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Manacled, Part 1
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The time is here, we are finally covering the EPIC story of "Manacled". Join us, Chanel, Stacy, Ashley and our special guest Ashli as we journey into the layers of this incredible fanfiction. We kick off the episode with a deep exploration of the first part of the lauded fanfiction, "Manacled" by, Senlinyu where we delve into its dark and gripping themes, touching on elements of violence, murder, and non-consensual activity. We draw parallels with the anxiety-inducing nature of The Handmaid's Tale.
Our voyage takes an emotional turn as we tackle the first chapters of "Hermione Granger and the High Reeve." We shine a light on Hermione's dire circumstances, her capture by Voldemort, and her struggle to recall the war. We also contemplate on the unique concept of manacles used to suppress magic and the twist of Hermione's assignment to Draco Malfoy, the High Reeve.
Warning:
This work is dark. Rape and non-consensual sex are a significant and ongoing aspect of the plot. There are also character deaths, psychological trauma, descriptions of battlefield violence, and references to torture. Reader discretion is advised.
Authors Note:
The characters in this story are not mine: they belong to JK Rowling, whom I happen to not be. The initial inspiration of this plot occurred when watching the first episode of The Handmaid’s Tale. In homage there are elements of it maintained throughout the story. The title High Reeve was drawn from Lady_of_Clunn’s use in her story Uncoffined.
This story diverges from canon following the conclusion of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Summary:
Harry Potter is dead. In the aftermath of the war, in order to strengthen the might of the magical world, Voldemort enacts a repopulation effort. Hermione Granger has an Order secret, lost but hidden in her mind, so she is sent as an enslaved surrogate to the High Reeve until her mind can be cracked.
***Produced by Jen Hardin***
***Produced by Jen Hardin***
Hi, this is Chanel. Hi, this is Stacey. Hey, nerds, this is Ashley and this is Fanfic Fanatics. Hey guys, welcome to December and welcome to our first part of man of Colds. We're super excited. Everyone talks about this thick. I feel like it's the Holy Grail of Drapo and Hermione. But before we get started, we just wanted to say there are some trigger warnings for this thick and we'll be discussing it too. So just heads up. So there is violence, murder and there's rape and non-consensual activity. So just heads up. If any of that stuff is troubling, feel free to skip this month's episode. Okay, and also for this episode, we have our vice president here with us, ashley, to talk about this thick. Hi, everybody. For everybody who doesn't know her, she's amazing and she reads like million books a year. She is an expert on books. Her only complaint so far is that we could have picked a fluffier fic for the holiday season, just for the holiday, we're playing the hits okay, but yeah we're excited.
Speaker 1We're really pumped to talk about it. It'll be a good episode.
Speaker 3We're in the studio.
Speaker 1We have Christmas lights and candles going. It's very cozy. It's just my house, the vibe is immaculate, mood lighting. Wait, is the candle lit? Is the vagina candle lit? The vagina candle, no.
Speaker 3That's way too expensive. We can't light that.
Speaker 1It's only lit for special occasions. That's fair. I really like to burn your candles.
Speaker 3No, I can't light that that was so much money.
Speaker 1That's fair, your little tea candle yeah.
Speaker 3I don't. I never liked that.
Speaker 2It's just there for that one.
Speaker 1beyond the label, it's like your grandparents, like special china that they would never get out of their old cabinets.
Speaker 3You know what I mean. It's just for looks, just for looks.
Speaker 1That's what the vagina candle is.
Speaker 3Yeah, but yeah, do you want to get into it?
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, all right, we got a lot to cover.
Speaker 1Okay, guys yeah, we got a lot to cover, so let's jump into this. So I feel like majority of people who read any kind of fanfiction have heard of this fake. I actually like was scrolling on on the internet, as millennials would say, but anyway, there was like a magazine article, I think it was people or something. They did an online article about fanfiction. It was all about manacals, so it's, I would say, like the most well known one. So it's manacled by Sennlin U. She has a bunch of other fics too that are really good, that aren't quite as dark, so manacled overall, I like to say that it's like a crossover universe between Harry Potter and Hanuman's Tale, which I love the Hanuman's Tale but it's like one of the shows that you watch and gives you so much anxiety.
Speaker 3I haven't watched it.
Speaker 1I can't. It's very. The show is just like this could happen, yeah, so I asked Ashley on the way over here if she'd watched the show. But she's read the book.
Speaker 2I've read the book and then I read the follow up that was released more recently, which does definitely draw from what were current events at the time, and it adds to that whole scary vibe of wow, not only can this happen, but we are living some of this and watching it happen.
Speaker 1Well, they're doing a spin off show called the Testaments, I think, which is that book right?
Speaker 3So I can't.
Speaker 1I want to watch it because I know it's great. Everybody loves it, but I already, like you, should see my anxiety level reading this book. I cannot imagine watching it. You know what I mean. Like I just can't do it I mean, maybe soon I'll get into it.
Speaker 1Is the show done? Is it over? No, the final season it, I don't know. The final season is supposed to come out soon, I think, but the finals, it's like, has one more season left. Maybe I'll watch it when it's all out, and I know there's. You can't binge a show like that. Why?
Speaker 2I think if you watch the last episode first, then potentially you could binge it.
Speaker 1I just feel like it's and I don't know, I feel like in my head it's not going to have some like happy ending.
Speaker 3I can finish the show because like only if it was like she was dreaming at all or something.
Speaker 1No, it's definitely those things. It's like don't worry, this gets worse 100%.
Speaker 2That's this entire fake.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, that's this thing. Don't worry, it gets worse.
Speaker 3Speaking of. So I'm only I'm at like chapter 57. So I'm in like the middle ish of the flashback. So no spoilers for the ending slash. End of the flashback.
Speaker 1No spoilers as of right now.
Speaker 3Obviously, the next time we record I'll have finished this book.
Speaker 1But yeah, I think you will, because you'll get to part in the flashbacks and you just won't be able to stop.
Speaker 3I think I'm pretty much at that part. It's like I was telling you. It's like at the part right now where their relationship's going like they're. They've gotten to the hotel now and it's.
Speaker 1I say Suboi, yeah, well, we should ask Tom Felton how he says it, because he has read this picture, because he took that photo and found out that he's done it, do you?
Speaker 2think he read it, or do you think he just knows about it?
Speaker 3I was saying to Stacy I feel like someone like he knows about it. Someone probably told him about it and then I'm sure he's probably read parts of it. Yeah, that's what I think, because you think he's reading this hunker of a thing.
Speaker 2I don't know how he spends his day. Maybe he could listen to it. I don't know this is true, that's what I did for this. Like refresher, I listened to the audio. I went to chapter 26 and I was like, okay, I have to stop until after we record so I don't accidentally say things I shouldn't.
Speaker 1Yeah, when I was rereading so because I've read this a couple of times, but like this is me like reading it, taking notes for the outline, all this stuff. I was texting Ashley and I was like, oh my God, the first part of this thick is so sad. Like, yeah, so this isn't necessarily be like a fluffy episode, but we'll try to throw a humor in when we can, but if we just want to dive right in. So Manicul takes place, literally the first quote in the book, which I think I love books that have really great dedications and I love books have really great opening lines. And I think the first sentence in Manicul is really great. It literally just says Hermione had long given up scene and the Hermione had long given up hope of seeing in the darkness.
Speaker 1And I was like oh so we start this thick out. It's a post war fanfic Alternate universe where, like Voldemort has one, and basically we just wake up and Hermione's been like isolated in this cell she doesn't know for how long, which I can't even imagine. I feel like even the strongest like mind would go insane.
Speaker 2Well, yeah, it's well documented that prisoners and solitary don't do well. And this takes solitary to a whole nother level. There's no light, no sound, she can't speak and her meals are delivered at random ice time.
Speaker 1And I know it's and it's not funny at all, but like all I can picture, like, oh, it's good thing that she's like working out and like keeping her body and mind distracted. And then I just like picturing someone doing cartwheels, like in the dark. For some reason it was making me laugh, but she was saying she would like do cartwheels across, like it was you're automatically depressed as soon as you started.
