Tropes Magic Short

Best Short Magic Fanfics

Magic novellas — 10k to 50k words, polished and contained. Curated from AO3, ranked by kudos.

Magic 20 short fics Avg 31,563 words 10,000–50,000 words

Top 20 Short Magic Fanfics

Ranked by AO3 kudos. Each fic is tagged with magic and falls in the 10,000–50,000 words range.

1

The Standard You Walk Past

by bafflinghaze

On returning to Hogwarts for their Eighth Year, Headmistress McGonagall decided to room Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter together. She may have hoped for a leading example of house unity; the other students fully expected insults and fights. But nothing happened.That was, until Harry sleepwalked into D

71,914 kudos 46,202 words 14/14 chapters Mature Complete
2

Every Step You Take

by Nokomis

Stiles accidentally ends up magically bound to Derek. It’s super.

41,744 kudos 49,347 words 5/5 chapters Mature Complete
3

In Evidence of Magical Theory

by bixgirl1

When a hex meant for Draco accidentally catches Harry as well, they're forced to learn to understand each other in ways they previously might have thought impossible.In which Harry and Draco can't fight, so they fall in love instead.

38,085 kudos 43,747 words 7/7 chapters Explicit Complete
4

Patterns of Intention

by drunktuesdays

Derek looked like the stuff of his deepest fantasies. His shirt was rumpled where Stiles had his hands in it, and he was breathing hard as well, chest heaving. His eyes—his eyes were glazed over and he looked stunned, like he’d been—like Stiles had—“No,” Stiles said, blood draining from his face.

29,954 kudos 17,085 words 1/1 chapters Explicit Complete
5

beneath six layers of silk

by darkredloveknot (enheduane)

While exorcising a haunting, Lan Wangji gets cursed with a brand of honesty, and is forced to speak his every thought out loud.

29,235 kudos 12,551 words 1/1 chapters Explicit Complete
6

charmed

by kaythebest

"So you’re not going to eat me?" Seokjin asks, just to confirm."Why would I eat you?""Because you’re a dragon," Seokjin says slowly, because it should be obvious, despite Namjoon not looking very dragon-y at all.Namjoon looks unimpressed. "I may be a dragon, but I’m not an animal."

12,245 kudos 23,479 words 1/1 chapters Teen And Up Audiences Complete
7

Blade of the Sun

by BladeoftheSun

No summary provided.

7,342 kudos 39,284 words 18/18 chapters Mature
8

Every Night the Longest Day

by ashtreelane

Honestly? None of them take mystic as seriously as they should. Sure they respect it and are fascinated by it (excluding Donnie), but none of them really considered the dangers that it may hold for the four of them.A fight with a mystic user is going to change that forever.____________________Leo is

7,134 kudos 42,224 words 16/16 chapters Teen And Up Audiences Complete
9

Leave It Behind

by rymyanna

Dipper contracts Bill to get rid of his abusive mate, and Bill agrees on the condition that he gets to pilot the body. While playing the role of a mated pair, Dipper gets more involved in Bill's schemes, and with Bill, than he bargained for.

4,057 kudos 46,471 words 22/22 chapters Mature Complete
10

the halfway cafe

by mintea

Yoongi takes a shaky breath. “So you’re, what, a spirit too?”“No, I’m— wait, I should probably do this properly.” Namjoon smiles ruefully and then straightens from the counter to bow deeply. “My name is Kim Namjoon, and I’m the owner of Halfway Cafe. I’m a witch, and the magic teas really are magic.

2,233 kudos 16,124 words 1/1 chapters General Audiences
11

Bewitched

by Anonymous

Connor McDavid is hexed during a playoff game against the Jets and it’s somehow Matthew’s fault. Because this is his life.

