When Harry Met Sammy

[layne67]

OMG

I had this story bookmarked forever and it has been rec'd right and left but I kept putting it off, reading it, I mean. Because you know, it's a crossover. It's not that I don't do crossover, I do, it's just that crossovers tend to be more AU than AU, their AU-ness tend to scream at you in every word and in every line, if you know what I mean. But. This is astolat, and I should have known that if anyone could do it, it would be her. For she has indeed written a very believable story where the world of the Winchesters collide with that of Harry Potter's.

Old Country is written in a perfect blend of comedy ( just imagine Dean meeting the owls for the first time ) and angst, with it going very dark towards the end. For this is Sam and Dean post-AHBL, and Sam is hell-bent on finding a way to save his brother, even if it involves using the Dark Art, even if it puts him on the path to becoming another Dark Wizard himself.

Dean sat down heavily on the bed, trying to be pissed at Sam, more pissed at himself. It was just he hadn't figured out how not to think about it yet. He'd never figured on a long life-line, but he hadn't been staring at the Gates of Hell at the end of it, either. He wasn't sorry; he couldn't be sorry when he could pick up his head and look at Sam through the windows, standing in the parking lot with his head bowed and his fists clenched, shaggy fringe of his hair hanging over his face, tall and alive and breathing. He'd do it the same all over again if he had another chance, and he wasn't going to pull any stunt that might unravel the deal and put Sam back in the dirt.

Totally absorbing. Totally brilliant.

Anyone here who has read it and wants to squee with me? *hopes*

Now if only someone were to write a "When Sam & Dean met Casey & Zeke" :D

Comments

[unhobbityhobbit.livejournal.com]

I'd love to squee with you, but I don't like it. Sorry!

[arabia764.livejournal.com]

I tried it and couldn't get into it - too much HP at the start. Is it really worth persevering with? I know she is an awesome writer but I'm not really a HP fan.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I suppose you should know a little bit of Harry Potter to *get* the story but hee, I love it!

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Is it the slash that you dont like?

[unhobbityhobbit.livejournal.com]

Eh, that was a little bit of it, there were a few little things. Mostly it was the unicorn, though.

Sorry, I don't mean to harsh your squee, I really loved the beginning of it!

[allysonsedai.livejournal.com]

Ooh, me!

Of course, I would read a grocery list if Astolat wrote it. :)

[elenya54.livejournal.com]

I thought it a great crossover. I didn't like the sex at first, but Astolat made it OK when she just used it as a way to show Dean that Sam was not going to cope after the Demon came to collect. It was a skillful mix of funny and dark/edgy. I liked her explanation of why the Winchesters can drive around in the Impala unnoticed. :D

I do have a request for you. This rec was OK because you labelled it as "post AHBL", but you often don't mark your posts with spoiler alerts. Unless I can get to visit ghyste, I'm not going to see any of Season 3 anytime soon, and I'd rather remain spoiler free. :)

[shadowc44.livejournal.com]

I'll happily squee with you! I loved it very much. I wasn't crazy about the sex, either. It's one of the rare stories that I thought might have worked better without the sex, but even so, the whole thing is fantastic.

You know what's odd? You know I'm, er, not the biggest Dean fan in the world, right? In this story, I actually liked Dean a tiny bit more than I liked Sam. As in, I actually liked this particular Dean! Especially regarding the impala and his "observers". I liked his protectiveness towards "his kids" as well.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Hey, that's perfectly alright. Though I really thought it was the slash that bothered you because to be honest, it was a little bit jarring for *me* at first, and that coming from a Wincest hor.

Why the unicorn? I read HP but not obsessively, so I didn't quite get that part about the unicorn.

And yeah, the beginning's quite priceless, isn't it? The owls, the lawyers, Ollivander being driven out of his mind *g*

[layne67.livejournal.com]

The NC17 parts are great :DD

Btw, there's NO Sam / Harry pairing, in case you're thinking of that from the subject line.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

My first Astolat was *your* rec of one of her fics :D

And I was thinking that you would certainly dig that story!

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Oops, sorry. I guess I didn't usually put up any spoiler warnings in my rec-posts because I was thinking that the authors wrote that in their A/Ns. But I will next time!

Yeah, the Impala. That was some serious magic involved there *g*. Love it when the goblins took Dean as one of their own. And I adore Dean's interactions with the kids. Now that's kind of canon, right, because we know that Dean's good with kids.

My favourite part has got to be Ollivander trying to get Dean his wand!!!

[unhobbityhobbit.livejournal.com]

Well, the slash did seem a bit out of nowhere, but I think I was already having my doubts about it by then. I wasn't entirely convinced of Dean's attitude to magic (it's a whole new weapon in the fight against demons and stuff, no?) and I really wasn't convinced by the school's attitude towards Dean seeing as he wasn't doing any homework and was skipping classes left right and centre and Hogwarts had basically become a hotel. They should've kicked him out and told him to get a private tutor or something (I'm actually surprised by how protective I am of the HP 'verse).

The unicorn was really the straw that broke the camel's back. I was hoping that Sam would die, because doing all that and then not suffering the consequences for it would just be plain wrong and then the unicorn turned up with this new power of healing that's never been mentioned before ever and I had to stop reading.

I was giggling so much through the beginning! Especially with poor old Ollivander...

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I initially thought the story would be gen throughout ( and yup, that was another reason why I put off reading the fic for so long ), because the link that I got brought me straight to the story, bypassing Astolat's post on her LJ. So yeah, I was a bit surprised myself at the sex, and thought it was a bit out of place at first, you know, with the kids and all. And Dean begging Sam not here please, I thought Dean was just going through with it because of Sam, and I wouldn't have liked that *at all*. But she pulled it off really well I think.

And oh my, the image of Sam with streaks of white running through his hair, the wizards being afraid of him, the golden glints in his eyes. And I like it that in the beginning it seems that Sam's in the background only, and he became a major player only in the second half of the story. And hee, Harry as a teacher himself!

I like both Dean and Sam in this story, they remain true to their characters despite them being in very strange surroundings, to say the least.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

A phoenix, then! :)

[shadowc44.livejournal.com]

Yes, the characterization for both of them was very good, quite believable. I kept wanting to know what was going on with Sam, but it worked out well that, as you say, he was mostly in the background in the first part. The set-up was very good, and it seemed a great way to get the boys in as students at Hogwarts! Fun throughout, plus some angst!