Transcript for Episode 1: Nicole Hill, Harry Potter, and Doctor Who, Oh My!

Talia Franks: Hello, and welcome to the inaugural episode of Into the Archives, the fanfiction podcast where each month. I, your host Talia Franks, regale and entertain a guest with a rendition of my latest trip into the fanfic archives today I’m with special guest Nicole. Nicole is a web designer and writer. They write commentary and critique about film, television, and popular culture, engaging in critical fandom and embracing intersectionality.

They’re a frequent contributor at Den of Geek and write about Doctor Who on Black Tardis, a blog by and for Doctor Who fans and other Whovians of color. They’re the community manager for Black Girls Create a unique intersectional hub for black creators and critical fandom. Nicole, it is great having you on today.

I’m so pleased to have you

Nicole Hill: It is great to be here.

Talia Franks: in my virtual podcast studio. That’s a really, just a corner of my bedroom. Yeah. So now is the part where I ask you to tell the listeners a bit about yourself, but this is also my first episode too. So we’re both going to be answering the same questions. So I’ll go first. So you have time to think about them.

It’s name pronouns, first fandom, current fandoms your relationship to fanfic and your favorite fanfic. So just for me going first name is Talia. My pronouns are they/them. My first fandom was Harry Potter. My current fandoms are Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and I also read fanfic for MCU, BBC Merlin, and Good Omens which are the other fandoms that will be in this podcast.

And I’ll give you a chance to answer the first four questions that I just answered. And then we’ll go onto the last two questions.

Nicole Hill: OK, name, Nicole Hill. Also go by Niq which I spell with a Q cause I love drama. But it’s Niq or Niq both work it’s fine. And I use they them and she, her pronouns. I truly can not remember my first fandom I’ve been into fandom.

Like I’ve always been this way. So, I feel like it’s hard to pinpoint the first time, but my current fandoms, we have a lot of overlap, so it’s Doctor Who, MCU, Star Wars, some anime, but like, it’s weird. I’m like, I love it, but I also am like, I go in and out of it. And in terms of like, fanfic, I mainly actually stay away from fanfic unless it’s for something that just has no current iteration, because I have an issue, where like, if the fic is too good, or if they like do things with the characters that are better than the original thing, and I have to go back to the thing, it makes it very hard for meetings or like the actual like, the show. So, I’m like, I don’t read fanfic for things that are like current or like recent, because then it might ruin my ability to like, accept what we were given on the screen or like on the page.

Talia Franks: That makes a lot of sense. And that is a very different take from my opinion on fanfic and the way that I interact with fanfic, which is part of why I let you answer the question first, cause I kinda knew that that was what you were gonna say. So, my, my relationship with fanfic stems a lot from my relationship with the particular fandom that I’m reading in. For instance, I read a lot of Harry Potter fanfic and one of the reasons I read a lot of Harry Potter, fanfic actually has to do with something I want to address here.

And I want to address in I’m planning to address in every episode where I read Harry Potter fanfic because I didn’t tell you what fanfic we’re reading yet today, but it is a Harry Potter Doctor Who crossover and the reason. Yeah.

And so the thing about Harry Potter fanfic is, and the thing about Harry Potter in general is that I make a big point to keep my fandom experience of Harry Potter, separate from the sort of mainstream experience of Harry Potter that has to do with JK Rowling and all the things that she profits from and a lot of the canonical stuff, especially recently, because, you know, as a nonbinary trans person, I cannot abide by what JK Rowling has said and done. And, you know, I no longer advocate for her books and I have zero desire to promote them. And what I do advocate for is fan creation and interpretation. And I don’t try any longer to bring people into the fandom only really embracing those who are here and who similarly feel the hurt I feel and who take comfort in the versions of characters that we’ve developed in our own right. Which is what I feel is the point of fanfiction.

I read fanfiction because it really interests me to see how people have interpreted these characters beyond how they exist in the canonical universe particularly Harry Potter, which has so many problematic elements to it. And so that’s where I come at it from a Harry Potter fanfiction perspective, which I’ve read a lot of Harry Potter fanfiction.

