I LOVE DRARRY! It's the BEST ship in the entire UNIVERSE. :) (Both Wizarding universe and muggle)And it just all makes sense!I mean... Who the fek would become obsessed over someone and watch their every move and see what they're up to? #crusheswould. 

And Harry shows so much Bi-ness in both books and movies. Calling Tom Riddle Handsome. Like...hello? xD You just called the bloody Dark Lord handsome. And then there's Draco with his "shiny" hair and how his eyes "sparkle" in the sunlight. Honestly, Harry. You're bi. 

And Draco... you're gay. C'mon. Who would literally make himself look good every day? Not unless it's to impress someone. ;) And Draco, in every book and movie, except the HBP, always wanted Harry's attention. What kind of rival would do that? Lol. It SCREAMS Drarry!

I ship it because they're a beautiful pairing, they're a beautiful pairing because of:

Their parallels (both '' who are really '' caught up in something bigger) Their similarities underneath despite their differences on the surface (how they appear as opposites superficially [good vs evil, Gryffindor vs Slytherin, dark vs light, even their hair colour of jet black and white blond] but under the surface are similar. The '2 sides of same coin' idea)

I ship it because it's plausible, it's plausible because of:

Draco constantly wanting and seeking Harry's attention Draco feeling strongly towards Harry (jealousy, rejected friendship)Harry feeling strongly towards Draco (it's hate at first but it's a strong emotion which gets a reaction from Harry. Harry can't ignore him)Harry's obsession with Draco in HBP They're harming each other throughout all of this (insults, sectumsempra)Them eventually saving each other (fiendfyre, not identifying Harry at Malfoy Manor)

Long answer: (This is probably too much, I practically wrote an essay, but you're in for a super long answer because I've been thinking of this for a while and I just want to get it all out. I still don't feel like I've covered everything though)

Two things drew them to me at first: their conflict and how hot they'd be together. The second one doesn't really matter so much now that I'm into it because I care more about their actual characters. With their conflict, I remember always really liking that duelling scene in cos, "scared potter?" "you wish" just oooOOH idk whenever they were both together, things got more interesting. They're an exciting pair. And I love conflict, it makes things interesting.

Harry and Draco is a great pairing for several reasons. When the threat of the war is real, when death is unavoidable, H and D try to save and help each other out. A bond is always created between the saviour and the saved person. The reasons why I think Drarry works, are :

1. They have undeniable chemistry. Draco is the only one who gets Harry all riled up and wanting to prove himself and Draco always craves for precious Potter's attention: his jealousy is shown consciously but subconsciously, its the need for Harry's attention. Here's why: Harry was the first person Draco saw in Madam Malkin's. Drawling tone, disrespecting Hagrid and favouring Slytherin notwithstanding, Draco still tries to make conversation. In the only way, he knows. He, then, tries to offer Harry his friendship. Again, in the only way, he knows how to, and is rudely clobbered. This gives rise to a sharp acrimony inside Draco and he hence tries to dish out grief to Harry.

2. They are evenly matched and like-minded. This phenomenon manifests itself when Harry, in the end, defeats Voldemort with both of those wands which once belonged to Draco Malfoy. The Hawthorn wand is the wand that Harry keeps because it's the *friendliest* of the three wands which he snatches at the Malfoy Manor. The wand always chooses the wizard. Both Draco and Harry are the masters of the Elder wand for some time. Their likelihood and their compatibility and likemindedness show from the wand allegiance. Wand only changes allegiance when it senses similar qualities or trusts the wizard. This is the biggest point of their compatibility, according to me. 

 3. Harry is Draco's way to Light. Harry can be the beacon of power, strength, staunch support and correct guidance for Draco, who has lived in the dark for so long. Draco, in turn, is sly, cunning and composed. His composure will be a fitting quality to Harry's brash and impulsive nature. 

 4. What Harry desires is for people to treat him like everyone else; he is done with adventure. Draco will always treat him like an equal but not as though Harry is someone special (even though he will worship Harry secretly). He will call Harry out to his shit and not behave like a doe-eyed fangirl. He will be the challenge that Harry always needs and wants. Draco always wanted to come over to the Light side secretly. Draco can be a surprisingly tender lover, especially to Sodding Potter. Because he is Potter. Even if Draco won't show his reverence to Harry. 

 5. In the world post-war, Harry and Draco can become really good friends, companions and thus find what they were always looking for. They can help each other overcome the PTSD after the war, the horrible aftermath of the massacre and renew the bond they always had but was never explored. 

6. Hatred is always coupled with intense love. You only hate the people who you have truly loved. Or give a damn about. They can discover something permanent within each other. It only makes sense for these two to fall into gradual companionship, their bond slowly evolving past their differences and finally settling into something more stable. Falling in love would be as easy as falling asleep. 

 7. Mindblowing, enthralling, bewitching sexual chemistry. 

 8. Would Harry have been jealous if Malfoy suddenly got obsessed with some other person? Yes! He is too used to Draco's attention. 

