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 THIRTY-THREE – Leave it to Reaver

"You hate me, don't you?"

Harry wisely just shut up and let the Captain blow off a little steam.

"Have I wronged you horribly?"

Harry chewed on his lip and tried to ignore the wide eyed stares of Inara and Zoe while Mal continued to vent.

"Don't look at me like I'm the one being childish."

Harry made the mistake of not completely preventing a chortle from escaping the back of his throat.

Mal turned to Zoe. "You all heard that, right? I can shoot him now, can't I?"

"Did you sleep with Jayne?" Inara inquired, basing her justifications for shooting Harry on previous secondhand experience.

"I'm well aware how ridiculous the idea of curing Reavers sounds to you," Harry finally spoke up. "And to be honest, I'm not exactly sold on the idea myself. But we got four and a half days of flight to either hear Fullerton plead his case, or convince him otherwise."

"Since when is he the boss around here?" Mal asked forcefully.

"He's not," Harry assured him, not wanting to fracture his already tenuous relationship with the Captain. "But he's convinced me that it's probably worth a try."

"Have you ever actually seen a Reaver?" Zoe questioned. "The only cure for that is a bullet."

Harry winced but didn't disagree. "I know full well how barbaric, vicious, and dangerous they are. But according to records, these were perfectly normal innocent victims of a horrible reaction. There are real genuine people buried in there, essentially slaves to impulses, unwilling guinea pigs of a government playing God."

Mal looked over at Inara and Zoe as he finally seemed to accept that Harry was truly serious in this.

"Our motives for helping them are not completely selfless either," Harry explained. "I mean yes, if it's possible to help them, then that is the right thing to do. But they provide us a great opportunity as well. Assuming Miranda is what we think she is, then we've got the start of a brand, spanking new wizarding world and only a handful of old wizards here. The Reavers, if they can be helped, are thousands of people without a home, potentially ready to start a new life, and more specifically carriers of the one gene we need settlers to have if we're going colonize a magical planet."

Harry saw he'd caught some of their attention and continued. "The M-gene it appears is down to being present in only one in every thousand, or a tenth of percent, if you trust those numbers. Locating enough of a population to actually have a decent society of magical people giving birth to magical babies would be practically impossible without many generations, which is one thing we don't really have. If we could help the Reavers, Miranda would have a halfway decent population of people and within a single generation could have hundreds, maybe thousands of new wizards and witches.

"They represent a golden opportunity. And it just so happens that they are innocent victims in all this needing help. The fact that they may have a healthy dislike for the Alliance, we can just call a bonus. Part of rebuilding the wizarding world is that we would need to start with keeping it a secret from the general population, and Miranda and the Reavers are already the perfect cover with a vast restricted airspace. These people are dead according to everyone else in the 'verse. No one wants to come around here, and the only ones who might, would be the families of the people the Reavers used to be."

"And more people with the M-gene," Zoe said understanding the value of the situation.

Harry nodded.

"That's all well and good," Mal retorted. "But we're still talking about Reavers here. You know, half a dozen can wipe out an entire town overnight? These ain't just sick people you give your magical medicine to."

"Fullerton's been studying all about them, and all about the Pax," Harry explained. "And this is one of those situations where a careful wizard can subdue them with far less risk using magical means. We can lock them in place or we can knock them unconscious with a single snap of a wand, without ever harming them."

"I don't think you really understand just what you're talking about," Mal said. "They move faster than you'd think and all it takes is one to break free of your little magical hold to slaughter half a dozen people, before you realize what's going on."

"I'm not looking to put anyone at risk," Harry said. "Like I said, I'm not completely convinced on this idea either. And there's no question, our safety is paramount. Any that cannot be subdued will be exterminated immediately. The hope of saving a bunch of Reavers isn't worth a serious risk to any single person's life, but magic is an advantage that they cannot match."

Harry snapped his fingers and all three, Mal, Inara, and Zoe, were frozen exactly in place completely unable to move or blink. "Reavers use force." Harry snapped his fingers again and released them all. "But they can't fight this."

"Harry," Mal said hesitantly. "I told myself, you'd earned your place here. That we all were well-off enough and clear of a great many things in large part because of you and Mr. Universe. I figured you'd need our help on some cockamamie scheme but this… this is suicide."

Harry opened his mouth to argue but the Captain stopped him. "You said the hope of saving Reavers isn't worth a serious risk, but any time, any time you're dealing with Reavers, you're dancing with the devil. Period. This ain't no slippery slope here, this is a ticking rutting time bomb."

"The fact that you're even asking this of us…" Mal sighed. "Makes me think you don't get it or we don't get it, or more likely neither of us get it."

Harry nodded in understanding. "Captain, I…" Harry sighed. "I'm a wizard thinking about what's best for saving and restoring the wizarding world here. My natural inclination is that it's worth my life and every other wizard's life to save it. It's not your world, and I'm not asking this of you. Not yet."

"But you will," Mal added.

Harry looked at Zoe and Inara. He thought about it and could only shrug. "I don't know yet. The crew member and friend to you all side of me isn't convinced yet, but the magic in me isn't just a gift. It's a responsibility."

"You don't owe magic anything," Inara softly argued.

