Title: Birth of the Serpent King
Author: Keira Marcos
Fandom: Harry Potter
Relationship(s): Harry/Draco
Rating: R (sexual situations and violence)
Genre: Slash, Romance, AU
Genre: Under age consensual sexual contact
Word Count: 105k
Note: link is to her main site. You must be a member to read.
Summary: What if Lucius Malfoy had interfered and saved Harry Potter’s life during the third task? The Harry that returns to Hogwarts after the resurrection of Voldemort has been tempered by fire, the Potter Family legacy, and a relationship he couldn’t have ever expected. In the wake of his father’s redemption, Draco Malfoy finds everything he could have ever wanted in the m an who was once his enemy.
Why You Should Read This: I searched three times to be sure I wasn’t doing a duplicate, because I’m not sure how this wasn’t rec’d already. But here goes!
I was sort of hatin’ on the HP fandom when I ran across Keira’s site. I fell into her sentinel stories first, and stared at the HP section with suspicion and trepidation. But her writing was so damn good, I had to give it a go. Birth of the Serpent King was the first thing I picked up.
This story reframed Harry Potter fanfiction for me in general, and Harry/Draco as a pairing in particular. It shined a bright light on, and fixed, many things in canon and fanon that drove me up the wall. Her Harry is thoughtful, intelligent, and a complete bad ass while still seeming to be authentically Harry Potter. This story also introduced me to the Lord Harry trope, and I’m not sure if I love or hate Keira for that, because I adore it and can’t ever find enough of it. (I’ve tried. Seriously. There’s not enough.)
It’s easy to make it all about Harry, but the Draco in this story is incredible. He is the realization of all the potential we all saw in canon Draco Malfoy. Draco is mature and noble in this story, and it’s a wonder to behold.
It’s one of my go-to feel-good fics, even though I wouldn’t really characterize it as a typical feel-good story. But I feel so much satisfaction from Harry taking control of his life and his destiny, that it can’t help but make me feel better about life.
It was so impactful, that it will always be my favorite Harry Potter story. By any author.