Speaker 1You literally open this book and you're like oh, my poor Hermione. Like what has happened, and I mean honestly like in the I think it's like the first three chapters we kind of get like a highlight of what's like been going on. So basically, voldemort has won Harry's dead. Hermione was captured. She doesn't remember anything from the war, so there's something wrong with her memories. But not only has she been like can you imagine being in like this completely isolated situation where you can't talk and the first thing that you see when you wake up?
Speaker 2is, she can't talk.
Speaker 1Yeah, the first thing you see is Dolores Umbridge, Like can you imagine? Oh, that's my nightmare. Everybody hates her the most, so much.
Speaker 2That's because she chooses evil just for evil's sake.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean, and you even hate her the most in this fake too, like that doesn't change, yeah, and so again, like it gets kind of there, it kind of talks about like the people who've died it's really sad. Like it talks about like this graphic way that Ron was killed. I still have nightmares about it, oh, I know. And since you guys haven't watched the handmaid's, tell you you haven't. Have you watched Ashley? I forget.
Speaker 2Ashley too, so oh, yeah, you read it.
Speaker 1Well, I don't know if it's the same in the book, but in the in the show it's the same thing. Like one of the main characters is missing an eye like they take her eye in the show too because she's disobedient to, like the aunt, the main aunt, that's what they call the women who run it, and so like they're kind of making a bridge, like parallel, to these ends. So like she talks about how, like they don't need fingers or whatever, which is also like the handmaid's tell, because if they catch women reading, they take their fingers at first. You can't read, see. This is why I can't watch this show.
Speaker 2It's pretty dark.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's, it's the same, but like, so then it. You know she's at Hogwarts, which is even sadder in my opinion. That like that's where she's been imprisoned and that's where they're like air quotes, training these girls to be the surrogates. Yeah, which I think is interesting because I I've read other ficts who were. They talk about how, like, not necessarily like the pure blood women have like a harder time having kids or whatever, unless you're Molly Weasley, you know. So then, like that's why they're having these surrogates, because they've lost so many lives during the war and, like the pure blood wizards are having trouble conceiving, which is like the main plot of the handmaid's tell too.
Speaker 1It was like people, the fertility rates are down, so like it just gets. It's like Ashley said, it's like when those things were like, but it gets worse.
Speaker 2Like you think?
Speaker 1it's really bad when it starts and you keep reading you're like, oh, oh, okay. And so then this is the first few chapters is where we get the mention of Lord Voldemort's like right hand man, and it's the high reef, but we don't know who. The high revision, the artwork of Draco, is the high reef, which is Ashley. I don't think it's a spoil, it's so. It's so great the artwork that some of this with there's so much. There is a lot of great artwork with this thick.
Speaker 1I think, like what most people think of is the of Adele artwork that's like featured in it, which is incredible, but there's all kinds of like different art and stuff I've seen that's really cool, yeah, so then the main person that Hermione gets to kind of talk to is Hannah Abbott, and she's the one who's like you can't escape. Like every time someone tries to escape these manacles that they're making them wear the high reef can like track them, so no one can get away, and they just like keep listening off all these people who have been killed and I'm like, well then, who's?
Speaker 2alive. In this thick, you really do get the sense that, like everyone is dead.
Speaker 1Yeah, the whole concept of the manacle thing is really interesting to me too. I think it's well thought out too. Yeah, and it's just, it's just so interesting like the tracks them, like takes all their magic away. They can't get it off. It's just I thought it was really well done. Yeah, it wasn't just like some spell they put on them, it's like this continuous they talk. I think Hermione holds it like a continuity that like takes their magic and like pushes it back down or whatever, so they can't like use it. And so Hermione is like slowly recovering from being in isolation and like having not being able to talk or like here, see anything. And then at the same time, they're like preparing to send her off to this, like high reef, who who's literally murdered all of her friends and like oh yeah, but Voldemort's pissed because he, he was looking for Hermione. Umbridge had kept her like that and like not told anyone, told anyone. And so Umbridge gets some of her fingers cut off, which I was fine with. She deserves it, yeah.
Speaker 2Wait, can we back up a little bit, though, because before she's assigned to the high reef, there was talk about assigning her to Severus Snape.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah, that is right. Uh huh, which could have been there?
Speaker 2Yes, he's there, he's survived.
Speaker 1Snape is alive.
Speaker 2But he's being sent elsewhere.
Speaker 1He's going to Romani? I think yes.
Speaker 2on the Dark Lord's business. So he kind of says well, I mean I'm happy to do what you want me to do, but I don't want to half-ass either of these things. So you pick. Which is how we end up going with the High Reeve.
Speaker 1Yeah, and which I'm glad you said that it's a big deal, because the first thing they obviously do when they get ahold of her is bold, and Snape tried to access her mind and she has these memories that are locked away for some reason, and they're so locked away that she doesn't even know what's going on in her head. She doesn't know why she can't remember and so it turns into this big thing. Well, how are we going to get these? Obviously, valmour wouldn't care about killing her, making her go insane to get them, but it's the whole thing of they were telling him well, we don't know which ones you would get before her mind would break necessarily, and so he's still worried that somehow there's someone from the order still alive. But when I was doing this, like, well, who could it?
Speaker 3be yeah, like everybody's dead.
Speaker 1Who could it be? But yeah, so basically with the healers that's there they've discussed that maybe a magical pregnancy could help unlock these memories. This explained better in the book than I'm doing, but when you read it in the book you're like, oh, this makes sense, that makes sense.
Speaker 2No, I think you did fine. It was that the baby would have a similar magical signature, but it would be different enough that it would erode. They described it like a pearl around each of these memories, which kind of made sense to me. And then whoever the father was would have access to the memories without disturbing the pregnancy, because the magical signature would be half his as well.
Speaker 1Yeah, so basically after four chapters of complete nightmares for Hermione, she goes to the High Reaves house me and her and that's where we find out the districo mouthway. But it's really interesting is that no one knows he's the High Reaves. It's really under wraps, unless you're higher up with Voldemort followers or whatever.
Book's Impact and Intensity Discussion
Speaker 1Like in the Death Eaters, yeah, so she's shocked to see him because she doesn't have any memory of him except for at school. She says and even then it was just like glances and stuff. I felt like it was crazy when I was reading this, like the first part, that you want to know so badly as the reader, like what she doesn't know, but she doesn't even know and you're like, well, it's got to be important if like Like what is going on. I remember when I first read this I was telling Chanel, before you guys got here, I read this on my phone in like three days. You read this in three days when I first started reading it. Yes, because I wanted to know so bad. So, like the first time you read it, it's very intense. I feel like like you want to figure out everything that's going on I think it took me like four months to finish this book.
Speaker 2I think I was around three days, maybe five, I don't remember exactly I had to take breaks, did you say four months I had to take breaks.
Speaker 3Yeah, it's been like I want to say three or four months because I've had to take breaks.
Speaker 1Remember there was like a certain part. Now I'm trying to remember, I'm glad.
Speaker 3Ashley told me, you told me in like August, you're like start now, because we knew we were doing this in December. So I started and it's been good.
Speaker 1I've had to take breaks Because I'm sure it'll come to me now, now that we're going through it. But there's a certain part that happens in this book it's either halfway through or something and I always just felt like I was so traumatized or something by it. Like I put it. I remember I put it on my nightstand and I'm like I'll get back to you. It was like a month or two later.
Speaker 2I definitely got that feeling, but I'm one of those people where I'm like, ok, if it's this bad, I got to get through it. I will say prior to reading this Vic, have a good palette cleanser prepared for after.
Speaker 1We were just saying that.
Speaker 3I've had to have it throughout, like it was. I got through slowly the beginning and I've been going, like you know I was talking about, like I've been going to like Raylo fix, like cute Raylo fix, and those have been my like palette cleansers because it's yeah, it's intense.
Speaker 1I mean. That being said like, the book is amazing.
Speaker 2Yeah, the writing is phenomenal, yeah, it's a great story, it's just that's what makes it hard.
Speaker 1Yeah intense. Yeah, you're so invested, but and I'm a fluffy reader, so this was a lot for me. I know you are, but I feel like like, especially with the isolation, all this to like when you're just kind of talking about it the flashbacks, a lot of sad depraise and stuff happens there too. I just think when you're doing, when you get to that part of it, it's a little more easier to digest than more romance.
