FIC REC: "The End of the Beginning" by Mariner
I'm going to start to do this more often, because really, I feel that I should share the wealth when I happen to stumble across it.
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Harry Potter
Title: The End of the Beginning
Author: Mariner
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama/Action/Adventure
Spoilers: None
Summary: London, 1981. Rupert Giles and Ethan Rayne thought they understood magic -- until the night they saw a glowing green skull in the sky above a quiet London street.
URL: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1375393/1/
Why I Like This Fic: This is the first, I repeat, the first, Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Harry Potter fic that I actually made it past the first chapter of, enjoyed and kept on reading. The main Buffy players are Giles and Ethan who interact with the Wizarding World in the days before Harry became The Boy Who Lived, back when wizards still said the name "Voldemort," and didn't shush one another and whisper, "You Know Who." Most importantly, it works. It works in both universes, in both timelines, and it never turns into an alternate reality because it doesn't have to. It has nothing to do with Giles having once been a Hogwart's student whom lost his wand or gave up wizarding in favor of Watching, there are no surprise familiar relationships or connections. There is no All Knowing Wizarding Omnipotence, No Magic Is Universal Assumption, and No Giles Wandering About with A Wand.
Example of fic: So many good scenes, how to chose just one?
"Terrorizing the suspect again, Moody?" said a mild voice. "There will be paperwork if he dies of fright."
The new arrival was a very young man, barely out of his teens by the look of him, with untidy black hair and pale gray eyes that crinkled amiably behind horn-rimmed spectacles. He wore the same dark red garment as his companion, but with a single silver sunburst on the left shoulder.
Giles heard a mildly annoyed grunt behind him, and the pressure against his neck disappeared. A moment later the first man -- Moody, presumably -- came into view again.
"Potter. Took you long enough." Moody folded his arms across his chest and glowered. It was quite an intimidating glower, but Potter seemed unaffected by it. "What did you find out?"
"It all checks out." Potter reached into a pocket and took out an ordinary brown leather wallet, which he held out to Moody.
"Hey," Giles said indignantly, "that's mine!"
Both men ignored him. Moody continued to glower, while Potter opened Giles' wallet and began to cheerfully catalogue the contents.
"Muggle driving license." He removed the folded green paper from its plastic sleeve, held it up for inspection, and put it back again. "Muggle library card. One Muggle credit card, twenty-six pounds and seventy-three pence in Muggle money, two Muggle photographs of a nice silver-haired lady, and…" He paused dramatically before fishing out a small square packet and waving it in front of Moody's nose. "One Muggle contraceptive device. I'm shocked." Potter smirked and quirked an eyebrow at Giles. "What would the nice silver-haired lady say?"
"She'd say, 'Please unchain my son and give him back his wallet,'" Giles said through clenched teeth. Now that the threat of immediate assault appeared to have passed, he was starting to feel angry. For all the pseudo-medieval trappings, the scenario was starting to look disturbingly familiar. He had seen it before, not only in the American detective dramas that his non-tweed-wearing friends occasionally forced him to watch, but also during that one, horrid night when an all-too-real London police inspector had questioned him about Randall's disappearance. He had no idea who these men were, or who had gone and appointed them magic police, but he was rapidly running out of patience with them.
"I'd be a lot more willing to help you," he said, "if you told me what's going on. Who are you people? Is Ethan--is my friend all right?"
"He's fine." Potter sighed and made a half-hearted effort to smooth down his hair. "Moody, can we unchain the gentleman, please?"
"No." Moody's forbidding expression remained unaffected by condoms, driving licenses, or pictures of Giles' mother. "Not until we get to the bottom of this. How many times do I have to tell you, boy--"
"Constant vigilance, yes, I know." Potter sighed again. "But can we, at least, be comfortable?" He reached into his pocket again and pulled out a wooden wand that looked remarkably similar to Moody's, only newer. Potter held it out in front of him. "Formasella!" he said, and a sturdy wooden chair appeared in front of him out of thin air.
Giles squeezed his eyes shut for a couple of seconds. When he opened them again, the chair was still there, and Potter was sitting in it, staring pointedly at Moody. Moody stared back, then shrugged and unfolded his arms.
"Very well," he grumbled, conjured his own chair from nowhere, and sat.
"That's… quite impressive," Giles said weakly. He knew of several spells that could conjure large objects out of nothing, but they all required lengthy incantations and a fair amount of advance preparation. More to the point, they expended a large amount of magical energy -- enough so that anyone with an ounce of sensitivity could feel if such a spell was cast nearby. Yet Potter and Moody had conjured twice in quick succession, practically under Giles' nose, and he hadn't felt a thing. "Would you mind my asking how you did that?"
"Magic," Moody said curtly. "But you knew that, didn't you?"
. . .
Go, read this fic. Tell the author how wonderful it is. And please, point me in the direction of other fic of this caliber.
