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-TWO – The Voyage Home

"Is that normal? Is that normal? Please tell me that's normal!" Jayne called out frantically.

"Frank," Harry asked. "Are we transmitting?"

"You're safe," Mr. Universe replied. "I'm regulating all communication in and out, though it wouldn't matter much as everything is garbled until we stabilize."

"Is that normal!" Jayne yelled, still shaking.

"Give it a second," River replied to her frightened cosmonaut. The ship's trembling was getting worse and even louder. "I hope," she quietly added.

Just when it seemed like the Firenze was going to crack in half, everything stilled and became so perfectly smooth that it felt like they weren't even moving.

"There we go," River explained. "We've stabilized. Transmissions too."

Harry exhaled the breath he'd been holding in while Jayne was praising the almighty.

Antonio whimpered in fear and explained. "This is normal. Once a balance is reached the hyperdrive becomes smooth enough that you don't even realize you're moving."

"You might want to look into trying to make that shake a little less," Mal suggested. "It's a bit on the bumpy side."

Antonio rolled his eyes relaxing as the ship continued to run smoothly. "Yes, thank you. I'll be sure to note your suggestion."

"You doing okay, River?" Harry asked.

River nodded. "Piece of pie."

"So how's this going to work, Frank?" Harry asked as he flipped open his helmet showing his glamour protected face, rather than his glamour protected visor image of Commander Jackson's face.

"Harry," Mr. Universe sighed. "I'm getting called FRANK by the control booth enough as it is. Can't you at least call me Mr. Universe for the duration of this trip? It's not like I'm going to forget that name."

Harry agreed, not particularly wanting to frustrate the AI he relied so heavily on. "Can do, Mr. U. So how's this going to work?"

Mr. Universe figured that was an improvement and took it as a small victory. "Periodically we need to send control waves and bursts of information. Because of the speeds we're traveling at, the delay is way too much to try and keep continuous observation going, and receiving anything back from them takes three times as long to get here as it does for our messages to reach them."

Harry looked over at Mal. "Does that make sense to you?"

Antonio flipped his visor up. "Of course it makes perfect sense when you factor in the-"

"Not you," Harry interrupted. "You're speaking science or geek or nerd… I'm asking normal folk."

Mal held back a smirk and shrugged. "I prefer not to think about it unless I need to. If Mr. Universe says that's how it works, he's probably right."

"I am," Mr. Universe's voice answered. "And I can fake a lot of the missives heading back, but some of them we will need you to actually respond to. Oh, hang on, incoming… and it seems Antonio, you just got a raise."

"Really?" Antonio said looking up in surprise.

"Mmm-hmm. Dr. Cole called you at home. The shockwaves shattered the first kidney stone, but they had to push back shattering the second because of complications from too much blood in your urine. He passed along your well wishes to the directors and they all agreed to bump your salary fifteen percent," Mr. Universe explained. "It's also why you keep wheezing in pain and crying like a baby when they call."

"Nice," Antonio agreed unconcerned at sounding like a wuss.

"I'm going to give them a few minutes and send back notice that most of the monitoring devices went belly-up, but everything critical is running smoothly. That schedule for check-ins is just plain ridiculous."

"Hey now," Antonio argued. "This is a very critical field test. We need to monitor-"

"Antonio," Harry tiredly interrupted.

Antonio suddenly remembered he wasn't at the usual office and looked a bit ashamed. "Oh right."

Harry unbuckled himself and got up to one of the windows to look out. "Wow," Harry exhaled. "The nearest stars look like dashes."

Jayne unbuckled and went to the little window on the other side. "We are moving, aren't we?" He rhetorically asked.

Harry turned to River who was monitoring the console and keeping her hands and feet on the controls. "You going to be okay for a little while?"

River nodded. "Yeah, go ahead and un-bead everyone."

"Don't worry, you won't have to fly the whole way," Harry assured her. "Maybe if Antonio can write out those index cards…"

Antonio rolled his eyes. "I've already written the manual. Just read that."

"It's over 600 pages," Jayne reminded thinking of Harry's eyes bugging out when he saw the operator's manual.

"Well it's a complicated new technology," Antonio argued. "It's not quite as simple as a magic carpet ride."

"Hmmph," Harry haughtily snapped as he walked back through the narrow hallway towards the shelves that pass for bunk beds. "You don't even know how many charms are needed to make a proper illegal magic carpet."

Antonio turned towards Mal curiously. "Magic carpets are real?"

"Illegal too," Mal patronizingly answered. "Everyone knows that."

Antonio still wasn't quite sure how seriously to take these people.

Harry carefully set the first bead down and transfigured it back into a slightly disoriented Zoe. He handed her a bottle of water and helped her up. He repeated the process with Inara and then Kaylee.

"And I guess that's everybody," Harry stated with a grin and turned around.

"Harry," Kaylee said warningly.

Harry turned to Kaylee innocently. "Yes?"

"Aren't we forgetting someone?"

"Forgetting?" Harry considered. "Nope, I don't think we're forgetting anyone."

"You know we were aware of what was going around us," Inara pointed out. "Even if I did feel very… bead-like."

"That's true," Harry replied. "As long as your consciousness is conscious."

