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 SEVENTEEN – Pensieve for Your Thoughts?
"Book of Jayne," he announced cracking open the future best-seller.
"Number B," he stated and wrote simultaneously before realization struck him. "Oh gorramit."
Jayne hastily erased and corrected his second entry into the hallowed volume. "It is official. Harry's a freak. If eerie-ass was in the dictionary, it'd have a picture of Harry. But it's not. I checked. Twice. Course, as freaks go, Harry's about the coolest one I've ever heard of. I didn't think anyone would top River on the freak-o-meter. But it ain't even close. Least he's got most of marbles still. He's even helped River find a few of hers that'd gone out for a walk and gotten lost.
"Floating in air is pretty fun. But it gives you gas. I guess nothin's free." Jayne wrote and said with a knowing nod. He was thinking deeply on what else to add, when it hit him. "Inara's the hottest bright blue chick I ever seen. Made her look like some kind of sexy alien."
Jayne shook his wrist out to keep it from cramping. "Poor Harry looked sadder than I've ever seen him tonight. Course, waking up, and your entire way of life disappearing will do that to a fella. Not counting that it sounds like he's not gotten laid in 400 years. That's just plumb unhealthy."
Jayne exhaled and set his hallowed book down. "This authorin' is tiring work." He decided to call it a day, putting his pencil away and carefully shutting his journal. "Book of Jayne."
"Captain?" Harry said with an eager grin.
"Mmm?" Mal asked looking up as Harry stuck his head in the door.
Harry looked around the room, realizing how well it fit Mal's personality. Something Harry hadn't quite picked up on when he first saw the room. "I talked to Duncan."
"Good news?" Mal inquired. "He offering a fair price?"
Harry shrugged a little worriedly. "I thought it was fair, though it may be on the low side. For a full pallet, he's willing to go 2.2 million."
"Platinum or credits?" Mal said warily.
"Platinum," Harry replied.
Mal shook his head. "That's pretty low compared to street value, but if he's starting there maybe we can work our way to mutual ground."
"Duncan's not big on haggling," Harry explained. "The 2.2 is his friend price for me, not his bargaining start. I'll be honest, Duncan told me he'd be willing to go 2.5 but that our interests would improve at 2.2."
"Our interests?" Mal asked. "This guy threatening us already?"
"No," Harry shook his head. "You misunderstand me. Dirty Duncan is one of the most stand-up guys I've met in the verse. He's loyal to friends, and likes doing the right thing. Regular boy scout. But out on the rim, and the moon he lives on Bebonk, he spread some rumors about his cut-throat practices and was called Dirty Duncan, despite being ten times as honest as the local police."
"Nice guys' money don't spend any better," Mal replied.
"What I mean, Captain," Harry explained, "is that Duncan's more on the up and up than some of them ladies who like to shoot you, or folks like Niska. That's why if you're willing to take 2.2 for this chunk of score, then he'll be looking to us for some more future work. Including probably a fair amount of legit work, which even if you're not looking for too much of, can always make it easier to hide the other jobs as needed."
Mal considered Harry's words. "Who is this guy?"
"You ever been to Bebonk?"
Mal shook his head. "Don't think I've even heard of it."
"It's a moon over near Mamussa, which I believe might still be the furthest Fed-maintained planet." Harry explained and saw Mal recognized the name. "Anyways, it's been his home all his life, and he likes it there. He probably owns about a third of Bebonk, but most people don't even realize it cause he's pretty careful. I met him a while back and helped him out of a jam. He gave me a couple jobs to do, and now he sort of keeps his eyes out for my interests on this edge of the rim. Kinda like Durran knows the things I'm looking for in the core, Duncan's my honorary eyes on the edges."
"So this 2.5 won't be some double-cross where we need Jayne to hide back with a sniper rifle?" Mal asked.
Harry shook his head. "Nope. And I know it's your call, but I think you should be willing to take the 2.2. I know you may think you're getting the shaft end at that price, but you need to put a little perspective on this here."
"And how's that?" Mal said when it was apparent Harry was waiting for prompting.
Harry grinned widely and explained, "You're getting 2.2 million for one night's work. And it's still only half the score. Not to mention, push comes to shove, a little further down the road, you can probably get another 2.2 if no one else is buying."
Mal pondered it for barely a moment and nodded. "Alright, Harry, set us up a meeting. I'll think about the 2.2 or the 2.5, but if I'm getting fleeced, I like to meet the fleecer."
"I think you'll like him," Harry said with a knowing grin.
Harry pulled back as his mind retreated from River's.
"We're done already?" She proclaimed, shaking herself to wakefulness.
Harry sighed. "How do you think you did today?"
River frowned and made no effort to hide her frustration. "Not particularly well."
Harry turned and just stared at her.
"What do you want me to do?" River whined with a frown. "I'm trying my best."
Harry shook his head. "I wonder if this is all you can do."
River narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," Harry explained. "The Mind Arts as I know them, and always deal with them, are primarily strengthened through magical means. When I'm drained of magic, I'm straining to even pick up passive Legilimency, and only barking out the spell and using my magic to juice it up to a respectable level works. You're essentially a muggle going through the motions. Maybe we've hit a wall on how strong your Occlumens shield can be without magic."
"I'm a lot more than just that," River insisted quietly.
"Really?" Harry exasperatedly said. "Because as quick as your walls are coming down, you can't possibly have any faith in them. You're not expecting them to hold, and so of course, then they won't. You just don't have the confidence for this." Harry sneered and thought back to his own breakthrough in learning Occlumency. "You know what, I didn't mean confidence. I meant arrogance. I meant cocky, brash, and fully certain of your own mental superiority. You're too weak, River Tam."
