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 FOURTEEN – Meet the Cobbs

"Ah gos se Jayne, I'm sorry," Mal said to his mercenary friend.

"I gotta go Mal," Jayne insisted. "I gotta find a ride. I need to get to her."

"Jayne!" Mal yelled getting his attention. "We're going. You don't need a ride. We're going to take you. Hell, we're bringing a damn good Doctor with us too."

Jayne's eyes perked up at the reminder of the crew.

Mal turned to the postmaster, "Amnon, it was good seeing you but…"

"Go," Amnon shooed the Captain. "I'll wave you if you get any more post."

"River," Mal instructed. "You go make sure she's all set and plot us a course to New Pitt."

"Got it," River said turning and heading back towards Serenity.

"Harry," Mal ordered. "You gather everyone up and tell them we're leaving now."

"Aye Captain," Harry said. "Should I tell them why?"

"Jayne's mom isn't doing too well," Mal said. "We just found out in a letter, so time is critical. I'm going to get him back to his bunk."

Jayne seemed to be pouting that he was being treated like a child but didn't respond. He still seemed a bit dazed and out of it.

Harry nodded and patted Jayne softly on the shoulder saying no words, offering only silent comfort. Harry turned to Mal and asked, "Captain, any supplies we need to get before going?"

"We've already refueled and are doing fine on the essentials," Mal replied and paused a moment watching Jayne's lip tremble. "But something to make us smile wouldn't be remiss. Just hurry. I want to be out of atmo in less than ten."

"We'll be there," Harry assured him, heading off in the direction he knew Kaylee and Simon had gone.

Harry arrived back at the ship with Kaylee, Simon, Zoe, and Inara. As soon as they were on, Mal closed the cargo bay doors behind them and Harry called into the intercom. "Everyone's aboard, River. We're good to go."

As the engines all fired they took off at full speed, headed straight in the direction of New Pitt.

"Mal," Simon greeted. "I've got all the basics of a fully stocked infirmary but do you have any idea what we're dealing with here?"

Mal shook his head. "The letter was six words long: Dear Jayne, Mama's dying. Sincerely Matty. That's about all we know."

"Umm," Simon paused and added, "That's oddly courteous. And unhelpful."

Mal smiled weakly. "Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if he was taught he had to write correspondence in a very strict, specific way. Though if it helps, New Pitt's a manufacturing town, and Jayne's dad and brother Matty are both welders."

"Welders?" Simon clarified. "You can get some real bad fumes that way. And if she's in an advanced stage of any sort of mutated cancer…"

Mal nodded. "She took care of Matty for almost a year while he had the Damplung. Last we heard Matty was completely over it."

Simon winced. "Let's just hope that's not it."

"Doc!" Jayne called out entering the room. "There you are! Listen, Simon, err… Dr. Tam, I mean."

Simon turned to Jayne curiously, "Yes?"

"I really don't like asking for help. I like it even less than needing help, but please, Doc," Jayne half mumbled his way through.

"Jayne," Simon stopped him. "You don't have to ask. I've fully restocked our infirmary onboard and was talking to the Captain about it right now."

"It's my mom, Doc," Jayne said honestly looking at him hopefully. "You may not need to hear it, but for her I got to say it. Please, Dr. Tam, look at her and do everything in your power to fix her up good. Please."

Simon smiled at this side of Jayne he'd never seen before. "I will. From what the Captain was saying, we've no idea at all what she's got, so for now, even speculating does us no good."

"We're going hard burn the whole way," Mal explained. "We should be there in just over two days. For now you work on keeping your head on straight."

"I know Mal," Jayne said with a sad smile. "Thanks." Jayne turned to Simon and his smile turned serious, "You make sure my mama knows I asked you nicely now."

Simon nodded and tried not to smile at the image of Jayne Cobb, mama's boy.

"Why are we here?" River asked looking around the familiar countryside and grassy plain inside her mind.

"Because I thought you might like to see something I'd noticed when we were sparring." Harry answered.

"When we were sparring you noticed something… in here?"

Harry nodded. "Yup. Your instincts are beginning to respond properly."

"What does that mean?"

"That means we are healing some of the damage done."

"I thought it couldn't be fixed."

"Well, it can't all be fixed," Harry replied. "But it's like you got shot. We can't undo the fact that you were shot, but we can remove the bullet, stop the bleeding, and see if it won't heal over. I meant it couldn't be fixed in that you won't ever have a mind functioning the way an average twenty year old would. But that don't mean we can't convince everyone else you are."

