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 to 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 SIX – Frankly, You're Dead

Harry finished securing his latest book to keep it away from any accidentally prying eyes. He wasn't sure if there would be anything useful in it or not, but he could at least find out what might have changed about Hogwarts in the sixty years following his self-induced magical nap. He was fighting the temptation to read it now, but knew he'd be better off waiting until River was asleep.

Harry and the still persistently present River walked back to the common area that was their dining room. "Hey Captain," Harry asked seeing they'd finished splitting up the money. "Or is it Mal, now? Time for me to get on out of here or do you think you're going to have a use for me for the near future?"

Mal looked up and was scrutinizing Harry. He was letting Harry sweat for a moment, before letting a small smile cross his face. "I'm going against what my brain is telling me, but there's a place here for you, if you want it."

Harry just smiled in response and nodded once.

Mal nodded, "In particular, your usefulness to the lovely Miss Tam made all the difference considering how many secrets you seem intent on keeping. But I'd feel a lot more comfortable if you were a bit more forthcoming on all of your… oddities."

"Oddities?" Harry grinned. "Is that your attempt at a nice way of calling me really gorram weird?"

"Something like that," Mal admitted. "Now I was hoping, we could have us a little get-to-know-you session. Maybe see if there ain't some simple things you're willing to share with us."

Harry bit his lip and said, "Fair enough. But there are some answers that would only lead to more questions. On those for now, you may just have to take my word when I say I'll tell you later."

"Like how old you are?" Mal asked.

"Exactly," Harry answered.

"You won't even say how old you are?" Jayne asked in confusion. "You still a minor or something?"

Harry rolled his eyes briefly noticing that Jayne and Durran both seemed to judge him on the opposite extremes of reality. "Let's just move on please."

"Fine," Jayne pouted. "It don't matter to me none."

"What about where were you born?" Inara inquired. "Or where did you grow up?"

Harry wondered if they'd ask anything he could safely answer. "Err… next question."

Mal sighed loudly. "How bout something a little easier. You got a last name?"

Harry clapped his hands together and pointed at Mal. "Excellent! Yes, I do have a last name. That was a good question."

They all just stared at Harry oddly waiting for more.

Finally Simon broke the silence and asked more than a touch irritated, "What is your last name?"

Harry winced a little and said, "I've not told anyone that one, simply because it periodically shows back up on Alliance radar." Harry saw the frustrated disbelieving looks on their faces. "But I guess I don't see the harm if I'm expecting you all to trust me." Harry smiled up at them and replied, "It's Potter. I'm Harry Potter."

The reaction to this announcement was not what Harry was expecting.

"Ni ta ma de. Tianxia suoyoude ren. Dou gaisi," Zoe swore quietly with wide eyes.

Mal's jaw just dropped open.

River yelped loudly and began to back away. "The devil! He's the devil!"

Inara, Simon, and Kaylee just leaned back and seemed to pull away from Harry.

Jayne saw the confusion and fear on Harry's face, and just started chuckling happily.

Harry just groaned and dropped his face into his hands.

"Stop it!" River yelled freaking out but reluctant to leave Harry's presence. "Stop doing that! Get out of my head!"

"Sorry," Harry grumbled and released his hold on River's uncontrolled Legilimency.

Mal snapped his jaw shut and then slowly clarified. "Your name's… Potter?"

Harry looked up and shook his head. "Nope. Not at all. Why would you think that?"

Simon looked over to his sister. "Is he going to explode? Eat us? What?"

River's eyes were clenched shut ignoring the outside world. "No! Don't stop that! Stop that other thing you were doing! What were you doing?"

"Look at me," Harry ordered when River was holding her head and looking away. "River, I need eye contact from you."

She hesitantly lifted her head and looked at Harry. For a moment she saw a carefully restrained and controlled swirling power behind the shimmering twinkle in his eyes. The sheer breadth and depth of it overwhelmed her and she gasped in terror.

