Manacled

Fanfiction
Title:	Manacled
Author(s):	senlinyu, Illustrated by Avendell
Date(s):	27 April 2018-19 August 2019
Length:	370,515 words, 77 chapters
Genre(s):	Post-War, Harry Potter Dies, Alternate Universe - Voldemort Wins, Forced Pregnancy, Imprisonment, Death Eater Draco Malfoy, Minor Character Death, Memory Loss, Eventual Romance, Battle, Rape, Mystery, Healer Hermione Granger, Self-Harm, Slow Build, Angst with a Happy Ending, Espionage
Fandom(s):	Harry Potter
Relationship(s):
External Links:	AO3 Archive Link, Author Website
Cover art by Avendell (2018)
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Manacled is a Dramione fanfiction by senlinyu. It is extremely popular and highly recommended as an example of dark romance. For many new readers, it was their gateway fic to the Dramione pairing. The premise of the work is that Voldemort has won and has enslaved the muggleborns and executed the entire Order of the Phoenix.

Manacled's illustrations were created and gifted by Avendell and can be found throughout the work. However, the fic spawned its own fandom and inspired a huge amount of fanwork for it, ranging from podfics, translations, fanart, fanbinding and other fanmerch.

The fic broke containment outside of fannish circles, mostly to it being shared on Tik Tok. Its popularity on BookTok may have indirectly lead to the unauthorized publishing and sale of the fic as a book.

In February 2024, the author announced that they were reworking the story to be published as an original novel, and that Manacled would be removed from AO3 at the end of 2024.

Summary

Author's summary on AO3:

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.

Plot Summary by Reddit user Draquia:

The framework for Manacled is heavily borrowed from The Handmaid’s Tale, although the plot bears very little resemblance to the show or book. The Death Eaters won the war, Harry and Ron died in the final battle, and Hermione was imprisoned in a sensory deprivation cell for about 18 months. The story commences when Hermione is dragged from her cell by Umbridge, who has been acting as Voldemort’s prison warden and is a clear parallel to the character of Aunt Lydia. Hermione is found to have locked-away memories which legilimency cannot reach, and as she is now the most important remaining member of the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort’s desire to unearth what she is hiding is the only thing which keeps her alive.

Hermione does not know what she has hidden away either as the memories are also sealed from her. The healer who examines her advises Voldemort that now that Hermione is no longer being tortured, the memories should eventually return on their own. However, a magical pregnancy may retrieve them faster and so Hermione is enrolled into the regime’s new surrogate program. The surrogates are the equivalent to the Handmaids, even down to the red dress they are required to wear, though with the addition of extremely sophisticated manacles which prevent the wearer not only from using any magic at all, but also from touching objects which could be considered weapons or harming themselves or their masters.

Apparently pureblood birthrates have been dropping to critical levels, so Voldemort mandated marriages for all his followers immediately after the war. For couples who are found to be barren, surrogates are assigned to bear children for them. Hermione’s case is special as there is another goal to impregnating her. Once she is impregnated, the delicacy of the pregnancy would prevent Voldemort from being able to use legilimency on her without endangering the baby and the memories. However, as the father of the child would share a similar magical signature with it, he may still be able to use legilimency even through the pregnancy. Therefore, Hermione must be assigned a master who is deeply trusted by Voldemort and a skilled legilimens himself. Snape is asked first, but declares himself unsuitable for the assignment, so Hermione is sent to be a surrogate for the mysterious assassin and executioner for Voldemort – the High Reeve. The High Reeve is Voldemort’s second in command; his most feared soldier; basically the Frontman in Squid Game, down to the mysterious black mask. He is, of course, Draco Malfoy.

The story is an AU following Order of the Phoenix, and depicts a much more drawn-out, bloody war. Hermione was trained in Europe as a healer for the Order, and this became her primary role throughout the war. The plot centers around Hermione’s life as a surrogate for Draco, living in the manor and trying to recall what happened during the war. The chapters occasionally shift into wartime memories and what life was like for Hermione even before the Order lost, and both timelines are very bleak. Life is miserable for Hermione, and perhaps just as sadly, it seemed like the war broke down Hermione’s friendships with Ron and Harry long before they died. Hermione has been an island for years.