On the, on the side of Doctor Who, I feel like Doctor Who is such a amazing expansive universe where really anything can happen where there is at this point, like dozens of Doctors. I mean, like, technically there’s 13, but even with like the 13 Doctors, like you have like Jo Martin’s Doctor, who’s not one of the like 13, but you know, she’s honestly like my fave and then you have like John Hurt’s War Doctor, who’s not one of the 13, but he exists.

And then you have the Shalka Doctor who’s played by gosh, I’m blanking on the name of the actor, but he was almost the ninth Doctor and he’s a cartoon, but he’s still there. And it’s just like, and that’s like, there’s so many different versions of the Doctor and like, especially with the whole Timeless Children, like who even knows how many versions of the Doctor are out there.

And. Honestly at this point, then there’s also the idea of all this like extended universe. There’s the books and the comics and big finish and like all that is just legal fanfiction. Like basically anything that’s not, if you take the anything, that’s not, the actual show is fanfiction then all of the extended universe stuff is also, so it’s just.

Yeah. So, what really makes like this graphic novel that I got that was published by Titan comics that much different from what I’m reading on Ao3 except for the fact that one is like officially licensed and one was written by someone who doesn’t have that official BBC branding. I have a lot of opinions.

Nicole Hill: Yeah. I think Doctor Who is one of the universes that I feel most comfortable actually playing in fanfiction, because of all the things you said, and I that’s the one I’m like, you know what, actually, I will go into that. Cause it doesn’t, that’s the one where you can be reading something and it could be canonical and it can not be and it doesn’t really affect the show because of how much canon is there, and then also how much they kind of just don’t care about. So that’s one of the ones where I can go into fanfiction then like enjoy it. And it doesn’t really impede on my ability to enjoy the show when I go back to it, just because I’m like, this could actually be happening off screen.

Like this can be happening right now. While the Doctor that we were watching on TV is doing something else, and it doesn’t necessarily, it doesn’t make it harder for me to enjoy it, but it also is the one show where I feel like I could contribute fanfic and I’m always like, this is what I would do. This is what I would do.

And I’m like, that is fanfic. I’m literally imagining girl, like. Drafting a fanfic in my head, but I don’t think about it in those terms. And so now, recently I’ve just been like, Oh, I actually am okay with like, I think that’s the, that’s probably going to be my entry point into like really getting into fanfic is Doctor Who, because it’s like easy, like you said, with Harry Potter, like to compartmentalize. What’s canon and then it was your, the fan creation. I think I can do the same thing with Doctor Who. So, I’m also actually really interested in Doctor Who fanfic and like trying to get into it that way.

Talia Franks: I think Doctor Who fanfic is, you know, a brilliant, a brilliant place to be.

 So, I guess probably at this point, we should start talking about the actual fic. So, this is a Harry Potter Doctor Who crossover fic. It’s actually two stories. It’s like one and a half. So, the first fic is complete. The second fic is, is sadly incomplete. It’s. I’m slightly devastated. It’s been incomplete since 2017, but this, these, these fics, I like them so much.

I’ve even though they’ve been incomplete since 2017, I’ve actually gone back and re-read it a few times since then, just because I do find this entire premise thoroughly delightful, which is why I wanted to talk about this fic. So, just one thing I wanted to do going forward is to just make sure before I talk about a fic is to list any content warnings.

The first one is just that there’s some references to really extreme violence, particularly at the beginning of the first fic. It’s just a little bit gruesome. The author themself actually lists a content warning right at the beginning. So that’s just something to consider.

Yeah. So, the first fic is called “Not Not-Human,” and the second fic is called “All Hail the Time Lord’s Son.” They’re both by an author called Forensica X on fanfic.net. I’ll be putting the link in the description. And, so, yeah. So, let’s dive in. So, the premise for this fic, it starts at the end of Journey’s End. So, or a little bit afterwards, so Rose and Ten Two, so this is the human Ten,  who is just, you know, going by the, the Doctor are basically working for alternative Torchwood and they’re just sort of investigating everything, because of the first war with Voldemort, because, you know, there’s all these unexplained murders and disappearances, and also people just forgetting about all of these gruesome things that have been happening to muggles. And they’re like, what is going on? Because like, it’s not like Torchwood, wouldn’t notice all the ish that Voldemort was doing, you know?

And, and this is the other important thing to notice about this being an alternate universe in this version of the story, Mickey decided to stay with Rose and Ten Two, so he’s in the story. But the other interesting thing about this story that makes me scratch my head a bit is that Captain Jack is in the story.

