Worst. Time Lord. Ever.
Anyway, some more crossover thoughts, though at this point they're less story concepts than observations/character analyses.
1. Harry Potter would make a good candidate for either a Green Lantern Ring or a Dresden Files Knight of the Cross. He's got the strength of will for a Lantern, if his ability to throw off an Imperius Curse at 14 is any indication, and he's got the self-sacrificing sense of love and compassion and willingness to give a villain a chance at redemption to be a Knight (particularly a bearer of Amorachius, I think).
On that note, I also think that Rory from Doctor Who might have some KotC potential.
2. If I ever do a
Harry Potter/"Angel" crossover, Lindsey MacDonald pretty much has to be Harry's arch enemy at some point. Not necessarily his most
powerful enemy, by any means, or even the most evil, but the one that represents the greatest personal and philosophical conflict, and is a twisted reflection of him, the flip side of the same coin (like how the Joker is sort of Batman's evil mirror in some interpretations).
This occurred to me after watching the episode of "Angel" in season two where Lindsey arranges for Darla to get turned into a vampire again. Ostensibly because he loves her and doesn't want her to die, but really, at least in part, to stick it to Angel (also basically Fridge-stuffing
in-universe- Lindsey arranged Darla's death in order to hurt Angel). It was one of the most horrifying moments of the series or the entire Buffy franchise, and it gave me a loathing for Lindsey that I've rarely had for a fictional character. And then it got me thinking.
You see, Harry Potter's characterization is arguably pretty much defined by his ultimate acceptance of death, and by his capacity for love- and his is a very self-sacrificing definition of love. Harry probably wouldn't hesitate to lay down his life for a stranger, but he (at least post-book seven) would certainly be appalled by the idea of turning someone into a vampire (a demonic mockery of life) in an effort to prevent them from dying, particularly when its ultimately for selfish reasons. That Lindsey would claim, or imply, that he did so out of love, when what he did amounted to arrange Darla's murder and metaphorical rape so that a demon could go on a rampage in her body, would probably just be adding insult to injury from Harry's point of view.
You could draw parallels to the tale of the Second Brother in the story of the Deathly Hallows (though what Lindsey did is far worse), and Harry would probably empathize with someone trying to cheat death through unethical means despite (or because of) having overcome that temptation himself, I think he'd view Lindsey's motives as pretty much the opposite of love. In fact, I have a hard time thinking of anything that would be more likely to push all of Harry's buttons than what Lindsey did to Darla, except targeting his family.
Plus, wizard cop (which Harry is post-Deathly Hallows) vs. demonic defence lawyer is a pretty obvious basis for hostility.
You could have various encounters where Lindsey torpedoes one of Harry's cases. Or where they're forced to team up during one of Lindsey's stints of going rogue against Wolfram and Hart. And its another way in which they mirror each other, while ultimately making opposite choices. Harry and Lindsey both have a degree of disregard for the law and authority, but Lindsey's is based more in selfishness, while Harry's is about doing what you have to in order to help the people you care about and stand up for the truth, even if it means going against what those in power want. So on the one hand, you have a cop who bends the law to help people, and on the other hand a lawyer who perverts it to protect the villains and advance his own career. Though I'd be wary of the story developing an unintended anti-government, pro-vigilante subtext.
You could even draw some parallels between their backgrounds. Harry grew up abused and neglected, but dedicates his life towards trying to help others, because he has a strong capacity for love and compassion. Lindsey grew up in poverty, but responded by concluding that the only thing that matters is doing whatever it takes to get ahead, at others' expense. So I think that Harry might understand where Lindsey is coming from, but at the same time hold a pretty much opposite view of the world. But I think that Harry would also hold out some hope for Lindsey's redemption (which was toyed with at various points in the series canonically), so that would add another dimension to it.
Despite being from a different franchise, Lindsey feels very much like a dark mirror of Harry to me, when viewed in that light, and I think that they'd make good foils/antagonists for one another.
Edit: Okay, while I'm on the topic of Buffy fan fics, and to avoid a double-post, here's a rare non-crossover idea from me:
Buffy runs for President.
The story would basically be a semi-satirical take on American politics viewed through the lens of the Buffy-verse. The idea originated, I think, during the 2016 election, when I facetiously joked that if I did a protest write-in vote, I'd write Buffy the Vampire Slayer for President (Note: this is intended for HUMOR ONLY. I do not advocate squandering your vote on protest write-ins.). Plus, at some point, it occurred to me that as of 2016, Buffy's canonical age would be 35 (she turns 17 early in 1998), thus rendering her legally eligible for a Presidential run.
I'm not sure weather I'd follow comics continuity post-show, or go the alternate continuity route and have the supernatural still be somewhat secret. I expect the latter would make for a more plausible, yet in some ways more challenging, scenario, since Buffy has a LOT of skeletons in her closet that could torpedo a campaign.
Granted, some of those would be known regardless, like the
two separate times she was wanted on suspicion of murder before finishing high school.
The motivation for Buffy doing something so out-of-character would be a prophecy or something showing that either of the major party candidates winning would lead to some sort of catastrophe. This would have to be very carefully constructed to keep from playing into the odious "both sides are just as bad" false equivalency meme. I'm thinking that one of the candidates is a Wolfram and Hart pawn (they've canonically had associations with past US Presidents), and the other is a basically well-meaning person, but compromised in some way that will ensure that they either lose the election or are unable to be an effective President.