"What did you do?" Kaylee asked fighting a grin.

Harry shrugged. "I never tried stunning a bead before."

"Harry," Kaylee gave up fighting her grin and was chuckling at her boyfriend's predicament.

"He was itchy. I didn't want him making a scene."

"He's a bead," Zoe stated making it quite clear she was more amused than anything else.

"A twitchy scene-causing bead," Harry argued with narrowed eyes.

"Change him back," River's voice called out loudly from the front of the little ship.

Harry grumbled and saw the three ladies were snickering at him. Harry set the last white bead down, making sure the five dark tinted beads were undisturbed. He released the transfiguration and it revealed an unconscious Simon. He ennervated the man and handed him a water bottle.

"What… what happened?" Simon asked worriedly. "You knocked me out."

"I'm sorry Simon," Harry solemnly admitted and sniffled. "River didn't make it-"

"I'm not dead!" River called out from the front.

"You're not fun either!" Harry called back, helping Simon to his feet.

Kaylee wiggled past Harry in the narrow hall to reach her boyfriend.

Simon didn't sense the usual slight vibration and comforting hum of engines burning. "Are we moving?"

"Yup," Harry admitted. "Smooth, isn't she?"

Zoe nodded. "A bit eerie."

Harry, Simon, and the three ladies walked up towards the front. The four former beads were checking out the interior of the Firenze and peeking out the windows, trying to maneuver their way around the cramped little ship.

"So," Jayne asked drawing out the word longer than was necessary. "Anyone bring a deck of cards?"

Three weeks on a ship built for five meant the group of nine had an awful lot of time to kill and not a whole lot of personal space.

Harry's knapsack ensured they had plenty of space for all the things they wanted to bring. They brought a lot of fruit, extra beverages, and there was always plenty of ham cubes for anyone who wanted them. The freeze dried protein packs the Alliance had provided for the crew were found to be extremely bland. Luckily, Harry was quite capable of transfiguring both the ham cubes and the protein packs into much more appetizing meals that tasted good and provided them with the nutrients their bodies needed.

Simon was still pouting a bit that he had been turned into a bead while River got to pretend to be Mackenzie, the pilot for this mission. But nobody else could have whipped through and comprehended the massive operator's manual for the ship. Mal and Jayne were there to provide the backup in case things got dodgy while the others were beads. So when the need arose for River to not be a bead, it came down to either Simon or Antonio taking River's place on Harry's faux necklace. Simon felt a bit betrayed when everyone including River and Kaylee agreed Antonio would be more of an asset than he would.

Mal and Harry took great joy in prodding an answer out of Simon to his seemingly impossible decision. It had obviously been painful for Simon, but when forced to make a choice, he decided to bite the bullet and share a bed with Harry. His stomach was in knots imagining either his sister or girlfriend crammed into the tiny twin bed sized shelf. So he made the only decision he could.

Simon felt more relief than chagrin when Kaylee pointed out that not everyone had to sleep at the same time. And that it would be especially unsafe if they did. Simon had been so blinded by the difficulty of the situation that he never realized it was entirely fabricated for the others' amusement. Although he should have caught on when his long diatribe about sacrifice was only met with snickers and giggling.

Simon and Antonio had actually hit it off very well and were fast becoming friends. Antonio had a couple of college buddies who'd gone on to attend the same MedAcad on Osiris that Simon was an alumnus of. It certainly didn't hurt that they shared vaguely similar opinions of Harry either.

River spent the majority of the time in the pilot's chair monitoring the screens as they went. Everyone else had shifts in that role, but anything out of the ordinary and they'd bug River, or if she was asleep then Harry. Harry would decide whether they needed River's expertise, and if so then the responsibility of waking the somewhat snippy young woman fell to him too.

Harry spelled his copy of Hogwarts, A History so that everyone could read it. He got a kick out of the oohs and ahhs they made at spotting the moving wizarding pictures for the first time. A Biography of Harry Potter was also making the rounds, with the particularly embarrassing passages referring to honeymoons and wedding nights getting read aloud for everyone's benefit.

Far and away the most popular item on the entire trip though was the pensieve. Mal took over the pilot's seat upon Inara and Kaylee's urging, freeing River to join the three other ladies for a tear-filled trip down memory lane. They started by viewing Zoe's memory of her wedding day. Harry got smacked every time he chuckled at the ruffles in Wash's tux but everyone enjoyed how uncomfortable Mal looked in a suit. Harry was frequently required to conjure more tissues despite still struggling with the idea that tears are a good thing.

They came out of the pensieve to momentarily refresh themselves and then were treated to the memory of Harry's wedding, along with a few subsequent honeymoons. The memories of his wife garnered more laughs than tears and many questions were asked about wizarding customs and life. They spent several hours straight in the pensieve, but the enigma that was Harry Potter made an awful lot more sense to all four of the women as they got a chance to learn about Mrs. Luna Potter.

Inara feared for Kaylee when she saw how much the young mechanic had appreciated Luna's unique choices in jewelry. Zoe had warmed just seeing the joy in a younger Harry's eyes and realized how little he had changed to become the man he was today. River on the other hand, had never felt more normal in her life. It was a decidedly curious feeling and she wasn't sure if she liked it.

