Disclaimer: I own nothing; Harry Potter and the elements of his universe all belong to J.K.Rowling. Firefly/Serenity and the elements of its universe all belong Joss Whedon. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

CHAPTER THREE – He's a Natural

"Mal," Jayne reminded. "Shouldn't we be putting some distance between that little bar scene and us about now?"

Mal frowned. "It's not a bad idea, but it is a bit curious we've not picked up any chatter."

"Probably my fault," Harry admitted still taking great enjoyment in his tea. "I may have been described there and a friend of mine likes to put a little delay on the Federal response to disturbances in my area. He's a dead useful friend to have."

"I'd say so," Mal said curiously. "And something tells me any more questions about that friend would be prying into your secrets again, wouldn't it?"

Harry smiled. "It's just a matter of trust versus necessity. Once I trust you more, or if you need to know one of my so-called secrets, I'm happy to share. But we just met a few hours ago, and I'm quite certain you don't trust me that much yet."

"True," Mal admitted wryly. "An open and honest man is more agreeable, but I doubt I'd trust an honest man. So where are we headed? What's the plan here?"

"There's a little planet out on the rim called Hornshoot," Harry said watching for recognition.

Mal nodded while Zoe and Jayne glanced at each other. "We're familiar with it."

"Perfect," Harry smiled. "Because I've yet to even figure out how many hands that gorram gun went through, but I've located where it ended up, a collector by the name of Jimmy Christmas."

"And we're to re-appropriate it from him?"

"Not exactly," Harry explained. "It's his property, but in his infinite wisdom he's lent it out to a little museum and it's currently on display. We're going to take it from there."

"He's got stolen property on display in a museum?" Jayne asked. "Don't that seem a bit yu bun duh to anyone?"

Harry frowned and bit his lip. "Well, Hornshoot's pretty far out into the black, so maybe he's not all that concerned about it. Or I suppose it's possible, he might not be aware it's stolen. Maybe thinks he discovered a new Lassiter and bought it up a discount or something. I don't know."

"The Lassiter?" Inara said walking into the dining area. "Didn't you already steal that? Goodness knows I remember how long you kept jumping at the sight of any Alliance cruisers within range."

"I was not jumping," Mal whined. "I was being careful."

Harry smiled. "And actually, it's the bloke you all ripped off that has asked me to get it back for him."

Inara looked at Harry curiously. "Are you sure that's… wise?"

Harry looked over at Mal who seemed to be wondering the same thing. "Wise?" Harry smiled brightly. "Doubt it. But it should be fun. Mainly I just like giving Durran a hard time."

"Durran?" Inara asked.

"Durran Haymer," Mal explained. "Alliance, bio-weapons, we stole his trash on Bellerophon."

"Isn't he married to your wife?" Jayne reminded.

Mal cursed to himself, "Jien tah-duh guay! She is not my wife!"

"That's right!" Harry exclaimed piecing together his old information. "Mel said you were a bunch of addle-brained morons."

"Mel?" Inara asked with chuckle. "Is that what she told you her name was?"

Harry grinned brightly at Inara. "Heavens no, but I found out that was what her mum used to call her before she started making up names like they were going out of style."

"Mel and Mal," Kaylee grinned. "How… awful sounding."

Mal just shook his head. "Will I ever be rid of that wretched woman?"

"I believe in death you're due to part," Inara smugly pointed out.

"It ain't so bad," Harry assured him. "Durran ain't exactly what I'd call a friend, but he's alright. And Monty's a good bloke. They both got their own wonderful little Yolanda and Bridget stories about psychotic ol' Mel."

Mal just shook his head.

"And in fairness," Harry added. "She is most definitely smoking hot."

"It almost makes up for the rest, don't it?" Jayne pondered deeply.

"You're a simple man, Jayne," Harry smiled. "Maybe if Mel ever gets released, we can see if she'll marry you too."

Jayne seemed to be giving that idea some thought.

"Settle down there Jayne," Mal warned. "Just cause we got the best of her last time, don't mean that's a beast you can cage. Or tame."

Harry held his hands out in front of his chest imitating one of a woman's more famously flattering assets. He mouthed "smoking hot" at Jayne again.