Like he’s in this universe and I can’t figure out, like, I think it’s the same Captain Jack from the main universe, but also a different fic introduced me to the idea that it might be that there’s like two Captain Jacks, and that the alternate universe also has a Captain Jack, but then that just like, raises the question of what has the experience of the alternate universe’s Captain Jack been like, and then that just makes you think about parallel universes way too much. Anyway, the point is Captain Jack exists in this universe. And so, does Mickey and they are both here, and they are both working with Rose and Ten and Torchwood.

So basically, they’re cleaning up where Voldemort left off. And, and just trying to figure out what’s going on then, you know, Voldemort gets destroyed. Like there’s all these weird things happening and they’re picking up odd readings everywhere on November 1st.  So, Rose and Ten following all these different readings, find baby Harry on the doorstep with just the letter. And then they’re like, why is there a baby on the doorstep in November? And, and Ten is able to like, figure out like, there’s this heat field that he like figures out with his Sonic screwdriver and then they go inside, and they talk to Petunia really briefly.

And then like, they are gonna like take they’re going to like take the baby and like have someone in Torchwood adopt it and then Rose’s like, but I want to keep the baby. And then the Doctor is like but like, we can’t keep the baby. And then Rose is like, but we should totally keep the baby. And the Doctor’s like, but we aren’t even married.

And then Rose is like, well, let’s get married. And so, then they get married and keep Harry. Or was it? I know it was a couple, it was a couple of weeks ago that I re-read this I’m trying to remember which one of them said randomly let’s get, I think it was the Doctor Who said like, well then let’s get

Nicole Hillthat worked? okay. Alright well…

Talia Franks: One of them said, well, let’s get married.

And then.

Nicole Hill: That’s a very old-fashioned thing I feel like for both of them —

Talia Franks: Right no, it was Rose said, let’s get married.

Nicole Hill: I’m with it, I’m rocking with it.

Talia Franks: Doctor pulled a ring out of nowhere, and then she almost crashed the car. And then she was like, how long have you had that?

Nicole Hill: He was waiting for the right time. I was waiting for a baby to get dropped off for this exact moment. Perfect timing.

Talia Franks: I know. Right.

Hello, this is Talia from the future busting in like the Kool-Aid man to tell you that that is not actually how it happened. Funnily enough, it was actually the Doctor who proposed, but it was not without first having the two of them discuss the realities of what it would be like to have a child. Just wanted to give some credit where credit was due.

Now, how about you head back to listening to Talia and Nicole from the past?

And so, then they, so they get married, and they have Harry and like they know something is up with him, but they’re just like, it’s cool. He’s like they, like, so like the reason it’s called Not Not-Human is because the Doctor is like, The Doctor says the Harry is not, not-human. Like they know that he’s not human, but he’s not, not-human.

And then eventually Rose and Ten have a kid, a daughter, and they’re trying to figure out what to name her. And so, Harry names, her Jenny, because apparently, he has a little friend named Jenny. Who’s just like his best friend at primary school. So, he names his little sister that. And this little friend, Jenny never shows up again.

Like she shows up once because apparently, they just randomly are in the same school district as the Dursleys cause the Dursleys moved and Dudley Dursley was being a bully to Harry’s friend, Jenny. So, the Harry turned his teacher’s hair blue, and that was like one of Harry’s episodes of accidental magic.

And like that’s the one time you meet the friend named Jenny and then he names the little sister, Jenny, and then the friend named Jenny never shows up again. Like she was just there so that he could name his little sister, Jenny.

 And so basically in Rose and, Ten are trying to infiltrate the magical world and find out more about the magical world, like partially for themselves.

They somewhat involve Torchwood when they need to, but it’s mostly just information gathering for themselves. And so, like they pose as people who have recently returned to England and like, pretend that like their story shifts, like, they originally pretend that they were in America, but then they switched to pretending they were in Australia and they start calling themselves the Smiths.

And they say that Rose is a squib and that Ten is a wizard. And it turns out that can claim that Ten is a wizard because when Harry turns 11 and they go to Diagon alley, they, they pass for wizards and Diagon alley because they realized that wizards basically just dress like they’re from a different century.