Speaker 1And yeah, there's more other stuff going on where the very first part of this thick is almost completely, except for like the first five chapters, it is completely Hermione and Draco. Yeah, she is completely isolated from everyone but him.
Speaker 3Well, but then they throw in even. I mean like the stuff with Grand Montague, and I mean just her constantly having to get checked in on, and it's just it's, it's just it's terrible, and then more terrible.
Speaker 1It's like I remember. I remember after I got done with Astoria Sorry, I mean all the other characters that get thrown in are just worse, you know.
Speaker 3Sorry, no you're fine.
Speaker 1I was just going to say I remember talking to Stacy the first time I read this and she was saying that some people will read the flashbacks first.
Speaker 2Yes.
Speaker 1And then part one and then obviously the third part and I was like I could see that. Yeah, I'm just saying, like the first time you read it, it's great to read it the way it's meant to be read in this way because it's so impactful when you read it. That way I feel like as it builds, like when you connect stuff but read the second time in like chronological order, like from Draco's point of view.
Speaker 1essentially, yeah, starting out from the middle, and then I just feel like, personally, it's a little easier to digest that way. Yeah, because you don't get hit with so much at once Sadness at once. Like you said, it's incredible, it's well written, it's like it's like why I love Handmaid's Tale. Like it's incredible, but you can't binge it. You can't sit there and watch four episodes of the Handmaid's Tale and like be OK.
Speaker 3Yeah, I think the second time I read it I'm probably going to do it that like read it Draco's. I feel like Draco's timeline.
Speaker 2Like on the second time. It's almost like doing it that way, because you kind of know what's coming. Yeah which I will say this like re listen has given me a deeper appreciation for Draco's perspective. When you don't have Draco's perspective.
Speaker 3And it makes it almost more gut wrenching than the first time, even reading it in the normal way, in the normal way, yeah. Yeah, I know, because you are, you already know what's coming or whatever yes. I know it's so terrible.
Speaker 1So when we get to her mind to jump back into it, like when we get to her mind and she's at the manor, she figures out it's Draco. Obviously he's very cold. You can immediately tell just from her perspective, like when she meets a story which that's who's Draco's married to, that's his wife, she can tell that, like he, that there's, like it's not a loving marriage by any means. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3I feel like he's.
Speaker 1Yeah, like it's very apparent she's not glad that Hermione is there by any means. It's very like, like I want to say like almost cringe. You must feel like cringe for the whole situation.
Speaker 3Well, I mean because Astoria, the reason Hermione is there, I mean there's multiple reasons but like the main reason is Astoria can't have kids. Yeah, she's just like another reminder that she's barren, that she like, which is a very big deal in the pure blood. You know, society is like you're supposed to get married, have kids, like that's like her duty, you know. And so Hermione is just another reminder that she's like, quote unquote, failed, Like she obviously, like you said, doesn't have this loving marriage. Okay, that's a failure. And then, you know, now she can't have kids. That's another failure. And then, as we see, you know, he's like has this affinity for her which she ends up realizing. So now she, it's just like another slap in the face and, yeah, that's why she really starts to hate her.
Speaker 1It's just a build.
Speaker 3It's like a slow building tension, yeah, between all three of them, you know.
Speaker 1And so Hermione gets, like you know, she goes to her room and then she's pretty much just like left on her own for a few days. And at first I was like, oh my gosh, how terrible. Like she's all alone in this room and I was like, well, probably things better than that. I mean what she can see outside, and like has food Well kind of.
Speaker 1I do think it's interesting how, like the writer talks about which makes so much sense, we start seeing that Hermione is like terrified of open spaces and she has a hard time leaving her room because it's like a dark, endless hallway, which would just make total sense that if you were isolated in an area that was in such an enclosed space. It. I just think that the writing for like mental health aspects in this seems not that I'm some mental health expert, but seems very like on point, yeah, like that she's not just going to be normal because she's not in that room anymore.
Speaker 3Exactly.
Speaker 1Quote quote normal.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 1And it's not like, oh, she just like is magically okay. I, which is a theme that follows through this entire book, is that, like she's there, no one's ever like, okay, no one can recover from some traumatic events, which which I thought was really interesting. But she has all these phobias and at first we get this like kind of you see this like fiery Hermione, like we know in canon, and she's like, okay, well, I either got to get him to kill me or I'm going to kill him, and so a lot of it is like just as an internal monologue of like her plotting, of like what she's going to do and like testing limits, which I like to see in my Hermione, like a fiery Hermione.
Speaker 3But yeah, like you said, it's pretty true to her character at first.
Speaker 1So then what's? She has to go outside, but she doesn't want to because she's terrified. So then, drake, going her have to start like going on these blocks or like setting outside, and there's like this really pretty artwork in it that a Vidal does, and it's like her and her red cloak outside and her shoes they're like super flimsy and it's cold, it's like winter and it's like her walking back up the steps and you see like her little bloody footprints and it was so sad, it's terrible.
Speaker 3Well, I was just asking. So this is this is a part that I've already read, so it's not spoiler to me yet. But I was asking Stacey because I had I was going back over just the beginning part, and it was when she had to go outside and and she was obviously cold. And so he's like you know, I don't want you to get, like you know, frostbite or whatever. And so he like gives her this cloak. And I asked Stacey, and I was like do you think this, that was the manticore cloak that he had given to her earlier? Like, did he like flashbacks?
Speaker 2I just don't know, I haven't.
Speaker 3I've only gotten to the part, to where he's gifted it to her and she has it in the past, what's the timeline? And so I don't know what happens to it after the fact. Do you know what I mean? What happens to it at the end? I don't know. Okay, but now I'm looking at it. Is it Stacey Reviewing it?
Speaker 3But Stacey goes, I don't know, I don't know, I don't remember coming up to be specifically like does he take it and now he has it in the future, like you know, now he's re-gifting it to her, but clearly she doesn't know that that's her cloak. I mean, I hope yeah, I'm like maybe that was just a subtle thing Like it doesn't say. It just described it obviously as like kind of like a dark red cloak, and it doesn't say anything else in this, you know, in that passage, when it was just described. But that was just something I noticed when I was just rereading it right now, before you guys came, and I was like is that her cloak? Is he giving her back her cloak?
Speaker 1Anyway, that would make sense to me. Yeah, I think it would be very well.
Speaker 3It's something he knows, but she obviously doesn't know and he's just thinking to himself like hello.
Speaker 1And like what's sad, though, with him, though, too, is like, especially in the first part of this, if you've never read it and this is your first time, and you're like he's such an asshole you like hate him yeah. And it's not like a nice thing that you don't think it's nice that he's giving her this cloak, or anything like this.
Speaker 3But there's like there's so much meaning behind it, so much that you don't even know. I hated this, so I hated him so much reading this book for the first time, oh I know I, I, it was a 50-50 for me because I just kept thinking to myself like there has to be more. There has to be, more.
Speaker 3Because I'm like he wouldn't. I could feel the impersonal-ness. Is that a word? Yeah, like a. And so I was like someone who was cruel. Like you're thinking, if she was given to Dahlahaf it would be cruel versus. He was never cruel to her.
Dark and Depressing Fan Fiction Discussion
Speaker 2We just kind of talked about this on the way over. One of my only kind of issues with, and it's not just this thick that's guilty of this, but it takes her money a long time into even this first part to realize she's being kind of naive and that she's actually considering the circumstances, being treated really well.
Speaker 3Well, yeah, and You're right, there's other fics that are like that too. Was it the auction? It was the auction.
Speaker 2But I'm just like okay, we've already been through a lot of terrible stuff. We're post-war, she's seen people tortured to death all these people are dead but it doesn't dawn on you that things could be making going differently for people in other situations.
Speaker 3Yes, like at the auction, especially when she goes to Edinburgh Castle and she's at the parties and you see how Ginny's treated, you see how Cho's treated and you're like girl, I got my own fucking sweet. Yes.
Speaker 1My own bathtub?
Speaker 3Yeah, he's kind of mean to me every now and again. And yeah, we don't talk Like, yeah, okay, they're literally being showcased as strippers Like you know what I? Mean Like, yeah, you're right, but I think that's almost kind of true to her Mines characters, where she wants to like see the good in any situation but like not in her situation or not with Draco or whatever. I think it's almost kind of true to her character, you know what I mean. Like she like it's unreliable narrator, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1Anyway, but and the brain, the mental issues that she's been dealing with like yeah yeah, but I also like that she, draco, ends up giving her a potion eventually.