River had been getting angrier and more offended with every smarmy word Harry was saying.
Harry saw the moment where River's anger gave way to a controlled centering that would make a wizard, swimming in his own core hard-pressed to match. He grinned at her, and before she started to rant, he asked with a smile, "Want to spar?"
"Hell yes," River snapped jumping up from her bed.
Barely fifteen seconds later, had they made their way through to the back of the ship. Harry whipped his hands apart clearing out an empty area in the cargo bay. He pulled out his wand and a white flash hit his own chest. He turned the wand towards River and cast the same spell.
River twirled right away, out of the path of the spell, turning to growl at Harry.
Harry snapped his empty hand straight at River locking her into place. "You don't get a say in this, little girl."
Another whip of his wand and the white spell hit River, making her body flash in turn. "It's a protection spell, so that we can't hurt each other." Harry condescendingly explained. Harry calmly removed his faux gauntlets and wands, setting them off to the side. He cracked his knuckles and smiled. "So no holding back this time. Got it?"
Harry waved his hand towards River lackadaisically, as if she didn't even matter to him, and removed the spell holding her in place.
The very moment she could move, River lunged straight for Harry and was swinging as viciously as her little body could. She was alternating with such a furious and frenetic pace, Harry was only able to defend and block her blows, unable to even launch a counter-attack of his own.
In a move Harry was unprepared for River had punched Harry in the gut, as she fell to the floor, and swept his legs out from under him. She quickly spun around and brought her leg down right on Harry's throat.
Harry threw up his arm just in time and caught her leg before it could connect with him. He was struggling to hold it up as she was twisting her body's weight into it.
Seeing her opportunity, River made only the slightest shift and brought her fist down onto his face. "I don't hold back."
If there hadn't been protection spells on them, Harry's nose would have been surely broken. As it was, his face was smarting a bit from the impact nonetheless. Harry grunted his way through the pain, and surprisingly calmly added. "I know you don't. I was referring to me."
River's eyes widened to see Harry's fist come flying at her at a speed clearly beyond the capabilities of the average human. She gasped and let out a loud "Oof!" as her body exploded away from the punch sending her fifteen feet in the air, and careening backwards over the mid-level stair railing.
River was dazedly looking around, realizing that the speed with which she had been uprooted and slammed onto her head had not in fact broken her neck as expected. Her stomach was smarting something fierce, but she could tell she was doing fine. She leapt forward straight between the highest and middle bars on the hand railing, grabbing onto the lower of the two as she went. She swung around on the bar using all her momentum, to whack her legs into the lower railing, and pushed off, adding her strength to her body's repulsion from the stairwell.
Harry had taken the opportunity to stand back up and dust himself off, only to look up and see River flying at him, two tight fists clenched and aimed forward. The brief look of surprise on his face lasted long enough to add to River's evil grin, as her right fist connected with Harry's jaw.
"Damn," Harry spat out as he was hurriedly backing away rubbing his jaw.
River was again in her zone of controlled, calm confidence. She began unleashing a series of spinning kicks, each one inching her way closer and closer to Harry. She made no indication of having noticed the rather surprised looking audience they had gathered.
In between fending off her kicks, Harry was smiling up at everyone and briefly waved at an angry looking Simon.
River took this as a personal offense and managed to increase the ferocity of her rapid leg swings.
Harry thought it was time for a little change of pace, and let the next kick connect to him, surprising River. He took advantage of that surprise as he too moved in towards her, grabbing her body in a bear hug. His weight and momentum carried them both slamming her straight into the ground, echoing around the room with a loud rumble.
"Yeah!" Jayne cheered.
Simon had seen that the two sparring weren't really getting hurt, but that full-on body slam had to have been felt. "River? Are you okay?"
River snarled, and tried to roll Harry off of her, only to find Harry was once again rolling with her.
Harry held onto her, with him on his back and proceeded to kick her with his magically-enhanced strength. She flew up past the eye-lines of even the surprised faces on the catwalk, crashing into the ceiling, thirty-five odd feet up.
River's back slammed against the metal support beams holding Serenity's curved roof in place. She found herself falling quickly, blocking out the sound of both of the high-pitched shrieks coming from her brother and his girlfriend, and getting even angrier at Harry.
Harry grinned at her and snapped his open hand up when she was only a dozen feet off the ground. River's body stopped immediately and she found herself unable to move more than her head as she floated there helpless off the ground.
Harry used one hand holding River in place, while a gesture from his other summoned a wand to him. He pointed it straight up at the reddening and furious young woman. "Legilimens!"
River knew what was coming as soon as he said the word, and felt herself strengthening the walls to the fortress her mind was. She knew with certainty it was solid as a rock and stronger than the hardest steel. She was ready for this challenge.
Harry's mental attack was a solid, piercing, burning hot beam of energy. He just seared straight through the thick stone wall opening a hole that was small enough for him to glide smoothly through.
River was inside her mind, on the other side of her walls raging at her inability to stop him. Only when she looked at Harry, he was just smiling as happy as she'd ever seen him.
"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" Harry yelled at her in glee. He pounded his fist on the inside of her concrete fortress. "This is a bloody fortress! You see this?" Harry asked banging harder and harder against the unmoving stone. "Do you see this?"
River was slightly startled, though quite aware of what Harry had been doing. Her anger had disappeared completely and she was looking at the massive thick walls she had. "Huh."