So, they just dress in old clothes and they pass for wizards. Like they just like dress up, like it was a hundred years ago and that makes it so that they can pass for wizard.

Nicole Hill: I mean, it’s not inaccurate.

Talia Franks: And so Then they go to the bank and it turns out that goblins are aliens. And so, the Doctor is able to speak their language because goblins are aliens and and so then they get taken to this like

Nicole Hill: Wait. Did you say goblins are aliens?

Talia Franks: Yeah. They’re aliens. Goblins are aliens who originally traveled to this universe on the moon. Like the moon is…

Nicole Hill: The moon is I mean, actually, you know what actually that doesn’t even break that doesn’t even break canon in either of these universes honestly is the thing about it, because we know that the moon is actually, an egg, so, it could have been anywhere, before it was here. So yeah, and that’s like from the show, I didn’t even make that up. That’s a real thing.

Talia Franks: Yeah. I mean like this was before this was pre, the moon is an egg.

But but this, like in this fic, the way that it works is basically the goblins are like, the original goblin planet was the moon and then the moon interacted with earth. And then they like the goblins decided to move to earth and it was a whole thing. And so, then the goblins, apparently in Gringotts have this whole hall of history that you can go visit. Gringotts like if you ask, but no one ever asks, but the Doctor like speaking their language and everything, and knowing the history of the fact that they came from the moon endears, the Doctor and his family to the goblins. And so, they show him the hall of history.

And then you find out that wizards, are actually descended from this space traveler named  Lady Aspasia, and she actually like carried the magical power that she like bestowed upon humanity. And that’s how humans got magical powers. And it turns out that Lady Aspasia was a Time Lord and actually the Doctor’s mom.

Nicole Hill: Okay. Yeah. I had a feeling when you said they all descended You know what all of this is like it’s outlandish, but you know it’s not actually outlandish. Like I’m sure people who have not participated in these like in either fandom will be like, that’s wild. But actually, this is like very much on brand for both of these and especially Doctor Who. So, I find it extra funny just because like, it’s not even something that you like, you will see this on the show and not be phased by it at all. So, I kinda love that.

Talia Franks: It tracks so hard. It tracks so hard. Yeah.  And it’s this it’s really, It’s really interesting. How the author manages to work in little bits about reminding you that the universe is an alternate universe.

And I keep forgetting that this is an alternate universe until there’s like bits where Harry mentions that his grandfather is the president of the United Kingdom and I’m like “the United Kingdom doesn’t have a president?”

And then I’m like, Oh, wait a minute. This is an alternate parallel universe. So that’s always really interesting whenever stuff like that comes up, but yeah. So anyway, Harry goes to Hogwarts and he he meets Hermione and Neville on the train ride.

And they end up becoming friends. Neville goes to Gryffindor, Hermione goes to Hufflepuff, Harry goes to Slytherin. And Harry also ends up making friends with Draco and Daphne, Greengrass, such that when they end up. Like when everything ends up going down with the third-floor corridor, it ends up being like a quintet of people.

And it’s the five of them, rather than like the trio or whatever. But also, everything that goes down with the third-floor corridor is like totally different. Cause one of the first things that happens Hogwarts is that Harry, Neville, and Hermione decide to go exploring and like on like day one of exploring Hogwarts, they find the room of requirement and the way that it’s set up, they basically set up a video conference call with with the Doctor.

And they’re able to like, just accidentally set up this, basically a zoom call, between themselves and the Doctor. And, Oh, I forgot. I forgot saying the most important thing not the most important thing. One of the most important things about this fic is that it’s time scaled way up. So, it’s time scaled back and forwards.

So, in the Harry Potter universe it’s shuffled forward by about, 16 years? So, like all this stuff with Voldemort and Harry surviving goes down in 1997 instead of 1981. And all this stuff with Rose and everything. It’s like sort of hand waved that the parallel universe is about 10 years behind the like main universe.

So, Rose and Ten Two got left behind in 1996, instead of getting left behind in 2006. And that’s the way that the timelines lineup.

Nicole Hill: Okay. I just, I wasn’t even thinking about it, but that makes sense, actually.

Talia Franks: So all of this is happening in 2012.

Nicole Hill: Okay. And the fic is from what year? Do you remember?