Speaker 1That makes her like completely numb to everything I guess is how I would say it. And then you. Then I was like well, it should click on her, cause she, when she takes it the first time, and she just feels like nothing's important, she just feels very like level. She's like, oh, is this what it feels like to be you? And it's like, yes, girl, maybe he's taking this potion all the time. You know what I mean. Or like he's just really good at these, like Mental blocks, but trigger warning we're gonna talk about like the, we won't get into like any kind of heavy detail but, we need to discuss.
Speaker 1There is like a scene where he has to perform what he has to rape her. It's terrible, it's hard to read when you first read it. Just because I remember when I read it the first time, my first thought was like I don't know how we're gonna come back from this.
Speaker 3That's what I thought too.
Speaker 1I was like how do we come back? As soon as I read them like and like look, how huge this story is I'm like how are we even coming back from this?
Speaker 3And this is like the first like couple like pages, like you know, like it's in the first few chapters.
Speaker 1Which you know, like where does this go? So, as you come back from it, in a sense, obviously, but it's just very I just remember reading it. I was just like, oh my cause, I hadn't read fan fiction in such a long time and then I started reading it again. I obviously read Jerry Cohen, hermione I had to read, like a couple of things. I think I read Breathmints and Battle Scars.
Speaker 3You just are going up for the heavy hitters and then I hit.
Speaker 1well, then I read something like isolation, and then I read this and I was just like oh my, it's depressing.
Speaker 3There's a bunch of stuff in there.
Speaker 1Well, isolation's pretty, not pretty. I mean, there's some darker stuff but it's nowhere near the same.
Speaker 3Yeah, it's like it's just depressing. This is just like fucking dark. Rip your soul out of the bag, yeah.
Speaker 1So basically and this is almost exactly like the Handmaid's Tale Like they can't move for five minutes and it's five days out of the month. It's like supposed to be when you're ovulating. So this is like literally identical from the show versus just like the way the act is performed is different, but like right cause they have to do it like on a bed and the wife has to be there Totally yeah, yeah. Which they mentioned in a story is like I'm not going to be a part of that, Like yeah, yeah, you know how.
Speaker 3I know that Because I'm reading a Ray Lofick that's the Handmaid's Tale crossover. Is it good? It's so good, but it's exactly like that you guys are reading more Handmaid's Tale stuff after this.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's cause it's so good. But it's the kind of thing like we keep saying it's so dark and sad, but it's so intriguing in the sense that, like society is so fucked up.
Speaker 3Well, I think it's. We just want a good outcome for it. I think that's what it when I see our character is like overcome it.
Speaker 1Well, I think it's cause we want our world to overcome it too, like they're like oh, this cannot stand.
Speaker 3I don't know if that's going to happen, but we're here for a good time. You're here for a good time. We're here for a good time.
Speaker 1But the big thing with this that they talked about is if Hermione's not pregnant, every two months they check on her Healer Stroud does, and then she has to go visit Voldemort and he's going to check her memories until she's pregnant and so like, which is just a terrible experience, yeah, so the first time she goes to see him and obviously he's not careful about going through her memories or anything. Again, nothing's unlocked. He does go through her memories and he sees how much she wants to kill Draco and he like makes a point of saying that. And so then I remember when I was reading that I was like he's, like I knew there had to be more of this fake, this huge everyone loves it, whatever. And I was thinking I almost wish which obviously the mental space she's in and her character probably can't come to it. But you're like maybe that's why, Hermione, she wants you to hate him so much right now, because he knows exactly what he's looking for the Dark Ward.
Speaker 3Wait, wait, wait, Say that again. Yeah, I think I'm confused.
Speaker 2Basically, you realize that her memories aren't safe because Voldemort's going to be viewing them, so it makes the reader who's read other fanfics wonder like is this why Draco's asking? This is why he's being over the top.
Speaker 1Cruel to her at some point.
Speaker 2He wants that in the front of the mind. Yeah, he likes.
Speaker 1Thompson about killing Dumbledore. Thompson about killing some of her friends. Thompson about how stupid the order was. He's very mean but I will say the order was fucking stupid. Like I will get into it obviously in part two, when we talk about flashbacks.
Speaker 3I got some thoughts, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1But anyway, I just remembered that scene. I was just thinking in my head. The first time I read it I was like, oh, like this is building towards something else, because clearly he wants this person who controls his entire life to think that he's doing everything he's told.
Speaker 3It's almost kind of like the auction, when again Voldemort had to come and look at her memories, right, and see if Draco was raping Hermione in that one scene, right. And then they're on his bed and he like pretends to rape her and you know, she's like what's going on? He's like attacking her, like, but like whatever, pretending like he's making out with her and like groping her, but he doesn't actually rape her. But that is, of course, still traumatizing for her and that's the last memory she has. And then he's like oh, we're going, it's time.
Speaker 3Yeah, and then it's at the front of her memory and that's the front of her memory, right, but that was all very strategic on both of these Draco's parts and Voldemort is satisfied, right, like well, yeah, in some aspects.
Speaker 1But Well, he's satisfied enough, I think, to be like okay, well, you're doing everything you're supposed to do.
Speaker 3Yeah, like Satisfied with Draco, I guess.
Speaker 1Yeah, but after this happens we kind of go back and it's kind of like the same old thing with Hermione, like she doesn't, she can't really do anything. She goes outside once a day, she's kind of trapped in her room. But when she's dreaming we start seeing these like dreams come and it's nothing concrete. Oh my gosh. But I remember when I got to the flashbacks and the scenes.
Speaker 3They actually happened.
Speaker 1But it's like memory. She knows their memories. It's like conversation. At first it's just like conversation she's been having, she's had with Jenny. They don't make any sense, but she knows they must be important for some reason, and so I like that was like a silver lining in this part. For sure, when you read it it's like, okay, there is a reason like she's protecting something in her mind that involves like these conversations.
Speaker 3The biggest one which I got to, which was crazy, was the Angelina conversation, because you see, angelina, she is another captive and she comes up to Hermione at one point at the beginning, when they're back at, when they're at Hogwarts and she was she just says to her like I'm so sorry, we should have listened to you, you were right about not using dark magic.
Speaker 1Yeah, and Hermione is like what the fuck are you talking about?
Speaker 3Like obviously because she has no idea what's going on. And then you get to that conversation. This is in the flashbacks and Hermione Angelina gets attacked out in the battlefield and she's like Hermione, like why do you still want to use dark magic? We're winning, we're using light magic.
Speaker 1Yeah, they think they're winning.
Speaker 3No one's winning, I know. And she's like, come on, like why do you still want to use dark magic? And she is just like so condescending to Hermione and Hermione is literally like, obviously we'll get into it. But she's just like, do you know what the fuck I'm doing right now? Like she, this is kind of a little bit into her relationship with Draco and it's just it's so terrible to think about where it's going. Where it's going, but also how it's going to go.
Speaker 3But then, yeah, just how Angelina, like, and then Hermione's thinking to herself, like she says to her what do you think's going to happen if we lose this war? What do you think's going to happen to us? What do you think's going to happen?
Speaker 1to us.
Speaker 3That's a good thing, that's a good thing to come out of this. What do you think they're going to?
Toxic Positivity and Changing Beliefs
Speaker 2do to us. I feel like this thick really cemented for me that there is such a thing as toxic positivity. But the order attitude actually crosses into deadly positivity and Hermione continues to be the voice of reason and logic. No one listens. No one listens.
Speaker 3No one listens. So terrible.
Speaker 1No one listens to a smart lady in the room. That's for sure. No Sad. I know it's really sad. But this is also the scene where Draco finally, like Hermione's pretty much telling him. Like I can't do anything all day she tries to sneak. She reads one of the newspapers he's left out when they're out walking one day and it's all propaganda obviously, like it's nothing real.
