Harry was cleaning some pots and pans when he heard the engines spool up as Jayne and the captain came in with the bigger man taking a seat at the table while Mal continued on to the cockpit. He let out a sigh and prepared a cup of tea and placed it in front of Jayne who sniffed and grimaced. "Don't drink none of that girly stuff," Jayne stated.
"It's lapsang tea Jayne, it's perfectly fine," Harry said over his shoulder. "It still has the same caffeine content as coffee but it's less bitter, so stop being a baby."
Jayne grumbled before taking a sip, he smacked his lips before nodding his head and taking another sip of the cup. "Hey, that's pretty good. Smokey, might go well with some whiskey," Jayne thought about how to 'spruce up' the drink with some booze.
Pulling out a flask from his pocket he poured a bit of the amber liquid in and gave it a swirl with the spoon. "Ooh, that's nice," Jayne commented on the new flavor.
"That might be too strong," Harry grimaced because if Jayne's cheap whiskey tasted anything like the Firewhiskey the twins had smuggled in during his fifth year, then that could definitely use something to sweeten it. Quickly going to the fridge he grabbed the orange juice and while it was made from mandarin oranges, it would still add some sweetness to the drink, plopping in a half a sugar cube and a splash of the juice into Jayne's cup the man barked out angrily and pulled his drink away.
"Don't be girlyfying my drink, I'll slug you," Jayne warned before taking another sip to see if he had to drown out the new additions with more alcohol. "Woah."
"See, I know what I'm doing," Harry smirked as he remembered that Lockhart wrote about how this was his preferred way drink, and it turns out that listening to the man had actually taught him something.
"Just don't tell anyone I was drinkin' this," Jayne said before finishing the cup and leaving it to Harry to clean up.
After a few minutes the captain came in to tell him they were going to have some shore leave on Persephone and would be attempting to sell off that gene seed case that Harry had managed to keep from the alliance military. But other than that Mal didn't have anything to say to Harry and left him alone.
It felt a little disorienting being on the ground after so long in space. One could get used to the gentle thrum of an engine or the soft vibrations that came with the aging craft. But it was nice to get fresh air every now and again. Harry was walking with the rest of the crew towards the markets when Kaylee noticed the pretty dresses in the windows. She was happy to talk about them and even commented on maybe purchasing one but for some reason the captain was in a sour mood so it was to his shock that Captain Mal would say such mean things about Kaylee looking like a sheep on its hind legs.
Harry boarded the atv with the others to return to the ship, leaving the captain and Jayne behind and it wasn't but a few hours later that they were all called into the kitchen to be briefed on this sudden job that the captain seemed to have acquired from a man named Badger.
After hearing the details Harry couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sorry captain, but you want to go to a fancy ball," his giggling was enough to cause the others seated around to smirk and snort. "Sir to quote a pretentious man, 'You would look like a sheep on its hind legs.' if you set foot in a place like that. Someone else would have to go instead."
Mal pursed his lips and nodded because the kid really nailed him with that one. "Alright alright, and just who would you have in mind, we aren't exactly picking from the cream of the crop here."
Jayne was dusting off his gun while Wash was scarfing on some snacks Harry had laid out. Shepard was looking around the table before speaking up. "I believe what the young man is saying is that he will go in place of you, as the scanners will most certainly detect the good doctor here if he was so much as within a mile of the building, then he would be the only option."
"The kid?" Mal scoffed at the notion of passing off the responsibility to his young chef. "It's my job."
"Sir," Zoe spoke up. "I kind of in a way agree with Harry, your decorum is not befitting a place like a high-class ball. If it was in a bar on the rim, you'd be my first choice. But you'd do something crazy stuck around all those rich, Core-types."
Mal really wanted to protest that he could behave himself, but he also knew that this event was the place to find stuck up 'war heroes' who served behind a desk and got shiny medals while everyone else died in the muck and then they'd brag about their tour of duty. "Alright maybe," Mal relented since he could admit that Harry might be a better choice. "But I wanna see how you can handle yourself around these people first. Can't have you chickening out."
Harry smirked and got up from the table and left the room long enough for them to believe he changed his clothes and freshened up, when all he did was transfigure some of his other clothes into a fancy suit, a metal pipe into a walking cane that he remembered belonging to Lucius and then slicked back his hair. Reentering the room to some dropped jaws. "I present to you, Lord Harrison James Potter-Black the Third, Margrave of Wales and Heir of Slytherin."