9. By not recognising him at MM, Draco incidentally helped Harry defeat the Dark Lord, because the moment Harry Disarmed Malfoy, he won the Elder Wand's allegiance. Partners in Heroism, much? 

10. Draco never came out because he knew his father would never approve him which is why Drarry never "happened" 

11. Tom Felton ships it. (He only said he ships Dramione for the fans so they don't get mad or something. Lol) 

12. They're cute af!

Concluding, I would like to say that Harry should take his sweet time settling down with someone after the war. He should explore who he really is, without the threat of death constantly looming over his head. Explore himself as a person. And so should Draco. There are wayyyy too many possibilities for this pairing and it only makes sense for them to truly discover each other and be together.

Actually, that's not all. >:)

For your reference... Draco and Harry are VERY distant relatives. I did the research, and they are either second or third cousins, meaning Drarry is completely legal in both the US, AUS, and the UK. If you're only here to preach about how "tHey'rE ReLAted, EwWWwww" then don't even try.

In the books, they meet for the first time at Madam Malkin's. Draco is the first Hogwarts student Harry meets. Harry's turned off because Draco reminds him of Dudley. What's interesting about this is that Draco doesn't know he's Harry Potter. And he still talks to him, tries to impress him and brag. Was he trying to make friends in the only way he knew how? Then on the train, he tries again after he finds out he's Harry Potter, but Harry rejects his offer of friendship after he insults the first friend Harry had ever made. There's so many what if's here - What if Harry were sorted into Slytherin? What if book!Hagrid/movie/Ron hadn't told him the bad reputation of Slytherin? Then he wouldn't have asked not to be placed there. What if Draco went about making friends differently? This whole attempted friendship sort of feels like a misunderstanding.

I don't think Draco ever hated Harry. He might say so, but I don't think he'd believe it. (We'll get to how Harry feels later). If you really hated someone you would not want anything to do with them. You wouldn't actively seek them out all the time and try to impress them like Draco does. Yes, Draco is a bully and he bullies many people. But the person he focuses on the most is Harry. The key thing here is that unlike everyone else he bullies, he actually wanted to be Harry's friend from the beginning. So it's almost as if he's like this with Harry because he's still upset and can't get over the fact that Harry rejected him. It's like it's personal to him. He's quick to notice anything to do with Harry and he just always needs Harry's attention. He's mean to Ron because he's a 'blood traitor/Weasley' and the one Harry picked over him. He's mean to Hermione because she's a 'mudblood' and again, a friend Harry picked over him. He's jealous of the whole trio but mostly he's jealous of Harry.

"...everyone thinks he's so smart, wonderful Potter with his scar and his broomstick -"

"You have told me this at least a dozen times already," said Mr. Malfoy, with a quelling look at his son. (HP2)

Draco outwardly says Harry isn't special, and he doesn't idolise Harry for being 'the boy who lived' or anything, but he keeps saying it, over and over to his father and to anyone else who will hear. Deep down, he must see him as someone special because he tries so hard to compete with him and stay as his rival. It feels like a more personal 'you're special to me but I would never say that out loud' kind of thing.

Draco tries so hard to be 'the Harry Potter of the dark side'. And something that's important to note about that is that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

But Harry's the better man; he always beats Draco in Quidditch, he's more famous, and he succeeds in the task Dumbledore sets him whereas Draco fails the task Voldemort sets him. I sort of see him as a lesser version of Harry because of this. It's like he tries to be like Harry, but he just isn't the man Harry is. Maybe he's what Harry might've been if Harry was less brave and courageous, if he was brought up like Draco was. And Harry is what Draco wants to be. Wishes so desperately he could be, even though he would outwardly deny that. I feel like this line between wanting to be him, and wanting to be with him could cross easily. (There's an interesting meta on Draco and his relation to Harry ). So for H/D to work as a more balanced relationship, it's about Draco realising his desire for Harry and stepping up to become the better version of himself, rather than a failed version of Harry, which I believe can happen. For H/D to work, it's also about Harry being interested in Draco, which I'll get into.

So I could easily see Draco having a thing for Harry, even if he doesn't realise it himself. It's harder for me to see it reciprocated though, after all, it's clearly said in the first book that Harry hates Malfoy. But I do believe in H/D and I believe in the potential for Harry to like him back because:

1) Harry always notices him, he can't ignore him. Malfoy always gets a reaction from Harry, he makes his blood boil and he always manages to get under Harry's skin. They're both so passionate about each other.

2) Harry's always worried about what Malfoy thinks of him.

"Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy." (HP1)

"I'm fine!" said Harry, jumping up. The thought of what Draco Malfoy would say if he had to go to the hospital wing was torture. (HP3)

Sexual jokes aside from the first quote, Harry cares about what Malfoy thinks of him.

3) Even if Harry had ever truly hated Draco, how he feels changes, by the end of DH he definitely doesn't hate Draco anymore.

