Like hS, I don't think I've read through this one before, but hey! This is a decent first mission for a spin-off! It definitely feels like it was role-played back and forth before being converted into narrative form, like (most? all?) of Jay and Acacia's are, but I feel like it actually flows a bit better than some spots in the originals series do. It also feels like they kept a pretty solid sense of the temporality within the mission, keeping the days moving at a fairly consistent pace, and making sure the agents attempted a fairly realistic sleep schedule throughout—though I can't help but notice they never ate, despite having opportunities at the Burrow's kitchen and in the Great Hall. The overall vibe of the mission is quite nice; Aria and Polaris feel more rounded out than the standard "quiet squeamish one plus bold bloodthirsty one" agent pair, with Aria still getting aggressive when Lupin is insulted, and Polaris quick to show panic when she gets in trouble in the forest. It does fall short on more minor details: there's a very jarring unmarked scene break, and Trevor is referred to as horned toad, when from what I can tell, he is a quite ordinary real toad species. Also, I don't think brooms are autonomous enough to return to storage on their own, are they? Then again, canon does try to reassert itself, so maybe getting moved by a PPC agent actively restoring canon is a small enough breach that canon itself gave the broom enough of a boost to return where it belonged. Agents shouldn't be able to use wands, but since this is only the second Potterverse mission in PPC publication history, it's not like that had been established yet, and HFA hasn't been published to establish Muggle-use wands. Plus, the disguise description is a bit vague (". . . set their disguise in order to let them blend with the Harry Potter continuum . . ."), so Aria may be a wizard at the time she uses the wand.

At least one of these cowriters has a great knack for quick, funny details, too! I liked:
-that Aria's most recent mission featured, ". . . that dragon, and Voldemort stealing her wand, and Hermione's hair-straightener . . ." Only a PPC agent would see all those as equally heinous! It's also amusing that a few lines later, it reveals Hermione had to fix her hair herself with a curling iron!
-that the record for getting lost in HQ in nine full days. It's so ridiculously long, it's perfect PPC!
-that the lack of description makes Diagon Alley look like lines from a sketch pad: a literal "sketchy alley"
-most hilarious of all, Aria unloading equipment from a backpack to hand to Polaris, ending with . . . a second backpack, which Polaris must then pack herself! Feels like it's straight out of a Leslie Nielsen movie!

And I know it's coincidence, since Rowling wasn't analyzed as heavily back in the early 00s, but:
". . . there are almost as many Mary Sues in the Harry Potter continuum, but they are easier at blending. No one knows exactly why."
Almost as though Suvians feel right at home in a piece of bourgeoisie, classist, fatphobic, gentrified media! Who would have thought?

—doctorlit joined the PPC for a very good reason, and that reason is the backpack humor

I'm going a bit out of order due to time constraints!

Architeuthis makes a lot of interesting observations, and I have a feeling we have fairly similar writing styles: heavily focused on setting the scene before we commit to letting anyone talk to each other. But it's also a very . . . chore-ish, I guess? way of writing, and while it's what works for me, I think that outlook definitely overlooks the fun of just doing some casual writing for experimentation's sake. The whole point of fanfic is to tell a new story, and while I can see the logic behind Archie's argument that Tenth Walkers fail because they're rehashing the Fellowship's story, there are still plenty of spaces in Middle-earth for unfamiliar faces to do something interesting!

Oh yeah, unfamiliar foods . . . that's one of the sticking points for transdimensional fantasies, for me. I actually don't really enjoy eating; I would rather not do it at all, but unfortunately, it is one of the drawbacks of being an organism that I must continue supplying my cells with nutrients! But one side effect of not enjoying food is that there are very few foods I actually find appetizing/worth tasting, so the thought of getting trapped in a society that doesn't put its food in nice, safe plastic is . . . I might literally starve myself just to avoid it!

The immune system question is one I think about a lot. The topic tends to get avoided, even in the PPC. I figure new recruits must get one absolute monster of a booster shot . . . but then, it feels mean to put kids through that, and they certainly get exposed to an array in the Nursery . . . maybe the Law of Narrative Comedy is the real safeguard there? It certainly wouldn't be very funny for most of HQ to get wiped out because a new recruit from an unnamed continent on the far side from Narnia brought some waterfowl virus in. Archie also didn't cover the reverse problem, of a Tenth Walker exposing Hobbits to the common cold, in a world where that cold isn't common at all . . .

