a tablecloth like an apron and helps Belle cook.

................................Yeah.

I read a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic that was Beauty and the Beast and something similar-ish occurred, but there it made sense. There it was in-character.

Also there’s a scene where the Beast is literally groveling on his hands and knees to get Gaston’s help.

Do you see what I mean about “bad fanfic”?

Anticlimax

The whole mob @ the asylum ends because LeFou recognizes his aunt (?) as one of the patients and that’s pretty much all it takes to turn people’s minds around. Maybe this could have worked with better set-up (LeFou’s POV book?) but... Yeah............

Anticlimactic Gaston

You know all that power he had over people in the village? How he was so well-liked he had his own theme song? How he was able to get everyone to set up a wedding in like... A day? How he had girls swooning over him? How the tavern was his house of worship? How he was able to get a mob going to attack a Dangerous Beast by sheer virtue of Who He Was in the village? How it took him plunging to his death to stop his cruelty?

Yeah, there’s none of that in this book.

People start recognizing the people in the asylum, and that’s just... It. They don’t turn on him, but they do turn away from him, and he just kind of... Takes it. It’s like they gave canon!Gaston valium. Why wasn’t he angry when he lost control? Why didn’t he rage when people betrayed him? Those are canon actions even before Belle meets the Beast! It just doesn’t make any sense that he’d just lie down and take it.

And the Furries Rejoiced

Belle doesn’t break the curse, but her mother has enough power to break part of it. The Beast somehow Stops Losing His Humanity because Luv (??) but that’s not enough to actually break the curse. The Beast asks the enchantress to break the curse on his people instead, and she does, leaving the Beast totally fine with being trapped in an alien, monstrous body. There is hope - if they can gather other fairy tale creatures to his palace*, they might be able to band together to break it. And like, I get it. People seem to have a hard on for the beastly form, but the book totally glosses over his canonical frustration with his inhuman form. See again, the cooking, and turning into LeatherPants!Draco/Zuko. It’s frustrating - again, that’s something that could have genuinely be fascinating, but it just felt like a cop-out so that the book could end with him still a furry.

Like, do that if you want, but actually make it a consequence with some emotion behind it rather then just being kind of... Meh.

* His palace was magically hidden & that part of the curse didn’t break meaning that it has the potential to become a haven for persecuted magical beings.

#disney #twisted tales #beauty and the beast #the sleeping beauty #aladdin #liz braswell #long post #antisemitism

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