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 TWENTY – A Ghost of a Friendship

"Harry?" Mal asked once they were all back on Serenity. "Mind telling us why you were so antsy to leave?"

Harry was bouncing in excitement. "What makes you think that?"

Jayne grinned and explained, "You kissed Monty goodbye, and slapped Madame Jocelyn on the back hard enough to knock her down."

"Oops," Harry muttered before replying in a louder voice, "Maybe that's just how we like to say goodbye."

"You called them by the wrong names and were already back onboard before Jocelyn even got to her feet," Zoe said with a smile.

"Alright, alright," Harry admitted. "But I want you all to hear this, so no slinking away in embarrassment, Inara."

The Companion in question was caught when she was just a couple feet from the door. She blushed once more when everyone turned to her. She muttered to herself, "Can't this day just end?"

"Oh come on, Inara," Harry chided her. "It could be a lot worse, you know."

Inara almost didn't want to know but asked, "How?"

Harry shrugged and said, "You could be going through puberty."

"Hey," River whined. "Cheap shot."

Harry nodded and agreed it was, but was pleased to see it had brought a smile back to Inara's face. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll make this quick. There is a secret project the Alliance has been working on and they've made a massive breakthrough. It's called a hyperdrive."

Harry took a breath and again began speaking faster than was probably understandable. "Hyperdrive is just a new sort of engine thingie, or maybe it's a new energy source, or something like that. I don't really know. The point is that it makes travel a lot faster. And I do mean a lot."

"How fast?" Kaylee asked intrigued.

"As it is now," Harry answered. "At top speed a trip to Earth would still take a couple decades. But with hyperdrive, they can make the trip in three weeks. So what is that? Three hundred times faster or so?"

Mal raised an eyebrow. "That sounds mighty impressive, but I don't see what's got your panties in a bunch."

Harry took a deep breath and explained, "They're going to do their first significant field test on the technology in just over a week. The field test is… a round trip to Earth-That-Was." Harry saw a lot of expectant faces staring blankly at him, other than River's pleased smile. "I want to go."

Mal looked at the others and stated, "I'm not so sure the Alliance will just let you hitch a ride on their latest secret project."

Harry shook his head. "Probably not intentionally, but you misunderstand me. I want to hijack the field test."

Mal's eyes widened while Simon seemed to be almost impressed. Simon nodded in awe. "You really can get worse."

Jayne seemed to be almost as excited as Harry. "I want to too!"

"No!" Mal snapped. "We're not going to hijack a secret government project. I've had enough adventures. I just want a nice quiet flight. Maybe pick up a job here and there. But no more attracting fed attention. No!"

River calmly added, "I'll help you."

Harry flashed her a happy thumbs-up.

"No River," Simon said to his sister. "I… I… I forbid it. You can't go."

"I never said I was going to go," River rolled her eyes. "I mean I'd like to, but we don't know how big this ship is or how much space is on it."

"I can go, can't I, Harry?" Jayne asked.

Harry smiled assuredly. "If there's room, then everyone can go."

"We're not going," Mal insisted.

"When will we find out if there's room?" Zoe asked ignoring Mal's hurt look.

Harry shrugged. "I've told you just about all the details I know so far. Frank?"

"Yeah, I'm looking," Mr. Universe called back. "But this isn't just a secret sort of project. This thing's completely off the books. I think I may have a paper trail, but I'll let you know."

"Thanks," Harry replied towards the communicator in his hand. "So hopefully some more details soon."

"Why do you even want to go?" Simon asked. "There won't be anything there."

"How would you know that?" Harry asked. "As I understand, there has yet to even be a manned mission back to Earth-That-Was."

Simon rolled his eyes. "We still know what's going on there. It's been over 650 degrees for a century now. The pressure on the surface is about a hundred times what it used to be. There's no way there's any sort of useful life surviving in those conditions."

Harry frowned. "Are you sure?"

Simon nodded. "There have been hundreds of deep space probes monitoring the progress. That planet is our civilization's history."

"How'd that all happen anyway?" Harry asked, having heard these bits but not really spent a lot of time wondering about the planet beyond his reach.

"Runaway Greenhouse Effect," River explained. "Too many thermonuclear detonations raising the temperature, melted the ice around the poles, and it just kept rising. A couple decades after the planet was abandoned, the oceans began to boil. It kept thickening the atmosphere, trapping more of the sun's rays in, which in turn just sent the temperature going and going. All the water on the surface evaporated and it kept going until even the mineral deposits sublimated drawing even more carbon dioxide out of the rocks until it was all in the atmosphere." River shrugged sadly. "It stabilized around 670 degrees Kelvin, 400 degrees Celsius."

Harry seemed to be thinking about it. "This is all based off instruments sent towards the planet though, right? No one's ever actually been there?"

