Cards on the table, I didn’t like Manacled very much. I thought it was too edgy to really take seriously. That Draco was far too competent and Hermione too much of a pushover. A lot of characters were supposed to be smart, but weren’t written that way. The big moral dilemma with the Order was forced, and it stopped making sense if you thought about it too hard. A lot of characters suffered from the au being so far removed from canon that they no longer feel even remotely like their canon counterparts. And the ending felt like the result…