He sauntered over to the table with the same arrogant air of a Malfoy. He sneered as Snape would have while looking at Jayne before offering a smile. "So tell me captain, do you believe I would have difficulty fitting in?"
Jayne let out an appreciative whistle. "Damn sure he can, I almost decked him just for how he looked at me. Ain't never seen someone so smug."
"What's with all the fancy titles?" Wash questioned.
Resting on his walking cane Harry smiled at the pilot. "Easy, the longer my titles, the more important I have to be and thus, the less likelihood anyone questions who I really am. Can you imagine the scandal if someone tried to claim that I wasn't who I said I was, only to be proven wrong? Why it would ruin their reputation in front of their peers. No one would take that risk as I am clearly a young heir that spent my boyish years partying away in some remote paradise."
"Oh he's good, I almost believed him too," Zoe nodded to see that others at the table had been amazed at the transformation in front of them.
Mal snorted in amusement for how Harry was acting. "And if we almost fell for it, those rich idiots will eat it up."
Harry turned towards Kaylee and extended his hand out. "Of course I could not attend such an event without an exquisite woman on my arm, so Miss Kaylee, would you do me the honor of being my date to the gala?"
Kaylee blushed at the fancy offer, "Well gosh Harry, I'd love to."
"Fantastic, and it would seem that now is the perfect time for you to get the lovely dress you were eyeing in the shop." Harry grinned as he knew that Kaylee would be overjoyed to finally get that garment and have a reason to wear it.
The mechanic let out a squeal of delight and hurried to see if the store still had it for the night's ball.
"Look at it this way captain, even if the job falls through, at least we put a smile on Kaylee's face, so isn't that it's own job well done," Harry grinned at how sour the captain looked in the moment.
"Alright, you made your point," Mal tossed up his hands as he realized that half of Harry's performance was likely to get back at him for how he treated the young lady earlier. He could see that his comment earlier was unnecessary and he'd have to make time to apologize to her.
Harry felt pretty dapper as he waited for the porter to announce them.
"Miss Kaywinnet Lee Frye and Lord Harrison James Potter-Black."
He could see that face turned curiously to them, as it was obvious that no one recognized the names. But he assuredly patted Kaylee's arm as he led her down the steps. "So how's the first impression?" Harry whispered.
"It's so cool, look the chandelier is floating," Kaylee pointed with a look of wonder in her eyes.
Seeing her so happy made him feel pretty good, the last time he'd done something like this was a couple years ago at the Yule Ball, and he learned his mistake from that time and would definitely be attentive to Kaylee. "Maybe you can explain to me how they make that happen. But would you prefer to grab a bite before we hit the dance floor?"
Kaylee looked over the spread and the dancers twirling on the floor. "I wouldn't mind that, but shouldn't we find this Harrow guy first?" Kaylee questioned as Harry led her to the buffet.
"I doubt he's going to leave at the start," Harry shook his head while picking at some of the dishes. "We have some time to enjoy ourselves before we have to do our jobs."
"It's all so fancy," Kaylee exclaimed as she picked at the various foods on offer. Taking the first piece and plopping it in her mouth, she chewed for a bit before swallowing. "It's…"
Harry noticed that she was trailing off and the smile faltered. "Is there something wrong?"
"It's just, this is supposed to be expensive food, so why does the food you cook on Serenity with what we got taste better?" Kaylee tasted another hors d'oeuvre. "It's the same, it's good I guess, but I thought it would be something I could never have dreamed of."
"Well if it makes you feel better, I can whip you up something when we get back to Serenity," giving her the option to skip on the frou-frou food. "Would you like to dance in the meantime?"
Kaylee wiped her mouth with a cloth napkin and set down her plate. "I'd like that Harry. Sorry Harrison."
Chuckling Harry walked hand in hand onto the floor. Everyone else was dancing a simple waltz, so it wouldn't be too difficult to follow the steps. Harry could see that they were drawing attention to themselves, as they spun around the room he noticed that Inara was in the crowd and nearby was a man that fit the description of the target that the captain needed him to convince that the Serenity was the best choice to smuggle whatever goods off planet that he needed.
But he wasn't going to pull Kaylee off the dance floor, this gala would last for a few hours, Warric Harrow wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. And it would only serve to raise his guard if someone he didn't know showed up and just came right to him at the start of the ball. He was smart enough to not be that obvious about it.