Harry smiled sadly at her. "It's all about how you feel. Without my magic, would I be this healthy at 154? Or is it 155 now? Would I even exist now after a 384 year nap without magic? It don't take much to believe there's more to life than simply living it. Gotta be some kind of reason I'm at this place and at this time, you know?"

"You a believer now?" Zoe asked curiously.

Harry shook his head. "I'm not talking about a higher power, just a magical one. Those are two very different things. And something tells me I wouldn't be the first to feel this way about Miranda."

"That was different," Mal snapped. "Don't compare that to this. We never woulda done that if we'd known what we were gonna find."

"You know that's not true," Harry argued. "I think I know what kind of man you are, Sergeant Reynolds. You may not have done things exactly the same, but you wouldn't have walked away."

Mal decided he'd heard enough. He turned and did just what he was told he wouldn't, walk away. He didn't even look back as he last said, "Don't tell me what kind of man I am."

Harry smiled weakly at Inara and Zoe. "Well, he didn't shoot me. That's a good thing, right?"

Zoe glanced at Inara. "You still needing to practice your aim?"

"Hey now," Harry interrupted. "I considered keeping my mouth shut until we got to Miranda and my mind was made up one way or the other. I just figured we might need the time in the sky to convince Fullerton he's dangerously psychotic and not just psychotic. Or for the wizards to convince you not to ditch us on that cursed planet."

Inara smiled sadly at Zoe. "If he keeps making bad puns at the wrong time, someone will shoot him."

"Fine, fine," Harry agreed. "Not exactly the most proper use of levity. But here's the deal, I'm going to get Fullerton and he's going to pitch his entire theory, understanding, and explanation to all the crew. That includes me, because I haven't made up my mind yet."

"It sure sounds like you have," Zoe warned.

Harry nodded and winked. "Well, if I was wavering would you ever even consider something this ludicrous sounding on the outside?"

"I gotta tell you Harry," Inara admitted. "I find myself agreeing with Mal right now. If that's not sending up red flags to you on the badness of this idea, then I don't know what will."

"I know, I know," Harry chuckled wondering if Inara and Mal might start agreeing a lot more often soon. "Just please, I'm not saying forget what Reavers are or have done, just try to have somewhat of an open mind about this. And see if you can't cool Mal down a bit. I got the feeling if I wasn't a wizard he woulda punched me back there."

"He doesn't care if you're a wizard," Zoe said getting up. "He'll punch you when he's sure you deserve it."

"I'll get Fullerton and probably Longbottom," Harry instructed. "As well as Jayne, the Doc, and Kaylee. You two get Mal and meet us on the bridge in an hour. Think you can handle that?"

"What about River?" Zoe inquired.

"She's up there piloting now," Harry answered. "This way we can keep an eye on where we're heading."

"I meant taking on Reavers, curing them," Zoe amended. "You said you couldn't cure her, but you could help her. How's she gonna feel about curing those monsters when she's supposedly incurable?"

"River will be fine," Harry answered. "I've seen how she dealt with Reavers."

"You think she'll be up for this?" Inara asked getting up to follow Zoe.

Harry glanced over the portrait of his wife and sighed. "I'd be shocked if she wasn't."

Mal was standing up on the catwalk looking at all the wizards below. He'd been introduced to most, remembered a couple of names, but couldn't identify with them at all. Even without the entire world of magic separating them, there were centuries and completely different ways of life.

Both had spent a lot of time in spaceships, but for very different reasons. Mal was wondering whether these were people he should get to know better or cargo he should cut loose as soon as possible. He knew just about everyone else on his crew had made a number of friends among them, and Jayne was quite proudly schtupping the young woman he'd claimed the first night he saw her. Mal got the feeling that if he knew the wizards better, he'd be more inclined to help them with their marginally insane plans. But right now his ability to think of the people he was truly responsible for first was more important than making new friends.

"Sir?" Zoe said as she and Inara approached Mal on the catwalk.

Mal turned and saw the two women. "Are you two Harry's emissaries?"

"He wants us all on the bridge in about an hour," Zoe said as she moved to stand next to Mal and watch the wizards below.

Mal turned back around and went back to his people watching. "Of course he does."

Inara decided to mirror the other two and leaned forward to observe the others.

The trio watched in relative silence before Mal asked, "You're not here to tell me how we should trust Harry on this one? How he's not let us down yet? Well, too much anyway."

Inara shook her head. "I don't care who Harry is. This is a headache that shouldn't be ours."

Mal raised a curious eyebrow. "Reverse psychology?"

"Don't be so defensive," Zoe argued without even looking at him.

Mal glanced over at his first mate and knew when she snapped at him, it was usually for a good reason. "So what do you two make of this?"

Zoe looked down at them. "Not sure why their problems have to be ours."

Mal and Inara both turned to listen to her.

"Don't get me wrong," Zoe said. "Harry's a friend, if he's got a problem, we'll help him. But these people basically didn't exist a couple weeks ago. Is this something we should even be involved in?"

"Harry's a client," Mal said. "This is our cargo. He's paying us to house 'em for a bit. And now apparently paying us to take them to Miranda."

