Back in the day when I used to devour Harry Potter fanfiction like Bruce Bogtrotter and the Trunchbull’s cake, I happened across a then unpublished Cassandra Clare. Her stories – in particular the Draco Trilogy – were nothing short of spellbinding. No pun intended. The woman could write a story that got you more addicted than a coffee-lover.

And then I found out about her huge plagiarism scandal. Which, admittedly, happened quite a while before I came upon her works, but the taint was there. The Fire and Ice Archives actually stopped hosting her stories because of it. The general gist was that she stole a bunch of lines from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other places without crediting the original source.

By the time I had gotten around to reading her stories all the quotes were credited appropriately, so it’s anyone’s guess whether she saw the error of her ways or if this was another case of haters hating.

I kind of had a bad taste in my mouth when it came to Cassandra Clare. Not that it stopped me from reading the DT over and over again.

So when I heard that she would be publishing her first original work of fiction, I was expectedly ambivalent. On one hand, I knew we were getting a fabulous story. But on the other hand I was wondering ‘once a plagiarizer, always a plagiarizer?‘ Of course, it’s nowhere near as easy to get away with that kind of thing in Proper Books, but I was wondering if the after-effects of being branded a plagiarizer by a sizeable bit of the Harry Potter fandom (the part that shipped Draco/Ginny at least) would somehow damage her reputation as an author.

As it turns out, I needn’t have worried. The Mortal Instruments series is so much of a Thing now that no one even looks twice at her pre-City of Bones writing. Quoting other people is still a big part of her prose, though, and she gives credit where credit is due.

I leave you with a Magnus Bane montage from the City of Bones movie. Sexiest warlock in Brooklyn, anyone?

P.S.
If someone has a link to the Draco Trilogy online or has it on their computer, please feel free to pass it on. I’m feeling nostalgic.