As soon as Harry had all his memories deposited back into his head from the emotionally exhausting long afternoon, he got up to stretch his legs and check on the four men sitting up in front of the Firenze.

"Are we there yet?" Harry asked cheekily.

"Harry!" Mal greeted happily. "You just volunteered for the next shift."

Harry sighed but nodded. "Give me a few minutes to wake up my extremities and I'll take your spot."

Harry was high-stepping, flexing his arms and hands, stretching his body after having spent so long lying down. He had been forced to position himself on the floor so that everyone would be in contact with him and follow him into the pensieve. After several hours in that same position, Harry was beginning to feel his age.

"Lordy," Harry explained to the half-awake guys. "I feel like I've been to a chick flick movie marathon."

"A what?" Jayne asked.

Harry shook his head. "Never mind, just think I'm a bit more in touch with my feminine side than I have been in a while."

"Oh yeah?" Mal asked without looking up. "I could go for a nice testosterone-filled boys' turn in the bowl, if you're up for it later."

Harry's eyes perked up excitedly. "I think I've had my fill of reminiscing and sharing for a little while, but I'm definitely game for tomorrow."

"You have some action-packed memories to show us?" Antonio asked hopefully.

Harry shrugged with a grin. "A few-"

"Are you kidding?" Jayne interrupted with a hungry grin. "You have got to see Quidditch! If that don't get your heart racing, nothin' will."

"I was wondering something, Harry," Simon asked honestly. "You said you'd considered playing more Quidditch, but you showed us the only World Cup you played in. The biography said something about an accident, but didn't mention much in the way of details."

"Ahh," Harry nodded and tapped Mal on the shoulder. "Yeah, Luna knew she shouldn't include too many details of that particular incident."

Mal got up and stretched his legs, wiggling past Harry who took over the pilot's seat. "Thanks Harry," Mal said as he stood to the side wanting to hear this explanation.

"Let me think here," Harry explained, keeping one eye on the screen in front of him. "I'd turned eighteen a few weeks before I played and England won the cup, so I guess that means it was my… twentieth birthday. Some pureblood supremacy terrorists who hadn't been caught when the Death Eaters were dissolved chose to crash a little surprise party some friends were throwing for me."

"Yeah, I remember that," Mal recalled. "Something about power sapping potions, wasn't it?"

Harry looked over at Mal having never seen the Captain reading the biography and unaware he'd been all that curious. "That's right, yeah. I doubt they expected to succeed, they just wanted to inspire terror and to try and prove that they could attack anyone at anytime."

"Doubt they expected to succeed?" Antonio asked having read that section in the book. "Weren't most of the guests unconscious when you were attacked?"

Harry shrugged keeping his eyes on the screen. "Yeah, I suppose. Anyways, it was more a lucky shot that they hit me with, just as I was subduing the last of them. But the short of it is that a couple of spells merged and managed to shatter and explode my glasses. Unfortunately this was while I was wearing them."

"Ooh," Jayne winced. "That don't sound good."

Harry agreed. "Yeah, it actually looked a lot worse than it felt, but I did have to wake a couple of friends who were greeted by the sight of me bleeding profusely from the eyes. I cast a couple of calming charms on them before the power sapping caught up with me and I passed out from exhaustion."

"This also happens to be when my unique defensive physiological habits first started showing up," Harry explained. "They may have surfaced before then, we just hadn't had an incident in which they intervened. Basically what happened was that my eyes were severely damaged. And I wasn't going to be waking up too soon. The healers leant me forward and poured a potion down my throat that would repair most of the damage to my eyes. And that is when my magic got in the way, rejecting the potion's effects."

"Your magic got in the way?" Antonio asked in confusion.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, it did. My magic seems to take any outside force or stimulus that tries to affect me in a certain way, and usually prevents it. As Dr. Tam discovered when he gave me some drugs to keep me sedated and my magic responded by waking me up. The few times it hasn't interfered are when I've been really bad off. And in this case, my magic knew the potion hadn't been willfully consumed. Hence the attempts towards healing my eyes were prevented."

"That doesn't sound good," Simon winced, imagining a horrific image.

"It wasn't all that bad, though," Harry clarified, "because my magic saw the problem that the healers were trying to fix. It decided to take up the job of healing my eyes on its own, as shortly after I had sweat out all residue of ocular potion, my eyes burnt themselves up in a pretty impressive light show. None of the healers could explain it, and probably luckily for them, they didn't try to intervene. Eventually the magic began healing, crafting, creating, or somehow just conjuring me a new pair of working eyes. It also went to the trouble of fixing all of the imperfections like my nearsightedness. My vision had improved to even better than it had been with my glasses. The other added effect was that my eyes were somewhat magical in nature from then on."

"Not all wizards' magic counteracts things like that, do they?" Mal asked curiously wondering why the healers would have bothered.

Harry shook his hand from side to side. "Yes and no. Yes, in that to a degree a wizard's magic heals them automatically, tries to protect itself, and delays effects of things like aging, but not quite on the scale that my magic does. Some considered it a product of my upbringing, others an affect of the volume of magic I possess. Most of the time, the strongest wizards avoided major injuries for this reason. I just have a habit of pushing myself a bit more than may be healthy."

