A/N: As always, Chap 6 review responses are available in my forums. Thank you for reading.

Chapter Seven: Cowboys and Indians And Witches, Oh My

Harry didn't wait for take-off to slip Luna the dreamless draught. She curled up in the middle seat between Harry and Nicky and passed out. Harry, though, sat on the edge of his seat even as the plane began rolling down the runway. He felt his stomach drop as if he were pulling up on his broom, while outside, the sky fell away at twice the speed of his fastest broom flying.

Finally the plane reached its cruising altitude far about the clouds. Harry looked around the cabin with interest—the plane was crowded with people from all over the world, all heading for Dallas, Texas, home to Ewing Ranch with real life cowboys and Indians.

A sound made him look at Nicky as she began digging in her computer satchel. A moment later she removed what looked like a small make-up case, pulled down the tray in front of Luna, and placed the case on the tray. Harry couldn't help but look confused when she activated a switch. Instantly his ears popped and his magic tingled. Even in her sleep Luna squirmed.

"What is that?" he asked.

"Sound distorter," Nicky said. "A counter-intelligence tool. As long as we speak softly, no one will be able to overhear us. So what's the deal with you two? You're witch-born, right?"

Harry tried to hide his surprise under his Occlumency barriers, but with limited success. "Yeah."

"Great. Sir Marcus mentioned a bombing in Chicago. We know that your kind fought a battle there. We couldn't ID half the bodies, even though they were intact—that meant they weren't on the grid. None of the witnesses remembered a thing."

Harry shivered at the reminder that the Americans were still fighting their war. "I'm not a part of that. At least, I hope I'm not a part of that."

"Look, my help is coming with a price," Nicky said. "I work for people who do not like having buildings blow up with no good reason. We don't like finding piles of unknown bodies in our streets. We know groups of you are fighting, but we don't know why. Sir Marcus was able to get our help with an understanding that you would cooperate. So, cooperate. What's going on? Is this just magical gang warfare?"

Harry shook his head, before he switched seats by lifting Luna from hers and placing her in his. Nicky blinked in surprise. "She's not that light, is she?"

"Our magic," he said. "If you were trying to lift her to hurt her, she'd become heavier than normal. But since we're bonded, she knows I can't hurt her, so her magic cooperates with my intent."

"Are you two really married?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because I was a threat," Harry said darkly. "I'd never done anything and I didn't want to do anything. I just wanted to grow up, maybe date, and if I was lucky someday find someone I liked and get married. But the Sabbat said I was too powerful, so they ordered me bonded on my fifteenth birthday. If I refused, they'd bond me by force, still my magic, or kill me."

"So bonding is like marriage? What would that do?"

"Bonding isn't the same as marriage," Harry said. He recalled The Talk with Snape. "I was taught that it's a biological instinct of our magic—witches bond with wizards to ensure protection and that the wizard remains with them. But something happened a long time ago, and instead of just mutual magical links, the bonds drain a wizard's power. The Covens use bonds to weaken and control wizards—they'll bond as many witches to us as necessary to render us weaker. So on my fifteenth birthday, they sent a woman to forcibly bond and rape me, so that I would have my magic reduced. Luna here came the day before, though, and we escaped the Covens."

"So how many bonds can a wizard have?"

"More than two would kill most wizards. Wizards who are strong enough for four can actually form a new coven, but their first wives are the ones who represent the coven in the Sabbat. Wizards have their own council, the Wizengamot, but they're only supposed to do whatever the covens say."

They continued talking, pausing only for an inflight meal that Luna slept through entirely. Harry told Nicky about the American Magical Civil war based on his reading of Riddle's book, and the two competing Ministries, and the wide demilitarized zone in the states that bordered the Mississippi River. He talked about wizard life expectancy, Veils, magic and elemental leanings. He realized even as he spoke that he wasn't supposed to tell her anything—that in a way he was betraying his whole world. And yet, he didn't feel bad about it at all. That world forced a fourteen-year-old girl to have to marry whether she wanted to or not. It forced him, a newly turned fifteen-year-old, to do the same. It killed his Mum and Luna's as well.

It was not a world he felt any loyalty to at all.

Nicky took notes rather than record their conversation, several times referring back to something Harry said earlier to clarify her own understanding. By the time they landed nearly ten hours later, Nicky had as comprehensive an overview of magic as it was possible to gain from a fifth-year student.