Once the armour around her memories finally crumbles, the story suddenly goes back to the war timeline and stays there for a good 38 chapters – more than half the story – only to return to the present timeline for the conclusion of what she does with her restored memory.

 

The Work

SenLinYu started posted Manacled to Archive of Our Own on 27th April 2018, with the first six chapters posted on that date. The work — 77 chapters including 3 epilogue chapters totaling 370,515 words — was completed on 19th August 2019. The work had become enormously popular by 2024 with more than 15,000 comments and over 9.6 millions hits, making it one of the most popular works in Harry Potter fandom and the most popular Draco/Hermione works by the metrics measured on AO3 in 2024. The work was relatively popular during the writing of the fic as well, though not approaching the figures reached by 2024; shortly before the final chapter was posted it had 5,822 comments and 8,062 kudos, with plenty of fans reading along with the work as it was posted.

The fanwork would pick up peaks of renewed interest amongst different groups of readers in fandom spaces over the subsequent years, but notably it trended on TikTok — specifically BookTok — in a significant way around about September 2023, and the increased attention sent a lot of new readers to the work.

The author also wrote bonus content, like deleted scenes, and other short stories related to the story, the were complied by the author and cane be read here:

• Extra Manacled Content

Author Comments

The author kept a side blog where they could answer questions about Manacled, and often discussed their process. Here they talk about their frame of mind at the time they wrote the story:

In retrospect, I think I was a lot more depressed at the time than I realised. (Everyone who has read Manacled side-eyes me egregiously.) And, also I was very much a baby writer and I didn't really have a good understanding or practice for separating myself from what I was writing. I am by disposition a bit of a method writer, in part because I was raised in theatre from the time I could talk, so I tend go very deep into the headspace of characters.

On the one hand, I was in a place at the time where I needed a source of catharsis, and writing functioned as that outlet, but I also think it made me spiral somewhat deeper due to my 370k treatise on human misery. And then, at first writing fanfic was all very chill and fun, but during the final third or so, when Manacled started getting popular and there were a lot of expectations, I got really anxious about disappointing my readers, so when I published the final chapter and my life suddenly went from this monumentally intricate project to nothing at all, it just felt sort of empty. I told my beta that it felt like a bomb had gone off in my brain. There were a couple weeks where I teetered on the verge of a sort of dissociative shock afterwards.

But at the same time this was an entirely private hobby. No one in my real life had any idea I was writing at all. So it was a very odd feeling like I'd hollowed myself out and bled for 370k words, but on the surface, in my actual day to day, there were no traces of it.

In summary: I was unwell.

I just wanted to ask, how did it feel writing this story?

And here they speak about Manacled's unexpected resurgence in popularity:

I truly posted Manacled thinking it was going to exist like a little fandom geocache for a subset of a subset of a niche group, and I thought that was confirmed because of the comments from literature majors informing me of all the ways in which I was not telling a story properly. My beta and I used to say it was a story written just for the two of us. But now it feels like it somehow turned into a instagram-able landmark.

hi sen! just wondering how you are doing and any thoughts on what looks like a resurgence of manacled

Fan Response

Manacled has been widely discussed, not just within fandom spaces but also, due to it breaching containment, in more general book or reader spaces. While the fic was being written, a fan group formed on Facebook where readers discussed the work, and discussions and sharing of fanworks on Tumblr were also common while the fic was a work in progress.

I still can't believe I'm going to have to say goodbye to Manacled. I'm heartbroken! I found in Manacled everything I ever sought in a Dramione fanfic, and it was an honor to accompany each chapter, comment and go crazy with every detail of that story. It was, and it's unforgettable!

fanfictiondramione, 2019 

Some fans who read Manacled have described feeling "destroyed" by the fic or experiencing a strong emotional reaction to the work. The fanwork has been described as desolate and difficult to read at times, due to the extent of tragedy, pain, and death that occurs throughout. Some fans of the work have discussed how the grim tone of the work and the focus on morally grey characters were what they enjoyed most about the work, particularly the exploration of characters going through some of the worst suffering imaginable and how that would affect them.