"So what does that 'magical in nature' mean? You've got magical eyes?" Antonio asked uncertainly.

Harry nodded. "Yup. Nothing like I can cast magic through my eyes, or they can change shape or color, see in the dark or anything fun like that, not for lack of trying though." Harry finished in a quiet mumble. He continued in a normal voice, "Just that I can sort of recognize the presence of magic in things. Not as strong as an actual gift for magical sight, but slightly more than just instinct. And I can't turn the effect off any more than you all could turn off your ability to perceive the color red."

"You going somewhere towards Quidditch with this?" Jayne asked only half following Harry's explanation.

"Yes, Jayne, because the change meant I didn't need glasses anymore and my Quidditch career was over," Harry said sadly. He recalled with a roll of his eyes, "And Viktor was heart-broken."

"Viktor?" Mal asked.

"Viktor Krum, the best seeker of my generation," Harry admitted. "And coincidentally, he was the one I beat in that World Cup match you all saw. He never got the chance to beat me, and he felt as cheated by the whole situation as I did. He may have cried come to think of it."

"I don't get it," Jayne stated. "Why'd not having to wear your glasses anymore mean you couldn't play Quidditch?"

"It's the snitch," Harry explained. "The tiny magical ball seekers have to locate and catch? Even when my eyes couldn't see it, I could sense the flutter of magic it had. So I pretty much always knew where it was even if I couldn't exactly see it. I had some friends work on a way around it, making a non-magical snitch, tried using an actual golden snidget, though that was slightly illegal. Nothing worked. So I was forced into early retirement from the sport. We never told people the real reason I stopped playing, though I did explain it to Viktor. He and I ended up getting together in the off-season and having some pretty fun broom races since snitch hunts were pointless."

"Just races?" Jayne asked in disappointment.

Harry grinned. "Well, we'd usually start by sneaking up on a dragon and yanking her tail, so we'd have something to be racing from, but yeah. Loser was whoever got burnt the most. Viktor always was a bit of an adrenaline junkie."

"Dragons?" Jayne perked up. "Are those like dragon dragons?"

"Massive flying reptilian beasts that breathe fire and have a very nasty disposition, yup." Harry admitted. "Not to mention a natural resistance to most all spells, sharp claws, spiked tails they like to smack people with, that kind of thing."

"Sweet," Jayne replied while all the other guys looked intrigued.

"I'll show you guys what dragons are like, but I want to see some of your memories too," Harry answered. "It's a bit boring when the conversation keeps coming back to me."

"Sounds like a plan, Harry," Mal answered. "But I think I'm ready for a bite to eat and a nap."

"Enjoy," Harry answered and saw most of the guys were getting up to follow Mal. "Simon, you got a second?"

Simon waved Antonio on and took the seat near the front by Harry. "Something the matter?"

Harry looked over his shoulder and cast a small silencing charm. "No not really, just with getting ready for this little journey I haven't had the opportunity to talk to you about your sister." Harry turned towards Simon and added, "And Kevin."

"Why? What's wrong?" Simon asked resisting the urge to go check on her.

"Nothing," Harry assured him immediately. "Relax. There's not a lot of privacy around here and I don't think River's personal life is everyone's business."

"Did you ask her about him?"

Harry shook his head. "Nope. Just tried to yank him from her mind. You remember when she got all snippy and punched me after we got back from Antonio's?"

Simon answered by chuckling with a bright smile.

"Right," Harry said taking no offense at Simon's obvious enjoyment. "Anyways, that was the first time I was trying to bring him up. Her defensive nature in refusing to discuss it afterwards seemed more telling than what I saw."

"What did you see?" Simon asked curiously.

Harry shrugged. "Not a lot. Visually, he never showed up after she was a small child, but aurally, he talked with her a fair amount."

Simon blinked in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"It means that I think Kevin died and hung around as a ghost," Harry turned to look at Simon. "River was clearly capable of hearing him, perhaps that's just the reading picking up on his broadcast thoughts, but she was incapable of seeing him. If he is a ghost, he can make himself visible, and from their conversations I can tell he would have been visible to her if he could have."

"Huh?"

"It's the same thing I've been saying all along. River's sort of a part-witch, she simply has to be. And I'm pretty sure Kevin was at a minimum sort of a part-wizard." Harry pondered aloud. "I really don't know if I could see Kevin or not but I certainly wouldn't be able to in her memories. Maybe you need to be a full-on wizard or witch to see a ghost. Or maybe Kevin wasn't enough of a wizard to turn into a proper ghost. We wouldn't know unless I actually came across him."

Simon winced remembering how things had been the last time he'd spoken to his parents. "You want to go to our childhood home?"

Harry shrugged. "I get the feeling neither River nor you are exactly jumping to reconcile with your folks."

"No, not particularly," Simon admitted not wanting to think about them.

"Then don't sweat it," Harry replied. "But if I run out of leads to follow, I'm keeping it on my list. Just consider it to be at the bottom."

"I appreciate that Harry," Simon sighed and answered. "Whenever I think about their negligence towards River and how my father treated me…"

"Yeah," Harry grimaced. "I know. Don't sweat it. River's well aware of how you feel about them and frankly I think she's convinced herself that she'd be perfectly content never seeing them ever again as well. Having grown up an orphan with people who hated me, I doubt I could be too objective, but I know not all parents are as pleasant as… well, the Cobbs for instance."