Jayne quickly turned to leave the dining area. "I'll be in my bunk."

Most everyone had small smiles as they turned to watch Jayne walk away.

"Simple is one of the nicest ways I've ever heard Jayne described," Simon agreed.

"Come on," Mal waved at Harry. "Let's go plot a course and get a move on to Hornshoot. We'll knock out some details once we go."

Harry thanked Inara for the tea again and kissed her on the cheek, earning some funny looks from everyone and a curious one from Mal. He dutifully followed the Captain.

"This here is her brain," Mal said as they entered the bridge.

Harry looked around and saw River scowling at him from the pilot's chair. "How long have you had her?"

Mal gave Harry a curious look and Harry immediately added, "Serenity, I mean."

After a moment's hesitation, Mal fondly explained, "Let's see, I got her…about eight years ago now."

Harry was watching Mal and saw the affection he had. "She means the world to you, don't she?"

Mal looked over at Harry and nodded. Mal saw the cold stare River was giving Harry. "You okay, mei-mei?"

"Why are you such a ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng?" River calmly asked staring at Harry.

Harry turned to Mal and said, "Now I don't know hardly any Chinese, but I'm pretty sure that was not a compliment."

Mal smiled happily. "You're right about that."

"Should I be offended?" Harry inquired trying to ignore River's vindictive stare.

Mal smirked. "You don't seem the type to be offended easily."

"That's true," Harry admitted. "So how's this going to work? You introduced River here as the co-pilot. Do I just ask her nicely to take us to Hornshoot? Or should I leave a trail of ham cubes to try and lure her out of the cockpit?"

"Ham cubes?"

Harry shrugged. "I didn't bring any pastries."

Mal briefly wondered if that meant Harry did bring ham cubes but decided not to ask. "River," Mal said. "You think you can work together with the undead zombie over here?"

River huffed getting up and walked past them both, intentionally stomping on Harry's foot on the way. "I'll be in my bunk."

Harry shrugged and sat himself down in the chair. He began tweaking just about every level and handle he could reach, paying little attention to Mal's silent observation.

"You got much experience with Fireflies? Besides training academy, I mean," Mal asked seeing how comfortable Harry seemed.

Harry kept slipping dials back and forth until he was satisfied. "Nope. This is the first time I've ever been in one. And training academy," Harry chuckled to himself. "Well, let's just say the only flying lessons I've had you wouldn't consider very useful." Harry paused and looked up at Mal, "That's not a problem, is it?"

Mal just looked at Harry uncertainly. "You've never been in a Firefly?"

Harry shook his head. "In some ways, you might say I've been living in a cave up until a couple years ago."

Mal watched as Harry seemed satisfied with all his little tweaking, and he engaged the drive to a little less than full burn. "How do you know how to fly this if you ain't ever been in a Firefly before?"

Harry looked up at Mal. "I'm a natural at flying."

Mal looked at him suspiciously.

Harry saw the doubt on his face and explained, "When it comes to flying, I just know instinctively. Look at Kaylee. How she knows how to keep Serenity here in the air. She's a natural at her job too, I'd wager."

"How'd you even know Kaylee was our mechanic? No one told you that."

Harry smiled, "Well, first off, I did have a conversation with Inara outside of your presence, though we didn't get to opinions of the crew here. And secondly, what else would she do? She smells like hot oil, and it ain't the same hot oil Inara occasionally smells like."

Mal looked out into the black and saw they were moving pretty quickly. "You even know where you're going?"

Harry nodded. "Hornshoot."

"You know where that is?"

Harry pointed straight ahead. "That way."

"You know what's in our path that way?"

"Actually," Harry admitted. "I don't. But that's what proximity sensors are for warning about, right?"

Mal sighed. "You're not exactly impressing me here, Harry. And your co-pilot seems to hate you something fierce, with a fire I haven't seen in her before."

"Well," Harry suggested. "I could try to find us an asteroid field and impress you with my flying, but I don't think you'd care for my navigational skills then. As for River," Harry winked. "I'll have her at my beck and call by the end of this job."

Mal looked at Harry doubtfully, when River came storming up to the bridge. She shrieked at Harry, "What the go se was that?"