Hm. I might have said something about romance not always coming down to shared interests, and sometimes being about plain chemistry . . . but I'm not qualified to talk about romance.

—doctorlit has a box of copies of Iximaz's book behind him!

Ah, a crossover! A Hogwarts! It is nice to get a break from Middle-earth after all the time spent there. I can understand the authors wanting to change things up. And minis have appeared in HQ at long last!

Just slapping Hogwarts into Middle-earth certainly does call into question where the rest of Wizard-earth is . . . like, we know France and Bulgaria and the middle east and Asia are there, so . . . where did all of that go? That anecdote about the castle-sized portal in interesting, might be fun to write that someday . . .

Feels like a missed opportunity to establish that PPC tech doesn't work in Hogwarts, just to force more strategy and creativity into writing Potterverse missions. Oh well, I guess that would call into question how a portal could even open there from HQ in the first place . . . Also, not sure if it's intentional, but I love the detail that Jay offering to bring Acacia to the hospital wing is the line they used to make her "sound like a student" to the teachers, maybe as a joke about how often Hogwarts students get injured/attacked?

Since the authors J+A didn't capitalize on some great typos, I'm going to do so now. (I know mini-Aragogs didn't exist yet, but I'm still going to have some fun.)

---

When she was gone, Ran ran up the stairs to the girls' dorms.

A huge spider skittered up the stairs, overtaking Ron; fortunately, Ron couldn't see it, like the agents. "Yesssss, feel the burn, human! It'sss always leg day in Hogwartsss, Precioussss!" The spider beat Ron to the top by a wide margin, and began to do stretches. "Eight legs means more spaccce for Fitbitsss. Eight fitbits? No, Precious, we has twenty-four Fitbitsssesss. That'sss how you maximize the workoutsss!"

---

She stopped and looked at them and then ran out the potrait hole.

The Fat Lady cleared her throat and began to sing in operatic style:
♪Gryffindors are fire, so I’m blazing it hard
Poke around to toke around on the Quidditch yard
The dankest scene
The dankest green
Dorm’s got 420 students, if you know what I mean♪

---

"Legolas" yelled Serenityrunning up to the man

Legolas was joined by a twisting many-legged mini-Suvian, which veered off and made a beeline for the treeline . . . but was soon overtaken.

"On your left!" hissed Ran as he sent the mini-Suvian tumbling and rolling. "You got to rise and grind harder, Precioussss! Never skip leg day!"

—doctorlit was going to say something worth reading here, but he forgot what it was

Yes, practically back to back we have another TOS mission - but it's not an Acacia mission. For the first time, Jay went off with another partner: Agent Dead of the Department of Emergencies, written by Miss Cam of OFUM fame.

Protectors of the Plot Continuum: Torment by Jay & Miss Cam

It's interesting that this mission sits here (which it does: this Wayback archive shows the publishing dates for both this and the previous mission), because it really doesn't fit: missions 18 & 20 should run back to back, one ending with 'let's go to lightsaber training', the other starting with 'we're at lightsaber training'. Miss Cam had been heavily involved in the PPC of late - she had just rehosted their missions & the spinoffs, had given the agents their minis, and now she cowrites the first Bad Slash mission with Jay. Given the very long gaps between 17 & 18, and 19 & 20, I wonder whether Acacia was too busy to write over the summer and Jay got bored. ^_~

hS

Read.

It was...kinda generic. Nothing particularly stood out to me.

—Ls

I remember this mission!

Agh, Serenity. I remember her too.

Ooh, mental floss. I want some.

I rather like the bring-a-camera-to-Hogwarts bit, it validates something I’m doing in an upcoming mission.

Taking “pff” up the stairs. I love that.

Huh, I kinda though “Ran” was a mini-Aragog based on the badfic text. Guess not, though...

“Periods! They go at the end of sentences!” Yes. Yes, they do, Jay.

"Aske...?" Jay asked, listening outside the door. I don’t quite get that dialogue.

Ooh, I like the arguing-with-the-teachers scene. Fun.

"Oh, look, the author stuck all the missing periods from everywhere else into that sentence. Charming," said Acacia sourly. Love. Love that so much.

Lightsaber training? No way they get every agent with a lightasber to go through with that.

—Ls, going hoppity skip. He’s not on drugs.