Simon frowned and added. "These points aren't really even contended. This is what every scientist accepts as fact from all of the known evidence."

"These are the same scientists who will insist magic isn't real?" Harry argued.

Simon rolled his eyes. "You honestly think wizards and witches could exist there and be tricking every probe sent in their direction?"

Harry inwardly doubted it but held out hope. "You'd be amazed what can be done with magic."

"You think the wizarding world still exists on Earth-That-Was?" Zoe clarified.

Harry sighed sadly. "I've got to hope for something at this point." He sat there silently and saw no one else seemed to be thinking particularly positively.

Jayne suggested. "Even if it's just hot rock, it'd still be cool to see. And you might find a clue or something. It's not like our ancestors were able to bring everything with them."

"Good point, Jayne," Harry admitted. "And I know I'm going."

Mal saw how quickly Harry went from elation to depression. He reluctantly said, "I wish you luck Harry, but I'll have no part of this. I get enough trouble as it is. I'm not going out of my way for more."

"Captain," Zoe responded. "I wish you'd reconsider."

Mal turned to his first mate disappointed in her. "You know this is a fool's errand, Zoe. Nothing good can come of hijacking a ship that's probably not even safe in the first place. It's a field test of a brand spanking new technology."

Zoe said nothing, just continued to eye Mal speculatively.

"I hope it works out for you Harry," Mal argued. "I really do. But there's way too many things just itching to go wrong here. I understand you want to know what happened to the wizards and witches, but this is a bad idea."

Inara was a bit divided at the moment and asked, "And what would you suggest? That Harry give up his search for answers and just accept that he's the last wizard?"

"No," Mal replied. "I think Harry should definitely keep looking for answers if that's what he wants to do. But it sounds like this is a new technology. You gotta figure they're gonna be testing it for a while, but that it'll become public knowledge soon. With a whole fleet of hyperdrive ships once the things are safe. Maybe he can buy his own ship once the tech is stable, you know? He's been looking for a couple years now. What's waiting a little longer for a few of the unnecessarily risky unknowns to work themselves out?"

"Good point," Simon agreed and nodded towards his sister.

Harry shrugged. "It might not seem like much to you, but I am going to go. I can state that with certainty. I'd like it for you all to come with me, but I can see why you might not want to."

"What makes you so certain about this?" Mal asked curiously. "Why's your mind already dead set on going?"

Harry smiled a little and pointed at River. "She told me too."

"River!" Simon whined. "Why did you… wait, when did you tell him to go?"

"Your warning thing?" Kaylee asked River in surprise. "When he went to the bathroom?"

River nodded with a grin. "I got a feeling that he should."

"And just what did the bathroom tell you?" Simon asked Harry skeptically.

"Nothing," Harry said shaking his head. "River told me she thought I should go. I thought she meant to the bathroom. I did my business and found nothing curious in there. To be on the safe side, I did steal these nice little topless soap mermaids." Harry pulled out the decorative soap sculptures from his pocket and tossed them on the table.

"Nice!" Jayne said checking her out. "Sexy."

"They got fish bottoms," Kaylee said looking at Jayne oddly.

"So?" Jayne said. "Still hot."

"Anyways," Harry said. "It wasn't until Durran told me about the hyperdrive field test that I fully realized what River was telling me when she said that I should go."

"And River's little psychic power is enough for you?" Mal asked curiously.

Harry nodded with a smile. "Don't you see? That's exactly it. This is the first time magic has been trying to get me to do anything. Some people think magic is alive, and while I'm not so sure of that, I do believe it has a mind of its own. And this is the first time it's been pushing me in any direction since I woke."

Harry saw he'd convinced a few people and grinned. "That's why I'm going to do everything I can to get on that ship. And there's not a power in this verse that's going to stop me."

"I'm in," Jayne said. "Sorry Mal."

"Me too," Zoe agreed watching the Captain.

River shrugged. "I already said I'd help."

"Within reason," Kaylee grinned. "You can count on me."

Inara smiled and nodded. "I suspect I'll help you as well, but why don't we wait and see what more we can discover before we run off on our fool's errand. Doesn't that seem fair, Mal?"

Mal saw the only company he'd keep on this was going to be Simon, and that'd only last until he realized there was no convincing River. "Yeah, let's find out more first. But before our friendly neighborhood wizard distracts us too much, ain't there a biography to start passing around?"

"Oh right!" Harry said slapping his forehead having completely forgotten about it. He reached into an inside fold in his coat and pulled out the small book. He sat it down on the table, oblivious to the effect the picture on the cover was having on the others.

Zoe finally broke the silence and said, "Umm Harry? Are you sure this one's about you?"