Once he could see Kaylee's face get flushed from all the activity, he walked her off the dance floor, conveniently right next to Warric Harrow. "Good sir, if you would do me the honor of watching over my lovely date, I believe she needs some refreshments," Harry grinned at the lord.
The man cordially nodded and looked at Kaylee who was fanning herself. "Oh this place is a hoot," Kaylee said to the man. "More active than a loaded compression coil. Hot as an engine room in this thing too though. Didn't no one tell any of these gals that less is more?"
Harry missed how the Lord Harrow smiled at Kaylee's comments, as he was perusing the table for some refreshments he turned to his name being called.
"Harry," Inara said to get the young man's attention. "I wasn't aware that you had an invite."
Harry turned and his eyes widened at how sheer the fabric on the companion's dress was. Any thinner and it might as well have been transparent. Clearing his throat and looking away. "I uh… well, I managed to get my hands on a couple of tickets. A little bit of work for the captain," Harry admitted in a way the woman would understand that he was also here for business. "But look at how happy Kaylee is, couldn't not bring her as my date. Course she was my only option as I'm not going to try and bring a married woman as my date and well, Jayne just wouldn't look as good in the dress."
Inara snorted at the comedic nature of the statement. "No I don't think pink is really Jayne's color. But I'm sorry, where are my manners, Harry, this is Atherton Wing. Atherton, this is Harry, he's a good friend of mine."
Harry saw the rich man extend his hand, but he raised his two drinks and gave a curt nod. "Sorry mate, I do have someone whose throat is in need of parching, although," Harry looked past the couple to see that in this short amount of time Kaylee had drawn the attention of a number of gentlemen, all older mind you but she was chatting up a storm.
The companion let out a small giggle at seeing how much the engineer was enjoying herself, it would almost have been a surprise to her if she didn't know most of the gray-haired gents had expensive and antique ships that they collected.
Atherton's response was more of a derisive snort. "Yes, I was quite confused why you brought such a homely woman to an event like this, but I can now see the entertainment value, like letting a pig loose in a haberdashery."
Harry tightened his grip on the cups in his hand but held back his insult. Inara sensing that things could go sour quite quickly decided that at least greeting Kaylee would be enough for the night and she could keep Atherton away so the two could work their con. Coming back over Harry could see that Kaylee was explaining how an 80-10 was the same as an 80-04 with just different plating, not that he understood a lick of that, but seems the menfolk around her found it hilarious. "Here's that drink I promised you," handing her the goblet.
"Oh thanks Harry, I needed that," Kaylee took a sip before noticing Inara with her own date. "Inara hi, I didn't know you were at this party."
"It's the only party, she-beast" Atherton muttered and Harry tensed his jaw noticeably.
Inara ignored her date and gave Kaylee a hug while looking her up and down. "I see you got the dress that you wanted."
"I did," giving a twirl for the companion she was so happy to be wearing it. "It's so frilly."
"I can see you're busy though," Inara looked at the gentlemen who were waiting to pick her brain a bit more about engineering. "Would it be out of line for me to request a dance with your date?"
"With Harry, sure thing, I think I got all my dancing out of me when we got here," Kaylee waved off the two with her blessing.
"I'll just be a moment Atherton," Inara said to her date. "I need to ask Harry a few things, I'm sure present company should be sufficient to keep you from boredom."
After a few seconds the man released Inara and Harry noticed that Inara's arm was a bit red from how much pressure Atherton had on it. Gently taking her hand, he let her lead him onto the floor. "I'm not familiar with this dance," Harry informed the beautiful woman.
"Then just follow my movements," Inara smiled.
"Can't be that hard to want to follow you," Harry chuckled as he saw that Inara was a little surprised at his own flirting. "I noticed that your date is a bit…"
"Protective?" Inara questioned.
"A bit of a prick," Harry grinned as he could see that Atherton rather than engage with the others on the side was glaring at them the entire time. "He seems to view you more like property he's won rather than… well a person."
"For some they see their time with me as buying me," Inara said while spinning around Harry.
"Still, if I followed that logic, then shouldn't I treat you with the utmost care? I doubt that someone as pretty as you comes cheaply," Harry mused that this person was likely spending a not insignificant sum of money to have Inara's attention for the entire evening and possibly even later.
"Only if you expect to have more repeat performances," answering her dance partner's musings. "You can dip me now."
Harry tried and stumbled a bit, causing him to flail about before making sure to catch Inara before she hit the floor. He let out a nervous chuckle that Inara returned. "You're such a charming young man, one of many talents."