Harry nodded at Mal. "See?"

Mal looked at River and saw she was infuriated. He saw Harry's cheerful demeanor hadn't lessened any. "You know Harry, you're cruising for a bruising here. You might want to work on your people skills as they apply to Miss Tam."

Harry just smiled at Mal. "I think we'll be able to work out our differences."

Mal listened to Harry's words, and then watched Harry turn back to River. He figured it must have been a trick of the light, but he could have sworn Harry's eyes twinkled at River. His observation was cut off as River gasped and stepped back. "You're a witch!"

Harry was momentarily surprised and showed the Captain a genuine emotion he hadn't seen yet on Harry. It only lasted a second before the smile came right back. "Close but no cigar." He turned towards the Captain and asked, "Is there somewhere I can put my stuff? I should call a friend and let him know where I'm going before we get out of range."

Mal stood there unmoving trying to give Harry that quiet determination look only Captains are allowed to do. After a tense silence, he smiled and slapped Harry on the back. "Yeah, sure. Follow me. River, can you watch the bridge?"

"Oh," Harry jumped in. "By all means, if you want her to. But we've got two hours before we're going to need to even consider a change in course."

Mal stopped and asked a question he'd been meaning to ask. "Are you a reader or whatever you call it?"

Harry hesitated but decided to answer, "No, I'm not a reader, but I can read if you want me to. I just find it sort of rude to do without permission."

"Could you teach River to control her reading?" Mal asked hopefully.

The anger in River's eyes seemed to shift into wide-eyed curiosity.

Harry took his time thinking about it and nodded. "Yeah, I think I could. But it won't be anytime soon."

Mal saw the glimmer of a smile on River's face.

Harry reluctantly added, "Even if she has control though, I think she's got bigger problems than that."

"Why can't you teach her anytime soon?" Mal inquired.

Harry turned to River and smiled sadly.

River huffed and stomped away again. "I still hate you."

Harry pointed to her as she left. "That's why not anytime soon. It requires complete trust on her part. And I think I'm going to have to work to earn her trust."

"How many people have you taught to control their reading before?"

Harry shook his head. "Never tried. But with River, I'm pretty sure I could. She's got spunk."

"How old are you?" Mal asked realizing he was beginning to feel like Harry seemed older than him.

Harry shook his head. "That's an answer, while I may be willing to give you, you aren't ready to hear."

Mal rolled his eyes and shook his head as he led Harry back towards where his bunk was going to be. "That wasn't an eerie-ass response. Nope, not at all."

Harry just followed him silently, carrying his little rucksack with a grin.

"That took a little while," Mal stated from the dining table, discarding a playing card and motioning for Kaylee to go.

"Yeah, it did," Harry agreed. "Sorry about that, but when I was talking to my friend I found out some very interesting information."

"You did, did you?" Mal asked, keeping an eye on Jayne to make sure he wasn't cheating.

Harry nodded. "Yup, I did. And it was about you." Harry turned from them and daintily skipped his way to the bridge.

Mal and Zoe exchanged wide-eyed worried looks. Mal threw his cards on the table and sprinted after Harry cursing to himself, "Ai ya, women wanle."

"Stop right there!" Mal yelled out as he caught up to Harry.

Harry turned around and saw Mal's gun was aimed right at his chest. He merely raised an eyebrow, showing no sign of concern. "Something the matter, Captain?"

"Just what do you think you're gorram doing?" Mal snarled out, staring Harry down.

Harry turned so that his entire body was now facing Mal. "I was going to change course as the proximity sensors are going to go off in about three seconds."

Mal had barely processed that thought when then low level alarms started blaring. Mal waved with his gun towards the bridge. "Go."

Harry spun right around and continued the walk to the bridge. As he walked, he explained loudly over the sound of the alarms, "After I finish flying us around whatever this is, I was thinking we could get Zoe and Jayne and go over how we'll do the museum job. I'm assuming those are the crew members who usually are with you on the ground. Any others you want are welcome as well."

Mal was getting a bit irritated at how unconcerned Harry was.

"One of the things I got while talking with my friend was all of the museum's public records, blueprints, and Alliance approved operating procedure manuals." Harry stated plainly. "The job should be a piece of pie."

