You know, there are times when I think I've read the last of the great fanfiction. And what I mean by "great" is the unique, the amazingly touching and the insanely intense fics that just reach out and grab me and stay with me and I am not predicting them exactly as they are before they end (hell I write like that a lot of the time, predictable, so I don't mean that harshly).
Take What's Left of MeSpoilers ahoy, because you will not shut me up about this fic.
First off: THIS HARRY! ALL THE AWARDS TO THIS HARRY! He's fucking OMG! From the minute you meet him you can sense all of the love he has for Draco, it is tangible and heavy on the heart. And I wouldn't have it any other way. He is just so
in love and it is as raw and as painful as being in love truly is so I applaud the author.
Most of all what he does for Draco, out of love is so very powerful and heartbreaking. I love it. There is this raw ache that I felt when Harry first held his son and I was so very proud of how selfless and courageous he was to give Draco the one thing Draco wants and despite the fact it must have ached to give away his baby HE DID IT because he didn't want to watch Draco suffer. SO MUCH LOVE FOR THIS!
I also quite loved Astoria. She's like a true friend to Draco, she knows and loves him and wants to give him happiness. There is such intense respect between them, she and Draco and I think it's a rather beautiful friendship.
Quite a few people expressed a severe dislike of Draco in this fic. I cannot agree with that. Personally I thought he was perfection so very canon and guarded and in love with Harry as much as Harry was with him. He's a prick, sure BUT he's a downright nightmare in the books so that's not far off the mark. As far as him not being as in love as Harry I don't think that's true--there is this heavy cowl of duty and responsibility that we see through all the books "What it is to be a Malfoy" if you'd like and I think that is portrayed in this fic beautifully. It's not so much that Draco is a "coward". I mean DUH he is, but he's not as spineless as people would like to believe. It is very selfless to throw away love to do what you feel you must. There are centuries of tradition and expectation and to run away from that, to me, would make him a coward in his own mind. So in his own mind, this Draco, was being brave.
The ending is hard for me to swallow. I mean it's lovely and wraps up the heartbreak in a nice fluffy package. But to be honest I would have loved to see Draco find out and things not change because that sense of duty--the heavy crown that both of these men carry in this fic would have been even more monumental if there was tangible desire and desperation between them and they both knew it would never come to be. BUT alas it is not my fic and I am kind of envious that I didn't think of this first because OMG WHAT A CONCEPT AND HOW WONDERFUL! I mean it. I really did love this fic. Truly and deeply.
Bravo Mystery Author and if you are who I think you are then I already
stalk fangirl your fics like WHOA.