Rubbing the back of his head, Harry just offered a shrug. "Not really unless you count getting into trouble as a talent, if so then I am a master."
Inara couldn't see how Harry would be troublesome other than his need to jump into danger to help others, but that wasn't something she thought of as a negative. As they ended their dance and returned, Atherton roughly pulled Inara to his side.
"If you're done with the rabble," Atherton practically snarled. "I'll bid you all a farewell, now that you've returned what is mine."
Once again biting his tongue Harry because he would rather keep his head down, he plastered an obviously forced smile on his face. "That's all well and good. I did mean to speak to Lord Warric Harrow anyway. Kaylee, if you want to say goodnight to Inara."
He lifted his own glass to take a sip as Kaylee gave Inara a hug. "I'd prefer you keep your cheap whore away from what someone else paid good money for."
The ladies gasped, and Harry just screwed up his features. "Lord Harrow could you hold this for me," handing over his goblet before spinning and slugging Atherton in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. He sighed because surely this just botched the job for the crew, and he would have a hell of a job explaining to the captain how things went sour right at the end.
So he didn't pay attention when Atherton got up from the floor. "I accept," the man declared to the whole room that was watching this group's interaction.
Rolling his eyes, Harry turned back around to face the enraged man who seemed to be grinning more than Harry expected. "Accept what? That you're as pleasant as a troll's backside?"
Lord Harrow cleared his throat. "It's a challenge, you struck him and he accepts that you wish to duel."
"I hope you're prepared, boy," Atherton sneered at Harry who took a deep breath to calm himself.
"Fine, I've seen Jayne get in enough bar fights, I'm sure I can take him," Harry said while removing his outer robe. Only to be stopped by Inara. "What?"
"It's not a fist fight Harry," the companion informed him.
Lord Harrow looked sadly at the young man, "The duel will be in the morrow on Cadrie Pond."
"I hope you enjoy your last night, for tomorrow morning I will strike you down," Atherton happily declared.
Realizing that he was getting himself deeper into shit, Harry looked to Lord Harrow who seemed to have all the answers. "We'll put you up in lodgings for the night, to ensure that you don't disappear. I wouldn't blame you, he's a bit of a spoiled dandy, but he's an excellent swordsman. He's killed a dozen men with a long blade, you're just the only one who's ever given him a reason."
Inara cringed because she was well aware that Atherton spent a lot of his time practicing his sword. She didn't wish to see Harry killed all because he could no longer put up with the other's disparaging remarks. "He'll need a second," hoping that someone more experienced would take up the challenge for him.
"I'll do the job," Lord Harrow answered the call. "I'm quite interested in this business proposal you must have for me."
"Inara!" Atherton shouted as he made to leave.
The companion looked like she wished to stay and offer Harry some comfort for what she saw as his impending demise. But she also couldn't just abandon the client. So with reluctance she walked away with the man who paid for her time.
Harry hung his head before groaning. "You don't have to do that Lord Harrow." He recalled the last few times people had tried to fight for him, his parents, his friends, Sirius. Too many people and all were hurt or worse. "I'll fight him, just Kaylee, go back to the ship and let the captain and everyone else know what happened."
Kaylee bit her lip before giving Harry a tight hug. "Thanks for sticking up for me, even if you shouldn't have."
Harry returned the gesture. "Please, if he really was as noble as he was pretending to be, then he shouldn't say things like that about pretty girls like you. Just can't stand it when people like him think just because they got a bit of money that the rest of the world has to bend over for them. Those types of people always lead to more trouble than they're worth."
Kaylee smiled at Harry one more time before going to the shuttle that would take her back to explain the situation, maybe they could come up with a plan to rescue Harry before the fight.
"You're an interesting young man," Harrow commented. "Not many would pick a fight over a girl like that."
"Kaylee's my friend, and if you don't fight for your friends, who will you fight for," Harry said back only to get a bellowing laugh in response. The older man patted him on the back.
"Let's get you settled away for the night, you'll need all the rest you can get," Warric said while taking Harry upstairs.
After Harry was put in the room he heard the door lock behind Warric. "Not that I couldn't get out if I wanted to but…" he heaved a sigh and placed his head in hands. "I'd just be running again, always running. I'm tired of running."