"Yeah," Harry assured her noticing the myriad of confused looks he was the on the receiving end of. He suddenly realized the problem and admitted. "Bugger. Forgot about that."

"Forgot you look younger than you did a few centuries ago?" River asked curiously.

Harry winced a bit and admitted. "Alright, I'm going to drop my glamour for you here, so don't freak out." Harry pulled out one of his wands and tapped two spots under his chin. There was a hazy wave of magic blurring out of focus and dissolving to reveal an older more distinguished looking Harry. His brown hair darkened into an inky black, intermixed with a healthy amount of grey. Crow's feet and forehead wrinkles appeared before there eyes and they all suddenly realized Harry definitely was the oldest member of the crew.

"Way!" Jayne grinned. "You're old!"

"Any particular reason you've been hiding your appearance from us?" Mal asked irritated.

Harry shook his head. "Not from you. It just never came up. The problem was that two years ago the Alliance woke me up-"

"They did what?" Inara asked.

"They woke me," Harry explained. "Aww crud… this is just going to sound more like I was hiding stuff. Two years ago, they woke me up, not particularly believing that magic was real."

"So why did they wake you?" Simon asked worriedly.

Harry winced and admitted. "They woke me because one of their best operatives failed to capture River Tam. That's when I saw the Blue Ops file on you," Harry admitted to River. "Apparently with the secret of Miranda out, River became less of a security risk and more just an embarrassment. An operative failed so they wanted alternatives that cost them nothing. Anyways, it didn't take me long to see they wanted me to be some sort of government lackey lapdog thing. I was a bit groggy, but I escaped, obliviated their memories, and grabbed a hold of Frank on my way out.

"Considering I was wandless and exhausted I knew the memory charms wouldn't hold forever," Harry admitted. "So if anyone who knows of my existence goes public about it, I can track them down and obliviate them properly. But to be honest, I'm surprised more hasn't come out about it. I'm not sure if all the memory charms have held, or if some have held, or what. But that's why occasionally there would be bulletins looking for the old man Harry Potter." Harry waved the wand, reapplying his glamour back into place. "And no one would ever think to connect someone this approximate age going by the name of Harry, with the occasionally wanted older man Harry Potter."

"So you are an Alliance secret agent after all?" Mal clarified. "Just not a loyal one."

Harry frowned and shook his head. "Not really. I'm more the genie they let out of the bottle who's just never played by their rules."

River smiled mischievously. "So you owe your current existence… to little old me?"

"Something like that," Harry agreed, "Yeah."

River reached out and grabbed the biography. She opened it to a random page and the middle and frowned. "What language is this in?"

Simon looked over his sister's shoulder. "It's not Latin."

"Oh sorry," Harry admitted. "Hand it here. It's in English. Just the spells to keep muggles from reading it have degraded. Probably weren't as strong in the first place."

Harry took the book and saw it looked like perfectly normal English to him. He sat there trying to think of the counter to muggle aversion and confundus charms. After a moment he realized he was over-thinking the situation and merely covered the book with a standard translation charm. In this case, it was from English to English. Harry handed it towards River. "Now what do you see?"

River read aloud. "In 1998, over forty percent of the boys born were named Harry or some derivation of it. An unfortunate seventeen percent of the girls born were also cursed with this ridiculous fate."

"You can read it," Harry admitted with a roll of his eyes. "That's all I needed."

River handed the book back to her overeager brother. Simon turned towards the front of the book and noticed a scribble right on the first page. "Someone wrote in this."

"What'd they write?" Harry inquired.

"Anonymous," Simon replied deciphering the loopy chicken scratches.

Harry whipped his hand out and begged, "Please be very careful with that."

"What is it?" Jayne asked confused.

Harry smiled wistfully. "The author autographed this copy."

Simon closed the book and saw the cover gave clear credit to the author 'Anonymous.' "The anonymous author signed the book Anonymous?"

Harry grinned and rolled his eyes. "The anonymity of the author was never a very well kept secret. Especially with chapter eleven."

Simon flipped to the table of contents and read, "Chapter Eleven: Why I married Harry." Simon stopped and looked up, "You honestly mean…"

Harry just nodded his head silently.

Zoe's eyes were wide and she continued. "And so that scribble in the front is…"

Harry nodded again and smiled up at her. "So please be careful with it. That's also why this is the most accurate of all the unauthorized biographies."

"You didn't give her permission?" Inara asked.

Harry shook his head. "She never asked. It was a birthday present for when I turned 101. A rebuttal of sorts towards all the inaccurate biographies." Harry grumbled, "Though I'm not entirely sure I would have given her permission even if she did ask."

"Your wife," Simon clarified, "wrote an unauthorized biography of you, without checking with you first, and then signed copies of it with the pen name Anonymous?"