"You got all that info?" Mal asked impressed.

Harry nodded. "Yes, but I also got to hear a very personal story from my friend, in addition to learning a thing or two about your crew here."

"That would be why I have a gun pointed to your back." Mal answered over the blaring alarms. "You mind sharing what it is you discovered, and what you plan to do with that information?"

They arrived at the bridge before Harry could answer and Mal looked up to find them flying right into several massive waves of rocks. "Gos se!" Mal cursed.

Harry just calmly settled himself in the cockpit, flipped two switches in front of him, slowing the ship down significantly but completely smoothly. He then pulled all the way down on the steering column and guided them up through a valley in the middle of the massive asteroid headed right towards them. Harry cleared the top of the near rock and kept a safe distance from the rest of the rocks in this first wave.

Mal wasn't pointing the gun at Harry anymore, but was instead sitting himself down, a little frazzled at how close that had been. Harry turned another knob and the blaring alarms cut off. Harry leaned into a mic and pressed a button. "Sorry about that folks, I know how annoying that alarm can sound. We are not in any danger, though you might want to just sit down for the next few minutes. Captain, tell them 'Hi' please, so they don't think I've killed you."

Mal wasn't quite ready to be put on the spot and just blurted out an octave or two above normal, "Hi!" He barely noticed how he sounded as his heart was still racing from the near collision. As the next wave approached, Mal noticed Harry was making no effort to try and swing them way wide and hopefully avoid one of the next waves, but instead was simply staring straight ahead, making no movement whatsoever. Mal saw Harry's eyes blink as his posture relaxed slightly and he turned towards Mal in the other seat.

Harry was now completely facing Mal, and wasn't even looking out at the incoming rocks. He ensured he had eye contact with Mal, and explained. "What I discovered was just further examples of your character and the character of your crew. Because, as it turns out, my friend knows who you are, and speaks quite highly of you."

Mal was glancing between the rapidly approaching rocks and Harry's little no-look trick.

Without a glance, Harry's right hand grabbed a hold of the wheel and steered them clear of the first rock. Harry was keeping his eyes on Mal, while weaving in and out of dozens of rocks. When he saw he had Mal's attention, he continued. "After hearing his story, along with my first impressions, it's made me realize I want to be a part of this crew." Harry continued calmly maneuvering the ship through the dangerous giant rocks.

"This friend of yours," Mal asked looking ahead of them as much as he watched Harry. "He got a name?"

Harry nodded sadly and explained. "Yes, but I'm sorry to say I won't be sharing it with you yet. This is one of those bigger secrets, that I'll share with my fellow crew, but if there's a chance you're giving me the boot after this job, I don't exactly want it spreading around. So let's pull this off, you all take a vote on me. And when I pass," Harry stated with certainty as he yanked the steering column to avoid a rock that was getting a bit closer than was comfortable. "I will extend a bit more trust, and we can work out better ways to utilize everything I bring to the table, that may change the way we do our jobs."

Mal was just staring straight ahead as the last of the rocks were passing them by at a much more comfortable distance. He turned his head slowly and asked, "You're that sure you want to work with us?"

Harry took his hand off the steering column and crossed his arms, nodding. "When my mind gets made up, I can be pretty stubborn."

"It's like solid rock in there, isn't it?" Mal suggested with a smile.

"Yup," Harry agreed a little too quickly. "Wait… what?"

"You want everyone here for this, Captain?" Harry asked when he returned to the kitchen with his own specialized communication device.

"Sure, why not? We've don't keep secrets from each other on this ship," Mal replied cheekily.

Harry detected a hint of sarcasm in Mal's voice. "That's fine by me, but do they all have to stare at me like that?"

Mal looked over at his crew and realized they weren't exactly being subtle in their observing. "Oh don't mind them. They get this way close to feeding time."

Harry saw no one was breaking off their staring but Kaylee was nodding in agreement. "Anyways, from the information I got, I really only need one other person on the ground besides myself. Should be in and out in less than a couple minutes."

"So you've just decided that you're going to be on the ground," Mal stated more than asked.