Simon snickered.

"Oh laughing, are we?" Harry grinned. "I think someone needs to wear their discerningly shrewd hat a bit more often."

Simon gulped, having forgotten about that monstrosity.

Harry snickered back at him. "I was also wondering if you'd been able to locate any new genes that were discovered around 2150? Or anything on that Dr. Holmes?"

Simon snapped his fingers. "I did! Let me grab my satchel." Simon jumped up and went back towards the tiny shelf he'd been sharing with his girlfriend.

He returned and set it down, pulling out one of his digital medical encyclopedias. He began to quickly search through some resource indexes while Harry watched him out of the corner of his eye.

"Ah-ha!" Simon announced victoriously. "Here it is. In 2155 Dr. Gregory Holmes and Dr. Harry Fullerton discovered what is now known as the M gene."

"M gene?" Harry grinned. "Subtle."

"Its purpose is unknown," Simon continued reading aloud. "But as published in Dr. Fullerton's paper 'Theorization on the M Gene,' it is possible this particular piece of genetic code may tend to make subjects more likely to cross-dress, given the vast number of males testing positive who prefer to wear dresses."

Harry burst out laughing while keeping his eyes on the screen.

"Yes," Simon agreed. "I thought you might appreciate that."

"That Dr. Fullerton was a pretty famous wizard after my time. He was actually the last Headmaster of Hogwarts and shut the school down. I see he was every bit as eccentric as many of the Headmasters before him." Harry chuckled to himself.

"If I recall you held the position for a decade," Simon pointed out.

Harry nodded. "Yeah… it was great getting to stay in the castle and seeing all the children."

"Why'd you quit after only a decade?" Simon asked.

Harry groaned. "Two reasons: the paperwork and the politics. Drove me batty, and I think my wife and myself had been doing an admirable job of that before I ever took the position."

"Also," Simon noted. "I downloaded the structures so that a simple blood test can show us the presence of a dominant, a recessive, or an absent M gene."

"Really?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Really," Simon agreed, digging back into his satchel. He pulled out his favorite toy, the spiffy top of the line analyzer and sat it on the lip of the wall next to him. He looked over at Harry with a grin. "Want to try it out?"

"Sure," Harry agreed, sticking his arm out allowing Simon to draw a little blood. Simon repeated the process on himself and stuck both samples into his machine.

Harry was watching Simon's joy and chuckled. "You really like that thing, don't you?"

Simon nodded and couldn't contain his enthusiasm. "I never had the funds to improve on the medical bay before, but I'd wanted one of these for years."

Harry shook his head, while Simon was practically bouncing in his chair. The machine started to print out the smaller report and Simon happily examined the first one. He gleefully announced, "Mr. Potter, you have tested positive for the dominant M gene." He pulled out the second report and continued. "And I have tested…" Simon's face dropped and turned towards Harry in confusion. "Positive?"

Harry couldn't take it and was laughing at the sudden and drastic change in Simon's mood.

"That can't be right," Simon mumbled. "Hang on."

"For the dominant or recessive gene?" Harry asked while Simon was frantically checking through his process.

"The dominant," Simon answered absent-mindedly. He double-checked all his settings and was mumbling to himself.

Harry didn't know what to make of this, but he found Simon's reaction too amusing to be upset right now.

"You think maybe this M gene isn't the magical one?" Simon wondered.

"According to Hogwarts, A History," Harry began, imagining his school years with Hermione. "It was around 2150 that the wizard Harry Fullerton worked with a muggle doctor named Holmes to discover the magical gene. So yeah… the M gene is probably that one. You sure you did your test right?"

Simon snapped angrily, "Yes, I'm sure."

Harry knew he shouldn't but had to laugh again. He muttered quietly but made sure Simon could hear him, "Freak."

Simon grumbled to himself and went back towards the beds to test the others.

Harry stayed in the pilot's chair watching the screens and began to wonder what this might mean. He knew there had been people claiming that magic was weakening. The pureblood supremacists always blamed it on the muggles diluting the magic in their blood. But even those less fanatical spoke of how much more powerful wizards were in the past. Some argued it was the dependency on wands that was the root of the problem. Other conspiracy theorists believed there was an evil sect draining the magic out of everyone.

Most of those arguments Harry mused seemed to take a back seat though by the twentieth century. First Albus Dumbledore, then Tom Riddle, and then Harry all appeared as evidence that magic wasn't weakening in the slightest. Albus had been praised as the most powerful wizard in several centuries, and even he couldn't measure up to Tom. Harry knew he couldn't measure up to Tom either, but he figured he could give Albus a run for his money. Harry had to reconsider the argument though as he realized none of the three of them had ever managed to reproduce. Could it really be that just a few centuries later magic had weakened so much as to not even be noticeable?

Harry shook his head finding that unlikely, despite being unable to prove otherwise. Harry's musings were interrupted as Simon and River came back up to the front carrying seven vials of blood.

Simon could test as many as twelve samples at a time and stuck them all into his toy. He was impatiently tapping his foot while River smiled brightly at Harry. "My brother's a wizard."