What drew me in might be the same thing that bothers you—how grim the story is. It’s fascinating to see a world where everything went horribly wrong. I’m sure Manacled isn’t the only fic with that premise, but, it’s the most-detailed one I’ve come across so far.

bbsmydiamonds response on r/harrypotter

idk. similar to the handmaid’s tale, which also can seem brutally unrealistic due to buried history, every horror of war senlinyu describes is based in reality. if you’re familiar with the handmaid’s tale, which the inspiration for the breeding storyline is pulled from, you’ll know that margaret atwood has said explicitly that she did not include anything that hasn’t been done to real women in history. senlinyu’s most brutal characters are based off of horrific figures from history (josef mengele, etc). it just might not be for you! i was hooked by how horrifically dark and grim and visceral the story is. it’s almost entirely without hope, and i personally enjoy ruining my sleep schedule for a few days to wallow in the misery of fictional characters, lol. i also thought it was realistic that in a drawn-out war, the dark arts would have such a major advantage that they would triumph over harry’s aversion to them. when you remove the knowledge of horcruxes that allowed him to defeat voldemort and end the war quickly, it makes sense to me that harry could not win.

nightstastelikegold response on r/harrypotter

[valentinevar ]

I finished manacled two days ago and I'm broken and raw on the inside and I don't know how to move on (i read the whole thing in the span of 3 days). I feel I'm never going to read anything as good.

[Late_Connection_2248]

Omg I just finished Manacled and it's 1:30am. My soul is wrecked. This is my first Dramione fanfic ever and I went in blind cause I just picked it off a random "best of" list. 💀💀💀 The nuance, the world building, the ending! What do I even do with my life from now on?!

Whilst writing the work, in response to asks SenLinYu discussed how the work was heavily influence by gothic literature and how they very much see the work as one of tragic romance. When the book became popular on TikTok, some readers shared 'Me before and after reading Manacled' as visual demonstrations of their reactions to the work. The comments sections also involved discussions of people's emotional reactions. There were also particular lines within the work — such as the final lines of the work and the portrayal of Draco's possessiveness over Hermione — which were used in fanworks or the source of a lot of emotional reactions.

Is there a quote that makes you want to burn the whole world down more than “She was a non-active member of the order of the Phoenix and did not fight” in manacled? Because I never stop thinking about it

not-yourfuckingprincess, 2020 

Manacled was also a fairly popular gateway fanwork, with some fans of the work discussing how it was the first piece of fanfiction they had ever read and, having read it, they went on to read other fanworks, both within and outside of the Harry Potter fandom.

I stumbled upon manacled this fall, and it was my first fanfiction ever (I am 52, and read a lot, I have no idea why it took me so long to find fanfic). Manacled was eyeopening as a gateway to fanfiction (and Dramione - I did not know that was a thing either!). I enjoyed the surprise of it, but also felt the emotion of it, having finished it. In that sense similar to, say, The Road, or the Hyperion Cantos or even Lord of the rings: it was a read that I kept thinking about for a while. Though admittedly I think books like LOTR or Hyperion have more depth. I don’t expect to reread Manacled: while I was massively impressed and hooked into the story, like you I found not all of it convincing.

But, as a reasonably well-read lady of a certain age, I do not often encounter a book that packs an unexpected punch. It did not shatter me or fundamentally - or even superficially - chanced my life (except for reading many other fanfics since then which is enriching; and I enjoyed - as a fun piece - DAATMOBIL). Such phrases about life changing, I would expect, are also hyperbole,perhaps?

therealladysybil 

As a fanwork, Manacled arguably does not quite so easily fit within the marketed genres that books are more often categorised into, which can lead to it being recommended in spaces where the readers aren't as used to fanfiction tropes or approaches to fanworks which are apparent in Manacled. For example, the bleak outlook for the characters and the amount of suffering they experience would appeal to fanfiction readers of whump and angst, which are less commonly occurring in traditionally published works. Some of the fan response reflects this as do some of the critical responses, particularly coming out of spaces like romance BookTok, and there has been some tensions arising from misunderstandings around fandom etiquette.