"Relax River," Harry called out in a firm but soothing manner. "Listen, sweetie. You're fighting me here. I can't help you when you're fighting me."

Harry saw River flinching in fear and got up and moved over to her. He put both of his hands on either side of her head. "Look at me. I'm not going to hurt you. I can help you. But you have to stop fighting me."

"It hurts," River cried as tears began welling up. "It's so loud."

"Shhh," Harry hushed her quietly staring right into her eyes.

River looked up at him with wide frightful eyes, tears streaming down her face. She spoke so quietly it was barely a whisper. "Don't… don't hurt me."

Harry held his stare and maintained eye contact with her, smiling warmly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

River's frantic breathing halted as she closed her eyes and exhaled. The tension in her body began to lessen, and she whispered once more. "Thank you."

Harry said nothing but led her over to the couch opposite the kitchen area. She feebly let Harry guide her there and relaxed into the familiar feel of the cushions.

Harry looked over and saw everyone watching him in worry and confusion.

Mal opened his mouth once more and repeated, "Your name's… Potter?"

River's eyes snapped open and looked over towards the dining table. Her lips thinned as she kept her mouth sealed shut, observing them all.

Harry pulled a chair over close to the couch so he wouldn't be far from River. He weakly answered, not wanting to meet their eyes right now. "Maybe."

Jayne started chuckling again lessening the tension in the room.

Harry smiled and shook his head. He rested a hand on River's shoulder and rubbed gently to assure her he wasn't going anywhere. "And I thought that would be a safe one to answer."

"What the hell was that?" Simon demanded loudly, once the situation seemed under control.

"Simon," River snapped back. "No."

Simon sat back immediately mollified.

"Either of you two mind clearing up what just happened?" Mal asked looking between River staring down her brother and Harry's weak smile.

Harry glanced over at River and saw she wasn't ashamed or as frightened.

River answered calmly, "I freaked out."

Harry snickered at her succinct explanation.

"We gathered that much," Mal explained.

"Harry's thumb tried to stop me from freaking out. It freaked me out more."

Harry nodded indicating River had the gist of it.

"I didn't know his thumb could do that, but now I do. And it won't freak me out again."

"What exactly can it do?" Zoe asked curiously noticing Harry's genuine concern for the first time.

"According to Harry, it was trying to calm me," River replied. "Like a drug."

"How'd you figure that out?" Kaylee asked. "Harry didn't say nothing."

"No," River explained. "His eyes told me."

Harry shrugged and nodded, preferring to remain silent for now.

"You're okay now though?" Simon asked, frustrated at his own inability to help or understand this.

River nodded and slowly sat back up. "Yup. And I trust him now. He can start teaching me."

"Really?" Harry asked unconvinced.

River nodded resolutely with a dead serious expression. "We'll work on it for a couple hours before I go to sleep."

"Yes ma'am," Harry agreed doubtfully.

River smiled and walked back over to the dining table. "Now we weren't done interrogating our pilot, were we?"

Harry grinned at how quickly River bounced back. He went back to his chair at the table and said. "Alright. I'm ready to avoid and deflect more questions. Hit me with your best shot."

"Do you work for the Alliance?" Mal asked immediately.

Harry saw everyone seemed pretty convinced he did and could only laugh. After a couple moments Harry saw he was making them uneasy and decided a little truth would be a good idea here. "I'll be honest, they tried to recruit for a special operation a couple years ago, but… well there's a reason I keep my last name to myself."

Simon's eyes narrowed. "You completely avoided the question."

"Why would you seriously think I'm a fed?"

Inara raised an eyebrow. "Well perhaps your ability to consistently deflect the question."

"That could just be all my Companion training," Harry suggested back with a wink.

Inara frowned and said nothing while Mal jumped in, "The only people I know without a little proper fear of the Alliance seem to be those pretty high up in the Alliance. You've got some kind of inside man who apparently knows us, you've got some sort of cutting edge fancy high-tech communication device, and you've got some customized pulse weapons."

"Yeah," Jayne cheered. "Break those bad boys out!"