The captain announced they were landing soon. Nicky deactivated the distorter, stored her notes in her satchel, while Harry gently started rubbing Luna's chest, stimulating her magic until her eyes slowly creaked open.

"Harry?" she whispered. "I had a terrible dream."

"You weren't supposed to dream with a dreamless draught," he whispered.

"I dreamed they were waiting for us."

Harry felt a chill down his spine. "I'm sure it's nothing, love," he said softly. "How could they even know we're here?"

Outside, this strange new land looked flat and desolate compared to the verdant tones of the English countryside. He could actually see the air distorting over the runway as they came in for the landing. Fortunately Luna was still too drowsy from the potion to be frightened, and in minutes the plane taxied to the terminal.

"Sit tight, I'm checking in," Nicky said. She removed a large cell phone while around them other passengers stood to start collecting their things. After a moment she ended the call and nodded. "So far, so good. We'll have a two hour layover until our next flight to Santa Fe. That should give the two of you a chance to freshen up. Are we ready?"

Harry nodded while Luna blinked sleepily at her. "Can we eat? I'm quite hungry."

"Yeah, sure." Nicky stood and collected her travel case while Harry held her laptop case for her. By that time, most of the other passengers had already exited the plane. Holding hands with the still-drowsy Luna, Harry followed behind Nicky, trying to fight a surge of nervousness that made him jittery.

The moment he stepped from the plane to the boarding sleeve, he was struck by an intense heat. He looked back to see Luna visibly wilt as sweat pooled on her skin. "Oh," she said with wide eyes. "Why is it so hot?"

Nicky looked over her shoulder with a smirk. "Because it's August in Texas," she said, as if that answer was perfectly sufficient to explain the unnatural, Magic-cursed heat.

When they emerged into the actual terminal, the rush of air-conditioned cool felt cold compared to the heat of the before. Harry closed his eyes a moment as the cool air brushed away the sweat that had also beaded on his forehead, only to open them onto a nightmare.

Witches were duelling in the concourse.

Behind him, Luna gasped as she too saw the fight. What made it so surreal, though, was that none of the Muggle passengers noticed. They could not see the magic cast, and the duellers themselves seemed to be covered in Muggle Notice-Me-Not charms.

There appeared to be two groups of five or six witches each. Both sides appeared to be taking extra care not to cast anything but stunners or disarming jinxes, and were aiming as carefully to avoid the Muggles as they were to curse their opponents.

"Nicky, they're here!" Harry hissed.

Nicky paused just a moment and then continued walking as if he said nothing. "Keep going," she said. "Pretend you don't see anything!"

Harry fought not to look at the raging battle that was happening in front of everyone, while Luna clutched his hand convulsively. They did not even make it out of the gate area seating when one of the witches shouted, "There he is!"

Three witches from each group broke off from duelling each other and pointed their wands at Harry and Luna. Six stunners flew simultaneous, and without even thinking about it, Harry whipped out his wand and shouted "Protego!"

The stunners bounced off his shield, causing all six witches to straighten in surprise, while around them the press of people stared at Harry in confusion, or in some cases, amusement. He realized in their eyes he must have looked ridiculous.

And then at least three of the witches switched from stunners to blasting curses, and people stopped laughing at him. Harry's shield somehow continued to hold, but rather than absorb the blasting curses, his shield deflected them. Suddenly the ceiling above him, a chair to his right, and an old man holding a cup of coffee to his left all exploded at the same time with same terrible concussive force that destroyed the train in London.

Luna screamed in horror as the remnants of the old man sprayed across her face, while at the same time the blast of the two nearest explosions threw both Nicky and Luna into Harry, sending all three tumbling to the ground. Muggles began screaming and rushing out of the way while Nicky scrambled to her feet.

She pulled them to their feet next, hissing: "Come on!"

A red stunner struck her in her head and sent her spinning away through the air like a thrown rag doll. Harry cast a pair of stunners blind from the floor before scrambling back to his feet. "Luna, come on!"

"I don't like fighting!" she wailed as the two of them duck-walked behind a row of seats. The air cracked with the sound of gunfire. Harry stuck his head above a seat to see a pair of airport police firing pistols at some of the witches.

One of the women raised a shield that easily deflected the bullets, while the other cast a slashing curse. Harry winced as the two officers fell to the floor, while their heads fell separately. At least one of the witches started casting blasting curses wildly about the room, not specifically targeting Muggles, but not concerned for them either. Each curse resulted in a numbing explosion that caused more screaming, panic, and dust in the air.