Talia Franks: The first fic was, so the first fic was started in 2014 and last updated in 2016. Like that was when the author did like a round of edits, but the fic was finished in 2014 because the second fic was also started in 2014.

Nicole Hill: Okay. Got it. I just wanted to know if it was like, present day as they were writing it, or if they were like, just messing with time, but okay. I got it. I got it.

Talia Franks: Yeah. Yeah.

So, the, it was like two years out from present day when the author was writing it.

Yeah. So, the author, I think wrote it wrote all of the first fic in 2014. Or at least published all of the first fic in 2014 and then revised it in 2016. And then started the second fic in 2014 and then last updated it in 2017. And like, it’s so tragic because the last chapter, ends with them promising that it’s still an active project.

And that they have the story mapped out until seventh year.

It actually stops right after Draco gets his arm broken during the Slytherin Quidditch game, but I haven’t gotten there yet. Spoilers.

Nicole Hill: Okay. Yeah. I just wanted to kind of get, kind of get to I’ll just like, okay. If it stops where, so it doesn’t get very close to its end?

Talia Franks: Yeah. But basically, the story retells Harry’s first year.

And it does a really good job of retelling Harry’s first year. One of the fantastic things about the way that it changes the story is that the Doctor and Rose are just really great supportive parents. And Harry doesn’t tell them absolutely everything, but he feels comfortable going to them when he’s upset or in danger about things, but at the same time they give him the tools to do things himself so that he can solve issues before getting in over his head. And so, one of the things that they do is when they realize that something is off about the third-floor corridor the Doctor and Rose basically allow Harry, Hermione, Neville, Draco, and Daphne, they give them a bunch of different, cool gear and different. I feel like knickknacks is the wrong word, but like, I don’t know, spyware like different gadgets, gadgets, that’s the right word gadgets. They give a bunch of different gadgets so that they can go in like infiltrate the third-floor corridor and like do a bunch of tests and like figure out what’s behind there.

And like they team up with the department of magical law enforcement and Amelia Bones, and they got this like whole plan to, to like figure out what’s behind the third-floor corridor and like figure everything out. And like, Harry is supposed to be like safe and sound and I’m like, there’s no way that he’s going to get in trouble because he’s only doing the soft recon and it’s actually the Doctor and everyone who’s going to be doing all of the serious stuff.

Once they like go in there. Like once someone actually needs to go in there and do all the dangerous things, but it turns out that the third-floor corridor is actually way more dangerous than they thought it was. Like there’s some sort of time distortion thing down there.

So, like time spent down there is like shorter than time spent outside of it. And like, in order to fuel it, it pulls from multiple dimensions and multiple powers of multiple versions of Hogwarts. And it’s just like—

Nicole Hill: Sounds like the rift but like in Hogwarts.

Talia Franks: Yeah. Hogwarts is a rift basically.

Nicole Hill: That, that makes, I mean that still tracks. It tracks.

Talia Franks: Yeah, it just it tracks. Yeah. And so, then at the end of the year, it turns out that Quirrell like he kidnaps Harry anyway. And one of the Hogwarts house, elves who has been super loyal to Harry and who has become friends with Harry figures out that something is wrong and wakes up all of Harry’s friends and warns them.

And so, then they wake up the professors and call Ten and Rose and then go after Harry themselves. Because, you know, as you do. And and so then Neville and Hermione are the ones that make it through to the end. And then Quirrell, disintegrates, and then Dumbledore is like, you did it.

And then Rose and Ten are like listen, here, you have gone too far. Basically, the Tylers hate Dumbledore.

Nicole Hill: I mean that’s valid.

Talia Franks: Like it tracks but no, but the funniest part is when you get to the, when you get to the second part, All Hail the Time Lord’s Son, basically Rose and Ten threatened Dumbledore so bad that he hires them as professors at Hogwarts. Just to like placate them.

Nicole Hill: Rose and Ten?

Talia Franks: With Rose and Ten yeah, they threatened him so bad.

Nicole Hill: Ok so I’m going to have to, we gonna have to pause for a quick second. What is Rose the professor of?

Talia Franks: She’s the professor of like muggle, she’s a professor of nonmagical culture.

Nicole Hill: Okay. I guess that I’ll let them have that continue carry on.