"Harry's not just a client," Inara said. "He's crew and a friend. We wouldn't be having this discussion for a client."

Mal had to agree with that. "So what then? Do we take them to Miranda, wish them well, and get the hell out of there?"

"As opposed to seeking out Reavers?" Zoe clarified. "Do you guys honestly think these wizards can cure Reavers?"

Mal shook his head. "Who says Reavers want to be cured?"

"Even if the wizards can defend and capture Reavers, maybe even cure them," Zoe commented. "That still doesn't tell me why it's our problem. I mean if they can pull that much off, are we just gonna be getting in their way?"

Mal sighed. "Who else they got? Who else has ever even been to Miranda?"

The three of them settled into a comforting silence. Inara said, "For what it's worth, I found out I'm a fully accredited member of the Companion Guild and will remain that way, even if I never help another client as long as I live."

"How'd you manage that?" Mal said with a grin.

Inara smiled weakly. "Surprise, it was Harry." She saw the confused looks from Mal and Zoe and explained, "His gold star status means the Guild is basically indebted to him. Apparently, he requested that I be officially assigned to him full-time and they agreed."

"What exactly does that mean?" Mal asked warily. "He's not expecting anything from you, is he?"

Inara shook her head. "He did it months ago and never even told me. I don't think he even knows that I know. He's just doing me, actually us, a favor."

Zoe smirked and added, "He's doing it for his tea."

Inara smiled back and realized, "You know that very well might be the reason. I lose my status and he loses his tea hook-up."

"So what are we looking forward to on the bridge?" Mal asked turning around to face the two women.

"If I were to take a guess," Inara said, "a logical argument for a questionably suicidal risk."

"I suppose I should preface myself with a preemptive apology," Fullerton began. "I have reviewed hours of video and discussed Reavers to a limited degree with a few of you. It is clear their ferocity and madness cannot be described, only experienced. So I'm speaking from primarily a scientific background here. I do not wish to belittle any sacrifices or hardships any of you have endured."

"We get the picture," Mal interrupted fearing how long this was going to take.

"Yes, thank you Captain Reynolds," Fullerton nodded. "Usually Algernon reminds me when I begin to ramble, but please, anyone feel free to stop me at any moment. If you have any questions, concerns, or are lost, don't be shy. Our goal here is for everyone to understand the potential of the situation."

Algernon cleared his throat and rolled his eyes.

"Oh right," Fullerton said realizing he was beginning to ramble again. "Now a lot of this is purely conjecture and theories, not many verifiable facts, merely extrapolations of what we do know and a bunch of best guesses."

Harry glanced around at the skeptical looks on people's faces and thought if this was something they were really going to do, then they had a lot of convincing to go.

"I suppose the story starts back a little before 2506," Fullerton began. "Several of the Core planets were united together under the Central Interplanetary Treaty. They had decided a singular universal government ruling over all the planets, was in the best interests of mankind. In the past, wars between countries meant imaginary lines of ownership were redrawn. But now, wars between planets meant the destruction of necessary resources and genocide on scales never before seen."

"Are we getting a history lesson?" Jayne whispered to Mal, who just shrugged.

"If one planet's rule challenged another, an attack on the elements manufactured in terraforming meant you could wipe out the whole planet, by denying them things like artificial sunlight, heat, or oxygen. A singular ruling body could prevent that and the initial plans for the Alliance were drawn up. Yes, Miss Frye?"

"Kaylee, please," Kaylee corrected him as she lowered her arm. "I thought the Miranda problems happened before the creation of the Alliance?"

"Yes and no, Kaylee," Fullerton corrected. "I believe these are all tied together. What the government had decided was that if they were to formally announce and create the Alliance, then a large number of the less civilized planets further out on the rim would take exception to being given a brand new boss, if you will. They expected them to rise up and fight for their independence, which was obviously a very accurate expectation. So what they did was they attempted to create a drug that would lower people's aggressive tendencies, in turn making more responsive to suggestion and compromise, and generally reducing their willingness to revolt."

Mal hadn't particularly given it much thought but found himself agreeing with Fullerton's theories so far.

Fullerton continued. "I'm not sure of course, but I suspect their plan was for all future terraforming and border planets to include this drug into the atmosphere. Perhaps even use it across the 'verse in all planets. In a small enough dose, becoming a more peaceful society would lower a vast number of risks, but at the expense of passion and emotion. And I assume most of us would take issue with the ethical implications of such a drug.

"Whether they planned to use it on every planet or just those most likely to resist the Alliance, I don't know. But they had some of their foremost scientists design, develop, and create this drug, a very mild mind-altering substance that would inhibit aggression.

"Miranda, a planet that had just recently been settled and was considered far enough out on the rim, became the first large scale test run. I'm sure you all know how that worked out. But when the governments realized what they had done, and what had happened, they knew they had to act fast. News of this experimentation would destroy the Alliance before it ever even officially started. So rather than try and hide what would become the most dangerous story in the news, they moved their primary plan forward and created bigger news: the public announcement of the Union of Allied Planets. I wouldn't even be surprised if they actually altered the formal details of the Anglo-Sino Alliance to make it worse for border planets, thus inciting those not in the Core to resist and form the Independents."

