Draco Sinister

Draco Sinister is the second novel of Cassandra Claire's The Draco Trilogy.
It is notable for being the source of the Draco in Leather Pants trope as well as the catalyst for the Cassandra Claire plagiarism wank.
==Trilogy==
* Draco Dormiens
* Draco Sinister
* Draco Veritas
==Summary==
Author's summary: "When Hermione is kidnapped, Harry and Draco must team up to rescue her from a thousand-year-old evil that threatens the entire wizarding world. Cursed demon swords, love potions, time travel, dementors, flying dragons, Draco wears leather, and everybody dies at least once. Except when they don't."Schnoogle. Cassandra Claire - Stories. (Archived 22 November 2004 by the Wayback Machine.)
==In Which Claire Hints at Slash==
In December 2000, Claire implied that the story might head into slash territory. From her post on the Yahoo! Group site HP_FanFiction: 
== Background ==
Draco Sinister was posted serially on FanFiction.Net beginning in August or September 2000.According to this message at ParadigmOfUncertainty, DS was started prior to September 27, 2000 (accessed 08 April 2013; WebCite). In 2004, Cassandra Claire said she started it in "August or September 2000." (Archived 30 October 2004.) Shortly thereafter, Claire also began posting the work-in-progress story to mailing lists, including ParadigmOfUncertainty.Cassandra Claire at ParadigmOfUncertainty. Re: the new folders DD and DS. Posted 05 October 2000. (Accessed 08 April 2013.) WebCite.Fan History Wiki's ParadigmOfUncertainty article states that DS was posted to "two mailing lists and FanFiction.Net" by December 2000 but doesn't specify the other one. (Accessed via the Wayback Machine, as archived 24 January 2012.)
The story was originally intended to be fifteen chapters long. Cassandra Claire posted in March 2001: 
On June 22, 2001, Draco Sinister and Cassandra Claire's other works were deleted from FanFiction.Net for plagiarism."The Cassie Claire plagiarism debacle went down on June 23, 2001. Her account was deleted late in the evening on June 22, 2001, but the wank hit the fandom on June 23, 2001. I would know. FA opened July 22, 2001. To the best of my knowledge, there were no existing plans for FA to be accelerated. Now, proof thereof is hard to come by, but idlerat was told FA was founded because of Cassie Claire, and Flourish, who did a large portion of the coding, was on staff at ff.net until a bit after Cassie's account was deleted, when she left in a huff." -- At the time, Draco Sinister was still incomplete, with 14 chapters posted. For more information regarding these events, see The Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle.
The existing chapters were uploaded to Schnoogle on July 14, 2001, roughly a week before FictionAlley's official launch, and the last chapter was posted on July 22, 2001.Schnoogle. Draco Sinister by Cassandra Claire - Chapters. (Archived 30 October 2004 by the Wayback Machine.)
When FictionAlley began, Cassandra Claire was one of the first people to post in the forum. From opening day: 
On July 28, 2001, Claire posted Twist, and described it as a "deranged alternative universe ficlet" based on Draco Sinister Chapter 9.Astronomy Tower. Various Cookies by Cassandra Claire. (Archived 26 February 2002.) In 2005, a rewritten version of Draco Sinister Chapter 9 was uploaded to FictionAlley.
Draco Sinister was taken offline with Claire's other fanfiction in August 2006, when Claire retired from fandom to start her profic career. Before its removal, it was made available for download in PDF form.
== Foreshadowing and Irony ==
In October 2000, Cassandra Claire complained to fans that someone was writing Harry Potter fiction using Claire's identity: 
On May 13, 2001 (about six weeks before Cassandra Claire's fiction was removed from FanFiction.Net for plagiarism on June 23), a fan posted that someone was plagiarizing Cassandra Clair's story "Draco Sinister." The discussion at ParadigmOfUncertainty (the mailing list where "Draco Sinister" had been posted as a WIP) touched on a number of topics, including the age of the writer, the amount of fiction lifted, the visibility of Harry Potter fiction, the ethics of using quotes from existing canon such as Buffy and Amber, and Cassandra Claire's good-natured forgiving responses sweetened things even further, especially with her promise to post some cookies for the last chapter of "Draco Sinister."