Talia Franks: She’s the professor of nonmagical culture and  the best part of it all is when I mean, there’s a lot of good parts of it, but there’s one part where Harry jinxes Lockhart and and then he does a couple other things and then  just says like, come on, we have to go talk to my parents I can handle getting detention, but I don’t want to get grounded cause like, he’s fine being punished by other professors, but he doesn’t want to get in trouble with his parents because that’s a bigger deal.

Nicole Hill: I mean, yeah, it would be.

Talia Franks: But yeah, and then, there’s also this part, and I just found it Dumbledore is introducing the Doctor and he says “it is there for a great pleasure to announce Mr. John Smith, Doctor of history, psychology, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine sociology, actually this list is quite long.

So, I shall shorten things by assuring you Mr. Smith holds about just every degree in higher education available to muggles. In addition to internationally certified masteries in charms, transfiguration, magical theory, defense against the dark arts, healing, and history.”

Nicole Hill: Just to name a few.

Talia Franks: Just to name a few. And he ends up being the new history of magic professor because Binns is in fact a ghost.

So, like basically these stories are just really fun. The Doctor pokes a lot of holes into the Harry Potter universe. And it’s just really fun to see how the author find solutions to them. And it’s also really fun to see the places where the author does hand waving, and their solutions involve. “This is an alternate universe. So, things are different for Harry Potter in addition to things being different for Doctor Who.”

Nicole Hill: Right.  So, for this fic who is the story focused on most? Cause I feel like it is more about, I don’t know if it’s more about Harry or is it like equally about Harry and Ten and Rose?

Talia Franks: Yeah.  So, it’s, it’s weird. So, at the beginning of the story, it definitely followed Ten and Rose more because Harry was a literal baby. And I feel like, it definitely feels more like a Harry Potter fanfic than a Doctor Who fan fic just by virtue of the fact that it’s set primarily in the Harry Potter universe.

And., I feel like the biggest thing that makes it feel like it’s less of a Doctor Who fanfic is that there’s no Tardis and there’s no, like there’s no proper Doctor, cause the only Doctor is Ten Two, but Rose and Ten are definitely main characters.

Nicole Hill: Right, yeah, when you first started off, I thought, okay, this is about, like, alternate Ten Two and Rose. And then as you started talking more, I was like, wait, I think it’s actually about Harry, but it does make sense that it follows them until he’s introduced and has agency.

Talia Franks: Once Harry has agency, it definitely starts to feel more like a Harry Potter fic, but Rose and Ten are still definitely main characters and still definitely have a very strong role in the fic, even like Jackie and Pete and Tony have like important roles in the story.

There’s actually a subplot with Tony, I don’t know if you remember Tony, Jackie and Pete’s son. Rose’s little brother.

Nicole Hill: Huh. I don’t remember from when? Oh yeah. Okay. I do remember now. I was like, no, there was literally no other child, but it was later. Yeah.

Talia Franks: Yeah.

Nicole Hill: Tony be about the same age as Harry then, right?

Talia Franks: Yeah. He’s a couple years older. He’s like, I think like four, six years older, I don’t really know exactly. But there’s a whole subplot Tony is very, very obviously Queer in some in some way it doesn’t like we’re not really sure how in the story, but, like, I’m pretty sure there’s some sort of subplot, about how Jackie is disappointed in Tony and like intolerant of him and how he like lives his life but I’m sure if the author ever updates that that we’ll find out.

Also, one of the things that popped up is I forget where in the story, but I think somewhere in the story, someone asks. Harry something or other about something to do with romance, and then he said something along the lines of being too young to have decided anything about his sexuality.

And like whether or not he likes boys or girls. And then later on in the story because, and that was in the first, first fic, which I, I re-read knowing that we were going to have this conversation, but it was like a month ago. And like, you know, how much I read. So, I’ve read literally like over a dozen books and fanfics since then I really should have re-read it closer to this.

And then, but the second fic, which I just re-read earlier this week there’s a bit with Daphne where she’s writing him a letter saying that her little sister has a crush on him. And she says that he should hurry up and decide and let her and her sister know whether or not he likes boys and or girls.

And she said that her sister won’t mind as long as girls are included. So, like she said that she won’t mind if it’s both, as long as, 

As long as girls are in option, she’ll be okay.

