Blackberry Jam (A Drarry FanFiction)

Introduction

This is a FanFiction based on the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended, and all characters are the property of J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Warner Bros. Pictures and any other relevant parties. I am just borrowing the world of Harry Potter purely for the enjoyment of myself and others, no money is being made. 

This started out as a birthday present for one of my dearest friends Maia (@oh-my-fancan) as a play on the old 'we have to share a bed!' troupe, but I quickly realised that it was going to be much longer than I initially thought. So over on AO3 and FF.net I posted the first chapter on her actual birthday, then spent the next three weeks uploading the further seven instalments as I finished them. I decided to wait and post the story on Wattpad in one go, and because chapters are generally much shorter on here, the fic got split into a whopping forty five chapters! This makes it by far my longest stand alone story to date.

I have thoroughly enjoyed creating this AU, however it wasn't always the easiest story to write. Homosexuality was not legal in the UK until 1967, and that was something that had to be taken into account to a certain extent. I would like to flag up warnings for a small amount of internalised homophobia, and a brief mention of thoughts on self harm and suicide. That being said, this fic is mostly just a big ball of FLUFFY, SQUISHY FEELS. So I really hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Whilst working on this fic, two particularly heart-wrenching events took place; the shooting at Pulse gay club in Orlando, Florida, and the vote here in the UK to exit the EU, one of the many immediate consequences of which was an unprecedented increase in reported hate crime by 60% and rising. These events devastated me personally, as they have many people, and it was hard at times to think there was absolutely nothing I could do to help. But by pouring my heart into this story, into these boys, it gave me a sense of purpose, and the joy I have seen so far from my readers was hard to ignore. So I'm very grateful that during these tough weeks in particular, I happened to be working on a fic filled with so much hope. Now I'm sharing it with Wattpad, I look forward to better times ahead. 

I often have soundtracks to longer fics, and songs that inspire me to fully delve into the world I am creating. For 'Blackberry Jam', the two anthems have to be 'Secret Love Song Part II' by Little Mix, and 'Wings' by Birdy. I have added videos of these to this Introduction and Chapter One respectfully, and I implore you to please listen to them both so you can enjoy the overload of feels.

If you wish to share more Drarry love with me, you can find all my stories on FanFiction.net (Juliet'sEmoPhase), Archive Of Our Own (JulietsEmoPhase), and there's daily Drarry feels as well as all my little drabbles over on Tumblr (@julietsemophase). 

If you would like to check out my published books, you can find me as Helen Juliet and HJ Welch on Amazon! 

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy! 

Juliet xxx