A fan named Cecilia asked: 
Another fan asked in the next post: 
From the list's moderator, Madlori: 
From another fan, Saitaina: 
Another fan, Morsus Crustum, posted: 
Cassandra Claire replied: 
Another fan, StrangerWithMyFace, replied: 
From, Sarah, another fan: 
Cassandra Claire commented: 
From a fan, Circe: 
KJ, a fan posted: 
Another comment, this one from Mack: 
From, Cecilia, the fan who'd originally brought the story to the list's attention: 
Another fan, Lynder, commented: 
Six weeks later, Cassie's own fiction was removed from fanfiction.net due to plagiarism. Cassie responded on September 10, 2001 to a fan named Evelyn who wanted to know where the 13-year old who plagiarized Cassie's story were, and to where Cassie's stories themselves had gone:
== Cassandra Claire's Fiction, Including "Draco Sinister," is Deleted From FanFiction.Net==
June 23, 2001
A fan asked: "When I go into fanfiction.net, and click on Draco Sinister and Draco Dormiens, it tells me that the stories aren't there. Where did they go?" Fanfiction.net - Where did DD/DS go?, post at ParadigmOfUncertainty, June 23, 2001
Heidi Tandy replied: "Cassie is aware of this, and Xing has been contacted, but we have no idea what's going on. I did a post in the HELP section of the discussion forums today - add your question to the thread - maybe they'll read it & answer!" Fanfiction.net - Where did DD/DS go?, post at ParadigmOfUncertainty, June 23, 2001
June 25, 2001
A fan posted: "I joined this group because I heard that Cassandra Claire was blacklisted,
which I was sorry to hear because I like her writing for what little I have read." paradigmofuncertainty: Hello all!, June 25, 2001
A fan begged: "Cassie! I normally don't post here, don't even lurk. but I read DS and I want the finish!! Despereately!! You have over 1300 fans in this site, and probably about 500+ more in others such as HP4GU. Don't care about FF.net. give us our Drug!!! give us DS!!! Mecki" Cassie- Please give us DS15!!, June 25, 2001
a fan asked: "I just joined this group, and I'm wondering if someone could do me a favor and tell me what's up with the ff.net boycott thing? I haven't heard the whole story and would like to know what's going on." Hi, I'm new here., June 25, 2001
Cassandra Claire replied: "Hmmm. I'm thinking this sort of thing should be answered off-list from now on....otherwise this topic will never die the death it probably should. I'll answer this off-list. Cass" Hi, I'm new here., June 25, 2001
June 27, 2001
Cassandra Claire asked: "I am rather wondering how the list feels about my continuing to post DS here. Are you greatly bothered by the blacklisting, etc? If so, I shall happily retire gracefully."
A fan replied: Let me put it this way, Cassie... I just joined this group for the sole reason that I wanted to continue reading your work. I think you do a wonderful job with your stories, and they are some of the best stories I have found on the internet. They're good enough to give me nightmares, and almost NOTHING does that to me anymore! To be honest, I'm now a little nervous about using FF.N for my own work. I have an HP crossover in the works that, for the first few chapters, is primarily straight from the books themselves, with only minor variations. The later chapters take off, but for a while there, it's pretty close. If FF.N was complaining about your work, I have a feeling they wouldn't be happy at all with mine. Please continue writing, I've been watching for some more of your work since the moment I finished reading DS! Sreya" Re: *is mystified and surprised*
Other actions and statements:
* some fans removed their own fiction from FanFiction.Net in protest[not] rebellinglori and ff.netUm...Cassie...Question...
* On June 25, 2001, Cassandra Claire posted some more DS15 Cookies: DS15 Cookie, something that garnered 36 comments.
* membership in the ParadigmOfUncertainty mailing list jumped by 500 in four days, something that Cassandra Claire commented on here.
* On June 27, 2001, a fan discusses various extreme fan reactions including threats of suicide, see Re: [ParadigmOfUncertainty] just pondering and probably OT
* June 28, 2001, Cassandra says she will continue to post her fic, see msg 2 Cassie from the cast of DS
== Plot Summary ==
Following the events of Draco Dormiens, Harry and Hermione are in a relationship, Draco has (mostly) unrequited feelings for Hermione, Draco and Harry have formed a tentative friendship, and Sirius (who has legally adopted Harry) is engaged to Narcissa (who has recently divorced Lucius), making Harry and Draco soon-to-be stepbrothers.
== Chapters ==
Chapter 1 ("Bad Dreams"), Chapter 2 ("Blood and Brotherhood"), Chapter 3 ("Darkness Visible") were posted to FanFiction.Net.
Chapters 2-14 were posted to ParadigmOfUncertainty and FanFiction.Net.
Some chapters were posted to cassie_and_rhysenn.