"I went with her to most of her public book signings," Harry replied. "Though I was incognito and pretended to be her bodyguard."

River smiled weakly and added, "You were her bodyguard."

"True," Harry agreed. "So just… try not to damage the book, please." Harry turned towards Mal and stated, "With your permission Captain, I'm going to direct us towards the core. It's only a day or so from here, and if this is where we part ways, that's where I want to be dropped off."

"Understood, Harry," Mal replied, holding back his comments about what a bad idea this was.

"River," Harry stated. "You up for some brain work? We gotta make sure your shields aren't going anywhere."

River nodded and was headed off towards the bridge right behind Harry.

Harry took off at a comfortable speed heading towards the heart of Londonium. With the autopilot engaged and proximity sensors set to alert, he turned to River. "Time to take advantage of this crush of yours."

River's eyes lit up hungrily. "Really?"

"Whoa!" Harry gulped. "Down girl. Not like that."

River blushed and looked away realizing how that must have appeared.

"No no," Harry assured her. "This little hunk of hormones in you is going to be very good for us."

River was still avoiding Harry's eyes and asked, "How's that?"

"Well, with my magic," Harry explained. "And your lack of it, I'm not sure you'll ever be able to completely lock me out of your head. But the next step for you is to learn how to prevent me from learning something specific."

"Okay," River replied understanding Harry so far.

Harry grinned. "And I'm going to assume you'll be especially protective of all your lurid fantasies of me naked."

River looked up making eye contact, and Harry subtly pulled a few images to the forefront of her mind. River snapped her head away breaking the connection.

"Wow," Harry admitted. "That's a… interesting imagination you've got there. I hope that one was at least a custard-filled?"

River's blush was back in full force and she wasn't opening her eyes.

"But that's exactly what we're going to be working on," Harry assured her before stopping to rephrase. "Hold up. Let me clarify that. Preventing me from seeing images, thoughts, and memories like that one is exactly what we're going to be working on."

River pouted but was keeping her eyes closed. "That's so completely unfair."

Harry thought about it and explained, "Maybe, but to be honest, I was worried after having seen most of your extreme memories. I feared you wouldn't have anything you wished to hide from me. Your raging libido has seen to it that this won't be a problem."

River frowned and looked up. "It has less to do with you, you… you egotistical buttmonkey. And more to do with the fact that Mal's hung up on Inara, Jayne's disgusting, and Simon is my brother."

Harry grinned and brought up an image of Simon sweaty and shirtless.

"Aiee," River shrieked and pushed away Harry's mental probe.

Harry sat back at the ejection and nodded. "Nice block."

River frowned and was looking left and right. "How come I didn't push you across the hall there?"

Harry shook his head. "There's a big difference between a mental probe, or opening a link, and actually projecting my mind and consciousness into yours. A small probe is more like tossing rocks in the pond whereas before when I'd join your mind, I was swimming to the bottom."

Harry caught her eye and brought up an image of himself in only a swimsuit. He was sitting on the end of a small dock, with his feet dangling into the water.

River once again had to close her eyes because she was blushing.

"And as you can see," Harry explained with a grin. "Even when you're only picturing the analogy of the pond I mentioned, I can still exert an influence on your train of thought."

River sighed, feeling slightly more scared than she had when she was being forced to face the demons of her past. This was going to be a trying session.

Harry's voice carried a highly amused tone. "And for the record, I absolutely refuse to ever wear a speedo."

"Kaylee," Simon said attracting his girlfriend's attention. He was reading from the biography. "Listen to this: Most people will remember that Halloween 1997, in his seventh year, Harry Potter, along with Colin and Dennis Creevey were kidnapped via portkey straight from Hogwarts own vaunted protections. The mutilated and broken bodies of the two muggleborn Creevey brothers were discovered in Hogsmeade shortly after midnight. Rumors and speculation ran rampant, most assuming Harry to be dead or worse until his startling appearance December first.

"Harry was held captive for over a month enduring countless tortures both psychological and physical. What many people gloss over is the support he had, giving him the strength to survive. The ghosts of Colin and Dennis both stayed with Harry, spying on the Death Eaters and planning out his escape route. They encouraged him to hold on when he wanted to give in and gave Harry the ability to laugh in the face of unending pain. The knowledge they gave him and the distraction they caused made all the difference in the world for Harry.

"When Harry had escaped, there was nothing holding the Creeveys' spirits back and they moved on to the next world, thus ending their brief existence as ghosts. Harry relayed the young men's final wishes and words to their parents and successfully lobbied for both of the young Gryffindors to receive Order of Merlin awards posthumously. Notably it was one of the first times it was awarded for acts actually done posthumously.