Gleaming eyes peered at Harry through the dust. "Expulso!" he shouted while jabbing his wand.

A silver shield appeared and then shattered before his panic-powered curse. The witch made a muffled cry before the curse blasted her back against the wall.

"Protego!" Luna shouted.

Harry spun to see a weak but intact magical shield absorb a stunner from one of the other witches. He leaned over the side of her shield and shot his own stunner; the witch danced away from it, only to scream as a black curse struck her in the back, cast from yet another witch.

They were still fighting each other, Harry realized. He grabbed Luna's hand and dragged her behind another row of seats. He removed and un-shrunk his trunk and dug into his things until he found the cloak Dumbledore had given him right before the Quidditch Championship game.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Luna asked shrilly, while nearby another row of chairs disintegrated.

Without answering, Harry also removed his broom from the expanded interior, before re-shrinking the trunk and tucking it back into the pocket his trousers. "Do you trust me, Luna?"

"Well, it seems a bit late for that, don't you think?" she asked, wide-eyed.

He pulled the broom behind his still bent legs. "Get behind me, and then throw this cloak over you."

She did as he instructed, and to Harry's shock the cloak seemed to expand as they pulled it, until it covered not just him and Luna, but the whole of the broom too. "Okay, love, just hang tight," Harry said.

He felt her cheek against his back and her shaking arms around his waist. He pulled at the cloak enough to free his wand hand and pointed at a row of windows. "Bombarda," he shouted, while internally he thanked Remus Lupin for all his third and fourth year detentions. He cast twice more further down the wall before pulling his hand back under his cloak.

"Where is he?" a witch shouted.

Gritting his teeth, Harry pushed intent into the broom, and with an animalistic growl of fright from Luna, he shot the two of them through the first hole he blasted and out into the tarmac of the airport. Instantly, heat slammed into them, but Harry ground his jaw and flew on.

The airport was huge—much larger in terms of area than he was expecting. With the air awash with huge airplanes, he did not dare fly any higher, so instead he flew down the length of the long airport, flying over the Muggle motorway that seemed to bisect the airport along its length.

Once he cleared the airport proper, he followed the motor way until he spotted what looked like a convenience store just off the road. "Hold on," he said over his shoulder before diving down. Luna squeezed so tight it was hard to breathe, but he said nothing.

The two landed on the roof of the store. He took off his cloak, un-shrunk his trunk, and stored both. "Harry, where did you get an Invisibility Cloak" Luna finally asked.

He turned and looked at her—her face was covered in dust and a spray of blood, and he realized he probably looked no better. "It was my dad's. Bugger all, we can't go in there looking like this," he muttered.

She pulled her wand from some hidden pocket of her dress and pointed it at his face. Her teregeo spell was gentle as it removed the blood and dust from his face. He did the same to her before he cast a cushioning charm on the ground below them. They hopped down from the roof holding hands, bounced once on his charm, and then walked inside.

Luna instantly drifted to the concession counter of the small restaurant portion of the store while Harry searched for maps. At the last, he had to ask the clerk about any bus stations. This finally involved him buying an overpriced street map, upon which the clerk marked where in Dallas the bus station was. Harry was surprised to find how far from Dallas proper they were—he had never heard of a town called Fort Worth, though of course he knew about Dallas from the telly. Vernon adored J.R. Ewing.

Finally he went back to find Luna, who was thrumming before the menu. "Please, Harry, I'm so hungry!" she said.

The girl behind the counter blinked at the blonde's accent. "Okay," Harry said, "what do you want?"

Luna ordered two cheeseburgers and crisps. Harry, who ate on the plane, was nonetheless hungry and ordered the same, with milkshakes for them both. The girl stared at their skinny frames and finally said, "Okay, whatever," and took the money Harry handed over from the envelope Sir Marcus had given him.

At least they weren't going to starve in this land of cowboys, Indians, and angry fighting witches, Harry thought.

They sat at a booth and ate while Harry studied the maps. "I can get us to the station easily enough," he muttered. "I just hope the Americans can't trace casual magic."

Luna merely nodded around a mouthful of hamburger. It was not the best-tasting food in the world, but for two hungry witch-born it was rich enough in calories to make it worth it. "So, do you know any defensive spells besides the shield?"