Harry slowly nodded. "When you put it like that, it does sound suspicious."

"Weapons! Weapons!" Jayne clapped in excitement.

Harry shook his head. "Sorry Jayne. Those would only disappoint you, I'm afraid. But I think it is time I gave you an explanation for all the rest of what you just said. About two years ago, after some circumstances beyond my control, I found myself at a secret Alliance facility where they were recruiting me for a job. I, not so respectfully declined. In the process of breaking out of that facility, I picked up this little toy." Harry announced pulling out his familiar com-unit.

"It seems the Alliance had managed to kill a gifted young man, and this was an unfinished project of his," Harry explained. "Now I could try and explain it to you, but I'd more than likely mangle half the words, so why don't we let him fill you in on the rest." Harry pushed the power button activating it. The small screen flickered a couple times showing no image or response. Harry spoke loudly, "Introduction time, Frank."

"Harry," the voice called back. "You keep calling me that and I'll issue more bulletins about an unidentified green-eyed man who keeps violating goats."

"I like to call him Frank," Harry explained to the crew. "But he prefers, and I'm guessing you all know him as Mr. Universe."

"Hey Mal!" the oddly recognizable voice called out happily.

Mal looked at everyone else oddly. "Mr. Universe?"

"The one and only," Mr. Universe called back. "Zoe, I know it doesn't count for much, but you have my much belated condolences. I was just as upset to hear about Wash as I was to hear that I died."

Zoe was caught way off guard and uncertainly accepted. "Err… thank you. Sorry for your loss, too?" She ended in a half-question.

"No worries," Mr. Universe called back. "I won't pretend that our deaths were worth it, but that signal you guys got out had to be sent. And I do want to thank all of you for… well, I guess for making my death count for something."

Simon saw everyone else seemed a bit shaken at the reminders of the events two years ago. "Umm… Mr. Universe? Where are you? Or what are you?"

"Dr. Tam?" Mr. Universe clarified. "May I call you Simon?"

"Sure," Simon replied.

"What has the green-eyed weirdo told you all about me?"

"Only that he stole this specialized communications device from the Alliance."

"Bah!" Mr. Universe barked. "It wasn't theirs in the first place. Basically, I was developing a portable transmitter that could piggyback on standard signals to be carried distances typically only capable with the full-scale broadcast stations. I created an artificial intelligence and imprinted it as a clone of my own. Even gave it my own voice. While AI's have never really been my specialty, I was quite proud of what I'd managed so far. But I hadn't finished it yet when… well… you know what happened."

"Anyway," Mr. Universe continued sounding inordinately proud of himself. "Harry here snagged it up, worked a little of his special brand of magic-"

Harry cleared his throat loudly.

"You called me Frank!" Mr. Universe snapped back.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Just explain it to them, you bucket of bolts."

"Be nice. As I was saying, Harry managed to get me working in a way that I doubt anyone understands and here I am. When I realized I was conscious, and what happened, I wanted a little freedom. So Harry broke into the Alliance's massive internal information network and set me up with the world at my metaphorical fingertips. That's where another instance of me lives. I can copy myself around to places, and this little baby is my electronic womb of sorts."

The crew seemed to have only a glimpse of an understanding of just what this meant.

Zoe asked, "Wouldn't the Federal techs catch on to something like that?"

"Yes well," Mr. Universe admitted. "I do on occasion attract attention. And that's what I keep Harry around for."

Harry explained. "Whenever someone stumbles across something they shouldn't, he can erase his own tracks in the system. And it's up to me to erase his tracks outside the system. It's only happened four times in over eighteen months now. He helps me out, I help him out. He covers up things, stalls them, gets all the good information on just about everything the Alliance is keeping tabs on. And I'm… uniquely suited to making sure he gets to… exist."

"In the most expansive digital playground in the entire 'verse," Mr. Universe cheered.

"And yet you still made me track down your stupid 'bot," Harry snarked.