[Tearlesspanda]
Honestly - everyone bashing on a fanfic like this is not OK. If you didn’t like it, just put it down and move on. No need to publicly hate on what someone wrote for free as a hobby in their own time.

It’s a fanfic not a published book. The popularity of Manacled (and others) has completely eroded fanfiction etiquette just so the influencers can have a pay day.

[Timely-Dance]
I’m going to disagree here (unsurprisingly). Everyone critiques books, fanfics, YouTube videos, you name it. Created content will always be explored with divided opinions. And every piece of work on here gets pulled apart - look at SJM. The simple fact of doing something they can’t be recompensed for doesn’t mean it should never be looked at with a critical eye. I’ve already said I respect the author for that, for a labour of love that they will never properly own or be acknowledged for.

I was being critical regarding the mistakes and I appreciate it is fanfic and not fully edited but it was actually merely a surprise due to the effort otherwise gone in, such as it being illustrated.

[hugegrape]
These published works and authors should absolutely be critiqued because they are published works—a commodity, with a team of editors and publishers. Fanfiction legally cannot be a commodity, so it should not be held to the same standard as published works.

I actually didn’t understand this either when I got into fanfiction last year. Authors and people from the community helped me understand fanfiction etiquette and the very valid reasons for it. I implore you to read more into it as I did.

[shekka24]
That's the problem. The culture and etiquette is being lost because the fanfic is being pushed out on main stream platforms like tiktok and reddit. And people fall back on well it was published content so I can publish my opinion as well. And completely disregarding fanfic culture. Can you have an opinion on fanfic, sure! Just don't blast it all over public places where the author can't see it or control it.

Fanfic is a gift, a hobby being shared with us. Just like if your friend had a hobby of baking and shared that with the office. You wouldn't then go all over tiktok blasting it as if it was a real business.

Fanfic is a gift it should be treated as such.

Please remember that someone wrote this for free, with no professional editing or help from a publisher, and that it was meant to be shared with a community of people who love those characters. The author said she wrote it in bits and pieces on her phone while she was nursing her newborn daughter. It’s not fair to rip apart someone’s passion project on a forum intended to share and discuss published works by paid, professional authors. (On the flip side, I don’t think it’s fair to deify a fanfic the way it’s been done on TikTok either, but that’s a whole other discussion)

howlsmovingaprtment

However, there were also a fair number of fanfiction readers and Dramione fans who couldn't get into Manacled either, with discussions about the characters being out of character and the repetition within the work being brought up by a number of those who read it and didn't enjoy it. The more people outside of fanfiction spaces learnt about Manacled the more hype the work got, particularly on TikTok where people were keen to find out what the current work trending on BookTok was about. Some people felt this led to the book becoming overhyped and people being disappointed when they eventually read it, especially those who were less used to fanfiction.

There have also been regular discussions or arguments over the years about how dark the fic is; some fans took issue with the amount of gore, violence, and rape within the work, with some arguing that the work was problematic and that rape was romanticised in the work. Others felt that the relationship between Hermione and Draco was a toxic relationship and thought its popularity amongst younger readers on TikTok and other platforms would give them incorrect ideas about romance and relationships; this prompted discussions often seen in Fiction vs. Reality Discussions. From this have come discussions about how exactly SenLinYu will rework the fic to be an original novel, with some fans expressing scepticism that today's reading audiences — particularly outside of some fandom or dark romance spaces — would be willing to read the characterisations as they stand in the fanwork.

Draco is a highly problematic character, and once he's separated from a fandom that loves him and his character severed from a larger shared story world where he's popular, I'm not sure how he'll be received. I actually suspect it will be similar to Christian Grey.

This is a really good point. I feel like the flashbacks may have to come first in a non fanfic, traditionally published rewrite, because otherwise the beginning could be incredibly off-putting to readers.

