Malcolm Reynolds walked through the halls of his ship. His mind heavy with all his crew had been through. The crew was still jumpy, after the last bounty hunter somehow snuck onboard their ship. After everything they knew of River was confirmed. After Inara said she wanted to leave the ship.

The crew was shaken, and truthfully, so was Mal. His crew was his family... and with Inara leaving... it cut at his soul, just a tad more then a little.

After they reached their destination... Inara would be getting off the ship. Her things were packed, and a farewell party had been thrown. With less then a day before they reached the World Inara would call home... this was really happening.

He almost wished something would happen, just to delay the inevitable.

"Mal," Came the panic voice of their pilot, Wash. "You better get up here."

"I said 'ALMOST'!!!" Mal screamed at non-existent heavens. Before running up the stairs, to the Cockpit.

He found River running around, messing with all the controls. Which Wash kept running over to, correcting her.

"Mal!!!" Wash screamed seeing him. "You got to stop her!!! She keeps trying to change course."

Mal groaned. He seriously wasn't in the mood for this. Just as He was about to scold the girl. She stopped, and looked straight at Mal.

"We need to go," She pointed at a particular dot on the screen. "Chess Master is going to send him back there!"

"River?" Mal tilted his head, motioning her to continue.

"Old Chess master, plays with peoples lives, hurts children to get what he wants. Thinks himself a hero, but in truth he's a bigger monster then those he fights!"

Wash suddenly looked worried. "Alliance? Do you see more like you."

Mal sighed, "We can't help them River. You're enough of a handful."

"Not Alliance, tiny little king of a tiny little hill. But Magic dances in his veins."

"Right..." Mal frowned. "Gather your thoughts, ya need to talk sense if we're to listen."

River growled, tugging at her hair. Then she took in a breath. "He's only 11." she stressed, "Bad people hurt him, blinded by hate. We need to save him."

Mal groaned, sounded like River was picking up the panicked thoughts of an abuse victim, on some backwater... and she was right. They couldn't just leave him there.

"Lay in a course." He told her.

Wash spoke up, "Mal, I'm all for helping the innocent. But where she wants to take us is passed known Alliance space. Not only will we run out of fuel, long before we get there, we don't even know if anything is waiting for us. Even if we had the coin to stockpile that much fuel. It will take us MONTHS to travel to that rock."

Mal frowned, turning to River. About to give the bad news. When she spoke up again.

"Little boy covered in blood, has to clean the stains as it drips from him. Then locked in his cupboard when he fails, no table scraps for a week."

Mal just stared at her. Suddenly understanding why she was so keen on saving this boy. Then, he said something he never thought he would. Something he swore he never would. "Let me see if I can get Inara to fund our trip."

Harry Potter sat in Dudley's second bedroom. Eating his can of cold soup. He never expected the Dursley's to feed him so much. Yet he had been spoiled by the three square meals he had been given, while at school.

The Dursley's were hesitant to shove him back in his cupboard. So instead they locked him into one of the extra rooms. Putting bars on the windows... At least they let him keep his owl. Even if she was trapped in her cage.

Suddenly, the world began to shake. And Outside his window... Harry gaped at the flying metal bug thing, that parked itself on the road.

Soon after there was the sound of the door crashing in, followed by gun shots. Then all was quiet. Until his own door was kicked open.

"Harry Potter?" asked a tall, strong looking man, dressed in different shades of brown.

Harry hesitantly nodded.

"I'm Captain Malcolm Reynolds," gently informed the Captain. "I'm here to rescue you."

River smiled, as the children were brought on board. The fat child was screaming and crying, with Jayne wondering why they had to bring him.

"Evan's Blood will protect Evan's Blood." River informed. "We just need to get them to the Goblins."

"There are Goblins now!!!" Jayne gaped.

A dark skinned woman sighed. "You can't take everything she says literally." Reminded the first mate, Zoey.

River glared, "But you can trust some things to come out her mouth. She takes medicine now." She reminded.

Zoey sighed again. "I know, sweetie."

Jayne scowled, "The boy in the cupboard was- You should have seen how much dried blood was in that thing! Mal was worried we were too late."

"You know about my cupboard!?" a little boy, far too small to be nearly 12, gaped at them. As he walked onto the ship, besides Mal. "Did Dumbledore send you?"

River frowned, as Mal closed the docking bay doors. She insisted. "Little Proglet should not trust the Chess Master." but the boy didn't seem to have the slightest clue what she was saying.

"Wash," Mal hit the nearby comm panel. "Take us out of the world."

"We need to get to Diagon Alley," River began.

"Later," Mal informed. "Once the local feds calm down."

"There missles aren't strong enough to get through our armor." River assured.

Mal sighed, "Well that is a comfort. No sense in antagonizing the locals."

Once they were safely parked on the Dark side of the planet's moon... the crew were just now processing what they had done.

Dudley was still screaming his head off. While Harry was looking out at the moon. The entire crew was with the kids, in the cockpit, Watching the boys as they broke atmo.

"I... didn't know wizards had Space ships." No one had ever mentioned it before. Harry continued staring into the black.

"Wizards?" Simon, the young doctor scrunched up his nose.

"He's like her..." River was running her fingers through her hair. "Before she went to the Academy."

Harry frowned, looking over at River, before looking back at the stars... "You aren't wizards." Harry realized.

"Their aliens!!!" Dudley continued to panic. "Their gonna probe us!"

River just smiled.

Inara sighed, "It's more complicated then that."

She then went through a crash course of the history for Earth-That-Was. How it died from over population, pollution, and over consumption of all resources. How they fled in generational vessels... but some of the ships decided to sail in different directions. The boy's own planet, was likely colonized by one of those ships.

River decided to add, "History fades to myth," she spoke eerily. "Myth fades to legend... legends are inevitably forgotten. Too many wars, to much knowledge lost... not enough help. You're Readers going into hiding didn't help."

"Reader..." Harry frowned before it clicked. "You're a witch!"

Simon was about to object, when River confirmed "And you're a wizard."

Everyone froze.

River knelt down, and got on eye level with the little boy. "Bad people tried to 'stomp your magic out', did worse to me. Cut her open, found ways to use it for themselves... but she escaped... then she heard you calling. Your pleas echoed through the stars, and she heard. She's come to save you... as others did for me."

Mal sighed, he didn't like complicating things... and River always did complicate things.