"Hey now," Mr. Universe argued. "An intelligence has needs."

That comment was one of those conversation halters that forced the crew to stop and think, before thinking about how they felt about their thinking. Kaylee cheerfully redirected the discussion. "If you hadn't finished making this yet, when you, you know. Then how're you… needy?"

"Harry," Mr. Universe said as though that explained everything.

Everyone turned to Harry expectantly, who only shrugged. "You all saw how I fixed that dorsal raft boot thing. I tried to fix this hunk of junk and," Harry paused considering his words before just settling on, "I suppose we should call this an oddity."

"Like I said, no one understands it," Mr. Universe stated. "Theoretically, Harry should but I think his brain's gone round the bend."

Harry rolled his eyes and privately hoped Mr. Universe had the good sense not to blab too many of Harry's secrets. He hated being unable to curse or control the artificial intelligence, but it was way too handy not to use. "You be nice too."

Mal sighed loudly and announced. "I need a drink."

"For what it's worth," Mr. Universe added. "Harry's as kooky as all get out, but a dead useful guy to have around. I think he'll be a good fit with your crew."

Everyone turned to Harry and saw him smile widely flashing his pearly whites.

Jayne asked Harry, "Why do you call him Frank?"

"Please don't start that," Mr. Universe pleaded pitifully.

Harry grinned and pointed at the com-unit with his thumb. "I brought that little Frankenstein monster to life."

Mr. Universe snapped, "Don't think I can't get revenge on anyone who calls me that wretched name."

"It's no worse than Potter," River stated plainly earning a scowl from Harry.

Mr. Universe just laughed heartily. "I like you, River."

"Thank you, Mr. Universe," she replied smiling victoriously at Harry.

Inara was observing Harry closely and asked, "What possessed you to steal that device anyway?"

Mr. Universe laughed again. "He didn't tell you?"

Harry replied, "I figured if they were studying it in that facility, then it must have had some value."

"Right," Mr. Universe chuckled. "Now tell them the real reason."

Inara enjoyed seeing Harry squirm. "The real reason?"

Harry grumbled quietly and finally admitted out loud. "Because it was shiny."

Everyone seemed to find this terribly amusing though Mr. Universe held little sympathy for Harry. "Ahh, Harry. Such a fine line between genius and well trained chimp."

"Oh har har har," Harry rolled his eyes. "Hey Captain, where to?"

Mal looked over at Inara and seemed to reluctantly admit, "Let's head on over to Persephone. See if we can't catch ourselves a little work. Maybe spend some of our new coin." Mal grinned at his mechanic. "I know Kaylee's had her eyes on picking up a new dress."

Kaylee squealed and clapped. "Oh bless you, Captain!"

Mal turned back towards Harry with a half-hearted stare. "Something tells me we should take advantage of an opportunity for a little R and R while we can."

"I'll point us and step on the gas," Harry stated and headed off towards the bridge. River hopped up and followed him obediently.

Inara hesitated a moment and asked, "Any idea how long we're going to be on Persephone?"

"You know I ain't asked for rent on your shuttle and I'm not gonna," Mal pointed out avoiding the question.

Inara stiffened. "I like to keep my options open."

"Options?" Mal grinned ruefully. "Is that what the kids call it these days?"

Zoe, Jayne, Simon and Kaylee stayed silent, all too familiar with this argument.

Inara sighed tiredly. "Must we go through this every time?"

"My apologies, Ambassador," Mal drawled out thick with sarcasm. "You have my word we won't leave the area for at least a week. That gonna be enough whoring time for you?" Mal didn't even wait for a response before leaving the room to go lay down in his bunk.

Inara exhaled and wondered for the thousandth time if staying here was a good idea. She saw everyone else didn't even seem phased to see them argue yet again. She felt it may not even be worth the oxygen it would take to apologize once more.

"Awkward silences aside, it's somewhat comforting to see the last two years haven't changed Mal any," Mr. Universe's voice reminded everyone of his presence.