I know that if I started reading a traditional book that began like that, and realised Draco's character was supposed to be the love interest, I'd DNF in a heartbeat, without that shared world and understanding of his character it would seem more than a little bit horrifying. But then again, I feel very out of touch with what romance/smut readers seem to want these days 🙃 They certainly seemed to love Christian Grey, after all.

KaleidoscopeDL reply to carolyncrantz or r/dramionebookclub 

Popularity of Tropes and Characterizations

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

While Manacled is not the sole, or even main, source of certain tropes within the Dramione fandom, it may have played a part — directly or indirectly — in the growing popularity of some.

• Morally Grey Hermione Granger -
• Healer Hermione Granger -
• High Reeve Draco Malfoy (or similar) - SenLinYu credited lady_of_clunn's work Uncoffined as inspiration for choosing the title of High Reeve, and Draco being a Death Eater was not an uncommon characterisation or story-line within fanworks pre-Manancled. However, there were some specifics in the brutality, capability, and efficiency of killing of the High Reeve Draco from Manacled which seemed to have been popularised by the work.
• Possessive Draco Malfoy - As above, works had previously explored Draco has a possessive person (more commonly in Harry/Draco works), but the particular way SenLinYu wrote possessiveness in his character appealed to many fans.
• Voldemort Wins
• Origami cranes - While at Malfoy Manor, Hermione makes origami cranes with newspaper pages. Fanart sometimes depicts paper cranes in the background, or Hermione creating them, or even just a single crane with a quote from the story inscribed on it.

Fan Groups

• Group with over 11k members on FaceBook formed while the story was being written.

Fan Binding

There is significant interest in having a bound copy of Manacled, but due to the typesets being taken and sold for commercial use the typesets many used to print Manacled were taken down . In fact, a search on Etsy reveals many copies for sale. Due to predatory practices by some, Senlinryu revised their policy on fanbinding for giveaways, disallowing them .

The author explicitly allows fan binding for personal use and this is one fan activity many fans of Manacled engage in. Some examples of fanbound copies:

• Fanbinding posted to r/Dramione, ^{Archived version} by WangXianEXO
• #192-194 | Manacled by SenLinYu, ^{Archived version} by Worlds Between Bindery
• Manacled by SenLinYu - Half Leather Fanbinding by Cattle Abduction Bookbinding on YouTube

This was my most challenging project to date and the one I’ve felt the most pressure to get right. It seems as if Manacled is THE fic to bind as a fanbinder and I wanted to make sure that everything was perfect, which it wasn’t, of course, but I’m happy enough with how it turned out!

Fanbinding by Witchy Fic Bindery

Unauthorized Distribution of the Fic for Profit

Manacled was one of the main stories at the centre of a binding for profit controversy, see 2024 Harry Potter Fanbinding Controversy for further details. SenLinYu was also made aware that Manacled was being sold as an ebook — on Amazon Kindle and other locations — and asked for their followers on Twitter to send details so they could be reported and taken down. A number of listings were successfully reported and removed.

Fan Works

Manacled prompted a lot of fanworks, both while being written — with SenLinYu adding in links to fan art and other fanworks as they wrote — and after the fic ended. On AO3 there are 47 works linked directly to Manacled as being inspired by the fic; it has also been translated into 14 other languages by fans; and there is a tag 'Inspired by Manacled - senlinyu' on AO3. The Senlinyu Fandom Organisation Spreadsheet has more than 364 fanworks related to or inspired by the fic.

Fanfiction

Alternate Point of View

There are a number of fanworks which explore Manacled either from the perspective of a character from Manacled, or another Harry Potter character and how they experienced the universe which SenLinYu created:

• Unbound by acciosashaa and Shackled by buzzylittlebee, are both retellings of Manacled from Draco Malfoy's perspective.
• Bound and Blinded: The Ballad of Hannah Abbott by LadyofBoneandIvory, a fanwork set in the alternate universe created by SenLinYu, following the character of Hannah Abbott.
• The Secrets We Keep by wickedsiren, a fanwork following Theodore Nott's storyline in the Manacled alternate universe.
• Fragments by pennblack, a fanwork set in the Manacled alternate universe from the perspective of Dean Thomas, also featuring Blaise Zabini as a primary character.
• Shadowed by 3AM__Writer, a fanwork showing parts of the Manacled story from Harry's perspective.

