A GUIDE TO DRACO MALFOY FANFICTIONS

HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE

How to Win Friends and Influence People by olivieblake on ao3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11208228/chapters/25035075

Plot- 10/10

Readability- 10/10

Smut- 2/10

Banter- 10/10

TikTok breaks- 10/10

Slow Burn- 8/10

Do I recommend? YES

Summary by olivieblake:

Real heroes never quit. Real villains never die. Dramione with ensemble cast, post-war, espionage AU.

Review:

HOW ARE MORE PEOPLE NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS. How to Win Friends is so fun and absolutely hilarious while also having a strong plot and interesting new characters (and ships)! I might be biased because olivieblake is my second favorite Dramione author (next to LovesBitca8) but damn I love this fic. First of all, Hermione is a badass boxer, like what?? And the fight scenes are so well done and detailed, like there's no way any amateur writer could replicate olivieblake's astounding imagery. The D and H dynamic is basically pretend-lovers-to-actual-lovers which is a criminally underused trope in Dramione fics. Their relationship flows so naturally, despite the fact that it's being pushed along by external forces that neither of them are initially privy to. Going back to the new characters: they are able to stand out despite being naturally overshadowed by the og cast. I was genuinely surprised by the introduction of certain canon characters that are in the background of the og series (no spoilers!) and how they become an integral part of the plot. My favorite part of this fic is the hilarious banter from the main duo as well as the rest of the cast. It's incredibly witty, and even the more goofy filler chapters end up becoming part of the plot eventually. My one misgiving of this fic is that because of the many different characters and subplots, Dramione isn't in the spotlight as much as I personally would prefer. This makes it kind of slow at some parts when we're following characters that are less liked. Curse third person omniscient. Also there's no explicit smut, but I didn't really mind. Overall, olivieblake is an amazing writer, and this is one of my favorite fics from her.