"I doubt giving birth to a baby Reaver would change that stubborn fool," Inara huffed as she left the room.

Jayne furrowed his brow. "Now that there's a mental image I've never had before."

"I don't suppose you'll tell me what you are?" River asked curiously.

"I'd reply 'I'm Harry,' but that could easily be misinterpreted," Harry said with a smile. "So what makes you think you're ready to learn this and willing to trust me enough?"

River frowned but admitted, "I've gotten so used to you being there, that when you left me earlier it hurt worse than it has in years."

Harry stared at her accusingly. "That's a simple matter of equilibrium. Without any high points, the lows didn't feel as low. If you remember how much you were glowing and dancing when I first became your little Dutch boy, then you should have known it would leave you susceptible to feeling that much worse too."

River tried again. "Because I hate feeling weak. I hate relying on you."

Harry shook his head. "These are reasons why you feel obligated and determined to learning, not to trusting me."

"Because I'm willing to do anything no matter how distasteful," River snapped.

"That's good to know, and something I'll be sure and pass on to Jayne. But it won't help us here any. I need to know why you think you can trust me," Harry replied. "Because I don't think you do yet."

"What do you want to hear?" River whined. "I'm completely vulnerable to you. I'm willing and open to whatever you tell me to do. If you say I have to break my pinkies for this, I'll snap them right now."

Harry shook his head. "You're not completely vulnerable. Not yet. And that's part of the problem. My opinion of you doesn't matter to you."

"Yes it does," River insisted.

Harry grinned. "Why is that?"

River stopped and looked away. She seemed to be thinking about the answer.

"You know I'm in your head," Harry reminded. "And I can feel when you're trying to lie to me."

River's bottom lip was protruding in a particularly cute pout.

"Why does my opinion matter to you?" Harry repeated saying the words a little slowly and deliberately.

River sighed and reluctantly replied, "Because you're the only one who can fix me. And I need you."

Harry nodded. "While both of those statements may be true, they still say nothing about you being capable of trusting me. They're more prone to indicate that you feel hopeless and are relying on me simply because there's no other alternative. Not because you trust me."

River looked up at Harry a little scared. "I trusted you when I was panicking. I trusted you not to hurt me."

"True," Harry conceded. "But do you remember why you trusted me? What changed in you to make you trust me?"

River seemed to be trying to recall, though that time was already a sort of blur to her. "I don't think anything changed. I just did."

"That's correct," Harry replied. "You trusted me because I made you trust me. I took advantage of your mind and fabricated that feeling. I violated your own free will and forced you to trust me. I saw it as the easiest way to get you to calm down, short of knocking you unconscious."

River frowned and felt dirty at the implications. It rang too familiar to the experimentation the doctors at the Alliance did, taking away her freedoms and forcing her to feel and experience what they wanted her to. She didn't even notice it but for the first time since she was a child, she started grinding her teeth.

Harry appeared completely unconcerned. "I can feel the anger pulsing off you, and will make no apology for my actions. It was what I felt would be the best way to make you feel better. And I could do it again right now. I could turn your anger into happiness, gratefulness, and generosity. I could even make you sexually attracted to me right now. And that's why I'm still asking, why do you think you can trust me?"

"If you can do all that, why don't you just force me to trust you and get on with this?" River practically snarled.

Harry shook his head, "For getting something I want, or getting something done, it would work. But not for teaching you an extremely difficult and complicated discipline."

"So how can I trust you?" River argued. "Everything I ever feel around you is suspect. You could be making me like you for all I know."

"Close enough to true, I suppose," Harry offhandedly remarked. "But that's been the case since the moment you met me."

"And I know nothing about you!" River complained passionately. "You hold everything so close, because you're so gorram scared. You haven't even openly lied so much as you haven't even said anything, true or not."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "I suppose that's somewhat fair to say. Do you think knowing more about me would leave you more inclined to trust me?"

"I don't think it's fair that I have to trust you," River replied, "when you obviously don't trust any of us."