(Edited to add the link that I forgot!)
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Harry Potter
Title: The End of the Beginning
Author: Mariner
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama/Action/Adventure
Spoilers: None
Summary: London, 1981. Rupert Giles and Ethan Rayne thought they understood magic -- until the night they saw a glowing green skull in the sky above a quiet London street.
URL: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1375393/1/
Why I Like This Fic: This is the first, I repeat, the first, Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Harry Potter fic that I actually made it past the first chapter of, enjoyed and kept on reading. The main Buffy players are Giles and Ethan who interact with the Wizarding World in the days before Harry became The Boy Who Lived, back when wizards still said the name "Voldemort," and didn't shush one another and whisper, "You Know Who." Most importantly, it works. It works in both universes, in both timelines, and it never turns into an alternate reality because it doesn't have to. It has nothing to do with Giles having once been a Hogwart's student whom lost his wand or gave up wizarding in favor of Watching, there are no surprise familiar relationships or connections. There is no All Knowing Wizarding Omnipotence, No Magic Is Universal Assumption, and No Giles Wandering About with A Wand.
Example of fic: So many good scenes, how to chose just one?
"Terrorizing the suspect again, Moody?" said a mild voice. "There will be paperwork if he dies of fright."
The new arrival was a very young man, barely out of his teens by the look of him, with untidy black hair and pale gray eyes that crinkled amiably behind horn-rimmed spectacles. He wore the same dark red garment as his companion, but with a single silver sunburst on the left shoulder.
Giles heard a mildly annoyed grunt behind him, and the pressure against his neck disappeared. A moment later the first man -- Moody, presumably -- came into view again.
"Potter. Took you long enough." Moody folded his arms across his chest and glowered. It was quite an intimidating glower, but Potter seemed unaffected by it. "What did you find out?"
"It all checks out." Potter reached into a pocket and took out an ordinary brown leather wallet, which he held out to Moody.
"Hey," Giles said indignantly, "that's mine!"
Both men ignored him. Moody continued to glower, while Potter opened Giles' wallet and began to cheerfully catalogue the contents.
"Muggle driving license." He removed the folded green paper from its plastic sleeve, held it up for inspection, and put it back again. "Muggle library card. One Muggle credit card, twenty-six pounds and seventy-three pence in Muggle money, two Muggle photographs of a nice silver-haired lady, and…" He paused dramatically before fishing out a small square packet and waving it in front of Moody's nose. "One Muggle contraceptive device. I'm shocked." Potter smirked and quirked an eyebrow at Giles. "What would the nice silver-haired lady say?"
"She'd say, 'Please unchain my son and give him back his wallet,'" Giles said through clenched teeth. Now that the threat of immediate assault appeared to have passed, he was starting to feel angry. For all the pseudo-medieval trappings, the scenario was starting to look disturbingly familiar. He had seen it before, not only in the American detective dramas that his non-tweed-wearing friends occasionally forced him to watch, but also during that one, horrid night when an all-too-real London police inspector had questioned him about Randall's disappearance. He had no idea who these men were, or who had gone and appointed them magic police, but he was rapidly running out of patience with them.
"I'd be a lot more willing to help you," he said, "if you told me what's going on. Who are you people? Is Ethan--is my friend all right?"
"He's fine." Potter sighed and made a half-hearted effort to smooth down his hair. "Moody, can we unchain the gentleman, please?"
"No." Moody's forbidding expression remained unaffected by condoms, driving licenses, or pictures of Giles' mother. "Not until we get to the bottom of this. How many times do I have to tell you, boy--"
"Constant vigilance, yes, I know." Potter sighed again. "But can we, at least, be comfortable?" He reached into his pocket again and pulled out a wooden wand that looked remarkably similar to Moody's, only newer. Potter held it out in front of him. "Formasella!" he said, and a sturdy wooden chair appeared in front of him out of thin air.
Giles squeezed his eyes shut for a couple of seconds. When he opened them again, the chair was still there, and Potter was sitting in it, staring pointedly at Moody. Moody stared back, then shrugged and unfolded his arms.
"Very well," he grumbled, conjured his own chair from nowhere, and sat.
"That's… quite impressive," Giles said weakly. He knew of several spells that could conjure large objects out of nothing, but they all required lengthy incantations and a fair amount of advance preparation. More to the point, they expended a large amount of magical energy -- enough so that anyone with an ounce of sensitivity could feel if such a spell was cast nearby. Yet Potter and Moody had conjured twice in quick succession, practically under Giles' nose, and he hadn't felt a thing. "Would you mind my asking how you did that?"
"Magic," Moody said curtly. "But you knew that, didn't you?"
. . .
Go, read this fic. Tell the author how wonderful it is. And please, point me in the direction of other fic of this caliber.
(Edited to add the link that I forgot!)