Columba and Aquila

by Beforetherealbook

With Harry dead and Voldemort triumphant after the Battle of Hogwarts, Hermione finds herself captured by her childhood enemy. Now imprisoned and sentenced to death, she is waiting to see Harry and Ron on the other side.

At least that's what she thinks.

But with Draco Malfoy in charge, things are not always as they seem. As Draco starts to help her process the things that happened to her, he draws her ever closer until she can no longer stay away.

And Draco? He only cares about keeping his sweet girl with him, through any means necessary - and getting revenge on anybody who has hurt her.

Featuring an anxious Hermione Granger and a psycho-simp Draco who helps her heal with gentle touch and by pulling her into the morally grey along with him.

Genres: Fan Fiction

916 pages, AO3 story

Published January 27, 2025

Reviews

[Amber]

Dnf @15%

[Paulina Zelikowicz]

One of the best I’ve ever read. Exceptionally well written and has the perfect balance of plot, smut and everything in between!!!

[Reader]

3 STARS—I LIKED IT

QUICK RECAP W SPOILERS: Voldemort wins, and soon after the Battle of Hogwarts Draco winds up manipulating the Dark Lord to get custody of Granger, on whom he's secretly had an obsessive crush for . . . a long time? I don't remember. Theo wins Ginney and Blaise, Luna, and over time all three couples fall deeply while hiding their love from Voldemort and planning his downfall from Malfoy Manor. In the process, the three witches become animagi—Ginny a horse, Luna a dog, and Hermione, overachiever extraordinaire, both a dove (columba) and an eagle (aquila).

Psycho obsessed Draco is wildly fun. His casual depravities, deranged stalking, and utter wrong-headedness wound up being hilarious. It wasn’t a perfect book, but it was quite a good time. Blaise and Luna were next to useless and either should have been given something to do or written out entirely. Even Theo and Ginny were very inconsistently interwoven into the story. I found myself wondering what it would be like to write a dark Dramione where Voldemort is sort of laughably, ridiculously inept—like a sort of Emperor Has No Clothes situation.

[Tracy Yakey]

**Columba is Latin for dove and Aquila is Latin for eagle.
This is an AU for the Battle of Hogwarts and afterwards. Harry & Ron are killed in the battle and Hermione, Ginny, & Luna are captured by Draco, Blaise, & Theo. Voldemort wants a public execution of Hermione and the other female prisoners are given to Death Eaters as boons. But Draco has his own plan. In exchange for pardons from The Order, the boys rescue the girls and fake Hermione’s death. Hermione is now hidden at Malfoy Manor with Draco, who is extremely obsessive about taking care of her. They all work together to come up with a plan to kill Voldemort by killing Nagini and finding the Deathly Hallows. Hermione, Ginny, & Luna must also learn new skills in order to complete their plan.

[Corinne Pavel]

LOVED IT. 4.5 STARS

I'm such a sucker for soft Hermoine/obsessive Draco.

Super loved the animagus transformations, this is the only fic I've ever read to include it. Cool addition of the Hallows too. The only reason it wasn't a perfect 5/5 is because it wrapped up a little too perfectly. Of course I secretly hoped it would because I loved the characters but I feel like if you can chat to the dead characters, it kinda removes the stakes of the situation. Also, Hermoine wasn't in the epilogue which devastated me ngl.

[Emilia]

Esta escritora me entiende.
Sabe dar un draco obsesivo , posesivo y psicopata,no había leído uno así desde a good prisioner y a diferente in purity.
El tema de los animagos me gustó porque no lo había leído en un fanfic de dramione , ni tampoco Hermione siendo gemela de theo.
Se me hizo muy loco de draco como el señor de la muerte pero lo dejaré pasar , la historia estuvo bien aunque si me causó un issue que tuvieran 18 años , lo que lo justifico es que están en guerra y envejece un poco.

[Samantha Naylor]

Need Draco to be crazy obsessed with hermione in every book I read. Loved the Theo and Hermione twin storyline. Hermione really grew into her power and confidence in this one, plus having an alter ego with Colombia Aquila Black. Then the end was perfect of them having all boys and their baby girl having an obsession with Shakebolts son BAHAH

[Amiraeae]

This fic was so creative and detailed with no loose ends. Absolutely stunning execution and the little epilogue at the end with Cordelia was the cherry on top. It's definitely up in my top ten Dramione fics

[Amanda Arnold]

I really thought I was gonna DNF. But nah, I heard too many good things, and I’m very happy I kept going.

I could not stand broken hermione. I just kept asking myself when she was gonna heal and get back to her. And when she did, man!

[Sara AB]

Varför lär jag mig inte bara att DNFa verk ibland. Min nyfikenhet att veta vad som händer tar över och jag njuter inte 😭😭😭

[Adara Garner]

So I hate this Draco. Too weird stalker obsessed even for me. The shrine???? But the story was decent and I loved the deathly hallows concept with the master of death 3.5✨