"I don't think I've ever been average at anything," River pointed out.

Harry laughed loudly. "I know the feeling."

"Alright," River continued. "So what healing am I here to witness?"

Harry nodded. "First I want you to snap out of this without using the trigger."

"How do I do that?"

"Good question," Harry shrugged. "I'd say just try to."

River looked at Harry oddly. "Just try to? That's the wisdom and brilliance you're dispensing me for this?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm not the feeble little girl unable to even control her own mind."

River harshly inhaled and narrowed her eyes.

Harry smirked at her, playing up the smugness, knowing he, probably more than anyone else, could incite negative emotions in her. Faster than River could blink, Harry had traveled the dozen or so feet between them and was towering over her tiny form. He screamed angrily in her face, "WAKE UP!"

River jumped back in fright from Harry and was franticly whipping her head around the bridge. It took her a moment to see Harry's eyes had rolled back up into his head and he wasn't moving. Then a smile blossomed across her face as she realized she had broken from her mental trance on her own. "I did it."

"What do you want, a cookie?" Harry's voice called out from inside River's head.

"What the-" River stammered looking at her co-pilot. "Harry?"

Harry's body wasn't moving, though the whites of his eyes seemed to be twitching rapidly. Inside River's head, she heard, "I'm still in here. Lay back down and join me please."

River let her body fall horizontal and she immediately brought herself to Harry on the path in the countryside. "I did it!"

Harry nodded. "Yes you did. But now the question is can you do it again?"

"Right," River closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to recreate the feeling. "I'm close I can tell," River announced without looking.

Harry pointed at her sharply and growled out, "River."

River whipped her eyes open catching barely a glimpse of Harry before she immediately felt her consciousness shift to the waking world. She looked up and saw Harry's sightless eyes staring towards the wall, while his finger was twirling in the air unenthusiastically.

River took the signal and fell right back into her mind. She immediately asked Harry, "What am I missing?"

Harry shook his head. "Nothing. I think this is just some of your body's cultured response."

River frowned considering his words. "From the Alliance?"

Harry laughed and said, "No, not from them. I meant from the trigger I made you and the adrenaline. It appears to take riling your emotions up a bit. A little Pavlovian side effect that you've probably just about broken. Care to just try to do it again now that you're familiarizing yourself with the feeling?"

River immediately found herself back in the waking world. A moment's thought and she was back in her mind facing Harry. "This is great!"

Harry nodded. "Now you can work on cleaning things up around here on your own time. But there's another piece of progress that I wanted you to see."

"What else you got for me?"

"The sky," Harry said pointing up. "Look at it."

River gazed up into the sky, squinting as she tried to locate anything out of the ordinary.

"Do you see it?" Harry asked.

River shook her head.

"There's a barrier around here. This is as good a place as any, and if you watch the sky real close, you might see a sort of haze, reminiscent of the heated air just above a fire distorting your view."

River focused her eyes looking around the few clouds but mainly just seeing the solid clear blue.

"Don't freak out on me," Harry warned. "I'm right here, and I'm going to stay here. But give me a moment to focus."

River could feel her anxiety and apprehension growing. Every time Harry said 'don't freak out' it was usually because something warranting a good freak-out was coming up. She watched Harry's eyes close in concentration, and he appeared to be chewing on his lip. All of a sudden she felt the change in the air. The gentle blue sky darkened quickly, and a cool brisk wind blew past casting a chill as it washed over them. She looked up as dark clouds began forming. Then she noticed it. The invisible hazy barrier was snapping into focus and there were clouds clearly visible on both sides of the barrier. The clouds on the inside began to swirl slightly faster, but on the outside of the barrier a maelstrom was brewing. She watched blurry objects slam into the barrier from the outside trying to make it in. The invisible shield flared with each hit, flashing and shimmering like heat lightning.

"You doing okay?" Harry asked from behind her.

River turned and saw Harry was smiling pleasantly, no longer eyes clenched shut in concentration.

"What is that?" River asked in a panic as she saw what appeared to be dangerous clouds muscling their way past the translucent barrier.

"That," Harry explained happily, "is a natural Occlumens shield. I noticed you stopped broadcasting your thoughts when we were sparring and that meant they were being restrained and held in."

"Why is it so much colder and… it feels like the air is charged," River inquired, rubbing her arms for warmth as the horizon darkened.