"You're saying they wanted to fight the Unification War?" Zoe clarified.

Fullerton shrugged. "If the original Allied charter had been fair, and all the planets agreed then the news wouldn't have lasted five years nor would it have buried the story of Miranda beyond memory. The government claimed terraforming didn't hold, a few settlers died, and the planet was uninhabitable. An unfortunate accident away from the battles isn't important in comparison to thousands of deaths as the Alliance fought the Browncoats. By the time anyone may have started asking the right questions about Miranda, they already had a stranglehold on the entire power structure and information source. Unification Day ensured totalitarian control over the press, the history books, everything. That's why the secret of Miranda stayed buried for so long."

"We fought a war we couldn't win simply because they needed a cover-up?" Mal inquired.

"No, not at all," Fullerton corrected. "Do not misunderstand me. You fought because you believed in your freedom, and would not accept people on the other side of the 'verse telling you how to live your life and what you could do in your own homeland. I'm merely postulating that it was in their best interests to fight the war and drag it out for several years, rather than simply concede points and interests that they may have been planning to concede all along."

Simon glanced around and added, "This is interesting conjecture about some of the Alliance's motives, but what does this have to do with out current situation?"

"Oh sorry," Fullerton corrected. "It is not directly relevant, just some background for understanding what they were attempting to do when they created G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate. Because I'm almost positive the drug works exactly as it was designed to."

"What?" Jayne yelped. "You mean they intentionally created Reavers?"

"Oh heavens no," Fullerton quickly corrected. "No, I'm sorry, that came out all wrong. What I meant to say was that the drug was intended to muffle aggressive tendencies and weaken the strength of people's resolve on a very limited scale. And I believe that it worked perfectly in the labs it was created in, and on the subjects they tested it on. No, the problem was not with the Pax, the problem was the inclusion of an element they never could have known about."

"Magic," Inara stated, guessing the obvious.

"Precisely," Fullerton explained. "In this case, the problem was most likely Miranda, which we believe to be a magical planet. Had they introduced the Pax on any other planet or any other place, then it would have worked exactly as planned. If I were to guess there's only one other known planet in the universe where Reavers could ever be accidentally created."

"Earth-That-Was," Kaylee said catching on.

"Correct," Fullerton agreed with a nod. "I remember when we first left the original planet at the end of the twenty-second century a number of common medical practices and drugs had vastly different and unexpected reactions. Doses that used to be standard were occasionally far stronger or far weaker than they should have been.

"The differences were noticed on the ride over and were assumed to be the result of living in the metroships. Once we'd settled on the new planets, the necessary alterations remained consistent. Since then, the popular theory has always been that the differences in reactions were due to the absence of the sun our physiologies had adapted and evolved to."

"And you think that's because of magic, not an effect of the sun?" Simon clarified, having remembered the explanations in his history classes at the MedAcad on Osiris.

"Yes, I believe it is definitely possible that an environmental effect on a non-magical planet has the potential for inducing a completely different response than an environmental effect on a magical planet with all other components remaining constant. It's just not a situation we'd ever considered or encountered before, but it makes sense," Fullerton explained.

Algernon nodded. "Ever since the exodus from Earth, the only planets you've ever dealt with have been non-magical. Once the necessary changes to chemical and biological reactions were rediscovered and calibrated, there was no way to compare Earth against the new planets. And the new planets maintained the same altered effects as on the ride over."

"But the Pax was a massive, environment affecting drug introduced into the air and atmosphere," Fullerton continued. "Magic is like life in that it seeks out equilibrium in things, and it tries balance out effects, particularly something as major as a complete change to the air and atmosphere."

"Wait a second," Jayne said scrunching up his eyebrows. "Are you saying magic made the Reavers?"

"Not exactly," Fullerton replied. "If you're looking to assign blame, then I suppose it would be Miranda that made the Reavers."

"Bitch," Jayne mumbled.

"Wizards have always had slight differences from muggles, simply due to the presence of magic. Many illnesses are less likely to afflict magical people, like most forms of cancer, but a common cold they can catch just as easily. Of course their much longer life spans are due to the magic within them. It's not unlike having an immune system for your immune system."

"You're healthier, live longer, I get it," Mal said. "Do I need to understand anything else in that?"

Fullerton shook his head. "No, that's the gist of it. But that's a big part of why we are different. The M-gene itself doesn't make us all that different; it's the M-gene that facilitates the differences, usually through the presence of magic. That's why the adverse reaction to the Pax was not a result of the M-gene, it was the planet introducing an alternate environmental effect and the only people susceptible to the planet's response were those with the M-gene."

Jayne raised his hand. "You lost me there."

"Okay," Fullerton tried again. "This isn't quite right but will illustrate the point I'm trying to make. Let's say the Pax put thirty million doses of mild anti-aggression into the air for the thirty million people there, right?"

Jayne smiled and flashed a thumbs up following him so far.

"Now, on a magical planet, nearly everything, even the air, contains some measure of magic. Since there's a mild anti-aggression in the air that is new to the environment, the magic will try to create a balance."

"Magic can do that?" Jayne asked curiously.

"Taken literally, that's not exactly…" Fullerton said, noticing he was losing Jayne he quickly amended, "For the purposes of this explanation, yes."