663 kudos 46,517 words 10/10 chapters Teen And Up Audiences Complete
12

Danse Macabre

by Kunstpause

Irene has not lived an easy life. From the moment she had joined the Scions she had tried her best to live up to their ideals. Not an easy feat at all for someone who is easy to anger and tends to leap into danger with no regard for safety at all. She figured out quickly that no one appreciates it w

184 kudos 18,541 words 3/? chapters Explicit
13

A Hermetic Mage in Lady Gotham's Court

by Your_Stepfather

Fed up with the constant escapes from Arkham Asylum, A freshly awakened mage decides to do something about it----Could be considered a rewrite of my other fic, Gotham: The Ascension, but considering how I might continue that, it's not really a rewrite. More so, a different take on it.

107 kudos 28,835 words 19/? chapters Teen And Up Audiences
14

Of Frost and Fire

by StygianHeart

Jack Frost and E. Aster Bunnymund haven’t been getting along recently. Ever since defeating Pitch seven months ago, things have gotten better between the two, but a few months is hardly enough time to get over forty years of dislike and distrust. After the two screw up a battle due to their fighting

90 kudos 20,552 words 2/52 chapters Teen And Up Audiences
15

Like Rain That You Slept Through

by tangerinepockets

In a little yellow house on the corner of the street there's a magic shop with two unusual witches inside. Yoongi, with an enchanted bloodstone for a heart, who feels nothing. Jungkook, with Yoongi's true heart in his chest, who feels everything. Three years ago an accident bound them, ruined them,

81 kudos 23,498 words 6/? chapters Explicit
16

Second Beginnings and Different Endings

by allupinsmoke

Slow-burn SQ. Henry has moved out. The mansion is empty. Regina decides to open it up to foster kids and offer them what Emma never had growing up — a home. Callie Jacob is a hardened and traumatized teen. She knows she is beyond love. Her only goal is to get Jude into a safe home, after which she c

73 kudos 12,398 words 5/? chapters Mature
17

If the Glove Fits

by wunderplunder

Arthur never thought that helping two starving children would amount to much, certainly not in the form of fairy godparents. Fate loves to prove him wrong, however, and in a moment of pure desperation, he finds himself in the company of two magical beings determined to turn his miserable life aroun

68 kudos 25,100 words 9/? chapters Teen And Up Audiences
18

The Cracks

by fallsintograce

In a world where every skater gets a magic power upon skating in a magical rink, Yuuri is left out when he's the only one without a power. However, when the rink starts collapsing and skaters start losing their abilities, it's up to him to save them all. (Or the Encanto AU I've been working on and f

60 kudos 34,729 words 14/? chapters Teen And Up Audiences
19

For the City

by Narvine

After a cataclysmic storm wiped out the shores of Klatch and now heads for Ankh-Morpork, the Patrician must find a way to protect his city. A strange wizard, brought in by Ridcully, is interested to help, but he soon reveals himself to be the sort of person neither Vetinari, nor Vimes want around.

49 kudos 42,551 words 9/9 chapters Mature Complete
20

Whispers in the Wind

by ForSekai_1994

When Jongin unexpectedly inherits an ancient ring, he discovers it houses Sehun, a powerful and handsome wind jin bound to grant wishes. Struggling to navigate the modern world and freed from centuries of imprisonment, Sehun transforms Jongin’s life in ways he never imagined. But their newfound happ

24 kudos 42,024 words 3/3 chapters Explicit Complete

More Short Magic Fics on AO3

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About Magic

Spellwork, enchantments, and the impossible made systematic — whether the canon is already magical or the writer is introducing magic where none existed. Covers everything from intricate original magic systems to a single inexplicable curse driving the plot.

Magic is fanfiction's most flexible tool: it can externalize emotion, literalize metaphor, and give any pairing a curse that can only be broken one obvious way.

Common scenarios: A witch's familiar turning out to be a transformed human, or two characters bound by a spell that forces honesty between them.

About This List

34,729
median words
55%
complete
71,914
top kudos
~2.3 hours
median read time

This list of 20short Magic fanfics spans 631,259 total words. Kudos range from 24 on the newest entries to 71,914 on the most established. 55% are marked complete — check the status flag before committing to a longfic. The most common rating is Teen And Up Audiences (7 of 20 fics).

Recurring tags across this list: Magic · Alternate Universe - Magic · Romance · Hogwarts Eighth Year · Curses.

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