"December first, Harry Potter appeared in the midst of dinner in the Great Hall. Harry maintains that he did not apparate, he merely was gifted sanctuary by Hogwarts herself. He was half-naked, exhausted, and bleeding profusely from dozens of minor lacerations. His right arm most remember had been shoved down the throat of the Dark Lord Voldemort's familiar Nagini. Part of Voldemort and his Death Eaters' torture was for Nagini to bite and poison Harry, ensuring dementia and pain but never enough to risk his death. Harry understood the fundamental rules of casting magic through a focus, and knew of a number of permanent magical alterations done to Nagini's soul. As such, when Nagini approached him on the evening of the first, Harry forced his entire arm up to the elbow down her open mouth. He broke her jaw, and swung her around wildly as both a weapon and a focus for the magic he had been saving up.

"Needless to say, yet another disquieting and unpleasant battle ensued. Several Death Eaters were killed as a result of both Harry and Voldemort's actions, most notably Bellatrix Lestrange, the murderer of Harry's godfather. Harry's final act with the flailing massive magical snake was to manipulate and redirect a Dark switching spell cast at him by Voldemort. This was how Harry managed to appear with only half of the dying snake and the severed left arm of Voldemort. As Harry later explained, it was during his time held captive that he finally crossed one of the hurdles hindering his progress. It was his first step towards becoming a Master of magic, as he no longer used magic but commanded it. While most wizards and witches are trained in how to use or adapt to magic, Harry can order it, control it, manipulate it, and bend its very essence to his will.

"When he returned to Hogwarts immediately following his escape, I saw the look in his eyes. I could tell a part of Harry Potter had died in that month. A piece of his innocence, his childhood, and his naivety was gone. It saddened me greatly, but he did come back with a burning focus and fierce determination to do those things he hated the most but knew had to be done. Anyone who saw that look in his eyes when he arrived at dinner, even the ones vomiting uncontrollably at the snake and Dark Lord bits landing in their potato soup, at that point suddenly realized Voldemort's days were numbered.

"Harry remained in close contact with the parents of Colin and Dennis Creevey until they both passed away in 2031." Simon let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. "Next is Chapter Five: The Fall of the Dark Lord Voldemort."

"He was tortured for a month!" Kaylee exclaimed through watery eyes. "That's awful."

Simon nodded weakly. "When he was seventeen too. That's the same age as River when I broke her out." Simon paused remembering how horrified he was when he'd finally seen what state his baby sister had been in. She was just a child, and here Harry was supposed to be the unofficial leader of his people too? The whole situation seemed even more foreign to Simon than the idea of magic.

"Hmm," Simon pondered aloud. "Ghosts are apparently real. So where are all of them? Maybe if we can find a ghost, they could tell us where the other wizards and witches have gone."

"That's a good idea," Kaylee agreed. She saw Simon was looking a bit introspective and decided to voice her thoughts. "It's just so weird… to read this. To hear about Harry Potter, you know? And then to try and think this is Harry, the same Harry who creates strawberries to impress us." She paused a moment and added, "And shut your sister up by kissing her before he'd even met her."

Simon frowned in remembrance. "I'd forgotten about that. Probably bewitched her from the start." Simon paused and looked over at Kaylee. "You know that might have been River's first kiss."

Kaylee shook her head. "That didn't count as a kiss kiss. If you'll remember she was screaming loud enough to break glass. He just had a unique way of defusing her."

"I don't remember from before she got accepted… into the program," Simon stumbled and asked. "Do you know if she's ever had a proper first kiss?"

Kaylee smirked. "As a matter of fact I do know whether she ever has."

Simon stopped at Kaylee's scheming smile. "And? Has she?"

"I'm not supposed to just tell you something like that," Kaylee grinned.

Simon prepared and defended himself, "As her older brother, and for a while primary caregiver, I have a right to know. Not to mention that as your boyfriend of two years, we shouldn't be keeping any secrets from each other."

Kaylee rolled her eyes. "Okay, those are fei-oo reasons. You really need to try harder than that. You're just lucky I like to gossip."

Simon blinked but nodded.

"Back when she was in Gen Ed," Kaylee whispered leaning forward. "She said one of her friends was this boy named Kevin. She told me that one time he was acting all weird and just stared at her. He put his hands on her face to lean in and kiss her right when you walked in the door ruining the moment. She said Kevin acted like it never happened after that."

Simon frowned in confusion. "How old was she?"

Kaylee thought about it. "I think it was right before she went away, so probably about eleven? Twelve maybe? But she said that's the closest she ever got to a kiss."

Simon was furrowing his brow trying to remember any time River was alone with a boy. "What was Kevin's last name?"

"Hendrickson? Henderson, maybe?" Kaylee recollected. "I think Hendrickson."

