Drarry, also called H/D, Harco, Draco x Harry, and Harry x Draco, is a romantic pairing between Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter from the Harry Potter series. This pairing is a type of fan interest, where people support or write stories about a romantic relationship between two characters in a fictional series. This relationship is usually created by fans, not shown in the original books or movies. Over 80,000 stories about this pairing are posted on the website Archive of Our Own.

Background

Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy first appear in the first book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Harry Potter is the main character of the series, and Draco Malfoy is a major opponent. Both characters appear in all seven books and all eight films. Harry is a young wizard who survived a deadly curse cast by Lord Voldemort. Draco is the son of a villain named Lucius Malfoy, who is part of a group called the Death Eaters. In the books, Harry meets Draco at Madam Malkin's, where Draco boasts about his family's pure blood heritage and mocks Harry's friend Hagrid, starting their relationship on a bad note. In the films, Harry first meets Draco at Hogwarts on their first day of school. Draco tries to befriend Harry, recognizing him as the famous "Chosen One." At the same time, Draco insults Harry's friend Ron Weasley, marking the start of their rivalry. Throughout the seven books, Harry and Draco remain enemies as Draco repeatedly bullies Harry and his friends by teasing them, spreading false stories, and even trying to hurt them. In the final book, a disguised Harry is captured by followers of Voldemort. Draco recognizes him but does not reveal his identity, saving Harry's life. Later, Harry saves Draco from a dangerous magical fire called Fiendfyre.

Analysis

Many fans of the book series have written stories called fanfictions where Draco and Harry are in a romantic relationship between two people of the same sex. These stories often follow a pattern called "enemies to lovers," where Draco and Harry start as enemies, as shown in the original books, and later become romantic partners. These fanfictions usually keep the characters and events from the original story but add new romantic moments between Harry and Draco. In many of these stories, Draco's feelings and personal growth are shown through his relationship with Harry. Some fans believe there are hints in the original books that suggest this pairing, though few think it will ever be part of the official story. On a popular fanfiction website called Archive of Our Own, about 10% of stories include the "enemies to lovers" tag. However, when looking more closely, many stories have elements of enemies to lovers even if they are not labeled with that tag.

Response

During a special interview with AOL for their 'In The Know’ segment, Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the movies, said he believed fans liked the idea of Harry and Draco being together. He explained, "I think it was clearly a fact. Harry was constantly crushing on Draco. He just couldn’t hide it." According to Elite Daily, Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter, said he read some stories about Harry and Draco being together. He stated, "I’m obviously aware there’s a lot of shipping of Harry and Draco as characters together, so I’ve read some of that." In 2023, Screen Rant described Drarry as "one of the most popular types of stories" in Harry Potter-based fan fiction.