Looking around the room he could see a few swords had been placed in the room, likely for him to practice with. But since the only time he'd used a sword was when he was twelve, and that had nearly killed him he doubted that a single night would be what he needed to get in all the practice he could. "Wish I still had Hermione's time turner, that'd be brilliant."
"Since I can't get better in enough time, then I need a better sword," Harry said to himself as he planned out what he might need to do. He was thinking about the best way to go about improving one of the swords in the room when he noticed a sparkling on the bed. Sitting up he saw reflecting in the moonlight that came from a window, the silvery metal of a jewel encrusted blade.
Tentatively reaching out he found that this wasn't a hallucination but reality. The Sword of Gryffindor had come to him in his time of need. He hefted the blade up and found that it weighed practically nothing, a few test swings and it was like he had been practicing for years. "It only takes in that which makes it stronger, so why wouldn't it take in the skills of the ones who used it," Harry chuckled before performing some more slashes. Setting the blade down carefully because he didn't have a phoenix on hand for the poison he removed a scabbard and used it for what was now probably his sword as he doubted that there was anyone else in the verse who was aware of its existence.
Deciding that he needed a shower he disrobed and was amazed at how much nicer this was than the one on Serenity. "Should steal this before we go," Harry commented as he washed away the sweat and grime he accumulated throughout the day.
He didn't want to stay in for too long so when he came out he was startled to see Inara had somehow let herself in. She was shocked that Harry had exited with only a towel on. So she quickly averted her eyes but she had still seen enough. "I um… came because there's a way out for you. The desk clerk will leave the back door open, you can run and get back to the ship. I'm sure Lord Harrow will be able to smooth things over with Atherton."
After stepping back out of the bathroom in some clean clothes that had been provided for him, Harry ran his hand through his wet hair. "I wish I could but… I've never been particularly good at running from my problems. They always just catch up to me sooner or later anyway. And it's always been worse whenever I do that. So I might as well stick this out, plus I think I might have a shot at winning this."
Inara clambered off the bed and hurried to Harry's side. "You don't have to do this. He's an expert with the blade, what chance do you really think you have?"
Harry let out a chuckle. "The number of times people, pfft animals, bigger, stronger and smarter than me have actively tried to kill me but yet I'm the one still here, even I don't know. What I do know is that my luck is going to run out one day but, I don't think it'll be for some rich jerk though. Plus, he insulted Kaylee and you. Someone needed to knock him in the mouth."
"But did it have to be you?" Inara sighed.
Placing a hand on her shoulder. "I think I was the only person in that room who cared about you two. So yes."
Inara reached out and grabbed Harry's shirt and pulled him into a searing kiss, stepping back and she kept him with her until they were on the bed. "You've never been with a woman have you?"
Gulping down his nervousness Harry shook his head. "N-no, I um," Harry tapered off with a blush on his cheeks.
"Then let me give you pleasure on what might be your final night," Inara breathlessly said as she started to disrobe the young man. She knew from their interactions that he fancied her, and she did as well, his boyish charm was endearing, he was the exact type of person who she would have crushed on if they had been the same age.
Harry was instructed without words, the woman on top of him only using her body to teach him the carnal arts. "Inara," he gasped out as she rode him to completion. As he lay panting on the bed, Inara gave him another kiss.
"Please try not to die Harry," she said as she left the room, knowing that she couldn't be caught in there lest Atherton claims conspiracy.
Resting on the mattress Harry watched the beautiful woman leave. "Bloody hell, now I really can't die. That was incredible."
The morning came too early for Harry's liking and he worried about how things on the ship were going without him being there. But he couldn't dwell on that for long, the dueling outfits had been provided and it would seem that this wasn't just going to be a private affair, there were a number of attendees, many of whom were from the party last night.
Inara was nervously watching from the side as Harry came out to stand with Lord Harrow. "I'm glad to see that you arrived. Though I would not have held it against you personally if you had found the back door of your lodgings had been mistakenly left open," Warric said to Harry as the pair watched Atherton prepare himself.
"Might have been the smart thing to do, but if you asked some of my friends, they'd tell you that's never been my strong suit," Harry watched as the officiator approached with a blade.
"No thanks, I'll use my personal sword for this," Harry said as he drew the Sword of Gryffindor from the scabbard. This declaration of not just owning a sword but one that put to shame all others that even these rich folks had seen caused gasps to ring out from the crowd.
"Well well, you grow more interesting by the minute," Warric grinned as he could see confusion in Atherton, as if he was mentally calculating the changes.