Simon on the other hand paled and sat back. "Kevin Hendrickson. He lived down the street from us."

"That's him," Kaylee said.

Simon quietly contemplated what this might mean. Or if it was even worth further inquiry. He looked up at the ashamed grin that Kaylee always wore when she partook in gossip. He thought about not saying anything but decided against it. "Kevin Hendrickson died when River was four."

Kaylee's face twisted into one of shock. "Are you sure? Could there have been another?"

Simon shook his head. "I doubt it. Kevin jumped off his roof one afternoon in the summer. I was playing with River in our living room. Suddenly she just stood up in surprise. I didn't know what it was, but within a few minutes the sirens came and the neighbors were all filing out of their homes. Word spread pretty quickly then. Neither of us was very close with Kevin. He was older than us, but we'd talked a couple of times. I remember she just frowned when she heard and asked me to come back inside and return to our board game."

Kaylee looked almost fearful hearing about the long since past event. She was wondering why River would say these things and whether they really could have happened in some way or another. "What do you think it means?"

Simon shrugged and turned back to his girlfriend. "It could be proof that River was already reading and had an almost superhuman brain before the Alliance got a hold of her. Or it could just be a traumatic event that a four year old girl was repressing." Simon sighed and smiled at Kaylee. "But mainly I think it means there's nothing to be gained by confronting her about it."

Kaylee nodded silently, before perking up with a smile. "Or," she suggested. "Or it means you should ask Harry if he wants to confront her about it, or whether it's a good idea."

"No," Simon argued immediately. "That couldn't possibly be what it means."

"Simon," Kaylee said patronizingly. "You know as well as I that Harry is great for River. I'm not saying that they should be dating, I mean he is… really old. Only that he cares for her, and like you, he takes good care of her."

Simon grumbled.

"Think of him as Dr. Harry, her magical psychiatrist," Kaylee explained happily. "The work he's done with her has made her into more of a person than any of us have ever seen her be. And this could be right up his alley for improved mental training, or something to avoid bringing up."

Simon wanted to kick something right now, but didn't want to hurt his foot. He finally relented by asking of no one, "Why can't he be more of a hwin dan!"

Kaylee quickly placated her boyfriend by copying Harry's style in defusing a situation and kissed him senseless.

Simon worked up the nerve and went towards the bridge to talk to Harry. He started having strong second thoughts when he overheard the conversation already going on between Harry and his sister.

"You do know that no man's bum is that hairless, right?" Harry explained honestly. "Not naturally occurring at least."

River was silently wondering if this situation could possibly be more embarrassing. Her unasked question was answered.

Simon stuck his head in the doorway and asked, "Have I come at a bum time?" Simon heard himself speaking and immediately yelled, "Bad time! I said bad time."

"Hello Simon," Harry grinned. "And this is a fine time. I think we're at a good stopping point anyway for you to rear your ugly head. So, River, I guess this is the end of training for today." Harry was beginning to really enjoy teasing and torturing the young Miss Tam, perhaps a little too much. He briefly wondered if he should double check himself for dark magic addiction. He got up to give the easily embarrassed siblings their privacy. "I'll leave you two alone."

Simon was struggling but asked, "Actually, Harry, I came to talk to you." Simon glanced over at his sister who seemed to be completely over her discomfort already. He recalled Harry mentioning controlling her emotions would be one of the effects of what she was learning. "Alone," he added to his sister's curiosity.

Harry looked at River and nodded. "Alright." River stood up to leave when Harry quickly warned her, "I'm going to go after what you thought when you saw the real me next. And I'm not telling when. So work on concealing that, and be prepared for a sudden attack."

River acted completely nonchalant, hoping her gulp wasn't audible as she nodded and left the bridge.

Harry waved Simon towards the empty seat. "What can I do for you, Dr. Tam?"

"How's she doing?" Simon asked, easing his way into the conversation.

Harry smiled. "I'm not going to violate any of your sister's confidences or privacies. But she's doing great. Her shield is strong. She knows how to strengthen it when it weakens. So far she's only raised it instinctually, but that instinct seems to be working."

Simon just nodded, not really understanding exactly what Harry was saying.

"To be honest," Harry admitted. "She's learning a lot faster than I did, and at an age I never would have been able to learn the Mind Arts at." Harry snickered, "And she doesn't even have magic helping her."

"Yeah," Simon jumped in. "She always did just pick up on things in ways the rest of us couldn't even see."

Harry nodded. "Half the time I demonstrate something and her subconscious can replicate it immediately. It's a bit freaky."

Simon was nodding with Harry before the reality of the situation kicked in. Harry was calling River 'freaky' and Simon was readily agreeing. He swallowed some pride and admitted, "I know I don't show it often but thank you for helping her."

