the majority of these recommendations are angty, hurt/comfort, or slow-burn. most have a happy ending. don't expect to find any slice of life here..
major trigger warning as some of these fics contain SA or serious mental illnesses.. not that i am romanticizing SA, not at all, but i tend to read fics involving it with a good ending because it's how i hope with my own SA trauma. none of these will have CNC or any of that crap. the characters in these fics are adults.
drarry
chapters: 13/13
words: 90,315
CW: domestic violence, child abuse, emotional abuse, panic attacks, implied SA
tags: mpreg, angst, domestic fluff, protective harry potter
this was a wonderfully-sweet story. draco escapes an abusive relationship with his only child, scorpius, and ends up on the streets. he goes to harry's home desperately asking for a place to stay and keep scorpius safe. harry, who is the godfather to teddy lupin and looks after him, takes draco and scorpius in. harry learns a lot about draco and his situation and both end up developing feelings.
chapters: 13/13
words: 153,881
CW: child abuse, neglect, eating disorders, homophobia, homophobic slurs, grief
tags: de-aging, hurt/comfort, potions accident, love potion
probably one of the best drarry stories on ao3. this very well written fic involves both harry and draco getting de-aged. draco, who is now a potions maker and matured, has to bring harry back to his current self. he shortly finds out about all the abuse harry went through by the hands of the dursleys. he becomes a sort of parental figure to the de-aged harry, and he growns on him.
chapters: oneshot
words: 2,485
CW: SA, suicide attempt, cheating
tags: hurt/comfort, breakups
draco misses his wedding with harry. harry is obviously upset and refuses to talk to or see draco. later he finds out draco got into an accident and goes to visit him. he finds out about what caused draco to miss the wedding and feels sorry for the way he left him.
chapters: oneshot
words: 75,062
CW: SA, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, animal abuse
tags: hurt/comfort, angst, mpreg
harry meets a quiditch player called grasyon wenke. they form a relationship but things quickly sour. grayson abuses harry and harry learns to fear everyone else. draco, who now works for the daily prophet, interviews harry and draco on their relationship. he eventually finds out about what harry is going through and helps him escape.
chapters: oneshot
words: 21,333
CW: attempted SA, gun violence
tags: possessive draco, protective draco, hurt/comfort, light dom/sub
draco is a well-known mob boss. harry is a broke university student. harry unintentionally saves draco's life after an attempted assassination and draco immediately falls in love with him. he spoils harry with love, which is something harry never experienced before.
chapters: 11/11
words: 62,447
CW: triggering topics
tags: auror harry, ministry worker draco
in this story, draco lives an unfulfilling life. he purchases charms that create some imaginary friends for him. he becomes a suspect in the middle of an investigation and although innocent, he has to give up 1 month of memories for a pensieve. harry (along with ron) is tasked to find out if draco was involved, but instead, finds out about the life draco is living.
chapters: oneshot
words: 9,304
CW: self-harm, suicide attempt, PTSD, eating disorders
tags: eighth year, realization, hurt/comfort, blood and injury
some of the students from hogwarts return for their eighth year. harry and draco are the only male students, so they get their own shared room. at first, harry complains, but then he learns to accept draco as his roommate and they both fall into a routine. harry quickly starts to notice how much draco has changed, and after one night, their lives are changed. this is really sweet and full of fluff toward the end.
chapters: 38/38
words: 179,482
CW: PTSD, suicidal thoughts
tags: eighth year, fluff, angst, enemies to lovers, slowburn
draco has trouble sleeping. he later finds out that he can only sleep when harry is near. they figure out a way to work with this and eventually it becomes a normal part of their lives. through this, they *very* slowly realize their feelings for one another.
chapters: 12/12
words: 139,812
CW: PTSD, depression, anxiety, nightmares, past suicide attempt
tags: angst, hurt/comfort
yet another amazing fic by lettered. harry is an auror instructor and draco wants to train to be an auror. everyone has low expectations for draco but harry learns to deal with him. they fall in love.
chapters: oneshot
words: 5,115
CW: temporary character death
tags: veela draco, hurt/comfort, breakup, sickfic
draco is a veela and is in love with harry. harry leaves him to fight another war while unknowningly hurting draco. he doesn't know that draco is a veela and doesn't see how this could affect him. draco doesn't know that harry knows, so he accepts it and prepares for his fast approaching death.