Jayne nodded and gave another thumbs up.

"So the magic is then creating a mild aggression into the air, to balance out the mild anti-aggression the Pax represented," Fullerton explained. "Now the drug was designed for there to be a mild anti-aggression in the air, so it mutated and evolved the strength to increase it to a point where there were… say 10 particles per thousand of anti-aggression. Magic keeps going until say there are 100 aggression particles countering 110 anti-aggression ones, thus ensuring the equilibrium of ten anti-aggression the drug intended. You all still following me?"

"How much is ten particulars per thousand?" Jayne asked with his hand in the air.

"It's a measure of the volume of the drug in the air," Fullerton explained. "I just made up that number though. We don't know the actual measurements."

"Okay," Jayne nodded. He paused a moment and tried asking, "Then how much is a hundred?"

"We don't actually know any measurements," Fullerton repeated slower looking straight at Jayne. "I just said ten and one hundred so you'd have a point of reference. Okay?"

"Yes," Jayne nodded.

"Are you just saying that?" Harry questioned wondering why Jayne was smiling.

"I don't know the actual answer to that," Jayne replied uncertainly. "I just made that up too."

"Magic made the Pax a lot stronger," Harry explained simply.

"Got it," Jayne said and nodded to Fullerton. "Go ahead."

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. Yes, our theory is that the drug's reaction to a magical planet was an unexpectedly significant increase in potency. But now here is where the differences of having the M-gene mattered. Those without the gene, and therefore, ability to interact with whatever piece of magic made this happen were then inundated with the increased anti-aggression levels, and in turn they received none of the increased aggression to counter it, resulting in the tragic deaths of 99.9 percent of the population."

"So magic killed them," Mal stated simply.

"I was going with Miranda for now, but you could argue for magic just as easily as Miranda, or the Pax, or the Alliance." Fullerton said with a wince. "But here's where the flip side of the chemical reaction happens. Magic isn't quite the same as biology and science, so the increased aggression in the air wasn't simply just floating around balancing the anti-aggression. That's a piece of magic and it had to latch onto something. Our theory is that it went to one of the only places it could, the people who were responding to the aggression and not just the anti-aggression. This is why those people with the M-gene received a more potent anti-aggression from the Pax crossed with Miranda and but also a more potent aggression multiplied by a thousand from the environmental balance."

Algernon added, "Hence super-aggressive tendencies and so many chemical reactions to those areas of the brain that normal brain activity can't even continue."

"Resulting in the slaves to instinct and impulse for rage and anger," Fullerton continued. "I wouldn't be surprised if their brains cannot even process standard stimuli or go through any sort of critical thinking. Only the most base of instincts and responses can get through: hunger, adrenaline, a desire to hunt. On an instinctual level, they are capable of semi-normal things like flying a ship, but only because it leads them towards prey."

"So the planet made most people so lazy they died," Jayne attempted to summarize. "And it made the rest of the people a thousand times as crazy as the others were lazy?"

Fullerton seemed to frown but thought for Jayne's purposes that would do. "Close enough, yeah."

"So you've got a theory that sounds viable enough on how Reavers came to be and how they tick," Zoe clarified. "And now you think you can whip up some magical solution to fixing their heads?"

Fullerton shook his head. "We don't need to. If these assumptions are right, curing them will be quite simple."

"And how's that?" Mal questioned not in the mood for guessing games.

"The scientists already have," River answered.

"The Pax?" Simon asked already knowing the answer.

"Exactly," Fullerton nodded. "The Pax works, it always has. But without an understanding of magic and how it could be a factor, you would never be able to determine what went wrong when they introduced it to Miranda's air. You'd never know why and how so many varied reactions were differing from every test they'd done previously."

"You're going to need a really high concentration of it," Simon mused. "At least a thousand times what was introduced to the Miranda air."

"It actually won't be that difficult nor dangerous to anyone else," Fullerton explained. "We're going to be administering the Pax intravenously, rather than diluting it into the air."

"The exact dosage will only be discovered through experimentation," Algernon said. "But essentially, we need only capture a Reaver, inject their bloodstream with liquid Pax, and observe how aggressive it makes them, raising and lowering the concentration until we get them within standard levels."

"If we can medically or magically figure out an easy way to specifically monitor the chemical levels, that'd be of course preferred," Fullerton commented.

"You're planning on curing the Reavers," Mal said shaking his head in disbelief, "with the Pax."

"I can imagine how unconventional that may sound," Fullerton commented, "considering it was the Pax that indirectly led to the creation of the Reavers. But this is only a first step towards helping the victims here."

Algernon nodded. "Without actually trying or having one to examine, we have no way to know what sort of long-term memory capabilities Reavers are capable of."

Harry stood up and turned to the others. "If they manage to retain the memories of their actions as Reavers, then it's possible giving them the ability to think critically again may be doing more harm than good."

Fullerton continued, "Right now, we're guessing it's unlikely they'll remember everything, and the parts they do remember won't feel… normal. Without the ability to make conscious decisions or to have comprehension, then the most retention would be that of an out-of-body experience."