Missing Scenes

Other fanworks of the fic focus on scenes between, before, or after the work SenLinYu had written.

• Manacled - in revealing the truth by weegomo - An alternative ending to Manacled, where the truth about Hermione and Draco's involvement in defeating Voldemort was not hidden
• Final Words by athenaswisdom - A work set many years after the ending of Manacled.
• The Surrogate Files: A Postmortem Report by rufflejax - A work in the style of a formal investigation into the Surrogate program from Manacled.

Influenced by

Other works were not set in the Manacled canon, but took influenced from the characterisation or the world-building that Manacled had, or were otherwise heavily inspired by it.

• Close Encounters by LeighJ - A work inspired by Manacled and Secrets and Masks. 'Narcissa Malfoy betraying Voldermort to save her son brings Draco Malfoy, reluctantly, into the folds of The Order. This does nothing to dull how much Hermione Granger despises him, or vice versa. In close contact with each other, it's predictable that the underlying tensions will come to a boil.'
• Fallen Dynasty by goldensunflowers98 - Another work where the author cited being influenced by Manacled and Secrets and Masks. 'Six long years after the Battle of Hogwarts, war and bloodshed rages on and widowed Hermione Granger is practically the Order’s personal martyr. The head soldier and spy, her days consist of nonstop trials of taking down Voldemort’s army and going on secret missions to uncover secrets to ending the war once and for all.'
• Love and Other Dragons series by orphan_account - A collection of works inspired by Manacled and the Rights and Wrongs series. 'This is a “what if” type of alternative universe series where each part is exploring how would Hermione and Draco get together if ‘that and that’ happened, e. g.: what if Voldemort had won, what if Voldemort had lost, what if Draco and Hermione were to attend Hogwarts Eighth Year, what if Draco was an Auror, etc...'

Podfic

• Manacled by senlinyu - a Podfic by ETL Echo Audiobooks (requires Ao3 account for access)

Vids

Other fans used fanart or scenes of Emma Watson and Tom Felton from other media, mixed with clips and scenes from TV shows or movies, to create fan vids for Manacled. Once Manacled became well known on TikTok, shorter TikTok edits for the fic were also made.

• Draco & Hermione | Manacled by stillhotterthanyours - A fan trailer for the fic.
• HOUSE OF MEMORIES | draco & hermione [manacled] by heartphantom - A vid where the creator started out from the song choice, which they felt represented how they saw High Reeve Draco.
• MAKE IT OUT ALIVE | dramione (manacled: the flashbacks) by heartphantom - A vid focused on the flashbacks from the fic.
• ff: #manacled by senlinyu by slytherinsvault - A TikTok edit to The Hanging Tree
• and did not fight by trvgaryen - A TikTok edit to Daylight, focusing on a line from the fic that has been much repeated in discussions and fanworks
• Manacled, Netflix by maviienrose - A fanvid edit posted to TikTok where the creator has made a Netflix style homepage trailer for the fic.

Fanart

The fic has inspired a large amount of fanart of varying types, here are a few examples

Cover art

• 

  Cover art by nadiapolyakova (2020)

• 

  Cover art by irinakulish_fanart (2021)

• 

  Cover art by theartofmiha (2023)

• 

  Cover art by swottydoodler (2024)

Illustrations

• 

  Manacled by Kalycoris (2019)

• 

  Untitled Manacled art by castiss.art (2021), posted with a quote from the epilogue

• 

  Malfoy’s Rune Scars by heart0glass (2024)

Graphics/Edits

• Manacled Graphics, ^{Archived version} by dracomalfoymiongranger (2019)
• Love is Forbidden Here, ^{Archived version} graphics with manips by grapesodaandpuddin (2020)
• Manacled aesthetic, ^{Archived version} by rinamorten (2023)
• Manacled | Let Me Follow, ^{Archived version} by aemondseyepatch (2023)