Harry pulled her close to his body to keep her warm. "You know my mental thumb protecting you from uncontrolled reading?"

River turned to Harry in abject horror.

"Yup," Harry nodded. "I pulled it out."

As expected, the battered mind shield collapsed immediately, and the two of them were swallowed up into a funnel of howling winds and darkness inside River's mind.

Harry popped free from River's mental plane pulling her consciousness with him. It took barely a thought for Harry to erect the familiar shield back into place for River. That particular piece of magic had become so constant that it needed barely any guidance.

River was silently hysterical, sniffling and grabbing onto Harry. She was burying her head into his shoulder, squeezing him like a scared child finally locating a missing parent in an oversized shopping center.

Harry said nothing and held her close rubbing her back as silent assurance.

It took River a few minutes, but she had composed herself and wiped her leaky eyes. "I hate feeling like that. It never seemed so bad." She quietly explained. "But when the barrier broke, it was worse than anything I think I've ever felt."

"You know what that is?" Harry asked rhetorically. "It's weak. You're feeling weak. And if you're anything like me, you hate feeling weak more than almost anything else, far more than pain."

River let go of Harry and sat back. "I don't want to feel that way ever again."

Harry shrugged. "Odds are, you probably will. But this is a big step."

River nodded.

"You're making your own shield, which is for both keeping stuff out and keeping stuff in. This is what we've been working towards and you're headed in the right direction."

"So what do we do next?"

"Next," Harry explained. "I'm going to teach you to strengthen that shield. Improve on it, so that it doesn't collapse so quickly. So that you're confident in it. So that if it ever breaks, you know how to build it again, stronger. And eventually, it'll be unconsciously upheld and strengthened."

River sighed and nodded.

"You should be happier," Harry argued. "Don't you remember that storm? The sky darkening? That was you, getting along just fine without my help." Harry saw River force a smile. "I'm not talking about my mind shield weakening and lessening after four hours or whatever. I'm talking about me out of the picture completely. A life of your own without the leash."

River's smile became a little less forced. A part of her found comfort in the knowledge she had a guardian angel of sorts always protecting her and she knew she'd miss not having Harry around if he ever left.

"You know when you're focusing really hard on trying to make sure I can't hear you pee?" Harry explained ruefully. "That's actually forcing me to listen to you… tinkle. Even when you hum."

And it was at that moment, River Tam gained all the determination she would need to master the Mind Arts.

Inara was smiling lightly, running her fingers through his hair. She pondered the absurdity of the situation as she fought the temptation to rub swirlies on the top of his head. She could feel the hair was thinning and that a nice shiny bald spot was on the distant horizon.

Jayne turned his head to lie on his back and looked up at Inara. "Listen, Inara, I just want you to know I really do appreciate you Companioning me here. I…" Jayne paused and earnestly offered, "You know I've never just laid down, resting my head in someone's lap like this except with my mom."

There were moments like these where Inara could appreciate that Jayne was a genuine honestly caring man.

And then there were moments where she had her doubts. "Or getting a mouthful of muff, if you know what I mean," Jayne added with a grin.

Inara resisted the impulse to power-chop Jayne's Adam's apple.

"With Mom," Jayne recounted wistfully. "It made no difference, whether she was comforting me during a super-storm or punishing me for putting lit firecrackers in the cat food. She would just flatten her dress and have me lie down with my head in her lap like this."

Jayne paused for a few seconds and concluded out loud. "You know come to think of it, she may have just been checking me for lice."

Inara's calming ministrations on Jayne's head halted and she slowly pulled her hand away with a nauseous look on her face.

Jayne's bottom lip began to tremble and stick out. "I don't want Mom to go nowhere." He whispered fighting back tears.

"Don't think that Jayne," Inara said confidently. "She'll be fine. You'll see."

Jayne just nodded uncertainly. They sat there in comfortable silence until Jayne turned up to Inara and said, "You know you don't have to be doing nothing on my behalf here."

"It's no problem, Jayne," Inara replied warmly. "I'm not working, or trying to trick you into feeling better. You're a friend."

Jayne nodded, "I'm just saying that, you know, if you're more comfortable topless, then you shouldn't feel obligated on my behalf-"

"Thank you Jayne," Inara said with a loud exhale. "I'm quite certain I won't be taking you up on that offer."

Jayne pondered. "You know Mom used to spank me-"

"That's it!" Inara exclaimed leaping to her feet, dumping Jayne on the floor. "I hope your mother's alright so I can tell her all about this."