"As opposed to the Imperius Curse, where you do have comprehension and understanding, just not free will," Algernon explained before noticing all the blank faces. "But you probably don't know that curse."

River smiled. "Harry uses it a fair amount."

Fullerton and Algernon gave Harry scandalized looks.

"Oh like you're gonna tell the Ministry or ship me off to Azkaban," Harry argued. "It's quicker and cleaner than compulsion charms and easier to do silently."

"Yes, well," Fullerton tried to get back on track. "Our hope is that once we stabilize their aggression, they won't remember much."

"We've got some options depending on what they want to do," Harry said.

"And if they want to die?" Mal asked seriously.

Harry winced, but had discussed this possibility with Fullerton and Algernon. "Then we'll offer them clean and simple ways to do that too. But the main thing is if we can leave that decision up to them, we're going to."

"If?" Inara asked curiously.

"Yes, if," Harry repeated. "We are not misunderstanding the danger that Reavers pose, and we want no one to hesitate to put them down. But if we can capture them and help them, then that's worth the effort and the risk."

"The idea of saving even only a thousand would be so much more helpful to the future of the wizarding world," Algernon explained. "And the situation is too fortuitous to pass up."

"Wouldn't getting people to settle again, give you the same thing though?" Kaylee asked. "I mean if you got… a million settlers then you'd still have a thousand people with the M-gene, right?" Kaylee considered the math and asked Simon, "Right?"

"The number of M-gene carriers would be the same," Fullerton answered. "But curing a thousand Reavers would be far more valuable than a million settlers."

"Huh?" Kaylee asked.

River jumped in, "With a million settlers, you can't tell them all about magic. And the vast majority of people won't benefit the wizarding world any. With a thousand Reavers, any and every family in the future will be magical. Everyone will know what's happened and there won't be any secrets about magic on the entire planet."

"Miss Tam is correct," Fullerton nodded. "Added to that fact is that the goblins outnumber the wizards and trying to hide their existence would prove troublesome."

"Oh yeah," Kaylee said. "Okay then."

"You sound like you guys have made up your mind," Mal said. "Harry? You made up your mind?"

Harry sighed and asked, "Fullerton, Algernon?"

"Take your time," Fullerton said. "We needed to talk to Digdug too. Thank you for hearing us out, Captain Reynolds. If any of you have any further questions, feel free to ask."

Fullerton and Algernon left the bridge to walk back towards the cargo bay and the rest of the wizards.

"Harry?" Mal repeated.

"Have I made up my mind?" Harry pondered the question. He frustratingly answered, "No, I haven't."

"Because all that planning sounded like a buncha minds' that have been made up," Mal commented.

Harry nodded. "This plan, this little presumptive course of action, has been decided on. This is what the wizards are going to try and do, but it's likely to change depending on just which assumptions turn out inaccurate."

"Err… Harry?" Jayne asked curiously.

"This is what the wizards need to do," Harry answered knowing what Jayne was confused about. "Their minds have been pretty much made up. I on the other hand haven't decided how much I'm going to help them, whether I even want to get you all involved any more than you already are, whether I should stay with them, whether I should go with you, or what."

"Do you not want our help?" Zoe inquired.

Harry shrugged. "There are maybe two guys who would know the first thing about piloting among the wizards. Buying a ship, making sure they knew what they needed to fly, would leave a couple of newbies who couldn't outmaneuver a Reaver in an aerial battle if they tried. And Fullerton would deem it a painful necessity to essentially kidnap, control, and manipulate another crew and ship. No one wants that simply because at the core of it, it's morally wrong but the ends justify the means and all that rot."

"You don't think anyone else would help you freely?" Inara asked.

"Me personally?" Harry answered. "Yeah, I might be able to call on a couple of friends like Monty or Duncan and all their people. But then we're talking about explaining magic again and trying to get them to understand our needs. All the potential risks and dangers would be the same, maybe even higher simply because you all have more experience with Reavers than anyone. Not counting the fact that you're the only people who've ever returned from Miranda."

"Would more hands make a difference?" Jayne asked.

Harry shook his head. "I doubt it. More wands might, but there ain't anymore folks like that in the 'verse I reckon."

"So what makes you think we'd be a help?" Mal retorted.

Harry said. "You got a ship, you got guns, you got pilots, you got a willingness to help me, you know about magic, you know about the wizards, you know about Miranda, and I trust you all more than anyone else." Harry smiled wanly and clarified, "Including when to tell me no."

"So if we told you to forget the wizards and let them deal with Miranda, you're saying you would?" Simon asked curiously.

Harry winced and replied, "I'm saying you're the only people whose opinion matters that much to me."

"Why?" River asked with a grin.

"Why what?" Harry asked not liking her vindictive smile.

"Why are we so important to you?" River stated. "You've known us, what, a handful of months? For someone who's lived for over century and a half, you've not even known us for a percent of your life."

"Fair enough," Harry admitted, seeing all the inquisitive looks they were giving him. "You all know roughly what my life was like before I took a nap. It was boring. And depressing. When I had Luna it didn't matter, but after she died, we'd relied on only each other for so long I didn't realize how distant I was from everyone else. Nearly all my friends, co-workers, and classmates had died, not that I even had a best friend or much of a confidant aside from my wife. And everyone I met knew me, had preconceptions of me, had an opinion of Harry Potter before I even knew their names. I didn't let it bother me too much… but I mean, putting myself to sleep is to take a very real risk of death, or never waking up. Healthy, happy people don't do that. Those wizards did it out of it necessity, because they want to save the wizarding world. My reasons were far more selfish."

