Scars That Heal (Dramione Fanfiction) [COMPLETE]

Foreword

TLDR: 'Scars That Heal' has never intended to glorify or romanticise the difficult themes that it deals with - I wanted to show through this story that healing and recovery are always possible. Links to mental health resources relevant to the topics explored in this story are shared below, and if you are struggling with any of the many difficult themes discussed in this book, I urge you to use these services or speak to someone you trust.

Hello, dear reader! Thank you for clicking on my story and showing interest in my writing. It means a lot to me that people still want to read what I have created, whether they are coming back for a reread or discovering it for the first time.

I started writing this story when I was fourteen. Back then I was a very different person to who I am now - I'm not going to claim that I'm an adult yet, but I have had a great number of life experiences since then that have altered a lot of my views on some of the topics discussed in this book, and I have simply grown up. My analytics on this story show that 70% of my readers are under the age of 25, ie. they are children in a biological and psychological sense, as am I. And looking back at the story I wrote as a fairly miserable and pessimistic fourteen year old, I feel the need to make a few statements before this story starts.

This story does not intent to glorify suffering. It does not intent to glorify grief, trauma, mental illness, self-harm, suicide, or any of the other unpleasant things that the characters in this story experience.

I wrote it with hope in mind.

My long-standing idea had been to give the characters of Harry Potter what I felt they deserved - to be seen as children who had gone through trauma, and who could heal and be redeemed, however long and difficult that process may be. I wanted to write a story that showed two characters who I adored, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy, rise up from the lowest point of their lives independently, and in the process, fall in love with each other. They were never going to save each other, but help each other to save themselves. This is a story about finding your way back to yourself and overcoming some of the most difficult things humans can go through.

That being said, I am unsure if my intents show through in the story itself. It has been a while since I last read my own work, and even then I don't know if I can see it with fresh eyes anymore. I don't know what readers see when they read of Hermione and Draco's suffering: do they see a story of hope and communal growth, or do they see a beautiful romantic tragedy about broken people? I want it to be the former, but I fear for the latter.

As a result, I decided to write and post this foreword to make clear my intents, to explain the message of the story before it has begun (which I know deserves a slap on the wrist from real authors, but hey ho), and to give some resources.

Over the three years that this story has been available to read, I have seen a number of people come and go in the comments and in my direct messages. Many say that this story has helped them to process difficult feelings similar to what Hermione and Draco go through - and for that I am eternally grateful. It is the most that I could hope for with my writing, especially of this style and format. But others relate to Hermione and Draco too closely, and feel that this story serves to validate their suffering as a reason for existing - that their pain is what makes them interesting, or valuable, or that it defines them.

I want everyone who reads this story and this foreword to know that the painful things you have experienced do not make you stronger, or more beautiful, or more valuable. They can show you the strength and beauty and value that already existed inside you - and sometimes they don't show you that. The pain that you have endured should never be an integral part of your identity. You can appreciate the lessons that suffering teaches you without worshipping the suffering itself.