Nicole Hill: Right. And you know what, I mean I understand sometimes.  It be like that sometimes. She’s like, look, I respect to you. I love, I love it. I love if you like it. I love it. But also like, I mean, do I have options? Like, am I even included in the conversation? So yeah, that makes sense to me.

Talia Franks: Like, I would like to be included in this narrative.

Nicole Hill: Exactly. Like I would personally love to be included. Hate it for me if I’m not, but like you do you Power to you.  

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So, my main question for you now is do you have any, lingering questions, or things you want me to elaborate on, or

Nicole Hill: I actually feel like to me, this fic feels like canon adjacent in a way that like, I don’t actually feel like they go so far left field that you have to like I don’t understand what they’re doing.

Like it all kind of fits with both canons. And then you factor in that it’s alternative universes for both. And it’s like, there really are no gaps that aren’t filled by that answer kind of answered everything. But I, I just wonder for me more personally, is what do you think, or what would you have wanted to see happen?

Where it stopped because it clearly like, is meant to where it was meant to be updated. And wasn’t so what did you want to see happen or what did you think was going to happen?

Talia Franks: Yeah, I mean, mostly, I just want the author to update because I love this fic so much and I want to see what the author’s vision is.

But like, for me, I just want to see Rose and Ten properly kick Voldemort, and Dumbledore asses, because I know they would like, I just wanna see,

Nicole Hill: That would be —

Talia Franks: They’ve been, they’ve been trashing, Dumbledore so hard. And it’s been great, just like the verbal thrashing, but I want to see Dumbledore see some sweet, sweet justice.

Because he just like is terrible in this fic, but I also just like want to see Ten and Rose put the smack down on Voldemort because, they are so great in this fic and Voldemort does not stand a chance.

Nicole Hill: Wait, I just forgot. I just talked about, do they use does Ten or Rose or both? Do they?

Do they have magical ability at all? Or like, are they both, like, Ten was pretending to be a wizard but like

Talia Franks: Yeah, so Ten does have magical ability and has a Sonic powered wand. Like he has, he has a wand that is both a regular, that is both a magic wand, but also has like extra Sonic abilities. Like it’s like a sonic screwdriver and a wand in one.

Nicole Hill: Okay. Yeah, that’s what I was, I, that was the question I had, but I had forgot cause we were like, yeah, they’re pretending to be wizards.

And then they work from school and that just missed that, like that whole part, I was like, wait. Okay.

So that makes sense because, I mean,

Talia Franks: Yeah, no, Rose is pretending to be a squib and Ten is actually a wizard. Well, he’s pretending to be a wizard he’s using his Time Lordiness to pretend he’s a wizard.

Nicole Hill: But is she not? Oh wait. So yeah, she’s pretending to be a squib, which means she’s saying that she came from magical people.

Talia Franks: Yeah. She’s pretending she has magical parents when she is just a muggle.

Nicole Hill: Right, OK, right. That’s how I got confused for a second. I’m like, that’s what she is, but like no. Well, I mean, she could be, we don’t know. We don’t know what Pete and Jackie, in that world they could be, they could have magical ancestry.

We don’t know.

 Okay. Okay. So, in the, yeah, I’m caught up now. I get it. Where there any, like, ships, other than obviously like Rose and Ten are the clear leader, but if they have any other like relationships, either romantic or platonic that were like really played up?

Talia Franks: I mean, they’re all like 12 and 11, so I’m like, there’s no romantic relationships,

Nicole Hill: Right, but I mean like

Talia Franks: but I feel like between the friendship between Draco and Hermione was, was like starting to be, it was starting to be really interesting.

There was like this whole thing of like, so Draco is less of a, like definitely less of a pure blood supremacist in this fic right before the fic ended, there was a whole thing about about house elves actually. And about whether or not to prioritize the freedom of House Elves because basically in this fic, the idea behind house elves is that they were forced into slavery and no one likes it, but no one has figured out how to get the house elves, like how to solve the problem of house elves being bound to wizards. Because at this point, it’s just like, if the house elves aren’t bound to wizards, they will literally like die of magical starvation. And so, it’s like, someone needs to figure out how to solve that problem, but no one has been like highly motivated enough to solve the problem of how to free the house elves and Hermione’s like, no, we gotta make this a priority. And she felt unsupported by Draco and Harry and like, just before, the fic stopped it seemed like they were all going to make up.

