AN: Thanks for the great reviews. I went back and fixed every mistake I saw and will do better in the future. I think I have a problem with typing faster than I think. If it's not that... I blame public schools and IM. LOL. I like the River is Hermione incarnate thing, but honestly only thought far enough ahead to have some memories from her 'reading' abilities. I know for sure she won't be a Hermione clone because I love River too damn much… Sorry. In this chapter I seriously add from yet another source. Try to figure where from.
DISCLAIMER: If you can't top it. Steal from the best! Like I just did with that quote.
Chapter Four
The Truth comes out
Captain Malcolm Reynolds sat hunched over the dieing embers of the impromptu camp fire, which was made after realizing they were not going to make it out of the forest before dark. The rest of the group were in sleeping bags on the forest ground including the recently clothed dark haired teen. Which, in itself, proved difficult with Mal and Jayne refusing to help and River only too happy to lend a hand.
Mal ran his hands over the strange silver cloak that came off the boy. He had a thoughtful yet grim expression as he made his hand disappear for the umpteenth time…
His father's invisibility cloak was among his favorite possessions…
The words from, "The Rise and Fall of Voldermort", kept running though his mind. Surely this kid couldn't be Harry Potter. That would make him… he quickly did the math in his head… Old! The longest anyone was frozen and successfully awakened was only thirty years. It's really all they needed at the time since it was a twenty-five year flight from earth to Alpha, the first terraformed planet. Of course that's on record. Who's to say what the Alliance had been up to behind closed doors? River… She looked so confused when he called her Hermione. She seemed to expect him to know her. Mal stopped his examinations of the cloak to look at the still sleeping and alleged Harry Potter just as the wind picked up pushing his bangs off his face and exposing a lightning bolt shaped scar. The strangest part of all was the pull he felt towards earth seemed to finally relax when they found Harry. Which made absolutely no sense… he wasn't gay. Right? Mal thought about it… nope he was still attracted to Inara… err...
"Woman… I'm not attracted to Inara." He corrected himself angrily. He was abruptly drawn from his thoughts by the sound of rustling leaves and snapping twigs. He suddenly felt as if his stomach dropped and knew what ever out there was a danger. He quickly drew his gun and headed towards the sound, but was careful to stay in the light. As he peered into the pitch black forest steadily holding his gun, he was startled to hear a low growl from the other side of their camp.
"Zang hua," Mal cursed, "Jayne! Get up we have company!" He yelled, Simon and River sat up startled, but Jayne merely rolled over in his sleep muttering…
"You're a dirty girl aren't you?"
"Shit," He cursed again. The sound of snapping twigs started to get louder and the pace was quicker. His heart began to pound as he tried to pin point exactly were the animal would come from. A much louder growl came from behind him. He spun and could just barely make out a dark form in the woods. What really drew his attention where the darkest eyes he'd ever seen. He could even make them out in the dark forest as they seemed to suck in all light around them while still giving off a menacing glow. Coming out of his trance he gently squeezed the trigger of the gun…
POP
"Son of a bitch!" Now he was really mad. Just as he fired a forceful tug on his pants caused him to fall to the ground and drop his gun from the sudden impact. A pained screech told him he still hit his mark and the lack of grip on his pants told him the gunfire scared them. He had just enough time to roll onto his stomach before he felt himself being tugged into the dark again. He swung out his other leg and was rewarded with another screech of pain as he reached for where he thought his gun was he screamed in pain as he felt a pair of strong jaws clamp down on his leg and sharp teeth pierce both his thick pants and the soft flesh of his leg. He frantically snatched his gun back and fired at random in front of him. Finally after two more loud pops the third shot was fired by a sickening sound of a bullet piercing the animal's skull. Mal shuddered as he was covered in blood and bits of god knows what. He painfully got to his feet and limped back into the light with his gun still firmly in his hand. He shook his head at the sight that greeted him. Jayne was still snoozing away while Simon attempted to comfort a perfectly bored River.
Beep…beep…beep…
Jayne's eyes snapped open at the sound of his wrist watch alarm, and sat up to relieve Mal from watch duty. His eyes scanned the camp finally resting on a blood soaked Captain.
"What the hell happened to you?" Jayne asked surprised.
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ME?" Mal screamed. Jayne nodded, confused why he was being yelled at.
"What're you so gorram angry 'bout?" He snapped back.
"You sleep though me screamin' my head off and gun fire but three beeps of a third rate digital watch and your up like a virgin in a whore house!" He screamed again.
"Virgin in a whore house?" Jayne asked. Mal let out and exasperated breath and limped to his cot to lay down with a simple, don't wake me when you get eatin'.
"Eatin'? " Jayne squeaked. Mal smiled.