4) He becomes obsessed with Draco in HBP. I feel the need to include this ever-popular quote,

"Harry, however, had never been less interested in Quidditch; he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy."

and Ron's line, "You're getting a bit obsessed with Malfoy, Harry. I mean, thinking about missing a match just to follow him ..." (HP6)

Yes, I know that obsession is about wanting to find out what he's up to but it's a little funny that the one year Draco stops actively seeking Harry's attention is the year Harry starts to pay an excessive amount of attention to him. Because he's used to Draco's attention on him, he notices when Draco's more interested in something else, something that isn't Harry. And Harry just needs to know what that is. He walks into a suit of armour because he's so busy looking at Malfoy on the marauder's map. He follows him everywhere. Ron said it himself, he wanted to miss a Quidditch match just to follow Malfoy! When he's the captain of the team! He loves Quidditch! Also, no one else agrees with Harry. It's only him who has this obsession. Ron and Hermione don't. He's the only one who's taking Malfoy seriously.

I'm getting headcanony here but I like to believe that this obsession would still linger with Harry. It doesn't in DH (and understandably so with all the things he had on his mind and had to do), but I feel like, if Draco were to pop up in his life again after Hogwarts, this interest could resurface, which is where I looked to for Post-Hogwarts fics.

In the first few books/movies, Draco as a character is only seen in relation to Harry. He's just a two-dimensional bully to Harry. I think this makes H/D a more kind of 'pigtail pulling, hate on outside to get attention' thing which I do like. But then comes HBP. Suddenly we see Draco independently from Harry, doing his own thing. (Again ) And I love this because it makes him a character in his own story, making their relationship more complex and interesting. I reckon up until HBP their relationship has been quite one-sided. Yes, Draco has managed to always get a kind of response out of Harry, but Harry doesn't really take him seriously until HBP. It's almost like Draco's been begging for his attention all this time, then the minute he stops because he's faced with more important things, Harry takes notice.  Harry catches Malfoy when he's at his weakest when he's crying in the bathroom. And after Harry casts sectumsempra, he's horrified as he says, "No - I didn't -" This is the moment when Harry realises however much he may think he hates Malfoy, he cares about him, he doesn't want him dead. And the moment Draco can't kill Dumbledore and starts to lower his wand is the moment where Harry realises Draco is not evil.

So pre-HBP for me was more Draco having an interest in Harry. Then HBP, Harry's interest in Draco. And then we get to DH. The whole 'saving each other' thing. For me, things even out a bit more here. It's sort of beautiful; throughout their Hogwarts days they harm each other, they tear each other down, and they really know how to hurt each other. But even with everything they've done to each other in the past, they care enough to save one another. Harry saves Draco in the fiendfyre and Draco doesn't identify Harry at Malfoy Manor, despite the fact that he knows it's him. He saved Harry in his own way.

Since the story is told from the light side, there's not a lot of forgiveness for the Slytherins. So them getting together would have been a nice kind of wrap up, a way to show an understanding between the different sides.

Which brings me to another thing I love about Drarry and why I ship it so much. I see a lot of possibilities for them, a lot of potentials. I don't see them in only one way, as I do for many other (in fact the majority of other) pairings. I feel like Drarry can be so many different things. I know they can because I've read many different fanfics. Their characters aren't static in canon, they change and grow up but more importantly, the way they see each other and relate to one another changes as well. And because they change I feel like there's a lot of different ways they can be a pairing. For example in the early books/movies, their pairing is quite different to how it's perceived after HBP. Just look at the fanfic before HBP came out and after. Now that the series is complete I feel like you can go into all those different ways and idk I just love it. I also think there's a lot of potential for after their Hogwarts days. (Either excluding the epilogue or just after it. But I don't like broken families so I prefer just ignoring it). So yeah Drarry is everything basically. It can be cute, sweet, adorable, hot, sexy, healthy, detrimental, dark, light, obsessive, stalkerish, one-sided, unrequited, both sided, end game, just a phase, soul mates, there's just so much possibility!

And looking at the bullet points I listed before at the start^, I think that's why the pairing can be so many things. It depends on what you focus on. If you focus on them harming each other, you'll get an unhealthy and harmful relationship. If you focus on Harry's obsession in HBP, you'll get an obsessive/stalker relationship. If you focus on Draco's pleas for attention, you might get an unrequited crush. If you focus on their parallels, similarities and differences, and saving one another, you'll get a kind of balanced relationship where they need each other, where they complete each other, and where light and dark come together. If you focus on all these things you get a complex and beautiful relationship.

I know it's not canon and I know it was never intended. But considering how unintentional it was, it's almost scary how much sense it makes to me. Look at the amount of Drarry fics out there. I'm pretty sure it's the most popular slash ship in hp. And the thing is, it doesn't really matter whether it was intentional or not, shipping (non-canon shipping in particular) is about interpretation, which is why we get people shipping different things. Not all ships are for everyone because not everyone likes all the tropes some ships contain. And there can be many different tropes for the same ship which is why people ship the same ships for different reasons. I've just told you why I ship H/D but also to put it simply, it just makes me happy. And it makes me sad. It just gives me so many feels. More so than any other hp ship tbh. Which at the end of the day is what your OTP should do. 

So that's why I ship Drarry so much. I hoped you enjoyed reading my Ted Talk. xD

Rating: 10000000000000000000000000000000/10