For epic/super!epic rec week.

Title: Irresistible Poison
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Draco/Harry
Categories: First time, romance, angst, misunderstandings, love potion, Hogwarts era
Length: Super!epic (123,712 words)
Warnings: None

Author on LJ: Formerly iscaris
Author Website: Formerly at Magical Intrigue

Summary: Under the influence of a love potion, Draco learns that poison doesn't always bring death -- there are other ways to suffer and live.

Review:
When faced with the topic of this week, I struggled for a while, because HP fandom had so many well-written epic length fics. I eventually thought I'd go for one of the epics I was reading when fandom (and myself) was still young and impressionable. Started in early 2001, Irresistible Poison happened at a time when the Harry/Draco love just started to tentatively bloom, later fueled by the Quidditch scenes and Harry/Draco duels vividly illustrated by the Harry Potter films. The amount of fandom just hanging on and waiting for the next chapter at that time was incredible. At a time when Goblet of Fire had just been released, but the next book didn't seem forthcoming (and indeed, would not appear for another three years) -- fandom turned to the Internet.

Irresistible Poison is set firmly within canon, at Hogwarts, where most fic was still taking place. It features some of the most beloved tropes that would later become fandom cliches -- love potions, Quidditch accidents, and dollops of beautifully written angst. One of Rhysenn's strengths is her evocative writing, which she uses to great effect, painting Draco's conflicted feelings towards Harry. Draco struggles with desire and love even as he knows he can't possibly really feel this way for Harry. Being especially attuned to Harry's feelings means that he knows when Harry is angry at him, and cognitively, he knows that Harry can't possibly love him in return.

What ensues is a gorgeously wrought fic that is undisputedly one of the H/D classics of that era.

Irresistible Poison
(Start from Chapter 01, as Chapter 00 is an interlude set after Chapter 13)

Also on FF.net
(Just in case you find the Schnoogle formatting wonky; however, only uploaded until Chapter 9)