Speaker 1Nothing real but still anything to read. So then she is allowed. He allows her to ask the house elves for stuff, and so they can't give her any books because Astoria has charmed them to burn her if she touches them because she's a bitch. But she can't get the daily profit and so she starts making paper cranes. After she reads them she tears out the papers. So I highlighted she has a memory from when she was a kid with her parents, and so this is like she's a little girl with her parents in the table and her dad says if you fold a thousand cranes in one year, you'll get a wish. A male voice said no, you get good luck and happiness. Came a woman from the voice in the next room and he said same thing. And then they talk about how it's like, but it was just like this really cute, nice memory, and so I like the idea that she has something to occupy, like her hands, and she's folding these cranes, and obviously the paper crane thing is a huge theme following for this book.
Speaker 2And it was a long time coming, though, even getting the newspapers, because for so long she could not or didn't believe she could speak unless spoken to Like this is one of the compulsions on the manacles, so if no one says anything to her first, she can't initiate a conversation.
Speaker 2So, she's not even been allowed to ask can I have a book or can I have? When they offer, she's like well, I probably can't have yarn or string or knitting needle, like there's this laundry list of things she can't have because she could do harm with them.
Speaker 1But I think it's interesting that she figures out that the compulsions is kind of in her mind too, because it's what she thinks it means. So she thinks of it and Draco kind of leads her to that too, which I liked. It's very subtle, but he's like well, no one says you can't speak unless you're spoken to. You came to that conclusion of them saying you need to be quiet. So then she realizes that she can't initiate conversations, which I really liked. Yeah, I like the work around. But one of the memories after she has to visit Voldemort for the first time when she's not pregnant for the two months, one of the memories that comes back is her sitting on a rooftop talking to Harry. And it ripped my soul out, I know. But she's just saying he looks like he's beat up from a fight and he's smoking a cigarette. And they're up on this rooftop and you get her commentary. She's witnessing it and she's like why aren't you hugging him or touching his hand? And I just love the quote where he says what happened to us. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3It's funny because it's really sad reading it the first time, but then in the actual memory scene I was like fuck you, harry. It's what's funny how the emotions changed. Does that make sense? Yeah, anyway, that's all.
Speaker 1I know the perception is everything here yeah.
Speaker 3Yeah, I mean it's still in general very sad because it is like two friends obviously drifting apart and they've changed and their idea of how to win the war and the relationships they've gone in separate ways. But I think because of that it's like kind of who we support is why my attitude has changed.
Speaker 1Yeah, like the blind which we can get into this, like the actual memory, someone that's just happened, but the blind faith that is happening, like that. He's like this is just what's happening, no matter what is going on around us is baffling. Well, it's just like the kind of thing in any kind of situation, when someone's beliefs are so hardcore that they can't even see anything else, it just it's bad on you, like it doesn't matter what you believe in that hardcore Sometimes it's just like whew.
Speaker 2I feel like that's very reflective of canon, though, yeah, harry's faith in. Dumbledore, Harry's faith in the greater good and you still have Hermione, like planning worst case scenario with the Beaded Bag with the expandable charm and saving everyone's ass even then.
Speaker 3Yeah Well, even just having an open mind about Snape, right, hermione had an open mind about Snape, whereas Harry was just like he's evil, he's so awful until he got those memories and kind of knew the history of him with his own mom, and you know what I mean, and it was just Like you said, he was just right Right.
Speaker 3That's true too, but it was just like you said. Yeah, he's just very stubborn and, you know, eventually opened his mind but like, yeah, it's like, why couldn't you like learn from your past mistakes, Harry, and kind of one, listen to her mind but be more open and willing to to realize there's not things are always black and white or light and dark. Right, there's gray and there's. It's going to be kind of ambiguous in certain ways.
Speaker 1And it's really the more morally gray characters that really save everything to even a cannon Like it's Narcissa who like yeah, saves, harry. Yeah, I mean like she's like a morally gray character.
Speaker 2Yeah she's not good, she's not bad Like yeah, which is where we went wrong with this thick, because it wasn't Narcissa that checked on Harry after Voldemort had initially used the desk. Curse on him it was. Lucius. So of course he gives Harry up like no he's which are you.
Speaker 1They just think it's interesting how that gets sprinkled in there, like how all these, like previous things have the consequences that lead down the line Butterfly effect.
Speaker 1Oh, speaking of speaking of minor things, that change thing. I forgot to mention that during all this happening like Hermione getting acclimated to the manner and like trying to walk and follow these cranes story is like carrying out this affair with some man in the manner and Hermione keeps running into them. She makes a joke that they have sex everywhere, but in a room. So, like any room, she's exploring hallways whatever, but Draco don't give a fuck obviously Like he checks. Hermione's memories. He literally doesn't care.
Speaker 3Like they can get in front of them. He wouldn't care.
Speaker 1Yeah, but that just is something that is a bigger deal, obviously, you know soon, yeah, soon.
Speaker 2Did you all catch, though, even early on, Hermione tries to be very considerate of him when she first stumbles upon this, like she makes it a habit to like step back, not spend an overly long amount of time viewing what's happening. Yeah, like he's gonna see this.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, I don't want him to have to, like see his wife having an affair, yeah, and then she's like, oh, okay, he doesn't literally care less, but one of the things that I really like. So she finally is able to, like explore the grounds a little bit, get away from Draco and be on our own. We kind of see her getting a better handle on her phobias and she actually stumbles across narcissists like I don't know if tombs the right word, but like her maza lamb on the grounds, right, and I can't say it in Latin, but it tells you what it means. She has this like Latin phrase above the top and it's the stars and client as they do not bind us, and I just love that. It's pretty, it's just pretty.
Voldemort's Disturbing Visit and Hermione's Isolation
Speaker 1I think it just kind of makes me think of this fake too a little bit. You know what I mean. Just, you think it's gonna have to go some way, because it's supposed to be like good over evil and all this stuff. But different things happen, so sorry, I'm in a weird pain. So we get another two months into it. So she's been at Malfoy Manor for four months and she's still not pregnant, which you're glad about. You know what?
Speaker 3I mean, yeah, it'll get way worse after that happens.
Speaker 1Yeah, I'm assuming, but unfortunately she has to go see Voldemort again, and this is different. She notices immediately like he's not sitting on a throne this time. He's like sitting on a pile of snakes, like she says.
Speaker 1It's very like it's so creepy, it's so creepy, there's like snakes everywhere, it's like a weird vibe. Vibes are weird, vibes are weird. But anyway, he goes into her memories. This pissed me off so bad. There's nothing new in there. Obviously, like he watches memories of the dreams, she's talking about Jenny, but there's nothing in there. So he finds that she's been making those paper cranes and he destroys her memory of her parents teaching her how to make paper cranes, like destroys the whole thing. And I was just like. I was really heartbroken. I was so it's like her one, it's like the one joy in this whole entire first part and it's ripped away from us. So it's really sad and like when she comes back from. Well, later on, when she comes back from that visit, she sees the paper and she sees some of the cranes Right, no, she doesn't, yet she does she sees yeah, she sees the cranes, but she doesn't know how to make them anymore.
Speaker 1Like the paper, she doesn't know how to make them anymore and then she makes some comment like oh, maybe she learned like somewhere else, but like the whole idea that was like this really core memory with her parents is gone, but when she is with Voldemort he goes through her memories. What has I forgot to mention? Umbridge gets attacked and murdered. At this ceremony. They're like putting a statue of a Voldemort, hogwarts or whatever, and Umbridge is there with the Prime Minister and they say that it was an attack on the Prime Minister, but it got Umbridge instead. And who did it? They say the order did it, but we don't know who it is. Drake was supposed to find him, which he hasn't.
Speaker 2Then Wait, have we mentioned that the order has all been branded terrorists? Yeah, they're terrorists. Yeah, like that was the rebrand, and it's mentioned several times that history is written by the victors, so that like plays into kind of the story. Set you up more in the flashback scene, but because it's all out in the newspaper that this is a terrorist attack.
Speaker 1Yeah, and but when I read that part too about it getting her, and it gets her right through the chest, it destroys that necklace. And so then you're like I remember, I remember when I was reading I was just like what is going on, Like who is doing this, Like it was very well it was kind of like what you were saying, like who was left in the over. Everybody's dead. I was like, literally, I was like who the fuck could it be? Because everyone's dead yeah they like shackled.
Speaker 3Both said Moody's dead right Like McGonagall's dead All the Weasleys. Yeah, don't tell me I don't know.