Harry moved to the side and pointed towards the previously molten hot stone only to see it had already been repaired. "You even fixed the hole I came in from. This is what you need. This is it." Harry slammed his fist straight into the wall. A small smattering of cracks and dust exploded, but the wall held true. "I haven't touched any sort of mental shield for you since we started training today. This is all you River."
River was beginning to take notice of the barriers and was impressed with the strength of it. "Huh." She grudgingly admitted.
"Come on," Harry waved her back as he retreated from her consciousness. "Your brother's freaking out."
In the blink of an eye River felt herself being lowered safely to the ground conveniently in between the direction Simon was coming from and Harry.
Harry released the spell, and let River's cat like reflexes keep her legs under her for the last few feet. He had intentionally positioned River's landing and was rewarded by her quick action.
River jumped into her brother's arms. "Oh Simon! I did it! I got a real wall up! It's working, and I can tell it's mine! This is wonderful!"
Simon's anger never stood a chance against River's happiness and he hugged her back. "That's great, River. That's fantastic to hear." He mumbled a little quieter, "Whatever that means."
She turned him around and winked at Harry over Simon's shoulder.
Harry nodded and wiggled his fingers, making Simon's hair stick up in a massive cowlick.
River let go of her brother and led him back towards where Kaylee had been sitting and watching the impromptu battle. She made no mention of her brother's magically aided hairdo.
"You sure this is the place?" Mal asked looking around the well-trodden street.
Harry turned backed towards the Captain and Zoe with a smile. "Yes, I'm sure."
"For the sort of money we're talking about, this just seems… kinda rough around the edges," Mal explained passing a dusty storefront and long since closed peepshow.
"We're going to the hardware store right up there," Harry explained enjoying the feel of the early morning hours.
"A hardware store?" Zoe asked curiously. "Is this the normal place to locate him?"
Harry shrugged, "Pretty often, yeah. In a hardware store, it's not out of the ordinary to have trapdoors on display and a wide variety of locks. But mainly, this is where Sam works." Harry said opening the door to a store unimaginatively named Hardware. A bell rang announcing the arrival of new customers.
A very young bright-eyed woman with short cropped blue hair looked up at the newcomers. She smiled slightly as Mal walked in, followed by Zoe, only to smile jovially and screech "Harry!" She scrambled around the counter and flung herself towards Harry, engulfing him in a tight hug.
"Whoof," Harry responded and hugged her back. "Hey Sam. How you been?"
She released him and stepped back. "I'm good, good. Oh my gosh, Harry, my friend Delilah had her baby just a couple months ago and he is cuter than a puppy in a basket with a bow on its head."
Harry laughed. "Duncan expressed some fear about that."
"Did he now?" She asked dangerously.
Harry gulped and commented, "Blue this time? I don't think I've seen you with blue before."
Sam grinned brightly touching her hair. "Yeah. It clashes with my eyes but I needed something new."
"Sam," Harry smiled wondering if the new color wasn't a poor substitute for the new thing she was pressuring her fiancé into. "I'd like you to meet a couple friends of mine. This is Captain Reynolds and first mate Zoe."
The two nodded their heads in greeting. "Nice to meet you, Sam," Zoe replied.
Harry turned to the bubbly girl and asked, "Don't suppose he's awake and functioning?"
Sam rolled her eyes. "I started feeding him coffee when we got your wave. He's not exactly the morning type, but he's probably waiting on you. You can go on back."
"Thanks Sam," Harry said as he led Zoe and Mal around the counter towards one of the back rooms.
"Little young, isn't she?" Mal commented quietly towards Harry.
Harry chuckled. "I'll have you know Sam turned twenty a few months ago." Harry approached a door at the back with six different locks on it and knocked. It took a few seconds, before a series of clicks could be heard from the other side and the door rumbled and slipped open, a small gush of pressurized air expelling as it creaked. Harry pushed the door the rest of the way and walked into the comfortable looking office. Seated behind a desk, with some large bags under his eyes was a pale young man with thick rimmed glasses and huge mug of coffee he was sipping from.
Mal looked at the skinny frail looking boy and realized Sam was actually the older one.
"Do you even realize what rutting time it is?" the young man's voice cracked as he grinned and complained.
"Mornings are good for you Duncan," Harry grinned back. "It's those late nights of yours that aren't so good."
"Thanks for the lesson, Dad," Duncan said with an irreverent shake of his head. "Come in, come in."
Mal and Zoe shared a wary look, unprepared to be dealing with a teenager but walked in as Harry shut the door behind them.
Duncan slowly pushed his body up and forward. He reached out to shake hands. "Captain Reynolds, I presume?"
"Guilty," the Captain replied. "And you must be Duncan?"
"I must be," Duncan agreed and turned to Zoe. "Does that mean this gorgeous young woman is Zoe?"
Zoe was unimpressed and squeezed Duncan's hand a fair amount tighter than was necessarily polite. "Duncan," she greeted inclining her head.
Duncan grinned at Harry. "Feisty one, isn't she?" he whispered waggling his sore hand.
Harry saw Zoe wasn't particularly amused. "She's all heart, once you know her."
Zoe raised an eyebrow towards Harry. "You do know I have no reservations about shooting friends?"
Mal winced recognizing that tone of voice. "I can vouch for that."
Harry lifted his hands, knowing not to push his two fellow crew members. Not when they were talking business.
"It's early," Duncan reiterated. "And you two look about as pleased to be here as I am to be awake. So let's talk shop. Did you bring a sample?"