Harry approached and mirrored the proper dueling stance that had been taught to him in his second year. It turned out that wizard dueling practices evolved along the same lines as sword fighting and fencing, so he wasn't as nearly out of his depth as others might have believed.
"Begin," the judge called out and for a moment no one moved. Harry had been taught that it was never a smart decision to blindly rush in, not unless you had the speed, strength and power to overwhelm anyone you met. So it was Atherton who became tired of the wait and lunged at Harry.
Swirling his sword around Harry parried expertly to the clapping of the crowd. He strafed around to ensure there was adequate distance. "I'm surprised someone like you even knows which end to hold," Atherton mocked his opponent for a perceived lucky deflection.
"I aim the pointy end at you right?" Harry cheekily responded before stepping forward and swinging a high then following with a low that Atherton had to riposte. "Don't be scared you can always back down and apologize to Inara and Kaylee, no one would hold it against you that you recognized your betters."
That really got under the rich man's skin as he let out a roar and charged forward with a barrage of swings that Harry was finding easier and easier to block as time went on. Finally Harry found his opening and got in Atherton's space, striking him with the flat side of the blade and sending him to the ground.
Keeping the blade in front of his opponent the judge called for down. Harrow came over. "You have to finish it," the lord said. "To let a man lie there beaten and breathing, it makes him a coward."
"No it makes him alive," Harry said with a shake of his head. "I didn't want this fight anymore than for what he said about my friends, I don't have to nor do I want to kill a man for that."
Harry turned his back to see that Inara was relieved he had survived but the look of terror that crossed her features told him everything that was happening behind him. Spinning Harry swung the blade and felt it catch in the man's ribs, digging into the bone. Blood poured out of Atherton's mouth as he dropped his blade midswing. Letting out a sigh Harry withdrew the sword. "You could have lived a long life," He said to the man that was collapsing on the ground from his injuries, if that didn't kill him, the basilisk venom would. "It would have been an annoyance that you lost a sword fight but you would have been alive. Why?"
The man succumbed to his injuries before he could respond. Taking a deep breath Harry stomped over to the scabbard and sheathed the sword. Inara rushed over and checked Harry for any injuries. "I'm fine, just tired now."
Harry just wanted to get back to the Serenity where the fancy world of duels and rich people didn't affect him, but as he walked with Inara he found that Harrow was walking with him.
"You fight to protect your friends, now that deal you wanted. If you can promise me the same, I'll have my cargo hold loaded up by tonight," Lord Harrow smiled at Harry. "It's been a pleasure Lord Potter."
Bowing his head respectfully Harry walked off to the nearest shuttle that could take him to the ship. Entering up the ramp Harry saw that the crew had been kept waiting for him by who he presumed was Badger and his men. "Harry!" Kaylee exclaimed as she ran over. "You won? Of course you did. I was so worried."
Harry smiled before he felt Kaylee plant a kiss on his lips. "Um…" He stammered from embarrassment.
"That was for winning," Kaylee smiled before pulling him into a much softer kiss. "And that was for last night, you were a perfect gentleman."
"Hopefully we can do this again without another fight breaking out," Harry smiled because besides everything going wrong, it was something that Kaylee enjoyed.
"Not to break up this oh so happy reunion but do we have a deal or not?" Badger intruded. He quickly recoiled as Harry pulled his sword on him. There were still flecks of blood on the blade that were visible, enough for the bloke in front of him to gulp.
"I did, now get out here, I already killed one man today, I'd rather not kill anymore," Harry warned the man who just skirted around Harry and his men followed him.
Once the unwanted guests had left Harry was surrounded by the crew who wanted to check on him. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Can I just go lie down, I killed a man today."
Mal wanted to be sympathetic and let the kid go but there were a lot of questions he needed answered. He shouldn't have let Harry talk him into letting him go make contact. But from what Kaylee said, he would have ended up in the same situation, probably worse with how she said they were both being bad mouthed. Seemed Harry restrained himself more than enough. "Where'd you get the sword Harry?" noticing the gleaming, probably expensive weapon on his hip. It wasn't something he'd seen Harry walking around with.
"It's the Sword of Godric Gryffindor, it was forged in the tenth century and it's been mine since I was twelve," Harry answered.
"Now how's a little punk like you get a fancy sword like that?" Jayne questioned because while he preferred guns to blades, he could recognize what was a high quality piece, and even he knew that if it was a sword that old it was worth a whole heaping crap load to some rich guy buyer that collected old Earth antiques.
