FIC: Chasing Dreams (NC-17)

[dracotops_mods]

Title: Chasing Dreams
Author: fantasyfiend09
Prompt: # 69
Summary: Draco can't remember much of last night. Was it part of some nefarious plot? Or has he forgotten the best night of his life?
Rating: NC-17 to be safe
Pairing(s): Draco/Harry, Theo/Hermione
Warnings: slight dub con (spell/alcohol use), bondage, rimming, and swearing
Word Count: 8,000
Author's

Comments

[narryaworry]

Please let me try to explain why I felt it crossed a massive line. While I understand your example of going out to a club/party and your friends handing you drinks to relax is fine, it doesn't really compare to what was depicted. While going to a party with the intent of flirting, dancing, and having a good time is fine and dandy, what Draco was doing was working at a fundraiser for his charity where he specifically took steps to prevent himself from getting drunk. It states that he made sure to only have one drink that he used more as a prop then an actual beverage. More over, he was working. I've worked many charity events, you are on the job and getting drunk in any way is very bad. Getting drunk when you represent your cause to possible donors and legislators can destroy all the work you have done, it could have ruined Draco's career.

While drinking something your friends hand to you is your choice, even if you don't particularly pay attention to it, it's ultimately up to you if you want to get drunk. Draco didn't take the drinks he was given, he pretended to drink his one glass of champagne and when he took a breather from having to work the crowd he was hit with the spell. It's akin to having your friends slip something in your drink without your knowledge and the effects of the spell are frighteningly similar to many date rape drugs out there. From then on he was no longer completely in control of his own actions and from a purely legal standpoint was incapable of giving consent and anything that happens to the drugged person is then considered sexual assault and rape. It doesn't matter that he liked Harry, he didn't put himself into the situation and was not in his right mind by a force not of his choosing.

A lot of my anger stems from the basic immorality of the whole thing. They drugged their friend through the form of a spell. You don't drug your friends without their permission. More over, you don't laugh at your friend when they're freaking out thinking that whoever they had sex with while not in control of their own actions could come back and destroy their life. To me it's not giving your friend a push in the right direction, it's taking away their control then laughing at them when they have to deal with the repercussions. A friend gives me alcohol, I drink it, then they let me do something stupid, that's on me. A friend drugs me when I'm not looking, watches me do something I'd never normally do, then laughs when I freak out, they're not a friend.

[niekebieke]

Dear narryaworry,

Ok, I do get your point and what you describe in the above comment would be a heinous act. But the thing is that is not what is being depicted here or at least not the authors intent. I personally find you are reading a bit too much into this fic.

First let's look at the original prompt:

"Prompt: H/D have a spell induced one night stand, and in the morning, Draco can't remember who the man was, all he has is flashes of sensation and images of a tattoo that belongs to the mystery man. He sets about finding who it was - i.e. H/D Cinderella."

So the prompter asks for a spell induced one night stand where Draco has memory loss and the prompt implies that Draco is not completely unhappy with the one night stand. Ok, so either the writer goes the cliché route of making Draco a party animal where he goes clubbing and tries out a “spell” of which he either knows the side-effects or not. In that situation no question about whose responsibility his morning after is. Or the writer could have gone the route of spell- accident where he is hit and that leads to wild passionate night and memory loss.
The writer tried to circumvent those two slightly cliché routes and went with meddling friends, which is also a well-used story prop.

Ok second task: how to get Harry and Draco together when they are apparently not besties [otherwise tattoo would not be a mystery]. She choose the ministry ball, this ball is just a setting … a prop you will to move her story forward. The whole thing with the squibs orphanage and Draco working the ball is to show us - the reader - that Draco has changed for the better, but that he is still quintessentially “Draco”.
This fic is not an “How to act at charity balls” manual, nor is that the point of the ball. The point was to show Draco has matured and become a better person, but he is still a bit snotty.

Then about the spell itself and Theo and Hermione’ s reactions.

The spell:
What I understood of the spell was that it lowered someone’s inhibitions but DID NOT ROB THEM OFF THEIR FACULTIES nor cause disorientation (more cocktail rather than Date Rape Drug), but it did have the unfortunate side-effect of memory loss. Theo also clearly reassures Draco that the object of his affections was someone Draco wanted and not just a random person:

Draco stopped to look at Theo. “So you hadn't chosen him for me?”
“No, no. That was all you. I mean, I had my suspicions. Well, actually, Hermione did.”

So this implies Draco wanted it but his inhibitions were keeping him from taking action, once those were lowered he had the courage to go after what he wanted.

From Draco’s thought monologue when he woke up and his first thoughts about Theo, we can conclude that he is a bit of a drama queen - this is not based solely on the “I’m being blackmailed” attitude, but on other thoughts as well - and that he still feels he is a bit better than the rest of us. So in a nutshell he is still very much annoying canon Draco, just more mellow and a slightly better version.

Ok, Theo’s reaction. First of they are portrayed as best friends and while I will give you that laughing at Draco was not the nicest response … it was neither an evil “I’m laughing at you”. The writer wanted to convey camaraderie, so she slightly failed there. But you are seriously reading too much into that scene. Theo knows who Draco slept with, he knows bothy were consenting, albeit slightly un-inhibited adults at the time. He also knows “the mystery man” poses no threat to Draco. So he sees an opportunity to get his recluse of a friend back into the world and does just that.
Hermione takes her cue from Theo and she does help Draco find his true love.

SEE REST IN NEXT COMMENT

[niekebieke]

PART 2:

The author did a great job filling the prompt.
Look I understand your explanation and you are entitled to your interpretation of this fic, but I do not think that what you see in this fic was the author’s intention nor what the majority of the readers see in it. I think the writer and the majority of the reader’s see or will see this as HD story with a bit of a Drama Queen Draco who is so focussed on his positive image, a Harry who is slightly shy and thus both of them are a bit scared to go after what they want - i.e. each other and the bondage thing - and then you have their best friends trying to bring them some happiness in a scheming way.

Now like I said what you described in your comment is an act that is way out of line, but that is just not being meant here and while if I squint and look through your pov-glasses I can kind of see where you are coming from, I still think you are really looking for your interpretation in the fic. And that the author’s dub-con warning is enough, nowhere does she say they lost their faculties at the time, Draco lost his memories of the act afterwards … there is a difference.

But we are both entitled to our own interpretations of this fic and I respect yours I just don't agree with it.