The End of the Beginning by Mariner (PG-13)

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Fandom: HARRY POTTER/BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Pairing: genfic, though James/Lily is, of course, important to the plot, and there are some suggestions past of Giles/Ethan
Author on LJ: marinarusalka
Author Website: Rusalka's Realm
Why this must be read:

Giles and Ethan think they know magic - dark and light - until they run into some truly magical folks in the summer of 1981, and get caught up in their struggle against a deadly enemy. Not only is this story tightly plotted, suspenseful and a great read, it takes into account the differences in magic and metaphysics in the two universes. It also tackles the question of how MWPP could have become so fractured.

An excerpt from the first chapter:

It was awfully wet out... Giles was about to voice his agreement when the sky caught fire.

Giles' first thought was that someone was setting off fireworks nearby. But there was none of the noise that normally accompanies fireworks. The burst of emerald stars floated upwards in eerie silence, trailing faint plumes of smoke, bathing the trees and rooftops below in flickering green light. As Giles watched, the stars began to move, arranging themselves into the shape of an immense skull. It was hard to judge size, with nothing around to give the thing scale, but Giles thought it had to be at least twenty feet across. A snake slithered from the skull’s grinning mouth like a grotesque tongue. When the clouds behind it moved, the snake seemed to writhe.

"What the hell..." Giles’ head was clearing rapidly as adrenalin chased out the alcohol fumes. He shot a glance at Ethan, who stepped back and spread his arms.

"Don’t look at me, I didn’t do it."

For once, Giles believed him.

"We'd better have a look."

He was half a block away before he realized that Ethan wasn’t following. Giles stopped, turned and glared, and got an equally pointed glare in return.

"I can see fine from here," Ethan said. "No need to come any closer."

"Whatever happened to your sense of adventure?" Giles came back, hooked three fingers through the loop of chain that dangled off Ethan’s left shoulder and pulled, hard. "Come along now, there’s a good boy."

Ethan came along, protesting all the while about the rain, the party they were leaving behind, and the likelihood of them being killed unpleasantly by whatever entity had produced the mark in the sky. He shut up only when Giles pointed out, rather snappishly, that their chances of survival would increase dramatically if the entity in question couldn't hear them coming.

Ethan and Snape snark, Giles is Research Guy, and James and Lily's courage and desperation will break your heart.

The End of the Beginning by marinarusalka

Comments

[rhi-silverflame.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you for this. Really good, logical HP/BtVS crossover fic that works is next to impossible to find, and this works just beautifully.

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Glad you found the rec useful. Don't forget to feed the author! *g*

[raveninthewind.livejournal.com]

Dang. I was going to rec this but you beat me to it. *g*

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

*g*

I was surprised and happy it was still available when it was my turn.