Jayne rubbed the back of his head and watched Inara stomp out of the room. He pouted quietly, "Mommy."

Harry had inherited four different properties from his parents, godfather, and a thankful witch with a crush who had died at the ripe old age of one hundred ninety-three. Harry had been twenty-seven at the time. They were all immaculately maintained large manors that even the Malfoys would have been proud to call their own. But not even living a century in his family's ancestral manor could hope to match the chaos and warmth of a place like the Burrow.

The patchwork looking two story A-frame halfway built into a hillside immediately brought images of the Burrow to Harry's mind and a smile to his face. It was a solemn group of eight, making their way up a homemade cobblestone path in the early hours of the evening.

"It's not much," Jayne said.

"It's wonderful," Kaylee said happily.

"Whatchoo doin'?" a young man greeted, coming out the front screen door.

"Hey little brother," Jayne called out running up the porch stairs, grabbing the young man and proceeding to give him a noogie. "How's Ma?"

Matty pushed his older brother off him and backed away. "Same as yesterday. Asleep almost all the time. Where you been?"

"I came as soon as I got your letter," Jayne defended. "How long has she been like this?"

Matty looked away and mumbled, "Bout three months."

"Three months!" Jayne gasped. "Why dintchoo write me sooner?"

Matty sighed and sat down on a lawn chair that was doubling as porch furniture. "Mom dint want me to. She kept thinking she'd get better. But 'stead she got worse. Then we dint want you to come because the doc said we should be preparing to say goodbye. And we figgered you coming might make her give up."

Jayne was keeping his eyes on the ground, not wanting to look up. "So that's it? You gave up on hoping she'd get better and finally wrote me?"

"Naw," Matty said shaking his head. "We still think she's gonna get better, but Mom found out why we hadn't written you and wouldn't let us drink beer until we wrote you."

Jayne nodded and saw the whole crew looking up at him from behind. "Gos se, sorry guys. Matty, I'd like you to meet Zoe, Inara, Mal, Harry, River, Kaylee, and Simon. Guys, this is my little brother Matty." Jayne turned to Matty and asked, "Where's Mom at?"

"Basement," Matty said. "We needed it cooler to break her fever. And once we put a monitor down there she just set up camp."

"Alright," Jayne said. "Doc, you're with me. The rest of you… make yourselves at home. Matty, be nice."

Simon picked up both of his medical satchels and followed Jayne into the house.

Matty hopped up out of his lawn chair and looked at the six other people just standing there in front of the Cobb's house. "Ya'll ca' come in."

"I can see where Jayne gets his kindness," Mal said with a smile, following Matty in, leading the rest of his crew into the house.

Harry was the last one in the house and managed to bump right into a suddenly stopped River and Kaylee. Kaylee yelped as she fell forward hard, scaring the tabby cat out of the room.

Having knocked River and Kaylee to the floor, Harry now saw what had caused their sudden halt. There was a large piece of petrified wood coated in a shiny lacquer with an assortment of seven different dead stuffed squirrels on it. The squirrels were frozen in lifelike motion and a couple of them had been positioned in something akin to a game of squirrel leap frog.

"Nice squirrels," Harry complimented, breaking the awkward silence.

"Hmm?" Matty said leaning forward from his place on the couch. "Oh on the table? Yeah, that's Jimmy, Ricki, Bobby, Stewie, Jeffy, Stevie, and Stan."

Harry just smiled uncertainly in response and looked around the Cobb's living room. There were two stuffed squirrels on the end tables, and several more mounted on the walls. A couple of the wall mounts were just the heads reminding Harry of the house elves at Grimmauld Place. Another one with just the front paws and head, was hanging right below a mounted back half of a squirrel. It appeared the tail had been stiffened and was currently acting as a hat rack.

Matty took a big gulp on his beer and hiccupped a little hot dog taste into his mouth. He saw everyone staring at him and realized he was the host. "You guys want something to drink?"

"Sure," Mal said with a smile. "What do you got?"

"Beer…" Matty said before thinking deeply. "And medicine."

"How bout a beer?" Mal chose wisely.

"Sure thing," Matty said jerking his thumb towards the hallway. "Help yourself. Cold ones in the crisper in the fridge."

Mal stood back up and decided to get his beer, wondering why he expected any semblance of manners from a less cosmpolitan Cobb. He turned towards everyone and asked, "Anyone else want something?"