Zoe reached into her coat and tossed a sealed vacuum-packaged foil covered packet onto the table.
Duncan picked it up and looked it over. He turned to Harry. "This is the real thing, right?"
"Yes sir," Harry respectfully replied to the teenager.
"I'm not going to have half the Alliance storming after me once new settlers start buying these things on the street?"
"It's clean," Mal assured him with a patronizing look.
"And you're all eager enough to unload it at this price?"
Mal was watching Duncan carefully trying to make sense of why he was dealing with this… kid.
"Sir?" Zoe asked looking at the Captain.
"Duncan," Mal began. "You seem a bit… younger than I was expecting."
Duncan nodded, used to this. "That may be because it's true. Do not mistake my youth for inexperience." He took a sip of his coffee. "I could try and startle you with what turned up in your records, Sergeant Reynolds. Or I could grandstand by pushing this button," Duncan explained pressing an orange button on a small console next to him.
Immediately, the ground rumbled and thick metal walls swooped shut sealing them into a room a foot smaller on all sides. Ten different mechanically-controlled guns of various size and shape came jutting out from areas in the ceiling and desk, aimed squarely at Mal's seat.
"But I'd like to think we can remain gentlemen," Duncan grinned, pressing another button as everything swooped away leaving the room looking terribly innocent once again. "I take my business seriously, Captain. And I will make it no secret I have no strong need for your cargo."
Mal looked over at Harry who smiled weakly. "Then what exactly are we doing here?"
"Coffee?" Duncan offered as he refilled his own mug. Everyone declined and he sat back down. "You have an excess of supply, and very little demand. I don't have much demand either, but I am one of the folks who could actually use the stuff in some of my many… entrepreneurial efforts. I know people are always going to need to eat, and the stretch of civilized life will always be growing. I know you're not getting anywhere near the value for the goods, but quite frankly 2.2 is all it is worth to me. If not for Harry, I simply wouldn't trust this deal. But you seem to have won his approval, and as a courtesy I even informed him, I'd be willing to pay 2.5. I assume, he told you?"
Mal glanced at Harry and nodded.
"Don't fear putting our friendship at risk," Duncan assured with a quick smile at Harry. "I knew I wasn't just telling my friend to try and weasel you down to a better price. I'm well aware I was dealing with a pilot who has responsibilities to his Captain."
Mal had to admit the younger man was beginning to make an impression on him. "Forgive me if I'm skeptical that someone so young can easily deal funds on this scale."
Duncan nodded and pushed a hidden button. A large steel safe grew up from the ground behind him. "I figured with Harry involved we could knock this out quickly, considering we both trust an element here, right?"
Mal looked at Harry who was nodding. "I suppose."
"Excellent," Duncan agreed. "Because if it would ease your mind, I'm prepared to pay a million up front right now, and the rest on delivery."
Mal's eyes widened slightly and he looked at Zoe. She too had been harboring doubts that were quickly vanishing. "Harry mentioned that it'd be in our best interests to take 2.2. He wasn't terribly clear on why we should be taking less money."
"If you have no interest in cordial business relationships or further dealings, then I'd advise you to take the 2.5. Although frankly, if that's your intention you might be better off just trying to move them in smaller parts. If you can get forty or fifty large per box, which doesn't seem unreasonable, then that pallets probably worth what? Upwards of five, maybe six?" Duncan explained. "But that's presuming you can find a hundred-odd people that actually have that much coin and interest in a box. I'm assuming you're using the federated standard boxes arranged 4 by 6 with 5 tall?"
"They're all there," Mal assured. "It's one-hundred twenty packed boxes. But I'm wondering how it is that cordial business relationships and further dealings is worth three hundred thousand platinum."
"You're a transport ship," Duncan explained. "There are many occasions where I am in need of transporting. Sometimes quietly, sometimes not."
"I don't see how a hardware store could have so much need," Mal explained. "And we're nobody's goons."
Duncan looked at Harry and back at the other two. "Are you familiar with CRS, Inc.?"
"Confederated Railroad Supply?" Zoe clarified.
"Well, it's hardly just railroads anymore," Duncan explained. "But that used to be the meaning, yeah."
Mal nodded recognizing one of premiere government contractors for terraforming.
"That's probably my most notable recent acquisition," Duncan explained offhandedly. "So you can see I would have a use for your products, in spreading around survival on the young worlds, as well as often have need for transporting things across the verse."
"You?" Zoe asked in disbelief. "Own CRS?"
Duncan shook his head. "Not outright. Hell, the value and contracts would dry up if they knew a teenager was behind the scenes. Just a shell company of mine purchased a controlling share in their interests." Duncan watched Malcolm and explained, "I won't pretend to know what it was like for you two to… fight the system. But I hope you won't hold it against me if I manipulate the system to my own needs. Or preferably our mutual needs."
Mal was frowning at first at this kid's reminder, but found himself smiling a bit at the thought. "And in the future, if we take the 2.2, you'd be more open to considering picking up more from us at the same price?"
Duncan inclined his head. "I'm not going to make any promises, but I'm certainly open to the possibility. The same cannot be said at 2.5 though."
Mal turned to Zoe, who nodded her head ever so slightly. "We got a deal at 2.2," Mal said extending his hand.
"Excellent," Duncan agreed suddenly appearing far more awake. "Would you like the million I have prepped?"
"Yes, we would," Mal replied.