Harry just shrugged as he walked through the group. "Maybe I wasn't kidding about those titles I said," he smirked as the confusion and shock crossed the crew members' faces.
"Wait… but that-?" Wash scratched his head as Harry turned the corner to go to his room.
What happened when Harry was at the Gala
"Alright lady and gentlemen," Mal cleared his throat as he finished shuffling the deck. "You all know the rules, so let's deal 'em."
Simon sniffled. "Dishes," placing his opening bet down.
Book nodded his head. "Could do with less dishes myself."
"Garbage," Jayne tossed in his scrip.
"Don't need no garbage for me," Zoe agreed and bid that.
Wash looked at his cards. "Don't mind me some dishes, food makes it worth it. Latrine, that, don't want none of that."
Mal nodded his head. "I'm seeing a lot of little things, not much risk here, Septic vat."
That was the name of the game as they played cards and bet chores that they would want to get out of doing.
As the game was in full swing, Kaylee came running in. "We have a problem," she said to the room.
That put an end to things because coming back alone always meant that the problem was really bad. "Alright Kaylee, tell us what happened. Did you get made?" Mal asked as he sat his engineer down in a seat.
Kaylee took a breath and explained how things at the gala went when they arrived. "Oh you shoulda seen it, everyone was so shiny and they had a floating chandelier. It was so wonderful to be dancing, did you know Harry could dance? Because he can."
"Kay," Mal cleared his throat. "This is about the job."
"I'm getting to it," Kaylee whined because she wanted to have a chance to at least talk about the good parts of the night before she had to explain the situation Harry found himself in. "Now, Harry saw that Harrow guy, so once I was done dancing he sat me down with him while he got us some drinks. I just talked with him about the engines in the new Seraphim that just launched and how they are some goushi."
"I talked with a bunch of gentlemen who had bought their own luxury cruisers, they were some fun guys," Kaylee chuckled at how nice all those men were. "Then Harry came back with Inara, I didn't know she was there with her own date."
Mal cringed because he was aware that Inara had a date and that it was likely to be this very ball they were working. "Anyway the guy she was with was a total hwin dan. Harry and Inara looked so pretty dancing together."
"Wait," Mal raised an eyebrow. "Inara danced with Harry."
"Oh you should have seen them, she's always so beautiful but Harry was like a charming prince with her, apparently this Atherton guy didn't like that and he… well he said some pretty nasty things about Inara and me, so Harry sort of… socked him in the mouth," Kaylee admitted.
"And now he's gotta duel the guy in the morning and Atherton is supposed to be really good and he's killed people before in these," Kaylee whined. "We have to find a way out of there."
"A duel?" Wash questioned. "Like what, pistols?"
"No, swords, can you believe it?!" Kaylee corrected the pilot.
"Wu de ma," Zoe exclaimed. "Can these rich people do anything normal?"
"So what's the plan, we can't just leave him there," Simon chimed in because out of everyone on the ship Harry was one of the few people he considered a friend, but that was more to due with Harry being the only one younger than him that wasn't his sister and he didn't think Harry was anything more than a somewhat crafty weird teenager.
"We'll need to scout the building and see-" Mal started to say before a pounding on the hangar door brought up their attention. The captain went over and groaned because Badger had chosen that moment to stop by. "Badger, what do I owe the displeasure? We're kind of busy at the moment."
"Oh I'm aware," Badger sniffed while entering the ship. "Seems your boy managed to get himself into a spot of trouble."
Shepard Book, moved in front of the mob boss with a look of displeasure. "And we've been told that we have until the morning to get him out."
"You misunderstand, I can't let you go off and do this," Badger shook his head as his men came out with their guns drawn. "I do business with the people here. I can't let you all ruin my reputation by letting it be known that I brought someone in that caused this kind of ruckus. So one way or another, we're going to settle in until this is all done."
Author's Notes: I tried something different at the end of the chapter as you can see, normally the chapters are written from the perspective of the scenes that Harry is in or just about to enter, with the assumption being that if I don't write the scene then it played out as canon. But if this was a good addition, I can in future chapters add in more scenes like this, but I have the next chapter written and I'm working on the Jaynestown episode, but I might end up skipping Our Mrs Reynolds, mostly because I can't figure out how to make it interesting with Harry in the crew and it would just devolve into mostly pointless dialogue without any really juicy bits to the story.