"I'll take a beer," Matty said raising his hand.

Harry smiled and added, "Me too."

"Please," Inara added uncomfortably. She couldn't stop staring at the squirrel on the end table next to her. Its glassy wide eyes followed her, no matter where she moved.

"I'll come with you," Zoe said getting up to follow Mal. The pair left the room in awkward silence once more with Harry, River, Kaylee, Inara, Matty, and a whole lot of dead squirrels all giving each curious looks.

"Matty," Harry said. "I gotta ask… what's with the squirrels?"

Matty pointed around the room. "Who you asking about? I know all of thems life stories."

"Err... I wasn't asking about any in particular," Harry replied. "I was just wondering why. Do you have a strong dislike for squirrels? Is it something that impresses the girls?"

"Well yeah," Matty answered with a guffaw. "But I mean… you ain't from around here? Or know nothin' about New Pitt?"

Harry shook his head while all three girls just stayed quiet shaking their heads negatively as well.

"In these parts, we had a bit of falling out with some of the nature on this side of the planet," Matty explained as Mal and Zoe returned carrying beers for everyone. "Thanks," Matty said taking his beer from Mal. "Anyways, some of the neighborhood associations threw themselves a right little hissyfit with some federal representatives. So they went and brought in spaceships full of new wildlife. And some stuck-up suit can't read no good, looks at the order for a thousand squirrels, and manages to instead set us up with a million bajillion or something. S'why in New Pitt, it's always squirrel hunting season. Personally, I'm still holding out for a whacking day."

Mal looked at Harry and mouthed 'what the fudge' or something approximately close to that. Harry just turned to Matty. "Jayne tells me you're a welder?"

"Well..." Matty nodded. "Der." He collapsed into sniggers, apparently finding himself far more amusing than he should.

Harry was just watching the young man nervously when Jayne came into the living room.

"How is she?" Mal asked him as he scooted over to make room for Jayne.

Jayne took River's beer, since she hadn't even opened it and sat down. Jayne popped the top and guzzled over a third of it without stopping to breathe. "I just saw her two ruttin' years ago. She looks about thirty years older. It don't look right."

"What'd Simon say?" Zoe said.

"He's still in there with her," Jayne replied. "It's not Damplung, but she fell right back to sleep. He said he wants to monitor some of her vitals."

"It ain't Damplung," Matty said leaning forward. "And it ain't contagious. Doctor Hu said it was something… I don't know, in her bones maybe."

Jayne just frowned and was loudly slurping his beer. "Simon's a real good doc. He prolly knows more modern medicine than the backbirths passing for docs around here."

Another uncomfortable silence settled in the room only to be broken by Jayne asking his little brother, "So what have you been doing?"

Matty shook his head. "Nuthin'."

Jayne nodded, enjoying this quality time to catch up with Matty. "When's Dad coming home?"

"They been working him double," Matty said. "Anytime now he'll be back, probably within the next hour or sooner."

"Girls?" Jayne asked.

"Suck." Matty answered.

"Still play the stick?"

"Yeah, sometimes."

"Who you running with these days? Derek?"

"Derek knocked up two girls," Matty answered negatively. "Both of them were married. Derek's wife wasn't too happy to hear about that."

"So who then?"

"Ben and Shaun mainly."

"Hmmph," Jayne answered.

The strange conversation seemed to have ended and they sat in silence until Dr. Tam emerged from the basement stairs.

Simon looked at Jayne and saw everyone in the living room seemed to be nursing a beer. He opened his mouth when Jayne looked up at him hopefully and Simon snapped it shut with sad look. He sagged and took a seat on the piano bench. Jayne had just clenched his eyes shut in pain and let out a deep, rattling breath. Matty looked completely unconcerned having known the gist of everything Simon was going to say.

Simon explained, "She's in stage IV of N.P. Beckmans." He exhaled and paused.

Jayne looked up, wanting details he'd understand. "Is that bad?"

Simon winced and explained, "Half the people who contract Beckman's don't even reach stage IV. I'm sorry, Jayne." Simon struggled to say out loud. "But there's nothing anyone can do."

"We know," a voice announced from the front door.

"Dad!" Jayne called out, jumping up to hug his dad. Jayne seemed to forget he was a man for a moment and became a son. He really squeezed his dad tightly in a welcoming hug, determined to drain of every bit of comfort he could.

"It's good to see you, Jaynie," the man said patting his son on the back. "Care to introduce your friends?"