Duncan began punching in a series of numbers on a keypad. He pushed his thumb onto a fingerprint scanner and the safe behind him cracked open. "How would you like the rest of your money delivered? More cash? Or I could set you up with a bank account? Or accounts?"
Mal's impulse was to turn down the bank accounts immediately, but Zoe stopped him. "Captain?" She suggested. "Assuming Harry's confident on the accounts they might be preferable."
Harry nodded while Duncan explained, "Bank of Sihnon corporate accounts under the name of a company. We can individualize them if you prefer or leave them blank expense accounts."
"Go ahead and put it under the name Serenity," Mal replied. "Where do you want us to deliver the pallet?"
Duncan said, "Harry? You remember the Martin Warehouse?"
"Sure thing," Harry replied feeling a bit antsy. "Umm… Duncan?"
Duncan rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. I've got your find right here."
Duncan reached into an oversized deep drawer on the bottom of his desk and presented the dirty grey bowl with runes engraved all around the rim.
Harry's eyes widened and sucked in a breath. "I was hoping this was what you'd found."
Duncan slid it across to Harry while Mal and Zoe looked at it in confusion. He smiled at Mal, "It appears you know as much about Harry's odd fascinations as me."
Immediately put on guard they turned to look at Duncan. Duncan raised an eyebrow. "Or maybe not. Perhaps you can tell me why Harry's always looking for these odd things?"
Zoe shook her head. "Nope, sorry. But he certainly seems pleased with it."
"Bloody hell," Harry gasped recognizing a few particular markings. He jerked his head up to look at Duncan. "Where do you find this?"
"In an estate sale," Duncan explained. "Solicitor came and was selling all of some dead guy's stuff."
"Who was it?" Harry asked quickly. "What else did they have?"
"The dead guy?" Duncan asked. "His name was… hmm. Hold on a second." Duncan flipped a switch and console system came up out of the desk. When presented with the hand shaped split keyboard, he began quickly working his way through his system. "John Dough."
Harry looked at Duncan curiously. "That's cute."
"D-O-U-G-H, Dough," Duncan continued. "Looks like the rest of the estate was a few boxes of clothes, two lamps, and…" Duncan looked up and smiled. "And a small collection of amateur pornography."
Harry chuckled. "Where'd he live?"
"John Dough?" Duncan clarified and checked his records. " Jersey."
"Alright," Harry said, thoroughly confused on how to interpret this latest bit of information. "Thanks Duncan. This is fantastic. If you ever see more of this kind of stuff, you know I'm always looking."
"I know, I know," Duncan assured Harry. "I'll meet you fine folks at the Martin Warehouse in an hour?"
"We'll be there," Mal said firmly.
One hour later, they concluded their business, were one pallet lighter, and now the proud owners of the Serenity company Bank of Sihnon access card.
Jayne made a less than stellar first impression on Duncan when he introduced himself by saying, "Hey kid, where's your dad at?" Luckily Duncan had a sense of humor and offered to throw in the money in case the Captain wanted to check Jayne into the old folks' home.
Agreements were made to keep in touch and brief goodbyes were said between the crew of Serenity and Duncan and Sam. Sam had to go back to the store and Duncan had to go back to bed. The crew had another plan to sell two of the boxes and so now, back on Serenity they were already on their way to another border planet.
Everyone was watching Harry as he seemed to be bouncing with excitement.
"Harry?" Kaylee asked. "You need to tinkle? Or better yet, gonna tell us why you've got so much spring in your step?"
Harry set out his new bowl in front of them. "This, my friends. This pleases me more than you know."
Zoe leaned over and was inspecting it. It was clearly old and had some mumbo-jumbo on the side that obviously meant something since Harry was involved. But for the most part it looked like a regular old stone bowl. "What's so special about this?"
"This is what's called a pensieve," Harry happily announced. "And these are truly fantastic things. I learned about my parents through one of these."
"Do they communicate with the dead?" River asked curiously.
"No, no," Harry explained. "Nothing quite so impossible."
"Right," Simon helpfully added at the idea of impossible from a wizard.
Harry smiled at Simon. "No this is a device for viewing a memory. You extract a memory and place it in the pensieve. Then you can relive it, and observe many things you may not have noticed, or details you had neglected to pick up on."
"Right," Simon echoed figuring this would need to be seen to be believed.
"And I happen to know," Harry explained. "That while muggles are incapable of activating them, or manipulating your view of a memory, you can join me in there viewing the memories. Not to mention I can extract memories from your minds if you would like me to take you in here."
"I don't know about that Harry," Jayne added. "I kinda like leaving my brain alone if I can manage it."
"I'm not going to force anyone to do anything they don't want to," Harry smiled. "But for example, an old close friend of my parents, Moony, shared with me many of the highlights of their school years from before I was born. It's sort of like, with this, you have your entire life on video and you can share it with anyone."
"His name was Moony?" Simon asked curiously.
Harry waved him off. "Naw, his name was Remus, but he got nicknamed Moony." Harry paused and grinned. "It was because he was a werewolf."
Harry got the silence he was expecting and smiled.
After a moment, Inara said, "This pensieve does sound… intriguing."
"I could go for a few of Inara's highlights," Jayne grinned.
Harry snickered while everyone else rolled their eyes and Mal was inwardly gritting his teeth. "Actually I was mentioning it in case Zoe wanted to see some of her better memories of Wash again. Maybe her wedding day or something fun like that."
Zoe seemed to quiet immediately and sucked in a deep breath. She was beginning to see the allure of the pensieve.
