jocundasykes

My chief delight in fanfiction is playing within the confines of the facts of the canon universe. I read and write fic because I love the HP books, not in spite of them, and I don’t want to disregard the details within them which I love.

Snarry is my OTP but I like Drarry when done well. Sadly I don’t have time to read widely in other pairings!
 

There are a ton of tropes and themes I enjoy. Here are just a few:

• Enemies to lovers (any pairing) 
• Mentor!Snape, Snarry
• AUs
• No-Horcrux no-HBP AUs (I’m nostalgic for the time when the series was still a WIP)
• Mysteries, suspense
• Plot and symbolism, Chekhov’s gun, red herrings, twists
• Time travel!
• Amnesia 
• Hurt/comfort, angst, pining, arguments
• Marry or Die
• One of them is dying. Then they fall in love. It’s a race against time. Then they don’t die after all
• Stuck somewhere and they can’t leave (Auror mission gone wrong? Auror training programme exercise? Magical accident? Everyone annoyed at their pining so disarmed them and locked in a cupboard? Stuck in a small safe house? House arrest? Only one bed!)
• I like Draco as a Healer, or Auror, some kind of trainee lawyer, Wizengamot Administration Services, curse breaker, antiques reseller, an Obliviator, an Unspeakable, someone who brews potions for St Mungo’s
• I like Harry as an Auror, a Quidditch player, someone who bums around cos they don’t know what they want to do with their life, a shop assistant, Muggle Liaison Office, something Muggle
• I have no thoughts about Top/Bottom, I tend to write switching characters. I’d rather top / bottom stuff was never mentioned to be honest cos it’s just sex positions at the end of the day
• I like the idea of one or both of HP/SS as sexually inexperienced. But can’t keep their hands off each other. They are soo attracted to each other
• I prefer Harry, Snape, and Draco to all be bisexual, and for their previous canon love interests to be genuine. Love the challenge tbh - more angst material!
• I prefer to read M or E fics. If there’s sexual content, they have to be 16+

General details:

• Harry is competent and witty in canon so I prefer to see him portrayed in this way (although he can a bit tongue-tied with girls, some of his worst burns are in response to Draco or Severus being an arse, so a bit of argument/banter wouldn’t go amiss)
• I like small details: personality quirks, details we recognise from canon (scarlet Auror robes, purple inter-departmental memos, talking portraits)
• I enjoy Draco’s redemption – character development from apologies/confessions or otherwise. It could be mentioned as something that happened in the past, or happen in the fic, but I like to know it has taken place. I like the tension and attraction between them, but I would like the bullying/Mudblood/bathroom incident/Buckbeak to be mentioned, partially or fully addressed. And they don’t just jump into bed
• I generally prefer fics set in Europe
• I don’t mind at all if the characters are not Caucasian, but if they are POC I’d like it to come up early so I can picture them as I read

Tropes and themes I dislike:

• Acquaintances to lovers when they are canonically enemies
• Rentboy/pornstar/prostitution AU
• ‘Lord Potter-Black has 18 votes in the Wizengamot’
• Pregnancy (male or female) (do not mind a side character mentioned as pregnant)
• Discovering you are pregnant by accident, babies, childbirth
• Harry’s twin is the boy who lived
• Character bashing. Yes, even Dumbledore. Even Sirius. Even Ginny / Astoria / Lily / etc. I love all characters. If there’s past relationship breakdown, then I prefer the characters to remain amicable, and not have them turn evil.
• Romanticisation, normalisation, or decriminalisation of recreational drug use
• If anything terrible happens (they cheat on each other, one of them dies) please can it be a happy ending. Somehow
• Immediately falling in love/bed
• Crossdressing 
• Threesomes
• Genderbending 
• Harem or omegaverse
• Everyone is Gay / Everyone is Trans / background enemies-to-lovers couples with no explanation
• Incest, including background incest
• BDSM 
• Rape as a plot device
• I would prefer not to read asexual characters
• Passing out after an orgasm, crying during sex

General details and fanon:

• 89 tags that spoil the plot
• Epithets “The blond wizard kissed the older man” “said the Slytherin to the brunette witch.”
• Plots that hinge on misunderstandings/mishearing someone 
• Repeated unbelievable cluelessness/obliviousness 
• ”They always fancied each other”
• Ron Is Evil, or Hermione Is Evil
• Purple prose
• Nice!Snape
• Stupid!Ron
• ADHD or OCD being portrayed as cute
• I prefer to avoid fics where the focus is on PTSD
• Stories that imply Harry had poor mental health throughout canon
• Short Harry (DanRad is short, Harry is tall)
• Fics where Harry’s childhood abuse is significantly worse: violent/sexual 
• I like the magic to fit canon—ideally no overpowered Harry, wandlessly and wordlessly doing magic
• I avoid reading fics with fanon details (Sectumsempra scars, ”Gods!”, Mudblood scar, werewolves being werewolfy when not the full moon, Basilisk scar, Remus’s facial scar, Tempus, ‘Mione, magical cores, Lucius is an abusive husband/parent, wand holsters, Snape is Malfoy’s godfather, school ties, wards vs protective enchantments, Firecall, Auror Corps, glamours instead of specific potions/spells) 
• I like to see British culture in fics set in the UK (ideally no waffles for breakfast, towns laid out in blocks [Milton Keynes aside LOL], takeouts, gift certificates, gotten, “downtown London”, inaccurate portrayals of the National Health Service, skinny dipping unless it’s a heatwave, garter snakes)