Harry's laughter came back again, simply at the sight of Simon's exasperation.

The reports began spitting out and Simon was looking over the results incredulously. "I don't believe it."

"Let me guess," Harry interrupted. "River and Antonio are positive for the dominant gene, and everyone else tested negative."

Simon sighed and looked over at Harry. "Yes. How'd you know?"

"If you tested positive," River rolled her eyes at her brother. "It seems likely I would. And Antonio was the descendent in charge of Harry's ring. That means the M gene was probably passed down."

"Not to mention River's magical gifts," Harry said. "That most accept as simply reading."

Simon saw how calmly his sister and Harry were both taking the news. He just sat there in consternation for a minute before asking, "So what does this mean?"

River had come to the obvious conclusion right away, but didn't want to say it out loud.

Harry could see River was thinking the same thing he was. He reluctantly admitted, "It could mean I'm not going to find any wizards or witches because they're all around me. They're just not magical."

Simon saw that it pained Harry to say that and chose to stay silent.

"What I don't know," Harry added, "is how that may have happened. How wizards and witches seem to have lost their magic." Harry refused to believe what logic was telling him. He knew he shouldn't jump to conclusions until they, at the very least, had checked out his home planet. He looked up at River for a moment and started to open his mouth.

River just nodded. "Go ahead."

Harry swallowed the lump in his throat and said thanks, as he got up and left the flying to River. Harry saw all five beds were in use and went back to the Commander's chair he'd been assigned at takeoff. He waved his hand creating a solid shield that blocked out all light and sound. Harry lay back needing some privacy and alone time to think this over.

"Book of Jayne."

"What?" Antonio asked perking his head up.

"Don't mind him any," Kaylee said with a grin.

"Number something plus four," Jayne dictated as he slowly began to write.

"What's he doing?" Antonio whispered to Kaylee while watching Jayne's face scrunch in determination.

"We… are… only…" Jayne continued ignoring the hushed conversation near him.

"He's chronicling the third coming of Jesus Christ," Kaylee explained with a grin.

"Two… days… away…"

"What?" Antonio asked in confusion.

"From… Earth… That… Was." Jayne finished with decision.

"You know like the gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John?" Kaylee nodded. "Well this is a new one… of Jayne."

"Harry's… been…" Jayne paused and was tapping his lip with his pencil.

"But why's he talking out loud?" Antonio asked watching the scene in apprehension.

"Bummed… out… cuz…"

Kaylee shrugged. "It helps him write."

"Simon's… a… freak… too."

Kaylee rolled her eyes. "He's not a freak."

"Shush!" Jayne snapped. "This ain't the book of Kaylee."

"Hmm," Kaylee considered the merits of such an endeavor.

"I… wish… I… was… a… freak."

Antonio somehow never imagined this scholarly side to Jayne. He whispered to Kaylee, "So when's he expecting Jesus?"

"Oh no," Kaylee answered. "That's Harry."

"I… would… blow…"

Antonio gulped and shook his head thinking it was time to leave. "Right."

"Up… so… many… things…"

Kaylee rolled her eyes and went back to her nap.

"They'd… have… to… call… me…" Jayne paused and then smiled brightly finishing, "The Jayne."

Harry seemed more than a little somber for the next several days. He did his best not to assume the worst, that the Earth-That-Was may very well be an uninhabitable wasteland, and that he was the last magical person in the verse. His instincts and his gut told him that it wasn't true, but his mind feared that may just be hopeful thinking.

Harry forced a smile and relived a number of his more exciting memories with the guys. He and Jayne had been pleased to discover that Simon and Antonio both had a fear of snakes. After the memory of the Chamber of Secrets, it seemed just about everyone had a fear of massive fifty foot long snakes.

Harry's mood finally improved one day when Zoe had pulled him aside.

"Harry," Zoe began. "You know you're bringing everyone down."

Harry sighed. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to."

"You remember what you told Mal?" Zoe inquired. "About me?"

Harry arched an eyebrow. "I remember a few things."

Zoe bit back her urge to fish for details and continued, "About how I was stuck missing that balance in my life that Wash gave me?"

"He told you that?"

Zoe nodded. "And I think you're doing the same."

"Hmm?" Harry asked in slight confusion.

"I've seen the memories of Luna," Zoe continued. "And I remember some of the more… peculiar passages in your biography."

Harry nodded.

"For as long as I've known you, you've provided that balance on your own, but not lately."

"What do you mean?"

"All of your belief and understandings about magical things," Zoe explained. "To me, they all seem impossible. And even things that are unlikely or improbable, you have continued faith in them." Zoe paused and saw Harry was catching on. "Your wife seemed to believe in things that everyone else seemed to think were impossible."

Harry smiled genuinely and nodded. "You know why she did that?"

Zoe shook her head.

"It was because she knew with a certainty that no one knew everything. And even pretending that you did was no fun."

Zoe smiled back warmly.

"She took great joy in having faith, especially in things that couldn't be proven wrong. Like the existence of creatures no one had ever seen before. Since you can never prove they're not real, just hope and maybe one day prove that they are."

"Exactly," Zoe nodded fervently. "So why are you so dead set on believing that you're the last magical wizard?"