"Right, right," Jayne said, trying not to think about his mother's condition. "Dad, this is Zoe, Mal, Kaylee, Inara, River, Harry, and Simon, or Dr. Tam. Ladies, and Mal, this my dad, Sue Cobb."

Mal held in a snort wondering what sort of person would name their son Jayne. "Nice to meet you, Sue."

"Mal was it?" Sue asked. "Captain Reynolds?"

"Mal's fine, sir," the Captain replied.

"It's a shame we had to meet under these circumstances, Mal," Sue replied hanging his jacket up in the closet and grabbing himself a beer from the fridge. "Usually anytime we have company, Courtney whips up some of her fresh-squeezed lemonade. I'm not really all that used to playing host."

"Don't give it a second thought," Mal insisted. "We should be the last thing you're worried about right now."

"Mmm," Sue said with a tight smile. "To be honest, it's kinda nice to be thinking about something else. Did you all get a chance to say hi to Courtney?"

"I did," Jayne answered. "She was only awake for about five minutes, but she knows I'm here."

Sue took a swig from his beer and nodded.

Jayne turned back to Simon. "What were you saying, Doc?"

"I'd… I'd just said there was nothing we can do," Simon reluctantly repeated.

"Can't ease some pain? Treat some of her symptoms or something?" Jayne said grasping at straws.

Simon shook his head. "She's already numb to most sensations."

"Any idea how long till… till she…"

Simon saw Jayne was struggling and answered. "Any day now, she may go to sleep, and just not wake up. I can say it won't be physically painful."

Jayne just sniffled and dropped his head, while his dad moved over and began to pat Jayne on the shoulder.

Harry's mind had just about zoned the outside world completely off. He saw Simon's face when he'd come back from Courtney and Harry felt just awful. It was actually what Simon had said that kept repeating over and over in Harry's head. "There's nothing anyone can do." Harry just heard those words and knew that as true as they may have been to the best of Dr. Tam's knowledge, they were not in fact true. There may be nothing any doctor can do. There may be nothing modern medicine can do. But it was not true that there's nothing anyone can do.

Harry was weighing things in his mind, trying to remember what half-truths and misconceptions he may have hinted at or misled the rest of the crew into believing. He really didn't know if there was anything useful he could do to help Jayne's mom. But uncertain success was not enough reason to neglect to even try.

Harry was so focused on his internal debate, he'd completely lost track of the conversation going around until River elbowed him harshly in the ribs. "Oww… what?"

Jayne was standing up looking right at Harry. "I was asking if you wanted another beer."

Harry whipped his head back and forth a bit, an old habit that helped him to focus. "No, no. I'm fine. Although…" Harry nibbled on the inside of his cheek. "Actually… can I talk to you guys? Somewhere private?"

"Something the matter?" Jayne asked curiously, before waving his hand. "Besides the obvious, I mean."

"Come on Matty," Sue said getting up from his chair. "Let's go watch some old video with your mother."

Matty got up shrugging. "Fine."

Harry smiled and nodded at Sue who just gave Harry an odd look back.

"What's going on, Harry?" Mal asked seeing how tense and uncertain his newest pilot looked. It was out of character for Harry, if such a concept existed.

"Hang on a second," Harry said as he got up and made a show of looking down the hall and out the front door. In truth he was merely subtly casting some silencing wards and low level aversion charms.

Harry turned back around and saw Simon was sitting with Kaylee, next to Jayne, Inara, Mal, and Zoe. River was perched with her legs folded back underneath her, looking a bit like a teacher waiting for a student to confess. Harry took a deep breath and steeled himself for the coming conversation.

"Alright," Harry began. "You know how I have some tricks and things I can't tell you about?"

"Yeah," Mal answered for the group.

"Well, you see the thing is…" Harry continued nervously. "I don't think there's any way to ease into this, so I'm just going to say it: I'm a wizard. I can do magic." Harry announced solemnly and looked up. He was expecting some laughs and scoffing, or at least disbelieving faces. Instead Harry was only getting silent, serious contemplation in return. No one telling him he was crazy, no one demanding to see proof. Only careful consideration, other than the smug grin River was wearing.

Finally Mal voiced out loud all the things that everyone else was thinking. "Meh. Whatever."

Harry was beginning to think he may have overdone it with the rest of the crew as they seemed almost more understanding of the idea he was a wizard than they looked skeptical or doubtful.