"I thought you did it so you could do some good," Simon reminded, "where you could have Dark Lords to fight and all."

Harry shrugged. "Those reasons are as viable as the wizards' argument that helping to the cure the Reavers is because they're just innocent victims of an unfortunate experimentation the government is making no effort to help. While true, and perhaps one could convince themselves that way, it's the other motives that make it easier to justify the risk. The fact is the Reavers are a quick and easy way to jumpstart the wizarding world. And going to magical sleep gave me a chance to avoid my boredom and inability to deal with the life I'd made.

"It doesn't mean the other reasons aren't true, just that they're not the only ones. And they may or may not even be the ones that matter most to the wizards or in my case, me." Harry saw they were paying more attention to him than they had been Fullerton's explanation. He continued, "Anyways, when I woke up, I had a puzzle. I needed to figure out what happened and how I got here. I took a couple years, met some good folk, but not a lot of clues for my puzzle."

"Until you laid a wet one on River," Inara pointed out.

"Right," Harry nodded and chose to rephrase her comment, "Until I met you all."

"So why are we so much more special than the other good folk?" Kaylee asked coyly. "Or should I say who?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm speaking from the heart here. Do you really need to unsubtly needle me more?"

Kaylee just widened her eyes and continued to act innocently.

"Yes, helping River gave me purpose. You've all become very close friends and it's been wonderful here. I like it here. I don't wanna go," Harry said, his eyes shining with honesty. He took a deep breath and admitted, "But I don't want any of you hurt for a problem that shouldn't be yours to deal with."

"This is stupid," Mal said getting up to go. "Harry, your problems are our problems when we make them ours. Jayne's ma wasn't your problem, River's head wasn't your problem, Inara's status with the Guild wasn't your problem. All this schmaltzy talk is giving me a headache. Let's get to Miranda, and get this over with." Mal walked off the bridge shaking his head. "You're turning into a woman, Harry."

Harry couldn't help but smile. "I love you too, Captain."

Mal called out from down the hall, "You try to hug me and I'll shoot you."

"Seriously, Harry," Zoe got up to follow the Captain. "We just wanted to make sure you weren't trying to get us killed. You didn't have to get all emotional on us."

Harry just smiled as they all tiredly got up to leave.

"I think he was almost crying," Simon said to Kaylee, ignoring Harry as they walked past.

"I know. I'm the one who's supposed to be having mood swings," Kaylee wryly admitted, "the big baby."

"Pull yourself together man," Jayne added before stopping to ask seriously, "I can still shoot some Reavers, right?"

Harry chuckled. "I'll be asking Duncan to get us a bunch of tranquilizer guns, so yes, you'll get shoot some. We can practice on Simon if you like."

"Excellent," Jayne agreed, having decided he'd done enough thinking for the day.

Everyone had left the bridge leaving Harry alone with River.

"Not going to mock me for being a nancy boy?" Harry asked, settling himself into the co-pilot's chair.

River shook her head. "I think they covered it pretty well."

"You going to be able to handle this?" Harry asked her seriously, having not really talked to just River in a while.

"You're going to be there with me, aren't you?"

Harry smiled over at how vulnerable and childlike she sounded.

River saw Harry's face and started snickering. "You're such a sissy."

Harry grumbled and looked forward into the black. He was ready for some Reavers.

The tension in the air was rising. The past few days were nothing but anxiety and worry over what was to come. Four hours ago, River brought Serenity to a complete stop and killed her engines. They sat still in the black while Harry and Fullerton weaved both a disillusionment charm and muggle aversion charm onto the outside of the ship. They considered attempting a Fidelius Charm on the ship, but Serenity's mobility and the lack of anchored space to a planet, meant the charm probably wouldn't do anything. Or at least wouldn't act in the manner they'd hoped.

Inara was with them in her shuttle while they attempted the spell work from the space just in front of Serenity. The disillusionment was acting up, flickering in and out, so they put on spacesuits and were going to do the spells from positions directly on the ship. Unfortunately, the muggle aversion kicked in while Harry and Fullerton were out in space and they could only watch in shock as Inara took off in the other direction.

Harry climbed his way back onto Serenity and explained what happened, and why Inara was struggling to come back, despite carrying on conversations with the crew. Mal and Harry hopped into the other shuttle and hunted her down. Harry boarded her ship, tied Mal's shuttle on, and flew them all back to Serenity.

It took a bit longer than expected, but the two charms were eventually successfully cast on Serenity. Harry cast separate disillusionment on both shuttles, just in case they were needed.

Eight wizards were positioned at strategic points throughout the ship and they had practiced casting pooled shields to cover the entirety of Serenity. Each wizard had a partner there to keep them company and take their place if need be.

River fired up the engines at less than half burn, and they carefully and quietly cruised the rest of the way towards Miranda. They knew they were getting close and had seen no signs of derelict ships, no signs of traffic, and no signs of Reavers.