She shook her head. "I just finished my third year, Harry. I only know the Protego charm and the stunner because Daddy taught them to me this summer."

The girl behind the counter stared at them as they threw away the empty paper baskets that once held enough food for four, but didn't say anything. Harry and Luna walked back outside and then to the back of the store. Hiding as best he could from any prying eyes, Harry retrieved his broom and cloak again from his trunk, and in moments they were flying toward the bus station.

Although, after further consultation of the maps using the highways as a compass, they found they were in fact going the exact opposite direction from the bus station. Navigating from the air proved to be more difficult than either Harry or Luna anticipated.

Eventually, though, they reached the station. Unfortunately, the only bus that was going where they wanted to go was an overnight bus, so they found themselves stuck in the bus stop for the next eight hours. He had time to go through what money they had remaining—the bus tickets would have eaten quite a lot of the money Sir Marcus had given them if Harry bought two tickets. So he didn't, and hoped to Merlin the bus wasn't full.

During their long wait, twice homeless people came by begging or even demanding money. One man even tried to touch Luna. Harry didn't dare use magic, so instead he just pushed the larger, foul-smelling man away.

Or at least, that was his intent. Instead, the man flew back as if hit with a battering ram. The few other people in the station stared at Harry a moment, but no one mentioned anything. A few minutes later the police arrived, but by then the startled indigent had left the building and Harry and Luna apparently didn't look like threats.

It was the most painful waiting Harry had ever done. Finally, though, he let exhaustion catch up and took a quick nap, using Luna's lap as a pillow. An hour later, he returned the favour for her. An hour after that, they used some of their dwindling money for dinner.

Finally, though, their wait came to an end. By then, others had arrived at the station for their bus ride, but it seemed obvious it was not going to be a full ride. So, Luna wrapped herself in the invisibility cloak and walked right in front of Harry. The driver never noticed the strange gap between Harry and the large, heavy set woman who spoke only Spanish in front of him.

The bus did fill up a little with a handful of last minute stragglers, but even so Harry was able to take a double seat by himself, thus ensuring a seat for Luna. An hour into the overnight, twelve-hour drive, Luna removed the cloak, sure that no one would notice, and she was right. Thus no longer having to hide, Harry was able at last to give into the bone-tapping exhaustion that had made it so hard to stay up to when the overnight bus was scheduled to leave. His little nap got him thus far, but exhaustion continued to pull at his eyes.

"Sleep, Harry," Luna said to him, patting her lap for his head while playing with his hair. "I slept on the plane, I'll be fine."

"Okay," Harry said, yawning. He lay down on her lap, and instantly sleep took him.

~~Firebird~~

~~Firebird~~

He woke with a snort and sat up, rubbing his eyes. Luna's head was turned toward the window, but her mouth was open and a trail of drool had run down her chin to drip onto his cheek. "Urgh," he muttered, wiping at the spittle.

Outside, dawn lit the world into a colourless, endless field of alien grey shapes. According to the rout circular, they were due to arrive in Albuquerque right at 7 A.M. Harry didn't have a watch, but he guessed from the dawn that they must be close. Ahead of them, through the windows, loomed the largest mountain Harry had ever seen. While the area around them was desolate desert, the mountain was covered in trees and dominated the whole sky.

"Luna," he whispered. "Look!"

Luna came awake with a start, wiped the spittle from her chin, and stared out the window at the mountain. "My goodness," she whispered. "That is quite large. But of course, Scotland has some rather large mountains as well."

"It doesn't look the same," Harry insisted. And it didn't; this mountain rose from the flat plains of the desert, making it look larger than perhaps it really was.

The two teens sat side by side and watched the mountain loom taller and taller, until it slid past to their right as the bus drove through a gap between peaks. As they crested the top of the pass, the city of Albuquerque stretched out before them in a wide, low river valley between the foot of the mountains they just crossed over, and the rise of a mesa on the far side of the city. It was breath-taking.

Then they drove into the city itself, and… "Well, it looked good from a distance, at least," Luna said primly. "Up close it looks rather…dirty."

Harry merely nodded in silence, grateful that they had arrived safely. The bus stop when they arrived was—like the rest of the buildings around them—built of wood and a mud plaster. Harry and Luna started to depart when she pulled at his sleeve and pointed. Right outside the bus walked a man and a woman both in blue jeans and button-up plaid shirts. While they looked normal on the outside, inside, they brimmed with magic—earthen for the woman, fire for the man. Witch-born under veils.