"Wizard?" Jayne asked curiously. "That sounds a bit girlie, don't it?"

"Girlie?" Inara asked in disbelief. "You think girls appreciate a good wizard?"

"You don't drink blood or anything like that?" Simon asked carefully.

Harry shook his head. "Nope."

"Have you been using your magic on me? Do I need to shower again?" River franticly asked.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, I've been using magic, and no, you don't need to shower."

"Is that why I don't hate you more? Your... voodoo?" River said as she narrowed her eyes. "And the way you keep showing up shirtless in my dreams!"

Harry couldn't hold in a snort. "I haven't… I mean… you know I really didn't need to know about your dreams."

"What've you been doing to me?" River insisted, completely unembarrassed.

"Oh come on," Harry replied. "I thought it was obvious. The mental shield protecting you?"

"That's magic?"

Harry smiled and nodded.

River sat up straighter. "Have I been doing magic?"

Harry wiggled his hand side to side. "Sort of, but not really. You're not a witch, if that's what you mean."

"What?" River asked.

"Sorry, male magical people are called wizards. Female magical people are called witches."

"Are they worth the same number of hit points?" Simon inquired.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Never mind," Simon said with a condescending shake of his head.

Harry was just looking at Dr. Tam oddly.

"Hey! Are aliens real?" Kaylee asked.

"Kaylee!" Mal snapped at her. "Don't ask that. Harry, don't answer her. You don't want to know the answer to that Kaylee."

"What?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Exactly, Harry," Mal cheered. "Exactly."

"Umm, Harry," Jayne interrupted. "I've got a few questions for you on this, but first I was wondering what made you want to spill your guts right now. Because, I'm kinda in the middle of something."

"Oh right!" Harry said. "Well, it was actually what the Doc said, claiming there's nothing we can do for your mom. And I just wanted you to know, that if you would like, there is one thing I can try to do for you. I mean I've never been very good with healing spells, but it don't really hurt nothing to try."

"You think you can fix her?" Simon asked incredulously.

"You ain't messing with me, are you Harry?" Jayne asked with a stern expression.

Harry raised his hands. "Not messing with you. And I don't know if I can fix her or not. I only ever learned one main healing spell, because it was almost always good enough for me. I just thought it might be worth me giving it a great big honking shot, and hope for the best."

"This can't hurt Mom, can it?"

"Nope," Harry assured him. "It either works and helps her, or doesn't work and does nothing."

Jayne shrugged. "Alright. Let's go do it."

"Hang on a sec," Harry called out to the overeager son. "I need to explain a couple things real quick."

Jayne winced. "Do you gotta be naked and bathing in blood for your voodoo?"

"What?" Harry snapped. "No. It's just the healing spell is a very generic one, and its effectiveness comes from pouring enough magic into it."

Jayne nodded and then shook his head. "Do you expect me to understand your little cult?"

Harry sighed and continued. "The point I'm trying to make is that the more I put into it, the better chance it has of working. So I'm just going to put my all into it, and the result of that will be me knocked unconscious for probably at least 48 hours recuperating."

"Oh," Jayne said standing up straighter.

"Yeah," Harry sarcastically agreed. "So let's get a few things settled before I knock myself out for the next two days."

"I'm listening," Jayne replied.

"I think we tell your family that I'm part of some super secret government program," Harry explained.

"I can be a spy," Jayne cheered.

"Sure but make certain they understand you're working on dangerous experimental stuff that they cannot talk about to anyone," Harry explained. "I trust all of you to keep this secret to yourselves, but I don't want it spreading anywhere it doesn't need too. And your dad and brother can think me a government agent with less danger than if they were fully aware of what I am."

"Whatever you say," Jayne assured him.

Harry nodded and saw everyone looking at him hopefully.

"Can we watch?" Jayne asked.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I need at least a couple of you for when I do it, because I'll need to be put in some sort of makeshift bed, ideally with some water nearby. Though beer would be better than nothing. I don't mind if you all watch. If for no other reason than to assure you I'm not bathing in blood or drinking it when I talk about magic."

"Anything else?" Jayne asked. "Or are you ready to do this?"

Harry looked over at River. "I don't know if you'll be able to wake me enough to refresh your mind shield. So you may be on your own for a bit."

River frowned but knew her discomfort would never compare to Mrs. Cobb's life.

"You've got some hints you can focus on for help, but you might want your brother to have a sedative for you just in case," Harry explained to River.