Examples

• 

  Manacled moodboard by stinkyweasley (2021)

• 

  MANACLED, chapter 13 New Year’s Eve at Malfoy Manor by mary-shelley-1816 (2022)

• 

  Best reads of 2023 - Manacled by SenLinYu by hannaslibrary (2023)

Fanmixes

• Manacled: A Dramione Fanmix, ^{Archived version} by littletoska (2024)

Meta and Detailed Reviews

• I read Manacled by SenLinYu (a Harry Potter FanFic) by Aviva’s Library
• A deep dive into MANACLED by SENLINYU (explain the plot part 1) and MANACLED BY SENLINYU RUINED ME (explaining the plot pt 2) by Diemmi Le on youtube
• Fic Review: Manacled by Senlinyu. The Handmaid’s Tale-esque Dramione war story that’s taking AO3 by storm. posted to r/HPfanfiction Oct 31, 2021 on r/HPfanfiction and crossposted to authors blog

Fan Reactions and Reviews

I just wanted to pop by and say that while I had been aware of the Dramione fandom for a while I hadn’t until recently dipped my toe in. I hadn’t read fanfiction in 10 or 15 years until last year, when I was completely overtaken by a different ship in a different fandom and consumed more fics than ever previously in a span of months lol. It brought me back to reading for pleasure and I couldn’t be more grateful. And I guess that’s why other fic-related stuff started popping up on my social feeds and I’m glad it did because I kept seeing Manacled everywhere and decided to give it a go as my first Dramione fic. I am changed. There are a few works that live in my heart and soul having a profound impact on me and now Manacled is one of them. My only regret is that it took me so long to give in to my curiosity about Dramione but I’m glad I did and I’m glad Manacled was my first. I am in awe of the creativity of writers in general, and your ability to craft a story so beautiful and heartbreaking and satisfying all at the same time is amazing. Thank you for sharing it 💜

chilledbuttotallyforgettable ask on senlinryu's tumblr

Manacled did something I never thought a fic could do – it took every trope I hated about a ship and spun them together in a practically seamless, emotionally compelling story. Has Manacled sold me on Dramione? No. I’m still waiting for the Dramione fic of my dreams. Would I recommend Manacled to all of you? Yes, I absolutely would. If you think that the triggers in this story will not negatively affect you (and you’re over 18 years of age), then I highly recommend this fic as a tragic, compelling war story to give you a proper sad book hangover. I give this one an 8.5/10.

Draquia on Reddit

To sum up, Manacled is a complex war story based around a well-known ship. It is one of the most complex stories of its kind I have ever read, and it now puts the original Harry Potter in stark relief for me. One who reads this cannot walk away unscathed in one way or another.

Beth Tabler

Beware, it's sick, and it's perverse. It's definitely smut, but it's not really either.

The story is set from Hermione's point of view, post-war, but the bigger portion is one big flashback during the war. The war is going bad for the order, it's much darker than canon and most fanfic I've read. War is heck. There's some torture, a LOT of death and misery, kinda over-the-top with it but that's what makes it fun. The smut itself is part of the story and subdued. It's shying away from description and takes a couple paragraphs at a time. The author is very much in love with the perfect bad boy she moulded her Draco into, so you've been warned about that. Get ready to read about his eyes and how tall he is all the time.

At its heart the story sells itself as a mystery, slowly unravelling as Hermione progresses through it. It's kickstarted by the cheapest device: amnesia (of the magical sort, of course) but I really didn't care. It worked well and I got really interested in seeing where it goes. Eventually it becomes a more straight-forward romance/thriller.

I think the writing was good. There's a lot of repetition but it's by design, and goes with the theme of amnesia and recovering lost memories. There's a little bit of sway in the accuracy of the pacing, but nothing that put me off.

If anything, this is a fic you will remember. Maybe it's just a genre for teenage girls that I've never forayed into before, but the hyper-intense drama and romance did a number on me. I felt my withered old man's heart quiver.