And Hermione was like, and like they had fought, and it seemed like they were all gonna make up. But then, because it’s book two, Hermione gets petrified on her way to bring Draco biscuits in the hospital wing because you know, he had just gotten injured after Quidditch.

Oh and no, and also, he didn’t get his arm. I don’t know why I said that he got his arm debonified, whatever that word is. Because actually the Doctor did. Like Lockhart was about to cast on Draco and the Doctor’s like, how about no? And he deflected. And so, his arm was the one that got all of its bones removed but Draco was still in the hospital wing because, you know, he still got his arm hit by a bludger.

Nicole Hill: Right. Okay. But like so Draco is not as bad, but he’s still like a bully, but not like a full—

Talia Franks: Well no, Draco’s not a, Draco’s not a bully.

Nicole Hill: He’s not?

Talia Franks: Draco, Draco was friends with all of them. He’s just like kind of standoffish because his father is an asshole.

Nicole Hill: Right. Okay, that’s where I was like, I remember you saying earlier that I was like, let me, let me, double check. Okay. Cause I was like, why would she be bringing him biscuits? And then I had to think about it, like,

Talia Franks: No, they’re all friends, they’re all friends. It’s just, he’s a little bit rough sometimes.

Nicole Hill: Yup. Okay. Got it. I mean, it sounds like a, that sounds like one I could a fic that I would read because of the fact that it kind of feels plausible for either of those universes.

And also, it’s like I’m not as, steep into like Harry Potter canon. Like I don’t have as much of a like I don’t need it to really adhere to canon that much, I just want certain things to make sense. So sounds fun actually. Like this one is actually one where I’m like “oh, okay, I would read that”

Talia Franks: That’s actually kind of funny because my last question was going to be would you read this?

Nicole Hill: Right, yeah, no, this one is like, right there. Yeah, like this one is like, I was like, okay, because. Again, like with certain things it’s like you read it and it’s really good. And then you have to kind of go back to the original you’re like, well, I like the way the characters are in these fic better.

And so now I feel kind of let down by the real thing. Whereas this one is like, Hey, it’s alternative like an alternate universe. So, there’s a reason for them to be somewhat different. But also it it’s two universes that have so many, plausible like so many things are plausible in these universities that it doesn’t, it can, exist alongside canon without really rejecting canon. And I think that’s a good, like good place for things to land for me. So yeah, that’s why I was like. Yeah. I’ll actually probably read this. The only problem is like, man, you told me it’s not over. And I have an issue with things not having good definitive ending.

So that’s maybe the only thing where I would be like, Hmm.

Talia Franks: Yeah. Maybe only read the first one and then you’ll be like, cause like if you only read the first one, then you’re like, that’s a nice alternate, alternate first year for Harry. Because the first one does feel very good. And then you just know there’s the second one where things are kind of weird.

Nicole Hill: No the second one we’re gonna, it doesn’t exist in this scenario. I’ll ignore it completely because I don’t want to read it. And if I do read it and I can’t finish it, Imma be mad. So, we’re just going to say that there’s only one for this second.

Talia Franks: Yeah, I know. But I did pick this one specifically because I thought that you would probably.

It would probably be your jam.

Nicole Hill: That was a good choice.

Talia Franks: Yeah. So just my, I said that was my final question, but this is my actual final question, which is just to close out is where can our listeners find you?

 Nicole Hill: Obviously Twitter, cause I’m always on there. And it’s @queerspecimen, which is one word or at my website, which links to everything else is strangespeci.men, but it’s S T R A N G E S P E C I. M E N so it’s a word, but like it’s .men, so. Those are the places you could find me and I link to everything else from there.

So keep it simple.

Talia Franks: Thank you for joining me Nicole it was great talking to you.

Thanks for having me. And I look forward to you doing this over and over with different people in different pods, because it’s going to be hilarious, and I had a good time.

Yeah. So glad you had a good time.

You’ve been listening to Into the Archives, a fanfiction podcast from Talia Franks. You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @ArchivesPod. Join the party, send me your favorite fanfics and fanfiction memes. You can also send us an email at [email protected] or visit our website intothearchivespod.com.

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Have a good night and try not to stay up too late reading fanfic. Do as I say, not as I do.