"Other than that," Harry continued. "I'm ready whenever you are. We can do some more question-and-answer stuff about my voodoo later."

Jayne clapped and jumped to his feet. "Let's all go pray at Harry's demon altar." He walked purposefully out of the living room and down the stairs to the basement. Harry canceled the charms as he went and hurried after Jayne, everyone else falling into step behind him.

"Dad!" Jayne called out, interrupting the show Matty and Sue were watching while Courtney slept. "I've just gotten approval from some of the higher-ups that we've got an experimental technique we can try and save Mom with. But you and Matty can't be in here."

Sue looked skeptical. "You sure about this?"

Jayne nodded with a hopeful smile. "It won't hurt her, so there's no reason not to try."

Sue watched his oldest son carefully. He sighed and nodded, "Should we wait till she's awake and have a late dinner together?"

"No need," Jayne assured him. "We'll just give it a go right now. She doesn't even need to be awake."

"Matty?" Sue asked looking at his younger son.

Matty just shrugged.

"Alright Jaynie," Sue said. "We'll leave you alone but I'm gonna want some better answers."

Jayne smiled happily. "Thanks Dad. I'll be up to talk to you soon."

Sue gave Harry another strange look and led Matty up the stairs. He wondered why he kept having to leave the room in his own house.

When they had the basement to themselves, Harry nodded to Jayne and rolled up his sleeves showing off his shiny metal gauntlets. Harry smirked at them as he waved his hand over his left gauntlet back and forth, dispelling the illusion, revealing it to simply being a homemade leather harness with a thin wooden wand.

The people in the room gasped and widened their eyes. Kaylee let out an amazed, "Wicked."

Harry loved that moment when people accept the idea that magic is real. He waved his hand over the other gauntlet, revealing a similarly strapped down wand. "These are a couple of the wands that work best for me." Harry laid both wands parallel in his left palm while the fingers on his right were fluttering. He was whispering under his breath and the two wands inched closer together, magically fusing together. "I want the finer control of a wand, but a channel bigger than either of these wands individually."

Harry walked around Courtney Cobb's bed and pushed it away from the back wall into the center of the room. "This is probably going to look a bit freaky, but don't interrupt me until I give you the signal."

"What's the signal?" Jayne asked moving to the foot of his mother's bed, directly across from Harry.

Harry considered it and said, "I'll flash you a thumbs up."

Jayne nodded.

"You guys ready?" Harry clarified rolling the fused wands together in his hands.

Everyone else nodded, considering they weren't actually doing anything.

Harry nodded back and prepared himself. He was positioned directly behind the sleeping Mrs. Cobb. He rested his arms on the headboard of her bed and closed his eyes in concentration. He focused completely on gathering every bit of his magic into it. He hadn't done this in a long time, and he hoped his body was up for it. He didn't know it but the ambient air was crackling thick from the aura of his energy.

Courtney Cobb was blearily opening her eyes when she looked towards the foot of her bed and saw her little Jayne surrounded by a half dozen of his friends. She saw all of them gain looks of surprise before looking up behind her. She bent her neck back tilting her head up to see where they were looking and spotted a black-haired young man with eyes closed, tightly clenching a pair of polished twigs. She saw his eyes snap open and there were no pupils, just solid glowing light. "Hello?" she carefully greeted.

Harry jerked in surprise but was already committed to this course of action and just responded on instinct. "Reparo Homo!" He firmly incanted, wrapping his right hand in a tight fist around the pair of wands. His left hand served as the mallet, if he was hammering the wands like a stake into the top of her head.

The spell flared into a solid bright beam of light magic, disappearing into the body of Jayne's mom. Mrs. Cobb, not used to waking up to events like this, began shrieking loudly.

Harry had to fight the urge to apologize, and maintained his focus on the spell. The light was beginning to fluctuate intermittently and the steady stream was shifting into occasional bright flashes and muted constant trickles.

Whether it was the magic or she just got tired of screaming, Mrs. Cobb thankfully went silent and just sat there as her body tingled under the foreign sensation.

Harry squeezed every last bit of magic out of his core that he could. When he was nearing the end, Harry tapped the wand trying to knock the last drops of juice from it. Harry pulled back his hands and flashed Jayne a thumbs up. He had a weak smile on his face as he began to tip backwards, until he smashed the base of his skull on the wall, immediately falling unconscious. The last sound Harry heard was Jayne asking, "Did he just call Mom a homo?"