Harry hesitated a moment and decided, "Yeah, I have. This job is my job that I'm bringing to you. This isn't me as pilot mutinying the Captain. And I want that book, so I want to be down there in case anything gets dodgy."

"Dodgy?" Jayne asked.

Harry nodded. "I've heard a number of stories from Monty among others. I believe Fanty said you have a bad habit of making easy things difficult."

"Well I don't know about-" Mal jumped to their defense and turned to his first mate.

Zoe had a look of complete disbelief. "Sir?"

"Okay," Mal agreed and nodded. "Maybe, a few of the times, things… have gotten… dodgy."

"So yeah," Harry reiterated. "I'm on the ground. One is all I need, but however many you think should go within reason is fine."

"What's the plan?"

"The plan is," Harry set out his fancy communication device and pushed a button. A three dimensional representation of the museum was projected upward in a transparent slowly rotating glow. "The plan is to go midday. I figure one person will go in and wait, while I'll take out the only video camera. The one inside will then immediately trigger a fire alarm, clearing out the museum. I'll sneak in while the rest are sneaking out and knock the two guards unconscious. The one who'd been inside just needs to watch the door for me."

"Why midday?" Zoe asked directly.

"Because the security is much tighter at night, but during the day its primary protection is the case it's in. Nothing much fancier than that."

"And you can get in that case?" Mal questioned.

Harry nodded, then stopped and shook his head. "Yes, well maybe. But if it's going to be difficult, I'll just take the case with it in there."

"That's a," Simon looked over at Harry warily as he inspected the holographic projecting hunk of technology. "That's a seriously impressive piece of hardware you've got here."

Harry nodded. "Yup. First thing I ever permanently borrowed from the Alliance actually. It's real handy."

"What is it?" Simon inquired not recognizing any branding.

"One of a kind, custom made by a man who was killed and the Alliance took this among other things when they raided his personal property." Harry explained. "Just a toy that in the Alliance's hands would be completely useless."

"I'm a bit more than a toy, Harry." The device retorted back startling Simon.

"Shut it," Harry snapped at the communications unit. "Remember what we decided. Or I'll just turn you off."

The holographic projection stopped spinning and just sat there for a moment, before it petulantly started back up. "Fine."

Harry nodded his head triumphantly.

Mal was watching Harry oddly and trying to place the communicator's familiar voice. "You tell that… weird metal thing who's boss."

"Yeah," Harry agreed relatively sure he was being mocked.

"Who were you thinking should go with you?" Mal asked.

Harry shrugged. "I figure that's up to you. I'd like at least one. If you want a half dozen, that's your call."

Mal looked around. "Kaylee, you need to stay here and keep River focused and Simon from getting into trouble."

"Hey!" Simon protested.

"Joey, Zane," Mal insisted. "We're going with Harry."

"Sir?"

"That didn't sound right, did it?"

"Sounded like two boys' names," River snipped.

"Hey!" Jayne protested though probably not clear on why he was offended.

Harry thought about and replied, "Well, if I'm Mary, and you're Hal, then it sounded about right to me."

"Hal," Inara chuckled. "Now that's the name of someone with an early case of male pattern baldness."

"Bloody Mary," River snarled.

"Anyways," Harry said loudly, stopping everyone's attempts to anger each other. "We're just going to turn right around and head towards Bellerophon once we got the gun. So if anyone wants to do anything planet side, we need to do it before any of the thieving and the crime."

Mal shook his head. "We're not stopping for the shops. The four of us are the only ones getting off, and we're only getting off to do the job. Then turning right around."

"Works for me," Harry said. "And I can tell you all want to gossip about me, so I'll go watch out for more asteroid fields." Harry shut off his specialized com-unit and took it with him up to the bridge.

Once again, the crew just watched Harry daintily skip towards the cockpit.

Mal watched Harry disappear from view unsure how he felt about the young man.

"Captain?" Zoe asked. "You think it's safe with him at point on this job?"

Mal looked at his first mate. "Well," Mal thought about it and finally answered. "I think Kaylee, Simon, and River should be safe."

Jayne just raised a curious eyebrow and took that to mean 'bring grenades.'

"Or at least Kaylee and Simon." Mal amended.

Zoe deadpanned, "Your confidence is overwhelming, Captain."