Harry shrugged at her. "Just an option to consider. But first I thought I should show you all just how fun the magical world can be." Harry grinned and remembered one of Aberforth's worse puns. "And I've got just the memory in mind."
A number of curious looks were exchanged among crew members, but Harry was making no attempt to hide his happiness. "You guys ready for this?"
"I sure am," Kaylee cheered.
"I'm game," Jayne agreed.
Harry closed his eyes for a moment and pulled out one of his wands. He placed the tip of it to his temple and slowly pulled away a silvery strand. Harry opened his eyes and deposited it into the pensieve. Harry swirled his wand in the misty silvery liquid. He looked up happily. "It's working." Harry then closed his eyes again and repeated the process.
"Okay," Harry explained while he was examining the two memories he'd place in the pensieve. Harry began locating the key events and anchoring the two memories together. "What I'm doing right now is actually combining the two memories into one." He was tying and binding the sync points. "This is often done in wizarding court cases, where a crime committed can be viewed through the collective memory of both a defendant and a victim."
Harry was making sure everything lined up as expected. "Usually, they're two different people involved but the principle is the same, as I viewed this memory from two different perspectives." Harry was satisfied with his work and looked up expectantly.
"I'd like it if you all saw this," Harry explained. "So perhaps you may see some of the beauty of magic that I can't explain in words. But if you think you'd feel uncomfortable, you certainly don't have to."
"There any danger here? Can we get hurt or… stuck in the memory?" Mal asked.
Harry shook his head. "No danger at all. You just can get a glimpse of my life before I met you fine folks."
"Let's do it," River agreed readily.
Harry looked at them all and considered how he felt coming out of a pensieve. Particularly if it was after a long time sifting through memories. "You're all going to be unmoving for a while, so I'm going to lie on the table. You will need to be touching my body, when I fall into the pensieve, and it'll be easier if you're sitting comfortably."
"Fall?" Mal asked looking at the little bowl.
Harry nodded. "You can't get hurt, but yes, falling is definitely the sensation involved."
Harry decided to sit up but was sticking his legs out, to which everyone was hesitantly poking him with a finger. "Everyone ready?" Affirmative nods all around greeted Harry and he touched the surface of the memory.
Kaylee, Inara, and Simon all shrieked as they felt themselves falling. Jayne was too, but he was more shrieking with joy, than surprise or fear. River was the first to acclimate to the new surroundings. She asked, "So what magic are we here to see, that can't be explained in words?"
"This, my friends," Harry said looking skyward, "is quidditch." Right on cue the Bulgarian National team flew straight over their heads, whooshing as they zoomed by, eliciting loud roars and cheers from a gigantic crowd.
"Wuh de tyen, ah," Simon gasped out in shock. "There really is a complete society."
"This is incredible," Zoe admitted taking in all the huge stands and thousands of cheering people. River had walked up to the edge and saw they were over a hundred feet up.
"So what's quidditch? And is this the World Cup?" River said turning back to Harry.
Harry froze the memory and explained. "Yes, this is the World Cup that happened the summer after my graduation. I've just frozen the memory. I can rewind it, fast-forward, stop as needed. As for quidditch, well, that's simply the greatest sport ever created."
Harry released his hold on the memory and let it play out. "A crash course in quidditch. Let's see… seven players to a team. Three chasers, they pass the quaffle, try to chuck through hoops. Two beaters, they carry bats and smack the two bludgers at the other team. One keeper, he guards his team's hoops from the other chasers. And one seeker, who hunts for the snitch. Quaffle through a hoop is ten points. Catching the snitch is a hundred fifty. The game goes on until the snitch is caught. Some games last mere minutes, others went on for weeks before the snitch was caught."
"Sounds easy enough," River explained as she was punching a ghostly and non-responsive Ron Weasley in the head. She was watching him lean over and say something to a bushy-haired young woman but couldn't hear them.
Everyone's attention was drawn as the crowd starting cheering loudly. The announcer's voice bellowed loudly, "Here is your English National team! Starting at beater is Jameson House and Cameron Boller."
Everyone's eyes were drawn skyward as the swirling spotlights shifted around, shining on the people as they were announced. "At keeper, Oliver Wood. At chaser, David…"
Harry interrupted over the loud cheering and bellowing, "Just warning you, the memory's about to get a lot more vivid."
"And at seeker… HARRY POTTER!" The announcer screamed with all his might, trying to be heard over the massive wave of noise and cheers that had the entire stadium rumbling violently.
The crew of Serenity was entranced by the sight of Harry flying past with a confidence and grace that stood out among the others. The colors of everything seemed to brighten and a warmth spread over everyone's body.
Inara gasped and clutched her chest. "What was that?"
Harry turned to her and grinned. "We're in a memory. It's influenced by what I feel, and what my senses are picking up."
Kaylee was sniffing the air. "Tsai boo shr! I can smell the grass."
Harry nodded. "A memory's more than just what you see and hear."
"Why didn't I smell it before?" Kaylee asked bending down and passing her hand through the slightly ghostlike grass.
"Well what I've done," Harry explained, "is to combine both my memory of this event, with my omniocular review of the match that a friend of mine recorded." Harry pointed towards the bushy-haired girl sitting there in the stands near River. "That's Hermione, and those are the omnioculars she's looking through right now. My memory of watching the omniocular replay was more like just audio and video, but if you can feel how jumped I am, that's from my own actual memory."
The announcer bellowed out the start of the match and the Bulgarians seized control of the quaffle.
"And we're off," Harry cheered happily in sync with the announcer.
