behold my midlife crisis

Indiscretions • Percy Weasley/Astoria Malfoy
4.7K, Rated R (contains adultery, corruption, coercion)
Draco Malfoy wants to go to France so his wife has to get permission for a Portkey out Percy Weasley. An affair in their own words.

So yes, this fic was written for me, and yes, the pairing is ridiculously obscure, and yes, the content is challenging, and yes, probably only 10 people are reading this rec. But IDGAF, I'm reccing this fic because HOT FUCKING DAMN.

In my Smutty Claus signup, I asked for a messy, dysfunctional, forbidden relationship because nothing says "Merry Christmas!" to me like "watch two flawed people break themselves on each other!" XD And BOY OH BOY did my mystery author deliver.

This fic has all the trappings of classic noir — the dodgy narrator who's fallen on hard times, the femme fatale, the trap, and then the slow downward spiral into depravity. And this unraveling of Percy Weasley is masterfully done. The fic is epistolary, mostly from Percy's POV, and it is so canonically Percy. Just look at the first sentence:

Today, I think it is fair to say I have suffered a grave injustice.

Perfection.

I do feel I must warn prospective readers that the tension is left unresolved — again, in a most masterful and cheeky fashion. There is certainly enough smutty detail to be getting on with, and it's hot hot hot and covers a wide range of kink, but you will be left with much to the imagination. Which, as my mystery author clearly knows, is my bulletproof kink. I spent a good 36 hours in a near stupor, imagining how things must have played out, and TBH I'm still not quite right.

If you're reading this, MA, thank you again for one of the best Christmas presents I've ever received.