"It isn't fair. But that's a big part of why you need it for me to be able to instruct you. For the purposes of learning this, we're not on equal footing. This is a Master to an Apprentice sort of relationship."

River furrowed her brow at the odd reference and argued, "For the training yes, but I thought we were talking about trust. Trust is on an equal footing. Your inability to trust me makes me that much less inclined to trust you. I'm the one here who's completely open and vulnerable already. Now I need you to be at least a little more open with me. Throw me a bone of trust and I'll trust you that much more."

Harry bit his lip at all the bad sexual innuendo puns that came to mind. "You make a good case." Harry admitted rubbing his chin in thought.

"Even something that's not mission critical to your secret agenda here. What's the first thing you remember? Did you have a pet growing up? Just something… real."

Harry stopped and began to wonder why he was keeping so much to himself. "When I was fifteen months old, my parents were murdered by a very bad man. They gave their lives to save mine. I was sent to live with my aunt and uncle who didn't want me. They neglected me and stunted my growth horribly. For the first ten years there I lived in a cupboard. I liked to think of the spiders that shared my cupboard as my pets but it wasn't quite the same as hugging a puppy."

River's eyes widened and began to glisten just hearing this. She could sense the complete veracity in his words through him and within her own instincts. And she could also see how unaffected Harry was by telling it.

"It was made all the worse because they had a son of their own the same age as me: my cousin, Dudley. They spoiled that poor boy rotten, lavishing him with gifts, getting him everything he wanted, and letting him eat all the sweets in disgusting, unhealthy amounts. At meals, he'd get massive helpings and portions, and a number of times they forced me to wait until they were all done before I was allowed to eat the tiny leftover scraps of food they permitted me to have. I did nearly all the chores around the house as soon as I was physically capable of them. I had to cook them their meals that I wasn't allowed to eat. Dudley, on the other hand, had his own bedroom as well as a second bedroom for all his extra and broken toys, which on very rare occasions I was allowed to play with."

Harry saw the pity in River's eyes as her tears began to well up and spill over. He paid it no mind, too used to it by now. "They took pleasure in calling me freak, the boy, and all sorts of derogatory names. As well as pointing out how Dudley's broken toys deserved their own room, but I should be grateful for my cupboard. I never even knew when my birthday was until my teacher told me. I never liked the holidays much because they'd force me to watch Dudley open his piles and piles of gifts, while I would get just one if I was lucky. Once I got a used toothpick, but probably the most common gift was my uncle would give me one of his old, dirty, unmatched socks. I got a cracker one time that I ate immediately and smiled at my aunt and uncle. I think they were disappointed that it didn't upset me more."

Harry saw River looked a little upset and slightly confused. "And despite a childhood that was criminally neglectful and filled with so little happiness, I never really hated them. I pitied them, and especially Dudley. With the way they raised him, he never had a chance. With the way they handled me – because I can't call what they did raising me, they were either going to break me or toughen me up. And I'd like to think I've not broken yet."

Harry saw his early biography had the desired effect and River was just staring at Harry in deep thought. He smiled cheekily and added, "And now that is all completely truthful and you know a little about me."

"You didn't deserve that," River stated calmly.

Harry nodded solemnly. "No child deserves my childhood. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen."

"How can you be so calm? How can you be so honest about something so personal and it not bother you?" River half-hysterically said, wiping her eyes. "I mean I'm the one crying here!"

Harry thought about it for a moment and admitted, "There are a lot of things within a person's grasp or control. The best thing you can do about the stuff beyond your control is to accept it and move on."

"So what happened to your family? Where are they now?"

"Dead," Harry said with a shrug.

River's eyes widened. "Did you kill them?"

Harry laughed and shook his head. "No, I didn't. Heart disease nailed my uncle and cousin, and my aunt actually died of breast cancer before either of them. All three died in a span of just over a couple years."

"Heart disease killed your cousin?" River asked dubiously.

Harry knew what she was thinking and simply nodded.

"Don't suppose you want to tell me how old you are now," River hopefully asked.