"So you're like some quidditch star?" Jayne asked as he was trying to follow all the action going on in front and above of them.
"I'm proud to have made the team, but I never did go professional," Harry answered watching as he helped break up a Bulgarian formation.
"This many people come to watch the amateurs?" Simon asked as he kept looking at the crowd's unique fashion choices.
"No, this is the pinnacle of international competition," Harry explained. "Everyone else in the game played professionally, I think all of them in European leagues. But the World Cup is only every four years, and the best in the country, amateur and professional, make up the teams."
"It's going so fast," Kaylee commented, watching the competitors weaving in and out of each other's way.
Harry nodded. "It gets pretty brutal." Harry admitted, recognizing the signs of where they were in the match. "Jayne!" Harry called out and pointed. "Watch number six."
Jayne turned and looked up at the one with the number six on his back. He was following his movements for about seven seconds, when he performed a sloth grip roll to avoid a bludger. Only the other Bulgarian beater was just on the other side of him and had knocked the bludger right back at him, before he could react.
A loud crack echoed around the stadium and number six was flung violently off his broom, with his arm sticking out at an impossible angle. The crowd as a whole gasped and leapt to their feet watching him plummet the sixty feet to the ground. He landed with a whump and wasn't moving.
"Sweet!" Jayne cheered over the gasps and worried murmurs of the crowd.
"Tzao-gao!" Kaylee breathed out in amazement.
Harry chuckled. "He broke five ribs, punctured a lung, and his forearm was so shattered, they had to slowly vanish the splinters and regrow all the bones."
A medical timeout was called, as healers tended to the downed chaser. England used a substitution and was regrouping. Harry took the opportunity to give them a little more background. "What you can't see is the way all these people have been camping out for days to get seats, and living out of tents not far from here. This World Cup was especially boisterous for the English, and many other nations because the Dark Lord who had been terrorizing the continent and in particular England, had been vanquished just a few months ago. Most of Western Europe was still recovering and rebuilding, so it was a highly emotional event."
"You seem pretty popular," Jayne commented looking around at all the 'Potter' signs, masks, and cheering fans.
"Was that the same Dark Lord who…?" Zoe inquired of Harry.
Harry smiled and nodded. "Yup. He was the one who killed my parents, among countless others."
"So you were doing your part to improve morale putting on your dainty little flying show?" River asked watching the action.
"Something like that," Harry answered with a mysterious smile.
Mal was watching the game with a curious expression. Harry went over to him and asked, "You doing okay, Captain?"
Mal turned to Harry briefly before looking up at the memory of Harry flying like a bat out of hell. "You really are a natural at flying, aren't you?"
"Got it from my dad," Harry proudly replied.
"This is… beyond words," Inara admitted watching the match and the raucous crowd. "I'm feeling exhilarated, shocked, amazed, and saddened just… imagining…"
"Anyone feeling adventurous?" Harry asked as he began tracing a finger over his left hand. He was leaving a trail of glowing white light in a criss-crossing pattern as his fingers were spread wide.
"Adventurous?" River asked with a smile.
Harry grinned deviously back at them. "Right now we're at only one of the sources for this conjoined memory. Anyone want to see what the other's like?"
"I do!" Jayne cheered thrusting his arm up, begging to be called on.
River smiled. "Yeah. It looks like fun."
"Come here you two," Harry said sticking out his right hand, while inspecting the glow on his left. Harry was jutting out his pinky and thumb on his right hand and told Jayne and River, "Grab onto a finger. If you fall, you won't get hurt, but try not to fall."
"We shouldn't be long," Harry said to the others. Harry waited a moment and timed it as he saw his memory self zooming past. With more power and speed than physically possible, Harry leapt into the air, his glowing left hand open wide in front of him. He reached out and grabbed a hold of the front of his memory's broom. Jayne and River were shrieking as they suddenly felt the wind whipping through them as ghostly figures were swooping wildly all around them.
Simon could only watch slightly horrified as they jumped impossibly through the air, only to latch onto Harry's broom and be violently jerked to their left at over a hundred miles per hour.
Harry was clenching onto the broom, as his glowing hand was now an iridescent green. He looked up and saw the memory of him was wearing a wide smile. Jayne and River were hanging on desperately and yelping as they swung about. Players and bludgers were flying straight through them, giving them a brief cold rush each time.
"This is ruttin' nuts," Jayne commented over the loud wind and crowds. "I love it."
Harry looked back and saw Viktor Krum was tailing them presently. "Hang on," Harry warned them as his memory snapped them straight down in a dive. Harry knew Viktor was too good to fall for most feints, but their ability to keep up with each other was a matter of pride.
Jayne started screaming loudly as the ground was approaching far faster than was healthy, only for the broom to jerk out of the nosedive and swoop lowly across the ground.
The three memory visitors' bodies were floating halfway in the ghostly ground.
Another jerk upward and they were flung violently around as the memory Harry had done a sharp u-turn. "There!" Harry called out. "You see that speck of gold we're heading towards?"
"No," Jayne replied, hanging on and struggling to keep his eyes open.
"Well that's the snitch," Harry explained.
"We're almost done?" River pouted.
"Not quite," Harry grinned back at her. Just then Viktor's body came over and rammed the memory Harry, sending him spinning off wildly.
Jayne, River, and even Harry were all squealing with glee as they tumbled over and over again, completely out of control. Memory Harry quickly righted himself and shot back up into the action just shy of ramming the stands and a particularly large poster of himself.
"I think I'm going be sick," Jayne commented, starting to look a little green.