"Under the cloak, now!" Harry whispered.

Moments after the last person departed, the two witch-born stepped onto the bus, walking slowly down the aisle. "Are you sure he was on this bus?" the woman asked.

"That's what Arlene said," the man said. "They pulled it right out of the bus clerk's mind. It's a shame brooms don't leave a magic trace. If not for that clerk at the store in Dallas, they'd have never traced him to the bus line."

"They must have slipped out earlier. But just to be safe, 'Hominem-revelo'."

While Harry was admittedly terrified, his mind for some strange reason dwelt on the fact that the Revelo syntax was backward when used to detect humans, and how very odd that was.

Somehow, though, the spell could not pierce the cloak. "That's it, then, they're not aboard," the witch said. "Let's go."

When they were gone, Harry and Luna got out of their seats, still under their invisibility cloak, and made their way off the bus, barely beating a cleaning crew. They did not hesitate, and in minutes were airborne again on Harry's broom.

They stopped on the edge of town for a patently unhealthy breakfast and a map. "It's only eighty or so miles," Harry said. "We can do that on broom easy."

Luna sighed. "Okay."

Harry was not above a little sight-seeing, and with Luna clutched tightly at his back, and the cloak hiding them, he left the highway to Santa Fe and flew over the sides of Sandia Peak, exulting in the views. While the land west of the mountain was flat and desolate all around, he could see miles and miles of it.

Finally, though, purpose drove them forward and Harry flew high over the New Mexican desert. At their altitude, the air was not as hot and the breeze felt comfortable. Below, the whole world seemed to unfold before them. "I wonder what it would be like to live here?" he said aloud.

"Hot," Luna said. While flying direct would have been faster, Harry followed the highway on the map to be safe. They flew through Santa Fe and followed as the highway curved around Thomson Peak and toward the foot of Bear Mountain.

The town of Pecos was nestled snugly between two mountains at the mouth of a river that ran down from the Santa Fe National Forest. The town itself seemed to be built around the giant, pill-shaped flood plain of the river, which resulted in a huge swathe of green in an otherwise brown town, baked under a long, hot summer.

Eventually, by drifting low and examining numbers and street signs, they found the address they were looking for. "That doesn't look like any home I've ever seen," Luna said, staring distastefully at the low, long metal rectangle that rested on the side of the western slope looking over the town. The otherwise empty road on either side stretched in the odd silence that pervaded the town. They heard cars in the distance, but most of the traffic appeared to be heading up the valley from Pecos into the park, or leaving Pecos from it. This far out on the outskirts, on a summer weekday, there seemed to be no movement at all.

The trailer was surrounded by an aged, unpainted wooden fence and what Harry guessed was a box for the post, with a dilapidated old pick-up truck with faded paint and mud-encrusted license plates parked in front.

As Harry looked closer, though…

"It's filled with Magic," Luna said, blinking. "How odd ...why didn't we notice at first?"

"Notice-me-not charm?" Harry guessed. "A weak one, maybe?"

After storing his cloak and broom, he took Luna's hand and the two walked up the hard, packed earth toward the trailer. A set of rickety wooden steps led to the door, which was perhaps four feet up from the ground. Once there, Harry pressed a button by the door. He heard nothing, but both he and Luna could see a ripple of magic as the button activated something within the home.

A moment later the door cracked opened to reveal a huge Hispanic woman with shoulders almost as broad as the door, a face filled with warts and sunspots, and the magical core of a squib. "What?" she said in a brusque, heavily accented voice.

"Er, hello," Harry said. "We're looking for Garrick Ollivander."

"Why?" she said, barking the words almost like Hedwig would do. Harry felt a brief hope that his owl was enjoying the Lovegood residence, where he sent her when he and Luna fled the Lloyd home.

"I was told he might be able to help me," Harry said.

The woman stared at him for a moment, before looking to Luna. Without another word she slammed the door on them.

"That did not go anything like I expected," Luna admitted. "I would say she is much like your uncle, but that seemed to be mostly muscle."

A moment later the door opened again and the same woman said, "Come in."

With one last look at each other, Harry and Luna clasped hands and walked into the home of the apostate.

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Author's Note: Very special thanks as always to Teufel1987, JR and Miles for beta reading. If there are any major faux-pas, they are entirely of my own doing.