Just Another Book About Harry Potter Ships

Dramione (Draco/Hermione)

SHIP NAMES: Dramione, Draco/Hermione, D/Hr, DM/HG, S.S. Leather & Libraries

THOUGHTS: Hnggghhh I've always had conflicted feelings about this ship. On the one hand, I can see why people ship it: there's a forbidden love aspect to it, since Draco is a pure-blood raised by pure-blood supremacist parents, while Hermione is Muggle-born; there's antagonism and a chance for Draco to be redeemed; there's a classic element of rivalry between different Hogwarts houses, and they're also on opposite sides of the war, which adds to the antagonism and "star-crossed lovers" potential; and...yeah, that's about it. The fan claims that "JKR planned to put them together" or "JKR said that Draco was only mean to her because he liked her" are not backed up by any actually verified quotes (trust me, I've done a deep dive of the internet trying to find them, and none of them come from a real interview with JKR — see my "Some General Harry Potter Opinions: Dislikes" chapter for more erroneous fan claims like this one), and most other points that people use come from their interpretation of the movies (where Tom Felton and Emma Watson had chemistry, it's true, and also Felton, by nature of being himself, made Draco more sympathetic and attractive than in the books).

I've also seen fans argue before that Draco is much smarter than Ron and so is a better match for Hermione, but there's no concrete textual evidence of this. Fans usually quote the moment in book two when Harry overhears Lucius snap at Draco that he should be ashamed of being beaten by Hermione for best in the class as "evidence" that Draco was directly behind her in grades, but really, this only proves that Hermione had better grades than anyone else, not that Draco was close behind her. I've always interpreted this scene as Lucius trying to shame/humiliate his son for having worse grades than a Muggle-born student in general, especially since right before this, Lucius says that a thief is all Draco "might be good for, if his grades don't pick up soon," which fans conveniently leave out of their analysis. That doesn't sound like a kid who is near the top of his class to me, as someone who was near the top of her class.

On the OTHER hand, Draco was one of Hermione's worst bullies, and unlike Draco and Harry, their relationship wasn't built off of mutual antagonism from the start. Draco actively hated and scorned Muggle-borns, including Hermione, and he called Hermione the equivalent of a dirty, loaded racial slur on multiple occasions. He explicitly wished her dead at least TWICE, and those are only the instances we see! He identified her at Malfoy Manor immediately, and he also bullied her so mercilessly during Hogwarts about her appearance that she had her teeth magically changed to be smaller. This isn't some mild schoolyard bullying (though any kind of bullying sucks ass) or a mutual rivalry between two equally antagonistic individuals. I will say it again: Draco literally wished Hermione dead, called her vile slurs, and joined a terrorist group hell-bent on wiping Muggle-borns just like her from the face of the planet. Even if he were to reform his ways, none of that sounds like the basis of an appealing ship to me.

So, no, I don't ship Dramione. I've tried several times before to understand why people ship it (especially since it's my best friend's all-time favorite ship, RIP), but I just can't get past Draco's intense dislike of Muggle-borns and especially how he treated Hermione and people like her. I also ABHOR the terrible Ron bashing that too often comes along with this ship. If you have to resort to character assassination to get your characters together and can't think of any other way that they could get together, maybe that's a sign there's something wrong here! I talked about my hatred of character bashing extensively in my "Some General Harry Potter Opinions: Dislikes" chapter, but let me say this right now: Ron would NEVER assault, harass, abuse, rape, or otherwise hurt Hermione, and you better believe that he would never permanently abandon her and Harry, or become a bloody Death Eater, or whatever else fans try to come up with to justify putting Hermione with Draco instead! So please, if you ship something other than Ron and Hermione, PLEASE stop bashing Ronald Weasley! Find a way to get your ship together without shitting on another character unnecessarily, and you'll be much better off, trust me.

P.S. In case anyone thinks it's hypocritical that I ship Drarry but not Dramione, here's a brief explanation of why I think they are fundamentally different: Harry disliked Draco from the start before he knew much about him, and Draco was interested in being friends with Harry before he knew he was Harry Potter. Harry's rejection of his friendship was cold, and the antagonism from there on out was entirely mutual. It was not one-sided. As much as Draco was often the aggressor, they both did terrible things to each other, and then they both saved the other's life two separate times. They hated each other, yes, but neither of them wanted the other dead, and their antagonism wasn't based on one of them hating the other one for something they couldn't change (like blood status). But with Draco and Hermione, Draco hated Hermione because of her blood status, degraded her, called her slurs, and wished her dead on multiple occasions. At least in my opinion, the dynamics of the two ships feel very, very different. But of course, people are allowed to disagree with me!

P.P.S. As much as I dislike Dramione as a ship, it can be alright as a tentative post-war friendship. I don't think they would ever become super close or be besties or anything, but in most Drarry fics, Draco, Hermione, and Ron eventually learn how to get along for Harry's sake, which I do enjoy. Draco and Hermione usually end up bonding over some kind of magical knowledge, or Hermione will get into heated debates with Draco about house-elves or other wizarding laws or traditions, while Ron and Harry (especially Harry, who canonically doesn't seem comfortable with Hermione's habit of getting into heated arguments) usually steer clear of them while it's happening, for their own sanity. (In case you were wondering, Draco and Ron usually end up bonding over Quidditch and/or wizarding chess.) Still, the three of them usually do it for Harry, and again, I can't see Draco realistically bonding with either Hermione or Ron without Harry as a motivator.

P.P.P.S. LET IT BE KNOWN FAR AND WIDE that I hate character bashing in general (have I said it enough times yet? Lol), so for those who might say that Drarry fics sometimes bash Ginny, just as Dramione fics bash Ron, my response is: I stay far away from ALL character bashing! I'll say it again: if you have to resort to character assassination to get two (or more) characters together, that's a sign that something's wrong! So, no, I don't condone or support character bashing. I mean, people can and will do it, and I certainly can't stop them, but I won't be reading or participating in it (except mayyyyybe when it comes to Snape, but I'll talk about that when I get to the Snape ship chapters, so keep your eyes peeled for those). Okay, that's all!

RATING: 2/10: I really don't ship this.

FANDOM RANK (AS OF JUNE 2022): #2

Thoughts? Let me know in the comments!

UP NEXT: Wolfstar (Remus/Sirius)...