Maybe she gets the information from someone like Lorne, who can read people's futures when they sing. You know, when the time comes for one of those God-awful, awkward "the candidate sings" moments.
So after Buffy proposes Plan A (Slay the Wolfram and Hart-backed candidate), someone points out that assassinating a Presidential candidate is likely to end very badly for her even if the Secret Service doesn't gun her down during the attempt, so she runs herself as an independent instead. Possibly Spike or Faith (or even Xander) suggests that she run as a joke, but then people actually start running with it. Actually, Xander works, as it wouldn't be the first time he's hit on a good idea by chance/joking around (see the end of season four's conflict with Adam). I'd probably have Dawn be the one who takes the idea seriously first, since for some reason Dawn strikes me as someone who'd likely grow up to be a politics nerd/activist, and as I recall she expressed frustration/disappointment over how Buffy couldn't have a normal career. Besides, Buffy's getting a bit old for field work.
At first, the campaign would be a complete non-starter (going off the idea that this is an alternate continuity where Buffy's Slayer identity is still secret), with Buffy trying to get enough signatures to get on the ballot in California and getting basically about the publicity and attention of a crazy guy ranting on a street corner. Actually, less. But then, at a "rally" (held at the local community centre, with about three people in attendance), Buffy happens to be in the right place, at the right time, to save some innocent bystander from a horrible accident, and it gets caught on tape. The video goes viral thanks to Youtube, and suddenly all of America's talking about the independent Presidential candidate who saved that kid from getting run over by a car or whatever. This gives Buffy enough of a PR boost that she's able to squeak past the 15% threshold to get into the Presidential debates, especially since Buffy is actually pretty good at making a rousing speech (see season seven). She also gets a big boost when that rich businessman friend of Angel's (I forget his name) endorses her (since he's familiar with all the supernatural stuff, and friends with Angel and his crew).
Now, Buffy's a good speech-maker. But I don't know how she'd fair in a debate. Cue frantic debate coaching from Giles, Willow, and Dawn.
Of course, by this time, Wolfram and Hart are taking things seriously, and they start throwing every bit of campaign dirt, real or faked, that they can dig up. And oh, boy, is their a lot to dig up, especially if you take things out of context.
-Buffy was the focus of two murder investigations and resisted arrest as a teen.
-Buffy was investigated by social services while raising her younger sister as, essentially, a single mother.
-Buffy was living with a lesbian couple for a couple of years.
-Buffy was a college drop-out.
-Buffy hosted a bunch of teenager girls who went missing under mysterious circumstances in her house (during season seven).
So Buffy has to deal with every painful aspect of her past being dragged into the lime light. The most painful would probably be her relationship with Angel coming out. On the one hand, there would be sympathy for Buffy from some people because when you get down to it, that relationship was her being used by an older man while she was still underage. And the fact that said man later became (briefly) CEO of Wolfram and Hart would be a way to strike back at them (not that Wolfram and Hart's reputation is great to begin with).
On the other hand, you'd have misogynists engaging in innuendo about how Buffy slept around as a teen, and is that really the kind of role model you want as President?
Which moves this pretty effectively from light-hearted political satire to dark political satire-bordering on tragedy.
I'm thinking the climax would have a twist- Buffy doesn't win... no one does. In a three-way race, nobody gets a majority of the Electoral College. It goes to the House.
I'm not sure what I'd have the ultimate outcome be. Or what states Buffy would win. California probably, because if you can't even carry your home state...
Also maybe Colorado, purely out of favouritism (Colorado is my home state).
Depending on how dark I want it to get (and considering that a large-scale Buffyverse story ought to have a certain amount of action in it), I might have a sub-plot where someone tries to assassinate candidate-Buffy. It ends badly for them. Very, very badly.
Hmm, actually, I could see the assassin almost succeeding, since bullets are not something Buffy has a terribly good track record against. Slayer powers don't make you bullet-proof, or able to necessarily dodge bullets. So Buffy gets shot, but survives due to Slayer healing (and gets a bunch of sympathy votes), while the Scoobies/Slayer army hunt down whoever did it.
As to VP- I can think of three decent contenders from Buffy's inner circle.
Principle Wood. My idea is that after season seven, he continued to work as an educator while keeping an eye on the Cleveland Hellmouth, and eventually worked his way up to some higher-up position like superintendent of schools or maybe even a position related to education in the state government. So he'd have some political experience, in addition to adding racial diversity and representation from a swing state (Ohio) to the ticket.
Riley Finn. Probably the strongest candidate, aside from the fact that a lot of voters would probably find it weird to have a VP candidate who's the ex-boyfriend of the Presidential candidate.
At this point, he'd likely be a fairly senior military officer, and is also from a swing state (Iowa). Plus, well... having an "all American guy" white man on the ticket might reassure some voters.
I don't know if he'd be interested though. Part of his character is that he preferred the simplicity of military life to the complexities of Buffy's world. That likely holds true for politics as well (even if his being briefly wanted for Treason never leaks out, since the circumstances were classified).
Rich guy CEO friend of Angel's. A businessman on the ticket would appeal to some people. But having two Californians on the ticket might be off-putting to some.
Its one of my stranger ideas, I admit, but I'm rather fond of it. I guess this is what happens when my politics nerd side meets my SF nerd side.