Chapter 4: Dementors, Demons, and Moral Dilemmas
* Draco Sinister Chapter 4 1/2 (October 7, 2000)
* Draco Sinister Chapter 4 2/2 (October 7, 2000)
Chapter 5: The Undiscovered Country
* Draco Sinister Chapter 5 1/3 (October 20, 2000)
* Draco Sinister Chapter 5 2/3 (October 20, 2000)
* Draco Sinister Chapter 5 3/3 (October 20, 2000)
Chapter 6: Fortunate Sons
* Draco Sinister Chapter 6 1/2 (November 3, 2000)
* Draco Sinister Chapter 6 2/2 (November 3, 2000)
Chapter 7: Easy is the Descent
* Draco Sinister Chapter 7 1/2 (November 18, 2000)
* Draco Sinister Chapter 7 2/2 (November 18, 2000)
Chapter 8: Demons and Angels
* Draco Sinister Chapter 8 1/2 (December 3, 2000)
* Draco Sinister Chapter 8 2/2 (December 3, 2000)
Chapter 9: The Bargaining
* Draco Sinister Chapter 9 1/2 (December 17, 2000)
* Draco Sinister Chapter 9 2/2 (December 17, 2000)
Chapter 10: Bindings and Summonings
* Draco Sinister Chapter 10 1/2 (January 17, 2001)
* Draco Sinister Chapter 10 2/2 (January 17, 2001)
Chapter 11: The Sleep of Reason
* Draco Sinister Part 11: 1/3 (January 22, 2001)
* Draco Sinister Part 11: 2/3 (January 22, 2001)
* Draco Sinister Part 11: 3/3 (January 22, 2001)
Chapter 12: The Persistence of Memory
* Draco Sinister Part 12: 1/3 (February 10, 2001)
* Draco Sinister Part 12: 2/3 (February 10, 2001)
* Draco Sinister Part 12: 3/3 (February 10, 2001)
Chapter 13: Through A Glass Darkly
* Posted to ParadigmOfUncertainty on March 8, 2001."This email message is a notification to let you know that file has been uploaded to the Files area of the ParadigmOfUncertainty group. File : /Draco Sinister/DracoSinisterChapter13.htm Uploaded by : cassandraclaire@... Description : Eek. Trying again. DS Chapter 13: Through A Glass Darkly. You can access this file at the URL http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ParadigmOfUncertainty/files/Draco%20Sinister/DracoSinisterChapter13.htm" -- New file uploaded to ParadigmOfUncertainty
Chapter 14: Blood of the Founders
* Chapter fourteen was posted on April 17, 2001."Okay, it's up. It's also a ridiculous size, due to coding problems, but I just felt like I HAD to get it up, so I apologize for long download time. Cut and paste: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ParadigmOfUncertainty/files/Draco% 20Sinister/Chapter14.htm Text version coming soon. Cass" -- DS 14 PostedThe stories acknowledgements and disclaimers: "AN: This chapter took so long to get done that I’m not even going to apologize for it. It took forever and I almost gave up on the entire thing and just posted a summary. My endless thanks to Heidi and Rhysenn for talking me back into it when the Muggles were getting me down; thanks also to wonderful beta-reader Jedi Boadicea. Read her fics, if you haven’t yet. <g> And hey, I finally had a dream with Draco in it. I’ve dreamed about HP before and even had a dream with my beta-readers in it, but never one with Draco. This time he showed up wearing a tracksuit. I have no idea what that means. Also I was joking about Snape in a toga. * weeps * There will be no betogad Snape in this chapter (Mea culpa). There is, however, an Easter Egg; if you find it and click on it you will be sent to a special website. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: As always, many sources were used to create this chapter. Oggrings and Skolks belong to Tanith Lee’s book White Horse, Feroluce belongs to her short story Fleur-de-Fur, inspiration is owed to Liz Berry’s novel "The China Garden" for the evocation of romance that reaches back through past lives, Roger Zelazny came up with the idea of escaping from a jail cell using a magical picture in "Nine Princes in Amber", and as always there are quotes from Buffy, Blackadder, and Red Dwarf." -- Draco Sinister- Chapter Fourteen- Blood of the Founders
Chapter 15:
* There was a longer-than-average wait between the last two chapters."Hi - this is actually coming from Heidi, who, at Cassie's request, is sending a note to the list to explain about the upcoming delay before
the final chapter of Draco Sinister (DS) and the start of the third part of the trilogy, Draco Veritas (DV). Cassie is moving across the country, and while she will have occasional computer access, she's pretty much offline for the next few weeks. She doesn't have enough computer access to write the story in uploadable form, or even to check and respond to emails or offers of wonderful fanart. If you emailed her in the past 4 weeks and she hasn't responded, that's why. She is, however, writing bits and pieces of DS15 in longhand while she's offline. And if it's a real emergency, you can email me at heidit@... and I'll let her know. There will be more of DS, and eventually, DV will start - it'll just be a longer break between chapter 14 and 15 than you're used to. Sorry, but real life does intervene sometimes... heidi, on behalf of cassie" -- from Heidi Tandy, using Cassandra Claire's email accont -- Hi & An Explanation, May 7, 2001
* It is unknown if the last chapter was posted at ParadigmOfUncertainty, but some "cookies" relating to it were posted there in early June."The chapter is coming along, and Cassie hopes to post it soon - but for now, here's a cookie to nibble in the days to come." -- A DS15 COOKIE!, posted by Heidi Tandy, June 11, 2001There are several posts in mid and late June from Heidi Tandy that say the chapter is not ready to be shared. "Hi all! Here's a report from the DS15 front. Cassie is working on it. It will definitely NOT be posted within the next 7 days - I'd really expect 10 days to be a more reasonable time period." -- A DS15 COOKIE!, posted by Heidi Tandy, June 17, 2001 It was posted at FictionAlley, and it may have been posted at cassie_and_rhysenn.