Harry stopped and realized that he had been doing exactly that.

"Luna would have never let your attitude get this pessimistic," Zoe continued. "It serves no purpose. Even if we don't find anything on Earth, believing and hoping that there are others out there, more answers out there… believing in that and you have everything you need in life."

Harry closed his eyes and shook his head. He took a deep breath and exhaled. "She would be pretty disappointed in me right now."

"Maybe," Zoe said skeptically. "But I'm sure she'd be forgiving if you'd just start looking on the bright side. This moping forced-smile version of Harry is not the same one I met just a few months ago."

"You're right," Harry admitted. "Magic isn't something that's logical or something that makes sense. And it's even more wonderful for that very reason."

Zoe scooted closer and gave Harry a tender hug. She looked up at him with doe-like eyes, "Now can you please make us some doughnuts?"

Harry laughed and conjured the pink box full of them.

"Success!" Zoe called out loudly.

Inara and Kaylee's heads popped over the side of the upper inset bed they'd been hiding on.

Harry chuckled at their hungry eyes and lifted the box of doughnuts closer to them. "You know when I first made these it was on the advice of my wife from many years ago."

"Mmm?" Inara asked with her mouth full.

Harry nodded, "Her father was the editor of The Quibbler, a wizarding newspaper of sorts. And there was this one guy on staff who was a bitter, unpleasant curmudgeon. No one much liked him and he never got his work done on time. I asked why they didn't fire him and she told me he brought the doughnuts on Fridays." Harry shook his head. "They both looked at me like I was crazy when I asked why that mattered. Luna exasperatedly explained to me that you never fire the person who brings the office doughnuts."

Inara and Kaylee shared a look and nodded in complete and total agreement.

"River said nearly the same thing," Harry added in remembrance.

"Smart girl," Zoe said with a grin.

"Cute too," Kaylee added.

"Yeah," Harry nodded and agreed. "Wait, were you talking about Luna or River?"

All three girls were smiling and Inara just added, "Good doughnuts."

Harry rolled his eyes, refusing to rise to their baiting. "Let's go share these good doughnuts with the others."

"River?" Mr. Universe's voice broke through the anxious excitement at the front of the ship.

River tilted her chin up defiantly, acting as if she didn't hear him.

Mr. Universe sighed. "Mackenzie?"

"Yes FRANK?" River answered back.

"I said I was sorry," Mr. Universe complained. "But we had to send control a message and we needed the pilot's expertise."

"FRANK," River replied haughtily. "I think we should keep our relationship strictly professional."

"Oh come on," Mr. Universe whined. "You know how much time you've spent around Harry, and how his mere existence warps your perception of the verse."

River seemed to be relaxing slightly.

"Acceptable behavior or defining the lines between right and wrong just blur and shift in ways that seem to make sense at the time," Mr. Universe explained, noticing River was warming up. "It's his fault. You know that's nothing I would have ever thought of if he hadn't suggested it."

"I didn't suggest that," Harry argued.

"If anyone could dumb down an artificial intelligence," River admitted. "It would be him."

"Exactly," Mr. Universe agreed. "Wait… what?"

River saw Harry was pouting. "It's okay, Mr. U. I forgive you. Just don't let it happen again."

"Promise," Mr. Universe agreed beginning to like that shortened version of his name. "If you ever fall asleep on the toilet again, you have my word, I will not wake you by turning the cold water shower faucets on. Nor will I angle them towards you."

"Thank you," River replied, feeling a little uneasy at the specifics in the promise made. "Now what can I do for you?"

"You've got about three minutes before you need to disengage the hyperdrive," Mr. Universe happily declared. "We're almost there."

"How's it look, Mr. U?" Harry asked excitedly from his seat.

"Can't tell," Mr. Universe answered. "When we're moving at these speeds, we can't scan. And we're not even close enough to scan anyways."

"Alright, everyone," River bellowed to the other eight cosmonauts all crammed into the front of the ship. "It's about to get bumpy, so those of you with chairs strap yourselves in. Those of you without… umm… Harry?"

"Get comfy quick," Harry answered sharply. "I'll cast sticking charms on you, so you don't start flying around too much."

"It's not that bad, is it?" Simon said noticing the five people with chairs were hurriedly strapping themselves in. He began to worry when he noticed Jayne had started to pray.

"Make yourself comfortable on Kaylee's lap, Doc," Harry ordered while securing Inara and Zoe into place on either side of Mal. Simon shifted until he wasn't crushing his girlfriend and Harry spelled his arms and rear to the wall.

"Alright River, we're good," Harry said. "Anytime you're ready."

"Hold onto your butts," River mumbled, disengaging the hyperdrive power source.

The ship began to vibrate a little, rattling the loose items that they'd neglected to pack up.

"This isn't too bad," Simon commented, unaware he was partially suffocating his girlfriend.

"Simon," Kaylee struggled to say, "You're-"

A loud explosion off to the side followed by heavy rattling continued. But it had been enough to startle the crew members into shrieks of fear and excitement.

Simon apologized to his girlfriend noticing her duress, when another explosion sounded, following by more thumping sounds and convulsions. Simon's apology was cut off by his own feminine shriek.