Speaker 1No, we won't. Okay, don't ruin it, stacy. I would never know. What I was going to say is that they spin it and the newspapers that like it was an attack on the Prime Minister and he was saved, but Voldemort knows that they were going for Umbridge. He figures that. And then Hermione figures it out from this, which I just thought was really clever of her to like, once they get away from Voldemort, she's talking to Draco and she's like why is he so concerned? Like the order can have this big falling, and then it kind of clicks with her.
Speaker 3She's like he's dying, like he went after that necklace, which we know is a Horcrux, which is, you know.
Speaker 1Obviously, like you said, he means he's dying which and then Hermione starts talking to Draco about it. She doesn't know that they're called Horcruxes but she's like it's got to be like part of this. She figures it out because she absolutely could. But as soon as she pretty much gets back from that encounter, she starts having seizures. She's a really bad seizure and it's terrible. But we get like a ton of memories when the seizure happens that like cracks up in these memories. So we get to see Ron in the order, which I always like when they write Ron as like a smart guy, well, like battle savvy.
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah, smart and the same thing Like you could with strategy can contribute in something? Yeah, but like that's kind of like true to his character, like he was always good at chess and I think he would be smart if he ever, like, became like a general or like, yeah, good in in war, have a good instincts.
Speaker 1I mean he's still a dick in this but like right, but he's like. He's like the main strategy person for this. It's like Hermione makes a comment that like he's sleeping with a bunch of people, but like how stressful it is. They're like 22 in this and she says how he has gray hair and we get a lot of memories like we understand that she's a healer, where she went to school, all this stuff and these memories that come. But you get really annoyed pretty quickly, which is a theme in the flashbacks. It's like everyone's like oh, you're not out there, you don't really know how it is she. They like in some of these memories talk about the injuries that she's like a porcupine gets, like in someone's chest.
Speaker 2Yeah, I'm going to interject, though. Do you think we're all healthcare? Do you think we maybe feel that a little more because we can empathize with what she's seeing?
Speaker 2Not that it's that bad, or at least what I've seen is not that bad but I feel like it's much easier for me to imagine that than maybe like a lay person who is not associated with what you mean to imagine what well like her, being stuck in a war, not leaving ever, like I don't know if you've ever not been relieved off of a shift because it's so bad, there's not enough people, and and you're just like imagining this and then then like downplaying it, basically that you didn't fight and you're just like.
Speaker 1You're like do you know what I'm throwing down right there? I think it's true.
Speaker 2Like.
Speaker 1I think healthcare worker like we are, like that was a battle.
Speaker 2Yeah, this is a war, but I can see other people who don't have that perspective being like well, I kind of get it Like she's not on the front line.
Speaker 1Yeah, well, I think some of this too is like obviously like Ron and Harry and all them that are quote unquote out there fighting like they've all trauma bonded together because they're out there fighting.
Speaker 3That's true.
Speaker 1So, like Hermione on both ends is missing out on this bond Not that it's like a great bond, because, like we bond with people that we work with and how she doesn't have anyone.
Speaker 3She says Poppy is kind of older, palm Free is like older, and then she slowly had to bring in Padma.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 3Right. But again I'm like in the middle of this, so like Padma just like had her foot like torn off, so she's like in the middle of trying to like slowly help replace Hermione because they whatever like, but again.
Speaker 2This goes back to when they branded everybody as terrorists. They got rid of all the half blood healers and things from St Mungos. They like kill everybody and then they can't recruit anyone to the order side.
Speaker 1So they're terrified.
Speaker 2No one like Madame Palm. Free from Hogwarts is like the most experienced healer.
Speaker 1They have at the beginning of post war yeah, and I think it's just like this theme of like isolation with Hermione through the whole thing, it's very isolating. Yeah.
Speaker 3Yeah. So I mean, I think you're right, we probably empathize with her more than anyone, but I think Again, probably why this fic is so great like you know, popular and great is I think a normal person would empathize you know, it's obviously from her point of view too, but like I mean that's just insane to like one.
Speaker 3I mean she's also like their friend, like even just like Neville, like you know, and I don't think he was the worst out of everyone but like it's like why can't you just have some compassion for your friend, who's one healing you after coming back from all of these battles but terrible injuries?
Speaker 1Again.
Speaker 3I also understand. Like they're going through their own stuff. You know, think about Remus who has to. Like you know he's out there battling and transforming every month, and you know what I mean. Like they're going through their own stuff, yeah, but it's just. You know, they're losing people all the time. I just read they just came back from a battle and they just lost like five or six people. So it's hard I understand. And obviously I just again read another scene where Hermione and Kingsley like he was like in another life, I would like we would be friends, but like I have to like separate the fact that you're one of the people that I really like, but like I can't. I can't play favoritism because I'm responsible for everyone in this order.
Speaker 1And we and we kind of talked about this into. There's a flashback at her being like one of the meetings and like how she's saying that they need to use darker magic and we get into this which is important to know, that like if you use darker magic it can alter your soul and your magic later on and stuff. But the big thing is like Harry and how Harry has everyone riling with him, which you can see to an extent. It is like we will be the light, like we're not going to use dark magic and ruin our souls. But Hermione's like okay, we, they're not even. Like we're using like defensive spells like expelliarmus people are just getting murdered Right.
Speaker 3She's like we're not holding back.
Speaker 1We're not even playing games here, yeah.
Speaker 1So the flashbacks are really interesting. And then you know we're just getting more memories. She's we slowly noticed that like as it was on Draco's less and less cruel to her, yeah, especially when she comes back from that second meeting with Voldemort, and he's been crucial to get some of these memories back. He is even like offering up information to her at this point. So it's, it's like he's kind of letting you down defenses to, I feel like. But we get back to the main.
Traumatic Events and Unexpected Twists
Speaker 1Are in a story is planning this party, this equinox party, right outside the like side of the house that Hermione's room is on, and at this point she isn't. Her phobia isn't as bad of being outside, so she explores more. So, since this party is going on, she is like kind of outside just like creeping around, like just seeing what's going on, like hearing the music and stuff. And we see Montague. He's there and this asshole, you know trigger warning with like assault coming up, but like he he starts. She doesn't understand, but he like starts saying things to her like you were supposed to be mine and like all this stuff, and saying something about how like he was going to get her and how he owes, owes her for like what she did. She has no idea. We saw him out. So then he so crazy, he like confounds her so she can't move, and all this stuff, and he's like attacking her, like ripping at her clothes and stuff, and like this like side path garden where like no one can see like hidden and I don't get into.
Speaker 1Like you know he's being a fucking asshole and it's traumatic but she thinks it comes out of nowhere and she doesn't know why. But she says out loud mouth always comes. For me she whispers when I read that for the first time I had fucking full body chills. Yes, Ashley won chills. Ashley won.
Speaker 2I like it. I've gotten used to being number two. I was really the number one.
Speaker 1I just think her saying that and it comes out of nowhere, so it's like a memory. I was like, okay, so we know. Concrete, like this is like there's a reason she's hiding stuff, like it's, it's coming to a forefront but your fucking shows up because he always comes for her. He always comes for her and he just like loses it, like attacks, I mean literally, he like guts, he got his intestines fall out.
Speaker 2Wait, not right there, though. Yes, no, he ends up at St Mungos and he does it again. He does it again. No, he does it in the war again.
Speaker 1He kills him at the ward and does it again. But it says, because I highlighted it, it says in here like there, the picture is like from the front lawn to. It's like, yeah, it's like there was guts all on my word, I missed this part.
Speaker 2I had that all happening at St Mungos. I mean it does happen.
Speaker 1So yeah, yeah it happens there too, okay, and you think, oh, this is traumatic, it can't get worse. Well, but you do wrong, you do wrong. So pretty much immediately after this incident with Montague happens, hermione's in her room and here comes Drey, goes out of the country, fullmore still pissed that they can't figure out who killed Umbridge, like he's on this mission, and basically Astoria fucking loses it. She figures out the Montague is only having an affair with her. To get to Hermione, we learn, which was really interesting.
Speaker 3So that was the thing. It was Graham that she was having. Graham Montague is who.