Harry saw the honest emotion on Simon's face and felt grateful and useful again. "She's a good kid, who's had a really rotten deal so far. You know she was right when she said I owe my current existence to her. No one's really asked me yet, but it's not like deciding to put myself into a magical sleep is an especially rational decision to make. I missed my wife and I felt useless for a long time. When I noticed my magic was feeling restless too I knew I had to do something."

Harry paused and saw Simon was actually listening intently and curious. Harry grinned unsure when he decided to be more open with Simon but he didn't want to be leaving the crew behind. And he knew Simon and Mal were going to be the most reluctant to join in his little hijacking. "There really aren't very many wizards like me. Don't get me wrong, I'm no different or better than anyone else. But I have been gifted an extraordinary amount of power, and frankly wasting away the last half-century or so of my life by feeling lonely and hiding from the press or fans… it would have been insulting to magic when I felt I had something to give back to the world. More purpose in my life, you know?"

Simon nodded, beginning to understand Harry.

"It took me a few years to build a spell that would put me into a stasis outside of time," Harry explained. "I'm not that great at spell creation or what you might call book smarts, but I'm fair at it and pretty creative. I was an honorary member of the Weasley family, and most of my earliest happy memories are of them. I considered entrusting my slumber to the Headmaster position at Hogwarts. I knew I'd never trust the Ministry that much. And that was also why I decided there was too much politics in the Headmaster's position, not to mention there've been a few Headmasters I'm not too fond of.

"So I went to the closest thing to a family I had," Harry admitted. "A clan that bred like bunnies and I'd expected to exist and be magical until the end of time. I left them hard copies of the spell I'd created, what I'd done, and how to wake me. As well as a long note explaining why I went to sleep." Harry felt weird thinking about how this was centuries ago when it seemed more like just a couple of years to him. "I told them if there were any serious threats to our existence, Dark Lords, diseases, something where I could be useful again. I figure I got a good fifty plus years of being capable of helping and I should make them count the most I can. Instead I find myself in a situation worse than I'd ever imagined and my excessive reserves are practically meaningless."

Harry smiled up at the thoughtful looking Simon. "And that's why after two years of trying to unravel this mystery, being able to help River makes my existence worthwhile."

Simon smiled a bit. "Huh."

Harry saw he had managed to practically stun Simon into silence and in a far better way than usual. "Would you mind helping me on something?"

Simon snapped out of his thoughts and remembered, "That reminds of why I wanted to talk to you. First, Kaylee and I read some of your biography and found out ghosts are real."

Harry nodded.

"And we were thinking you could locate a ghost and they might be able to tell you something."

Harry shrugged. "I bet they would, if I could find any. The dead have ways of communicating beyond our comprehension. But I've never found any and I tried calling for them."

"You can call for them?" Simon asked curiously.

Harry paused and explained. "Not exactly call for them specifically. Well, I'm sure there are some darker rituals and areas of necromancy that probably could. But I just warded a chunk of the tallest tower I could find from muggle notice. I think it was the Witten building in Sihnon. And I flared every bit of magic my body could handle without passing out. This was just about a month after I'd woken up, and I'd finally located a wand. I spent over a week doing that and never got anyone or anything's notice. If a ghost were on the planet, they would have felt it, and I'm hoping they would've contacted me."

"Sorry," Simon admitted while Harry waved off his apology. "Just thought you might not have thought of that one. Anyways, the second reason I wanted to talk to you is a bit more personal."

"Okay," Harry admitted, trying to assure Simon he wasn't going to mock him.

"About River," Simon added.

Harry chuckled at Simon's definition of personal.

"See the thing is," Simon wondered how to word this. "River talked about an experience with a boy when she was about twelve."

Harry fought back a smile wondering where this conversation was headed.

"Kaylee shared it with me," Simon said and paused. "And the thing is this boy died when River was four."

Harry's eyebrows rose.

"River's always been special," Simon continued. "And honestly, it doesn't matter if she was seeing these things or reading before the Alliance got to her or if she reads as a result of their experimentation. And when you couple that with my recent knowledge that ghosts are real, we just wondered if this might be something she needs to address."

Harry smiled realizing Simon was coming to him as an authority on River's mental wellbeing. "It does raise some interesting questions and not just about River."

"Really?" Simon asked in surprise.

Harry nodded. "Yes, because if this boy really did become a ghost… then something may be fundamentally wrong with magic."

"What do you mean?"

Harry shrugged and said, "Research has shown that only wizards and witches can become ghosts."

"Kevin?" Simon asked in confusion. "Was a wizard?"

"I don't know," Harry sighed sadly. "But actually this gets into what I wanted to ask your help with."

"I'm sorry," Simon apologized forgetting who he was talking. "I completely interrupted you. Yes, what was it I can help you with?"