The panic seemed to be subsiding as the time between the rattling thump sounds seemed to be growing, and the Firenze slowed down significantly. The violent shaking was reduced to just a numbing rumble, as opposed the constantly increasing actions they had endured when first engaging the experimental engine.

"Whew," River said, not quite liking the let down of this as much as the crescendo they experienced at the start of the trip. "The hyperdrive is cooling, standard engines are purring, just waiting for us to slow down, and we should be humming like Serenity."

Jayne let out the breath he'd been holding in. "That wasn't so bad."

One last loud pop of explosion startled a few more yelps out as the ride finally smoothed out.

"Gorramit Harry," Jayne whined, clutching his heart.

"Why do I keep getting blamed for these?" Harry said canceling all the sticking charms he'd cast. Harry saw the looks he received in answer and shook his head. "Never mind. How we looking, River?"

"About five minutes from atmo," River estimated. "Earth-That-Was should be visible through the port side window."

"I wanna see!" Jayne called out leaping from his chair. He was looking around, trying to spot it. "Is it the nearest one?"

"Yup," River answered looking down at her console.

"How's she looking?" Harry asked.

Jayne turned back to look at Harry. "She's really… orange."

"Orange?" Harry asked, briefly imagining a Chudley Cannons colored planet. "Mr. U? Can you tell anything yet?"

Mr. Universe seemed reticent but answered, "So far it looks like it's pretty much what the reports all said. Can't be certain until we're inside the atmosphere."

"You sure these calculations are right for where we're headed?" River asked.

"Yeah," Mr. Universe answered. "That'll take us to north-central Scotland, or at least where it used to be."

"That's the orangest planet I ever seen," Jayne commented keeping his eyes glued on the small window.

"Hang on for a sec," River answered. "Descending in three, two, one."

There was a fwoosh sound and a slight rock as the ship slid right through the thick atmosphere of the Earth-That-Was.

"Whoa!" Jayne gasped, as he caught himself and regained his balance. "Those are some dark clouds. Couldn't even see them until we were right on top of them."

Harry briefly imagined a wizarding illusion hiding the true nature of the planet.

"Those are normal," Mr. Universe explained. "The sky should probably lighten as we keep descending."

"Yeah, it is," Jayne replied. "And there's that orange surface."

"Alright," River explained. "I'm taking us down to about a thousand feet off the surface. You all keep your eyes peeled."

Kaylee and Antonio were huddled around Jayne trying to see out the tiny port side window while Mal, Zoe, and Inara crowded around the starboard side window.

Harry claimed an empty seat and could feel his magic responding to the planet. He was taking a deep breath as he sensed a familiarity he hadn't since before he'd woken up.

"So all we're supposed to see is just the ruins of a castle, right?" Jayne asked without looking back.

Harry exhaled a deep breath and answered, "That's right. If you trust the reports they constructed all sorts of new stronger wards to protect the castle, but I can't imagine they would have changed the muggle illusion charms."

"And that's why all we'd see is a castle in ruins," Mal repeated having had this conversation several times over the course of the last couple hours. "You know Harry, there's not really anything even recognizable around here. Looks like a bunch of orange rock. Some cliffs, some valleys that may have been a city, or may just be cliffs and valleys."

"If there's anything on this planet," Harry assured him. "This is the first and best place to look."

The others heard a slight sense of desperation in Harry's voice. They resumed their search across the lands in all directions uncertain why Harry wasn't joining them at a window.

Harry on the other hand felt like his stomach was in knots. He wondered if he was just nervous or if his magic's anticipation was getting frisky.

"River!" Zoe called out suddenly. "Veer right a little."

River responded and was watching her console as well. There were no signs of anything on her screens that stood out from anywhere else.

"Sorry," Zoe answered. "False alarm."

Harry felt like cursing Zoe for a moment there, when he was interrupted by Jayne's call. "I see it!"

"Where?" Kaylee asked before answering herself. "Oh! Oh!" Kaylee was hopping and pointing out the window.

Antonio was smiling back at Harry. "You can clearly see the ruins of an ancient castle."

"Eleven o'clock, about five thousand feet ahead?" River asked.

"Yeah!" Jayne answered happily. "That's it!"

"I got a lock," River answered. "Heading that way."

Harry got up from his seat and wiggled his way towards the window. Antonio and Kaylee parted to the sides to let Harry see.

Jayne inched away, letting Harry stand right in front of the window. "That's Hogwarts, ain't it?"

Harry saw it nearing and recognized one of his old homes away from home immediately. He sighed. "Yeah… that's it."

"So," Jayne eagerly asked. "What do you see?"

Harry was watching it approach wistfully. It pained him to say it out loud, but he answered softly, "The same thing you do."

Dead silence followed Harry's declaration as they all understood what that most likely meant. No one was quite sure what to say while River began to fly them closer to land near the castle.

Suddenly, all the lights on the Firenze flickered out, and the hum of the standard non-hyperdrive engine sputtered and died.

"Harry," River barked loudly with more than a touch of fear. A few sparks began to flash blinding her at the console. "I'm getting no response here at all. We're in free fall."

Harry suddenly realized what was happening and whipped his head away from the ruins of the castle. "Oh crap."