The entire crew was crowded onto the bridge, looking out the windows, hoping to spot any signs of danger.

"How close are we?" Mal asked for the first time in over an hour.

"About ten minutes from Miranda," River answered.

"I don't like this," Mal grumbled feeling slightly nauseous with worry. "We've not seen anything."

"Where are they?" Jayne wondered aloud. "This place was crawling with them when we were this close last time, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Zoe replied. "We've been in the restricted air space for two hours now."

Harry sighed and began to play with his magic. He was pooling it in his hand, and then releasing it, letting it flow through his body, just to calm himself down. After a minute, he asked, "Do you think they went somewhere else?"

"Where would they go?" Jayne asked. "I thought they liked staying in space."

Harry shrugged. "The pickings in these areas have to be pretty slim especially considering this is restricted air and lack of travel. Could they have headed a few moons over?"

"I don't think so," River answered immediately.

"Why not?" Kaylee asked, noticing River's tone of voice.

"Because our radar just lit up like a Christmas tree," River replied.

Mal hurried over and looked at the sensors. "Tyen-sah duh uh-muo," he cursed. "They're there alright. Though it looks like they're a lot closer to the planet this time."

"Is that good or bad?" Harry asked.

"It's Reavers," Jayne answered. "It's probably bad."

"Slow us down, River," Mal ordered. "We don't want to attract any attention."

"You sure we're not going to show up on their sensors?" Mal inquired once more.

"They won't be able to identify us. They won't be able to lock onto us. And as long as we go slowly enough, they won't care," Harry replied. He quietly added to himself, "I hope."

"I heard that," Jayne mumbled back.

"There's no way to know what sort of ships or sensors they're using," Harry remarked. "We can mask the heat, we can mask the engine noise and emissions, but…"

Mal sighed and was looking at the screen. "There's an awful lot of 'em. You take it as easy and slow as you can, River."

"I'm on it," she agreed, setting the engines to a gentle coast. "We should have a visual."

"We got one," Simon said looking out the window with wide eyes.

"Shee-niou," Kaylee swore. "There are a lot of 'em."

"I'm going try and fly under them," River commented as she steered Serenity into a slow gentle dive.

"Uhh," Simon glanced back. "It looks like they're moving."

"Which way?" River asked unable to tell significant shifting on her screen.

"Right at us," Simon answered.

Mal closed his eyes and looked down. He walked towards the two extra wizards just outside the doorway, "Fullerton, make sure your men are ready."

"We're ready, Captain," Fullerton assured him. "Say the word in the intercom and the shield will be up."

Mal nodded and turned back.

"Are you certain they can't see us, Harry?" River asked. "Because they sure look like they're moving the same directions we are."

"Have they fired at us?" Harry asked.

"No."

"Then I doubt they can see us," Harry answered.

The nervous anxious group slowly weaved their way through the first wave of Reaver ships idling in space and slowly roving the area.

"Just don't panic," Harry told everyone. He saw a flash of light indicating a shot aimed straight at their location. "Oh crap."

"River!" Mal snapped.

"Taking evasive action," River barked as she sharply turned the ship down and away. She tapped the thrusters and they burst out of the path of the cannon fire.

"Wait!" Harry called out, when he saw Mal was about to call for shields.

"What?" Mal asked hurriedly.

"You call for shields, and they will be visible," Harry replied. "The Reavers will see them for sure. Look!"

Mal turned to see where Harry was pointing. He noticed the Reavers ships weren't converging on their location, but rather shifting about in confusion.

"They've got some sort of sensors that picked up a general location, but they cannot see us," Harry explained. "That was just a test. Once we put up that shield, they will see us."

"Hang on folks," River called out as she again hit the thrusters and swerved them out of the way from another exploratory shot.

"River," Harry called out. "You see that big ugly ship, halfway up on your right?"

"Yeah."

"Take us up there and we'll hide under him," Harry suggested. "Give us a minute to regroup."

"On it," she replied and angled Serenity up towards the ship. River worked her way right underneath the massive floating behemoth that was easily three times the size of Serenity. She set the engines to idle, but kept her hand on the thrusters, just waiting.

"Why don't they want to run away from us the way I did?" Inara asked heatedly.

"You have to notice us, for the charm to make you want to go somewhere else," Harry answered. His mind was working furiously, as he continued, "But right now, I'm not sure those are even working on the Reavers."

"You got a plan here, Harry?" Mal asked, not particularly liking this situation.

"Yeah," Harry said. "It's time for the diversions. We take the shuttles out, get the Reavers fighting each other, and sneak on outta here in the mess that follows."

"Eep!" Kaylee yelped as River tapped the thrusters and Serenity lurched forward. River slammed on the brakes, ensuring they didn't move much.

"Sorry," River replied. "Another exploratory shot."

"They're firing again!" Simon yelled out.

"Not at us," River said shaking her head. "They're aiming at the ship above us."

"Ain't they running without containment?" Jayne asked as the blast slammed into the massive ship above them.

"SHIELDS!" Mal screamed into the intercom just as the Reaver warship hovering directly on top of them exploded in a brilliant flash of light.