Mal shrugged. "For all we know this guy could be completely full of it. None of us can get a read on him that he's not specifically feeding us. He could completely freeze up at the first sign of things gone awry."

"Dodgy, I believe is the word you're looking for," Simon suggested.

Inara bit her lip and decided to add, "I don't think he'd freeze up. He does have golden star status, and I don't mind telling you that's a list of only three people in the entire universe. It is not something awarded lightly."

Jayne smiled and seemed to be thinking.

Inara noticed and insisted, "And it's not awarded for what you're thinking, so get your mind out of the gutter."

"Maybe, but I can still think it." Jayne said as he closed his eyes, and smiled wider as he started nodding.

"Could you not do that in the dining area? We will have to eat in here." Simon asked with a nauseous look.

"What… think?" Jayne clarified.

Simon nodded.

"You realize asking me not to think makes me think about you?" Jayne pointed out. "And now your sister. And now Kaylee. And now Kaylee and your sister. And now… hey! Where's everybody going?"

"We're here," Harry unceremoniously announced as he smoothly landed Serenity near a grove of trees in the middle of nowhere.

Mal was already geared up, sitting next to him. "You ready to do this?"

Harry stood up stretched his back and arms. He cracked his neck and nodded. "Piece of pie."

"You better get your gun," Mal ordered. "If you're going to be on the ground with us."

Harry explained. "Don't have a gun and don't want one."

"I wasn't suggesting," Mal began.

"Hang on, Captain," Harry stopped him with a raise of his hand. "I don't have a gun, but I do have some more secrets. And in this case it's a secret along the lines of high-tech pulse weapons that I keep with me at all times. So don't be surprised if you ever see flashes of different colored lights. It's got the whole spectrum of colors for different effects."

Mal's jaw would have dropped, were he not doing his best to hide his emotions. "You? Have a high-tech pulse weapon?"

Harry was in danger of twittering but managed to act perfectly normal. "Yes, Captain, I do. But they won't work for anyone except me, and we're a long ways from me sharing all of that particular secret with you. If I use one today, I will probably set it to stun, so in this case, that one's a red light."

Mal briefly thought about what this new information about Harry would mean and whether Jayne was about to have a man-crush. He weakly answered, "Okay."

"But if you wouldn't mind," Harry looked Mal in the eye. "I'd prefer for you to keep this information to yourself. Especially, if I don't need to use them in front of anyone or explain it."

Mal raised an eyebrow.

"I wanted you to know, both because I would have told you as Captain anyways," Harry explained. "And also because I want you to know, I am armed and easily capable of taking care of myself."

Mal seemed to be considering it and nodded. "Okay."

Harry and Mal met up with Zoe and Jayne, who had prepped the mule.

"How long is the skiff ride to the museum?" Mal asked.

Harry answered, "About fifteen minutes give or take."

Mal nodded, "Alright River, in twenty five minutes you fire up Serenity, and hover out of sight if you think something's up." Mal turned to Inara, Kaylee, and Simon. "The rest of you, just make sure and remind her."

Mal and Zoe both had their game faces on looking firm and determined as the group of four piled into the mule and took off.

Harry and Jayne both had giddy smiles on their faces that they kept trying to hide.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry had explained to Jayne where the fire alarm was. He instructed him to wait until the camera went toast and then immediately just elbow through the glass.

Zoe and Mal had their guns in hand tucked in their coats, while they waited around the corner from the small museum. Jayne nonchalantly strode into the museum glancing around briefly, but walking purposefully towards his spot. Harry eyed Jayne's progress through the window, and saw he was in place. Harry picked up a good sized rock from the ground, and subtly cast a few charms on his arm and the rock. He made sure the coast was relatively clear and merely stuck his arm in the door. He chucked the rock straight up at the single primitive video monitoring system. It connected and exploded in a shower of sparks and broken glass. A split-second later the fire alarm started blaring and Jayne was smoothly working his way around the crowd.

Standing unnoticed off to the side of the front door were Harry, Zoe, and Mal all waiting until enough people had left.

Sensing the moment was right, Harry turned to Mal and Zoe. He calmly smiled and said, "Follow me."