Speaker 1Astoria was having that affair with and that, and Hermione didn't know who was when she was seen in the manor. But then we learn which we didn't know beforehand Astoria tells her that like Draco didn't even live at the manor at all before Hermione came to stay there, like he was never there, he didn't live there, astoria was there alone. And suddenly Hermione gets assigned there and he's like warding the entire house, like warding her rooms. He never talks to Astoria, but he's like walking Hermione around and so she just like she like cracks, she like loses it, and it's like really intense, it's really hard to read, trigger warning for like graphic violence. She starts poking I know Hermione's eye out with her wand. It's nuts, it's insane. But Jericho obviously always comes for her and he shows up and saves her. And even a story is like how are you here? And he like operated across countries to get there, which is wild. I mean she almost does this right, that wasn't that wasn't wild.
Speaker 3What was wild is that he knew she had healer training and he has her walk him through how to heal her eye. Yeah, Like in the middle of it. That was wild to me and I was like what is happening?
Speaker 1It was a great thing happening. The part of the he was like tell me what to do.
Speaker 3Tell me what to do. And she's like telling him and she's like semi in shock and she's like you need to do this, you need to do this, like, and he like heals her eye while it's like falling out and like punctured and all this and he like saves her eye because he has like basic knowledge of healing as well. But it's, it was just insane.
Speaker 1I was just I love that scene because after it's all said and done, and like he's helped, like heal her eye, they're like talking. She's asking him like how did you know to do this? Why didn't you take me to some St Mungos? And he's like, well, I'm I know enough to know that if we operated with your eye like that, like you lose it. And then she says to him where did you learn to hear, she asked, thinking back on all the spells and diagnostics he had known. Immediately, and a smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth.
Speaker 3And I just wanted to like chuck my book because, I love it so much.
Speaker 1I just love it so much. Yeah, also, I know I stuff really freaks me out. I know it does. I don't, you didn't like it. It's hard to read.
Speaker 2I appreciated, though, her level of work, being able to work through the shock Like. I felt like that was true to Hermione and just true to this character. Even just she's seen all this and been through so much that she just goes straight to work like, okay, we're gonna fix it.
Speaker 1Yeah which I think is just true with anyone who's ever worked in any kind of like traumatic situation, even as like a healthcare worker, that you can just like flip it like you have sometimes.
Speaker 3I thought that was really cool. But again like I was, like he was like the only person that would know how to feel this is you. Yeah, you need to tell me I can, I can do it, but like and that just again goes back to like their relationship he's like I can, I can do it, you've helped me like with the basics, but I don't know like way up here, you know, I mean, but yeah, he's just crazy.
Speaker 1And she also says and she says it in the scene, and then he has like an eye specialist comes here and they say it to. They're like, oh, you would make a great healer.
Speaker 2And you're like. Yeah, everyone keeps telling me that like in a different lifetime. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1So I thought that was great.
Speaker 3Yeah, that was a great, I forgot about that. Yeah, he brings the. Yeah, he has a healer like comes here.
Speaker 1I just really like it and then I forget if it was. I think it's after the scene. Her, we, you know, she, she hasn't been pregnant. Healer strata, saying that they can't, she, you know, they can't keep, he can't keep doing the whatever. The assault on her, I guess, is what we'll call it that way needs to be more personal, because magical pregnancies are more complicated than normal, to jump back into it. So they have to like be more like intimate, intimate. And so there's a scene where she is taking potions and she thinks one of the potions they left is like one of the ones to calm her down and it's a lust potion. So I was really uncomfortable to read and but I will say it was.
Speaker 1You can tell from that scene how much Draco hates. Yeah. That was like the only like clear thing to get from that, I think, is that he was like he throws up yeah immediately after. So that was like a good for his character, like a redeeming quality, I think. But after that happens her money thing, she's developing Stockholm syndrome and stuff, because she finds herself like caring about Draco, yeah, and it's interesting to like see her mind like right, she's like okay, well, this is what's going on. I have Stockholm syndrome.
Speaker 1But one of my favorite scenes in the entire first part is she's walking in the hallway and Draco comes out of his room and you can't tell immediately. But then she figures out that he's drunk. And yeah, they're in the hallway and she's he's like sitting too closer and she's like he's drunk, like it's not obvious, but like she can smell it on. She can tell and he says if I would have known what you would have cost me, I never would have taken you. And like when you oh my god, like I love that such great writing, the bride is so good.
Speaker 1And then he kisses her and she kisses him back and he gets immediately pissed. He's like what? What the fuck? Like? You know you can tell he like let us, whatever. So he says some pretty mean things to her there because he's mad. And then, like the next day or something, we find out that Hermione is pregnant and it just like, completely, she goes into complete shock. I mean, yeah, who wouldn't you know what I mean? So we find out she's pregnant, she is very ill. I get magical.
Speaker 1It should be like bedridden right yeah, which they kind of hint to the like the more sick you are, the like more powerful, like stronger magical signature your kids have. So like the this. These scenes are really great because she's so delirious at first she doesn't know it's Draco, but like he's there, he's like holding her hand, doing these like hand techniques for her tremors from the trauma, just like trying to be comfort to her, and then I feel like that's, I mean, we already know when you go into it.
Speaker 1You kind of know there's more to the story than when it begins. But like concrete, I think this we're get the idea that, like Draco obviously cares for her, like there's something else going on, but he gets her book that's her very own, that she can read. So she starts reading about magical pregnancy and I really love that. I like the scene where she has to go on a walk and she wants to take the book with her and he makes her leave it. He makes her leave it and she doesn't want to.
Speaker 2Yeah, I'm just a little upset. This is more the realist than the first time through. But I was like this is Draco Malfoy and he buys this girl one book like he can't have one more book Come on.
Harry Potter
Speaker 1At least two. But the very last part of this, like part of this book, she starts having another seizure, right yeah, and then all the memories come back. Then we we don't know what they are, but we just get like two pages of like pieces, really random pieces of like conversation and memories, but then we realize like it's all coming back. I love how this was done though, because it's like it's like all these puzzle pieces and they're not together, Like what's going on.
Speaker 3Yeah, Like what do they mean Um.
Speaker 1I should have brought my physical copy.
Speaker 2Did anyone, like I should know you're not quite there yet, but did anyone accurately guess or have some idea of like, how it was going to turn out? Cause I remember trying to piece the puzzle pieces together.
Speaker 3I didn't want to, I wasn't trying.
Speaker 1I was.
Speaker 3I was trying and I don't think I got even close to be honest.
Speaker 3I, I didn't want to. I wanted to just take it in because I purposefully I mean, I'd been reading Dramani fan fiction for years before. Like I, I didn't. I didn't read this for a long time on purpose One cause I knew it was so dark and so big. Um, and then so. Then, when I finally started it a few months ago, I was like I'm just letting it come and no expectations, cause I'd avoided spoilers, obviously for a ton of years, like even you know, when we talked about when Tom Felton had posted the picture of the Savoy. However, you say that um hotel and Stacey went crazy Like, oh, he's read man.
Speaker 1I was talking out. I know I got some messages.
Speaker 3I don't know what this means. That doesn't mean anything to me. I literally. But the second I read, I read that chapter like what last night or the night before, and I texted them and I'm like, oh, after I read that literal, like sentence, I went to his Instagram, I looked it up, I looked up the hotel and everything and, um, so it's so late to everything. But no, I didn't want, like I didn't want to spoiler and I wasn't trying to like piece it together Like I wanted all to come organically.
Speaker 2You're stronger than I failed.
Speaker 1So you're not smart like that. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Speaking of pieces, she does. I was wrong Corrections corner. She doesn't have another seizure, she waits. So she's like nine weeks pregnant. She's very weak.
Speaker 1She randomly wakes up one day and she's like there was something that she had to be ready for. This is like a quote from the book. Uh, this is like the very last page of part one of the beginning. And she goes there was something, something she needed to be ready for. She couldn't remember. It was important, the most important thing, the thing she couldn't forget, and she had to be ready, no matter what she was supposed to hold on.
Speaker 1And then it kind of goes on. She's like she gets up, she's walking around Drag was like what is happening, like cause she's been like bedridden, and then she kind of falls back. She's having these, she's been having these really bad headaches, and then she starts having headaches. And then she starts having these like memories, hearing things, and she hears Alistair Moody standing in front of her grim faced. An opportunity has come up, one that could change the tide of war, and then he's gone and then she was falling and then it just says she's falling and then she starts having these memories, and it's one of the memories is Malfoy was holding her by the throat and slamming her to the ground.