Give it a try if you dare.

sombrero on DarkLordPotter.net

10/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I feel like I got hit with a bludger to the head. Everything I knew about Harry Potter has gone out the window. I feel like I stepped into the Twilight Zone. I guess in some ways I have. I am a mess. The original series ends with ‘All was well.’ All was not well here. Everything was terrible and horrifying.

The reviews said that this was not a happy story, so I was under no illusion that it would be anything other. Yet here I am. I had just finished my reread of Deathly Hallows, and I didn’t want the party to end.

Funny enough, I had never read fanfic before, and boy what a place to start then with this Dramoine masterpiece.

This story was like a Dementor’s Kiss, like my soul was sucked out of my body. My brain and heart are mush. It was so long, yet so well-written. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed such a long book. Every detail made sense to the story, and everything was so well-explained. I didn’t know what was happening or how it was going to end, but I trusted that I would get there. I have no regrets. This is by far my top read of 2023 so far.

queenvreads on Tumblr

Read Manacled by senlinyu. I dont even ship dramione, and i havent engaged with hp content in a long long time but my god it ruined my life in the most exquisite way and apparently is some kind of dramione fanfic gateway for me so now i have a new tbr and im accepting other suggestions

ashleyashleeashleigh on Tumblr

Dramione fic if Voldy had won

The Handmaid's Tale meets Harry Potter

The fic to end all fics

My Roman Empire

Even if you hate the idea of these two together, I implore you to give it a try. It is one of the most heart-wrenching love stories

But mind the tags, please. Steer clear if you are easily triggered by the tropes that are tagged

A happy ending but you're gonna suffer

Oh will you suffer

TheSchizotypalSoliloquy on Tumblr

Critical Reviews

So this fic succeeded in confusing me. I think the author is very talented and has a beautiful sturucture to her story. However I morally disagree with the relationship how it is presented in the fic. If the relationship had panned out differently maybe I would’ve liked it more, but it didn’t. I would say read it if you’re super into dramione because it’s a staple in the dramione subculture. (Literally people print it out in hardback copies). If you’re triggered by rape obviously dont read it. It’s a long process but a very cool au, so read it for the discussion topic, but otherwise maybe skip this one.

ao3-hp-fanfic-reader on Tumblr

Okay, there is no reason that anyone should care about my opinion of this fanfiction, but I just finished manacled. I was getting some Starbucks, kind of processing it, and I just had to put this out in the universe. And it's gonna be super unpopular, but I didn't think it was that great. I mean, in in its entirety, the magic use of, like, medical magic use is really cool. Um, the different take on, like, what would have happened if, like, they lost the war was super awesome. Like, in those concepts. Like, there was incredibly detailed canon pieces in the story that held true to it, but overall, I mean, I just felt like it was kind of anticlimatic. Maybe. I do love a good Dramione. Um, but I don't know. I saw people sobbing and crying over how much they love this fanfiction, and I was like, reading out my Kindle. I got to, like, the 99% and I was like, how am I. It just weirdly abruptly ends, kind of leaving these things obscure. Like, I can't put it into words. Maybe I should, like, think on it more, but honestly, I don't regret reading it, but I would never read it again. I don't think I would recommend it. It's so long. So unnecessarily long. There's chapters like, you'll read chapter 10, and then chapter like, 35 is just repeating the same things that's are, like, established in chapter 10. Maybe that's a pet Peeve of my part, maybe. I mean, too analytical, but I just feel like after you tell a reader once that, you know, the sky is purple, for example. Such a stupid example. You don't have to tell us a million more times that the sky is purple. We get it. Keep going. But that's just me.

kalimhyde on Tiktok

Further Reading

• A 'Harry Potter' fan fiction that imagines Harry died in the wizarding war has taken over the book community by Samantha Grindell at Business Insider (Sept 25, 2023)
• Lots of People Make Money on Fanfic. Just Not the Authors, ^{Archived version} by Elizabeth Minkel at Wired.com (Feb 28, 2024)