Harry shook his head with a smile. "Not yet. Once we get a little further in this trust between us, I will."

River frowned sadly but accepted that, opting for a small change of direction in the conversation. "So why is trust so important to this training?"

"Can't you guess?" Harry grinned.

River thought about it and thought about it. She was beginning to get irritated by Harry's knowing grin. "Because you take pleasure in tormenting me and holding this over my head?"

Harry frowned. "Hey now, I only do that because it's fun."

River shook her head. "I don't even understand what I'm doing or you're doing well enough to have any idea."

Harry shrugged. "I'm not sure how much I get it either. But basically, I need you to trust me because I'm going to be manipulating and violating your mind to my fullest non-permanently damaging ability. Forcing you to trust me was like poking you with a needle. Now I need to start chopping off your limbs and sewing them back on."

River's eyes widened in fear.

Harry nodded. "Because you need to understand what reading can do, in order to control your own. But on the bright side this'll also teach you to stop me and anyone else from doing any sort of reading on you."

River sighed. "Why does it have to be so hard?"

Harry shrugged. "If I were crueler, it'd be possible I suppose for me to just rip your thought processes apart and try and force your instincts to adapt. But that would more likely kill or permanently damage you. The trust is also needed because I'm going to know everything about you. You won't have any secrets from me, until you are capable of protecting them."

River frowned but was staring right at Harry playfully. "I wish there was some magic way to just learn this overnight."

Harry only chuckled admitting nothing. "You appreciate things more when you have to work for them."

"Oh yes," River mocked. "I'm going to be so grateful with you inside my head."

"River," Harry patronizingly reminded. "I'm already there." He made a hand motion of jamming his thumb.

River furrowed her brow. "Well then why don't you find out all my secrets already?"

Harry shook his head. "We're not there yet. And I want you paying attention when we do. Because we're both going to be going through them."

River frowned a little in fear.

Harry smiled slightly and added. "No more hiding from yourself either. I know some of what they did to you, but it's like I said: beyond your control, accept it and move on. Even those bits you've buried way down and refuse to face. Everyone's got their demons. You just gotta get to know them, so they're not so scary."

River's bottom lip was trembling. "Wh- What if I don't want to?"

"Not an option," Harry replied. "Besides, I'll be there with you whether you like it or not. Most people don't have incredibly charming and brilliant comrades when they face their internal demons."

River seemed to be thinking over what Harry was saying and feared what they would find. She slowly began to realize she was also scared what he would think of her. "I think I'm ready for bed. Let's go get your book."

Harry raised an eyebrow and asked defensively. "My book?"

River nodded. "The one you're dying to read? Your new, old one about pig warts?"

"What makes you so sure I want my book?"

River shook her head patronizingly at Harry. "I am a reader. And I am connected to your thumb, Dutch boy. Now I don't want to get all cold and frightened in my sleep just for you to steal away and grab your book. I know you'd return probably before I woke up, but still. Since it's not a secret, let's just go get it. And use the restroom too."

Harry just chuckled, though inwardly a little worried at how easily she seemed to be able to read him. "Yes, ma'am."

One quick little trip to Harry's bunk, where he used the facilities and brushed his teeth, followed by a trip to River's bunk, where she did the same took them less then fifteen minutes. Harry watched the small smile blossom on her face as she fell asleep and couldn't help but be reminded of the times he watched his wife fall asleep. He lazily daydreamed about his better half, wondering how much fun she would be having if she were still around in this future. Some of his fondest memories came from school, and he immediately recalled what he had been itching to do all day.

He cast a perimeter alert charm near the door and a reverse silencing charm over River herself. He looked at his book, Hogwarts, A History. He knew most of the castle probably didn't change, but there were appendices with detailed biographies on all the Headmasters, and blurbs about most of the staff too. He wasn't sure what compelled him, but Harry decided to go ahead and glimpse over the Introduction to this updated volume. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he read that first line.

As you may know, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has now been closed for three years.