==Chapter Nine: Original Version ==
The original version of "Chapter Nine - The River" included a scene heavily based on—and with large portions lifted verbatim from—Chapter 14 of Pamela Dean's The Hidden Land (the second book of her Secret Country Trilogy).
See "Draco Sinister Part 09 1/2" here at ParadigmOfUncertainty, posted December 17, 2000. The disclaimer there reads: 
The only attribution present in the original chapter, as posted to FanFiction.Net and the ParadigmOfUncertainty mailing list, was the following author's note at the end of the chapter:
Cassandra Claire, however, comments on Pamela Dean's book two days after posting two chapters of Draco Sinister Chapter Nine: "PS to Peg: Pamela Dean is wonderful. I have all her books, except the Secret Country which alas is now out of print." , December 19, 2000
The original scene and the passage from which it was plagiarized can be read side-by-side here, at Avocado's The Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle on bad_penny.
Shortly after Claire was deleted from FanFiction.Net, she re-uploaded Chapter 9 to the ParadigmOfUncertainty group with an amended author's note that included Pamela Dean's name.Avocado. The Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle Part V (post 1). Posted 05 August 2006, referencing a posts made at ParadigmOfUncertainty on 23 June 2001. (Accessed 08 April 2013.) When the more heavily-cited version of Draco Sinister was uploaded to FictionAlley, the content of Chapter 9 was unchanged, but its disclaimer noted "I have noted where a section of this chapter uses portions of Pamela Dean's book The Hidden Land" and the author's note at the end of the chapter now read in part:
Another later disclaimer: 
== Chapter Nine: Rewritten Version ==
Circa mid-2005, Claire uploaded a rewritten version of Chapter 9 to Schnoogle.white_serpent, referencing a archived copy of DS and a fanthropology thread, both of which are no longer available. And I can cite and link, too. Part 1. 25 July 2007. (Accessed 08 April 2013.) This version of the chapter removed all of text taken from Dean's The Hidden Land. That portion of the chapter—which had began with Draco awakening into nothingness, conversing with a disembodied voice, and seeing the Founders at the edge of a river he was forbidden to cross—was changed so that Draco now awakens in a tunnel and climbs out of it and into a river, where the Founders emerge from the water.
This version of the chapter is the one included in the PDF version that was made available for download when Claire took her fanfiction offline. Other instances of uncited or insufficiently-cited borrowings, as documented by Avocado here, remain unchanged.
== Works Inspired by DS ==
=== Fanart ===
* List of DS-inspired fan art at the The Draco Trilogy Archives (as archived by the Wayback Machine in July 2007)
* deviantArt search for Draco Sinister. (Static snapshots of the search results can be seen here and here, taken April 5, 2013)
=== Fanfic ===
* DS slash drabblet by Seren, posted 23 November 2002
* Alternate anti-ending to DS as of chapter 13, by Tallonclaw, posted March 15, 2001
==A Soundtrack==
In October 2000, a fan asked: 
== Reactions and Reviews==
===Regarding Chapter Nine: Comments at ParadigmOfUncertainty ===
===Comments: General===
== References ==
Category:2000 Fanfiction‎ Category:2001 Fanfiction‎
Category:Het Fanfiction
Category:Scandals