Harry grinned. "I was wondering if you could look into any genes in the human DNA sequence that may have been discovered around the year 2150 or so."

Simon nodded slowly, "I've got a few medical databases. Anything in particular I should be looking for?"

"That was around the time when a wizard and muggle doctor discovered the magical gene," Harry explained. "It was after I went to sleep and my muggle science studies didn't extend beyond a couple university courses. Apparently, they were able to identify carriers of the gene even in muggles and squibs."

"You have some grand plan to test the verse for this gene?" Simon hesitantly asked.

Harry chuckled. "Not yet. But it's something to look into. For now, I'd just like to know more about it. Could be nothing, could be another lead."

"Alright," Simon agreed. "I'll let you know what I find."

"Oh!" Harry admitted. "I just thought of something. I think the doctor's name was Holmes. Dr. Gregory Holmes or something close to that."

"I'll look him up too."

"And I'll test how River reacts to inquiries about this Kevin," Harry explained. "This actually works well, as it's something I'm unsure on, and she can try and keep it from me."

"Thanks Harry," Simon said amazed at how easy that was to say this time.

"I got a question for you, Simon," Harry said watching the young doctor's response to Harry using his familiar name. "Where did you read about ghosts? Because Moaning Myrtle isn't exactly a representative example."

Simon shook his head. "It was your seventh year. Colin and Dennis Creevey I believe?"

Harry's eyes darkened at the reminder but certainly wasn't about to forget those two ever. "Yeah that was them. Great kids. Annoyed the piss out of me when they were alive, but I owe my life to them."

Simon felt like he'd put his foot in his mouth again, bringing up painful, ancient memories. He latched onto the words that made Harry smile and asked, "Annoyed you, did they?"

Harry nodded and grinned. "I hated being famous back then. And Colin was practically my number one fan. Always had a camera around his neck. Took dozens and dozens of pictures of me. At the time, I thought it was a little creepy. But Lordy was Dennis a stereotypical Gryffindor. Act first, think later. I wouldn't be surprised if Dennis was beating Colin up by the time he was five."

Simon smiled. "They sound nice… and annoying."

Harry sighed and agreed. "I kept in touch with Sarah and Rob, their parents. Actually, it was because of them I had to figure out how to bring muggles into a pensieve. I refused to show them any of the boys' capture or deaths, but I showed them how brave they were as ghosts, and let Sarah and Rob hear their final wishes firsthand."

Harry shrugged, "To be honest I was surprised they didn't blame the magical world more. It helped that Dennis and especially Colin talked about me at home. So Sarah and Rob knew what their sons thought of me before I ever met them. Believe it or not, the idiots at the Ministry had obliviated the knowledge of the magical world from them, and they believed their sons had drowned at the pool at their boarding school."

Harry rubbed his chin, "At the time I wondered if they might be happier believing the lie, but I owed it to Colin and Dennis to tell them the truth. Neither Sarah nor Rob ever really blamed the magical world or even me. Rob was a milkman and I did his route with him one day." Harry frowned. "It really was as boring as you'd expect it to be."

Simon chuckled uncertain what a milkman exactly did but guessed Harry was right.

"Anyways," Harry sighed and shook away his old memories. "Yeah, good kids. A lot of people like them have helped me, and that's why it's important to me that I try and help as many as I can back."

"You could cure all sorts of terminal diseases," Simon said recalling Harry's work with Courtney Cobb.

Harry nodded and frowned. "I won't deny help when confronted with a situation calling for it, but I'm not ready to give up on the wizarding world yet."

Simon expected that answer and thought it was appropriate. His musings on a response were interrupted by a beeping and voice from Harry's communicator.

"Harry!" Mr. Universe called out. "I've got some good news. This project has absolutely no trail whatsoever. It's running off its own complete system, accounting and everything."

Harry glanced over at Simon and replied, "How's that good news?"

"Well, it's sort of good in that if I can get in there, it should be easy to assume total control," Mr. Universe explained. "But the real good news is that I have managed to locate the mysterious gaps in thirty-eight different Alliance government employees' records."

"Okay," Harry said encouraging Mr. Universe to hurry up.

"This means while we can't access anything at all on the project we do know the people involved in it."

"And I take it there's a useful name in there?" Harry inquired.

"Well, it was tracing through Durran that led me here, but that's not a terribly useful name as we already know his involvement," Mr. Universe said with a hidden grin. "But there is one name that stood out and should ring a few bells."

Harry gave Simon a perplexed look and was trying to think of anyone. "You got me. Who?"

Mr. Universe took his time to victoriously announce, "Antonio Weatherby."

"Oooh," Harry's face blossomed into a devious grin towards Simon. "This could be good."