Speaker 1Once she was in the middle of the battlefield. Once Jenny's crying I didn't mean to One is a quote that says something to warm my cold heart. I know, I know I know One of them that says I didn't want you. One of them says you seem pleased to have successfully horded yourself, happy to know that you've got your chest piece locked in place. Harry standing in front of her, his pale face, enraged, crust, with dry blood. If that's how little you believe in us, then you, then you aren't someone who's helped I need.
Speaker 1And then, finally, the last memory is finally, malfoy was standing over her, his face white, his eyes glinting with rage. I have warned you if something happens to you, I will personally rage the entire order. This isn't a threat, it's a promise. Consider your survival as much as a necessity to the survival of the resistance, of the resistance as potters. If you die, I will kill every last one of them. It was like falling as the past broke threes as the past broke free, surging up through her mind and swallowing her. End of part one. Fucky chills. That's what I was like.
Speaker 3I knew there had to be more, I forgot. She was having really bad headaches.
Speaker 1The entire time, yeah, the whole time. She's pregnant, she is and couldn't eat like last week, yeah, but I will say, like the last two pages of part one like with that is so intense, epic, so good. I need you to finish it now. I'm working on it.
Speaker 3Working on it Do you guys have.
Speaker 1I know it's hard to like there's not like a lot of great scenes to pick from, but Do you three have like a favorite part of part one that you like to read or found most interesting, or anything like that? Well, I mean, it's all so well written. Yeah, I love it, it's all great, but like to reread.
Speaker 1Well, I mean, like was there a part? What was your favorite part? Like I guess the most. It doesn't have to be like good, Like it's not, like what's your favorite happiest part, Like what was the most well-predicted part of it.
Speaker 1Like what was the most well written, or like one that like really made you. Oh, mine definitely. Is like in the hallway when he tells her if I would have known what trouble you would have been, I would have never kept you, or whatever he says. That's like one of my favorite parts in the whole book, honestly. I, I mean I like definitely the eyeball scene for you.
Speaker 3And definitely not. No, that's what I was going to say. That was probably for me. I just felt like that was.
Speaker 1Oh, like her healing part of it. Yeah, yeah. It was just cool, like yeah, I just thought it was so interesting it is cool to see what like a intense healer, like incredible healer, she is in that part. I like when he walks her around the grounds, yeah, I can't say that.
Speaker 2I have a specific favorite, but I think the breadcrumbs that are not as apparent through the first read as they are the second one, but they're definitely there. And, stacey, you talk about this a lot, how you like it when authors put things in and they're not brow beating you to lead you to like these conclusions. I think this is a perfect example of that being well executed, because you start seeing these little pieces that you don't think anything of and then they add up, usually because Hermione spells it out for us. But they're there and I just think it's really subtle and really really well written.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah. I agree Like you really catch it.
Speaker 3This was like yeah, a really well thought out, thick Like the author lets you figure it out. Yeah, so well thought out and well planned, like clearly even. I mean we call them flashbacks and stuff, but that must have been written even before the beginning.
Speaker 1Yeah, I don't even know about the end.
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah, so yeah. Well, it's clear why it's a popular thing.
Speaker 1I say she would say a God tier thing, it is a. God tier thing. And if you thought this episode was intense, wait till we talk about the flashbacks. I mean, lose my mind. I do have a lot of thoughts about the flashbacks, mainly about the order, but I'll save it for that episode.
Speaker 3I know man, I know.
Speaker 1Should we do some kudos, lighten the mood up a little? Bit yeah let's lighten the mood. Good, you can do it. My kudos would have to be. It's been a ruck. Toby's sick again. Heads up if anyone keeps track, he still has an ear infection.
Speaker 1He's had an ear infection since Halloween. Yeah, so my kudos has to be for Theo's mom, Toby's Mimi. She came over Theo's in a bowling league so the night he had his bowling league she came over and hung out with me and helped me put Toby down and it was just really nice and that's nice. It was needed. So it takes a village.
Speaker 3Yeah, seriously, mine is well first for Ashley. Thank you for everything.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, thanks Ashley too for coming.
Speaker 3You can't steal that from me.
Speaker 1Yeah, I am stealing it.
Speaker 3Yes, one, just yeah. Thanks for coming. It's always nice to have you and hear your thoughts, obviously about this fic, and my second one is for my friend, sarah, which I've obviously mentioned on the podcast, who had never read fan fiction and then I told her about Manicold on our vacation.
Speaker 1I mentioned the son of the.
Speaker 3Dags, yeah, and she dove into this fic and has finished it, before me even, and has been texting me about it and she's like she's obsessed and now feels guilty for loving it. She's like this fic is so dark I don't think I should like it as much as I do. And it's so true. It's like the themes in this. Do you want to like something? It stays with you?
Speaker 1I struggled with that too. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3It's like this is my favorite fic. It's about rape, Like you know what I mean. But now she's a supporter of the podcast and obviously like thank you for being open to read something like this. So, yeah, thanks, sarah. And then also like, obviously, thanks to you guys, I love you guys, but thanks to Stacy, because she's now binding Manicold for Sarah as a present.
Speaker 1It's going to be beautiful Just being a pal.
Speaker 3Oh, that's so nice. That's how much she loves it. She's like can you bring your friend bind it for me?
Speaker 1No, any friend of my, chanel is a friend of mine. Yeah, because it's going to be beautiful.
Speaker 3I know yeah, so yeah, she wants a copy.
Speaker 1So, yeah, those are my kudos. My kudos is for my number one, ashley. Oh, that is so sweet. She got up, she went to work early today, first of all so she could get off early to like make it in time to record tonight because we're recording at night. So she not only worked all day but then, like, is coming to record the podcast with us and she loves kind of far away. So this is like a trek and I just really appreciate it because it's taking a lot of time, thank you.
Speaker 1And then also I made her run errands with me today when she got off work. So not only did she work all day, she went with me to like get my eyebrows threaded into a bar. We did go to Barnes Noble though we did so we got coffee and we like browsed around.
Speaker 3You know what you deserve kudos for having to put up with this.
Speaker 1That's what I'm telling you she had to run a bunch of errands and I like made her help me try to put this tripod together and the camera we're not using today. I just like been putting her to work.
Speaker 2So I just appreciate you so much. I appreciate the kudos, but really I appreciate you all. I have so much fun with this and hanging out with you guys like rather we're recording, or rather we're just randomly talking about stuff, or now I've started sending more memes, especially to Chanel. She's been in my hooglet lives. So I appreciate it and my number one, ashley, has been like my first person that I text. Clay lost his first tooth the other day.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, she's so shy she's not helping her decide how much you should give him. Don't worry, I shook her down.
Speaker 2Side note, yeah my kid gave me the ultimate shake down Two belts.
Speaker 3Like going right.
Speaker 2Rate for the tooth fairy is at least $5.00.
Speaker 1Maybe 10. Maybe 10. I was a little shocked. Maybe 10.
Speaker 2You're gonna be broke now. This tooth was tiny too. I'm here to tell you he got the $5.00. But no, you guys are all great and I still appreciate all the work that goes into this. Thank you. I just don't know. It makes me happy. I think the book community is really good for people because you don't always have to be right next to somebody to have that shared experience. Yeah that's very true, yeah that's what we like doing it. Book club.
Speaker 3That's what this is. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1So yeah.
Speaker 3Thank you everyone for listening.
Reading What You Like
Speaker 1Thanks, guys. We can't wait for the next episode, for you guys to hear it. Get it with us, stacy. Read what you like. That's right. Read what you like, chanel.
Speaker 3That's my catchphrase. It's not catching us. I'm trying to make it. It is catching, I like it. I like it.
Speaker 2I appreciate it.
Speaker 1Yeah, read what you like. I like how we did it, it came me up. It took me almost a year and a half to come up with that catchphrase.
Speaker 3Every time I hear it, I cringe. Well, guess what we're gonna hear it every week.
Speaker 1Okay, read what you like. You gotta say it Read what you like, read what you like.