The next morning…
The soft whistling and happy chirping filled the camp followed by a soft whispering voice. Mal frowned and sat up. He was surprised to see Harry awake talking to a bird that was perched on his shoulder eating some of the protein bar Harry was happily munching on. Mal quickly rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and was slightly disturbed to see it was not an illusion from blood loss or sleep deprivation. His eyes scanned the camp, but only managed to find Jayne who was back asleep. He slipped his hand over his gun but kept it in the holster.
"See you're awake." He stated. Harry looked over to Mal, and seemed to lose his smile.
"Yeah." He replied, but then a something lit in his eyes. "Simon won't answer any of my questions nor will…River." He seemed to struggle with River's name which Mal chose to ignore.
"Questions?" Mal returned.
"What happened to Voldemort? Where am I? Who are you?" He listed.
Mal thought about how to answer while mentally cursing the doc for letting this fall to him… or not he shrugged. "Well, I'm Captain Malcolm Reynolds, and I don't know if I'm the best person to answer your questions, Harry."
"That's what Simon and River said… and Hagrid." He frowned hoping this wasn't a trend.
"Whose Hagrid?" Mal asked.
"He's the COMC at Hogwarts."
"Oh… Hogwarts." So that part was true. "So what's with the bird?" He asked suddenly realizing how strange that looked. Harry quickly turned to stare at the bird which promptly flew off.
"Guess it was just hungry." He shrugged. Mal, of course, didn't believe it was that easy for a second, and considering the bird only flew to the nearest tree reinforced his belief. He was tempted to shoot the thing just to see Harry's reaction…
"I am a mean ol' bastard." He muttered.
Harry was incredibly happy with how casual he appeared to look. Of course, on the inside his mind was going a million miles an hour. 'Was Voldemort finally dead? Where the hell was he? What was he doing in these strange clothes? Where was his wand, and to him most important, why is my magic so weak?' The list went on and on. Ranging from what day was it to will the world be ending soon? So him keeping calm was one of the only good things going for him. His musings were interrupted by yelling from somewhere a few hundred feet off. Harry quickly jumped to his feet while wincing in pain from his neglected body.
"That's the direction Simon and River went to get water!" He shouted concerned. Mal too stood up also while wincing in pain.
"Lets go then." Mal replied. Harry took one look at his leg and stated…
"No way; you'll only slow me down and I'm slow enough."
"Harry!" Mal shouted. "Take my gun," which was then thrown the teen feet between them. Harry snatched the weapon out of the air briefly considering leaving it before tucking it into his pants. As he was running towards the noise the screaming became more intermittent. This worried him so he pushed himself harder. Finally he came to the edge of the forest. He was shocked to see a group of maybe fifty people with all dressed in strange dresses or tunics, which were seemingly made from different sized leaves and small twigs. They were all at the edge of a large stream. As he pushed his way past he finally came across River being held back by Simon. He tried to see what they were looking at and finally noticed a small girl in the stream.
"Why the hell isn't anyone saving her?" He shouted at Simon.
"They don't seem to know how to swim and River and I aren't strong enough to get threw that current." He shouted back over the noise.
Harry nodded to himself as he quickly took off his shirt. Hermione always did say he had a saving people thing.
"Harry you won't make it through that stream." Simon shouted.
"I'll try." Harry said before running as fast as could and diving in. Simon was right. He thought as he struggled to make it to the girl struggling to keep a grip on a large rock. But he said he'd try. By the time he made it to the little girl his arms felt like they'd be pulled away by the current, and his lungs burned from use and water he'd breathed in. His side also ached with cramps. Upon reaching her, the small girl quickly claimed his neck as her new purchase. Her nails dug into his skin painfully and the sudden added weight casuded him to sink for the briefest second. He then grabbed the rock to let his arms rest a moment. After only a second he heard a new voice shouting. He turned his head to see Captain Reynolds.
"What?" He shouted back.
"Throw me my gun!" He shouted. "I don't want to lose it!"
Harry tried his best to glare but couldn't tell if he got the message or not. Either way he pushed the kid around onto his back and slowly attempted to make his way back. Just as he was at the small drop that led to the shore he lost what ever energy he had left and began to sink. Just as he was sure the current would send him and the girl to their deaths, a strong grip pulled him out of the water. He gasped for air immediately while scrambled to get up onto the shore. Once there, he collapsed breathing heavily.
"Simon- s-she's n-not brea-breathing," he coughed out to his rescuer. Simon nodded and began CPR. After several tense moments the girl began to cough up water and gasp for air just like Harry. Everyone began cheering loudly while talking quickly in a language Harry understood… mostly, while Simon caught a few words. It must be some form of Latin. Harry thought. Harry finally relaxed listening to the chatter until Simon shouted.
"Eat what!"
AN: Well? Expect more soon.