River saw Jayne was looking nearly as pale as some of the ghostly figures and commented, "Oh dear."
Harry immediately let go of his left hand and they fell from the broom, gently landing on the ground below. Harry went over towards Jayne and said, "Just relax. Deep calming breaths."
Jayne did just that and after a few moments was smiling once again. "That was awesome!"
"Close your eyes, Jayne," Harry instructed and Jayne readily complied. Harry put a hand on Jayne's shoulder, one on River's and without even a blink they found themselves right in the stands next to the others.
"You could've been killed!" Simon snapped at his sister, who was still smiling goofily.
"We're next!" Zoe and Inara exclaimed with their arms raised.
Simon turned to the two women. "How could you possibly-"
"Alright." Harry cut him right off while the match continued above them. Another score for England and the lead was currently 210-170. "Actually, you know I think there's only a few more minutes of game action, so why don't we daisy-chain everyone who wants to ride?"
"How's that?" Mal asked.
"I'll hold Zoe's hand, Zoe will hold Inara's, Inara can hold yours, and so on and so forth," Harry explained. "Just everyone who wants to feel the action, hurry up."
Everyone was hurrying to link hands as Harry grabbed Zoe, who grabbed Inara, who grabbed Mal, who grabbed Jayne, who grabbed River, who was reaching for Kaylee. Simon was pouting, "I have no intention of doing any-
"Oh have some fun, you big baby," Kaylee chided grabbing her boyfriend's hand at the exact moment Harry lunged forward and snapped a hold onto his memory's broom.
"Aahh!" it seemed everyone screamed at once as they were being whipped around like some strange human tail to an extremely fast kite.
"This is amazing," Inara cheered and smiled warmly at Mal, feeling the wind whipping on her face. He grinned back at her as he was giving in to the wild movements of this sort of flying.
"Krum's seen the snitch!" the announcer yelled loudly. Everyone on the broom swung forward wildly as the memory Harry inverted himself quickly and shot off in pursuit.
"Gos se, gos se, gos se," Jayne was chanting as he found them going even faster.
Simon had his eyes shut and seemed to be making his peace with the Almighty.
They were all hanging on for dear life, as the memory Harry and Krum were now neck and neck chasing after the wildly darting and moving snitch.
The screams of the crowd were currently being drowned out by the screams of the crew. The snitch took a dive straight down and the two seekers hurriedly chased after it. Bludgers were flying straight through the many crew members who all shrieked and flinched every time they felt one.
The snitch quickly arced upward away from the pursuing seekers and took a sharp right. The memory Harry knew this was his opportunity since he was on Viktor's right, and he tried his best to keep up with the abrupt change of direction.
Harry knew what was coming, and just smiled back to see all the members of the crew in various states of adrenaline fueled excitement and fear. The memory Harry took both hands off his broom and he stretched to reach the snitch. One last lunge and he wrapped his fist around the fluttering little golden object. The screams and cheers were reaching an apex, only to see that memory Harry had reached further than his broom would allow and he quickly began to plummet the thirty feet down to the earth.
Harry was still clutching onto the now defunct broom as it slowly fell too, but was pleased to see River had let go of Jayne, and tried to catch the falling memory of Harry. Her hand passed right through his body, but it was an instinct that warmed Harry's heart.
The crowd went dead silent as the memory Harry made a loud whumph sound crashing to the ground. A bit of dust and debris flew around the area the seeker had landed.
Everyone there was just watching in abject horror and silent shock as the memory Harry wasn't moving. A small twitch of his arm and the memory Harry's hand thrust straight up into the air, clutching the snitch tightly.
A tidal wave of noise erupted from everyone, including the members of the crew, who could see the anguish on memory Harry's face. "Oww," he weakly commented, so that only those closest could have heard.
Just a moment later, the memory quickly seemed to darken and dull, though the loud cheering continued.
"What happened?" Inara inquired fearfully. "What was that?"
Harry went over and looked at his arm still sticking up in the air, squeezing the snitch tightly. The rest of the players and everyone else was rushing towards them all now. Harry grinned and explained, "I just passed out."
"Were you okay?" Jayne asked.
Harry nodded. "Dislocated my shoulder, and you can see the bone sticking out of my right leg," Harry smiled enjoying the fascinated looks of disgust he received. "But yeah, I made it to a few celebratory parties later this evening."
Inara was clutching her chest with the same goofy smile everyone else was wearing, even Simon who commented, "That was intense."
Harry nodded, while the entire crowd was cheering his name. "This was my favorite game of quidditch ever." Harry walked over to a widely smiling Zoe. He pointed towards a press section of the crowds. "You see the blonde over there? With the large lion hat roaring loudly?"
Zoe looked where he was pointing and gasped. She smiled up at Harry. "You know she looks kind of like-"
"I don't want to hear it," Harry said knowing exactly who she resembled.
Zoe just smirked and said nothing, though she kept looking from the cheering smiling blonde and the young Miss Tam.
"Hang on everyone," Harry warned them, and they all felt the sensation of falling upward this time.
They slowly seemed to wake up and realize they were still seated around the table and Harry was stretching his unused muscles.
"Wow," Kaylee commented twisting a crick out of her neck. "That was incredible, Harry."
"Thanks," Harry admitted. "I'm glad you liked it. And anytime you guys want to see more, we've all got a lifetime of memories."
Mal just nodded at Harry in approval saying nothing, but clearly pleased.
Everyone was still catching their breath, when Jayne left his seat grumbling, "I gotta change my drawers."