Drop Dead Gorgeous

Drop Dead Gorgeous is a popular Harry/Draco slash novel by Maya that was posted in installments on her LiveJournal over the course of two years. The Way We Get By, a four-chapter pre-slash companion piece from Draco's point of view, was also posted during that time. Both works are consistent with book 6 canon, but were jossed by book 7. Together, these are an example of veelafic, aurorfic, futurefic, and stealth crackfic.
Drop Dead Gorgeous, along with Maya's other fics, was taken offline in November 2008 when Maya went pro.
==The Story==
Aside from the witty banter characteristic of many of Maya's stories, Drop Dead Gorgeous represents a creative twist on an old Harry/Draco clichéd plot device: a veelafic in which Harry, not Draco, is discovered to be a Veela. For the hilarious purposes of this story, Harry's veela powers of attraction increase exponentially the longer he goes without sex. This discovery fuels the romantic comedy plot, as Harry's overactive veela charms attract everyone to him but Draco, the only man he wants. This trope is also used to provide strangely convincing alternate explanations for several aspects of canon (for example, Snape's love for Lily and the "monster" in Harry's chest).In other fanfic meta, Draco's description of Harry's veela attributes as "veela sparkles" may be a reference to the fannish usage of Sparkly.
In their mid twenties when the story begins, Harry and Draco are the resident troublemakers at Auror headquarters; as auror partners, they annoy their boss, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and solve crime in brilliant, but legally problematic ways. Their partnership is the emotional center of their lives and is rife with subtext, reflecting the tropes of buddy cop shows. While Harry deals with the fallout from his runaway veela powers, the B plot revolves around a serial kidnapping case. Despite the crackfic elements and witty dialogue, the story has its serious moments; Harry and Draco are both angry young men, damaged by the war.
==Reactions/Reviews==
==Fan Response==
Drop Dead Gorgeous was very popular among H/D fans. Each installment received pages of positive comments, and the story has been rec'd all over LiveJournal. It has also spawned fanart, fanfic, podfic, and an LJ community (now locked).
Elsie collected a list of fanworks inspired by Drop Dead Gorgeous.Elsie's List. A small sampling of the extensive artwork is in the gallery below.
Art:
* What Maya calls "pretty much the official cover of Drop Dead Gorgeous" by lilacevans
* Harry and Draco over drinks by meiface
* Stakeout by jad
* Come by tweeney (about to spar in the fountain)
* Go away, you're ruining my life by fleeatonce (emo!Harry and his reflection)
* Cartoony Snape Love by sockwithoutshoe
* Katie and Draco by lilacevans
* As It Should Be by tweeney (shoulder-as-head-rest H/D cuteness)
* I'm Sorry by tweeney (a series of 6 drawings depicting That One Time Harry Tried To End the Partnership)
* Three Weeks by tweeney (Harry and Jilted!Draco in coffee shop)
* Harry and "What Would Shacklebolt Do?" Draco by Uchinanchuduckie
* Go Towards the Light! and Pre-Coffee Zombie mawaridi (Ratcliff and Eustace the Slug; Harry and uncaffeinated!Draco)
* FootInMouth!Ron and Pansy at Draco's birthday party, among some other fanart, by calyxess
* H&D post-banquet by raitala
* Eustace the Undead Cannibal Slug by creepylicious
* Harry and Draco Portrait by Lazy-P
* "Outstripping Masters" Ch. 10 scene by reebear
* Veela!Harry by elphie-chan
* Sexy Jonathan Rhys Meyers photomanip banner and another Meyers!manip, a poster, and a DDG layout(!) by spikeface
* Pamphlet by anardev: Have you accepted the love of Professor Snape into your hearts today?
* Poster with the same slogan by liveline (offline)
* Of Course he Loves You by addicted2kura
* HP- Drop Dead Gorgeous Fanart by st-foosa
* Harry Draco drawing by anakisa for the pre-quel "The Way We Get By"
* Maya's DDG Dracoby by Rambabean
* Draco Malfoy by jasminderrr
* Dracoby: Who are you even supposed to be courting? by Seoldraca
* harry and Draco by Flight-0-Dragons
* H., D. and the Sea Monster by raitala
* DDG-The problem by KumoNoAlchemist
* Drop Dead Gorgeous 6 by raitala
* Drop Dead Gorgeous, Chapt 10 by raitala
* DDG- "Come Here" by KumoNoAlchemist
* Malfoy from Drop Dead Gorgeous by obfuscate3
* Flying Shards of Peppermint by UchinanchuDuckie
Other
* Drop Dead Gorgeous podfic by rubidium (WIP last updated in May 2012)
* Drop Dead Gorgeous podficalso posted at Audiofic Archive by mcollinknight (started January 2008 - finished August 2017)
* Drop Dead Gorgeous podfic by heatherifics (posted as a complete podfic in January 2016)
* DDG baked goods! by playwithfyr (offline)
* A fanmix soundtrack with very cool album cover by ineffabili_tea (offline)
===Gallery of Art Inspired By DDG ===
File:DDGsmall.png|Drawing by jad who writes: "..in the fic, Draco tends to fall asleep on stakeouts, etc, with his head on Harry's shoulder and makes little cooing noises. Which is totally adorable. So here are the two, sitting in the car, Draco using a stuffed-up cloak or something as a pillow."
File:Cartoonysnapelove by sockwithoutshoe.jpg|Cartoony Snape Love by sockwithoutshoe, depicting a scene in Harry's imagination
File:Drop Dead Gorgeous by raitala.jpg|The artist raitala writes: "This is an illustration to the beautiful scene at the end of Chapter 7: "Malfoy laughed again, still holding his wand in one hand, and Harry reached out and took hold of his wrist. Malfoy wasn’t trembling now, just laughing shakily with his eyes shut. He didn’t pull away and they sat there, four minutes after an attempt on their lives, sitting on old practice mats under fluorescent lights and in rumpled Muggle suits. Harry held on." It is dedicated to Maya, with thanks for her wonderful stories.
File:DDG by EntropyIncarnate.jpg|The artist EntropyIncarnate quotes: "“I have to go,” he said a little more firmly, and his eyes caught on Harry’s and stilled. In the one sure, graceful movement, the one movement like him that he'd made since Harry came back to the flat, he threw the bag down by the door. “But – I’ll come back,” Malfoy said, soft, and then there was nothing but the door closing behind him."
==Notes==
Category:Slash Fanfiction
Category:2000s Fanfiction