Stepping into the Sky - Chapter 19

Taking a Breath

"You need to start explaining and it better make sense this time!" Mal was beyond pissed. Not only had they almost been caught by a Class 1 Alliance Battleship, they had left Paquin without collecting a reward from Zolo!

"Calm down," Harry said calmly. His green eyes radiated exhaustion but his mind was still sharp. Harry knew if he closed his eyes, he was going to be asleep for hours.

Beside him River sat cross-legged on the table staring towards the cockpit, through the little bit of window that was visible, out into the void. She had regained her calm and senses after Harry had redone the wards on her mind.

"I'll be calm once you start talking!" Mal slammed his hand on the table to emphasize his anger.

"I was lured into a trap," Harry said with a sigh. "They drugged me and tried to extort me."

"Gold diggers," Jayne grunted and slammed his jug of booze on the table. He was down to his third. Apparently getting knocked around and knocking people around made him thirsty.

"Are you alright?" Kaylee asked worriedly.

Harry laughed. Out of all the crew, Kaylee was without a doubt the sweetest and kindest. Of course he wasn't taking into account her sex drive.

"I'm fine," Harry said. "Drugging a wizard is never a good idea. I'm sure they learnt their lesson but that's not the point I was trying to raise. After they drugged me I went up the mountain…" He was interrupted by Inara's gasp. "… Where I found a secret Alliance facility," he continued.

Harry waited for the others to react and they didn't disappoint.

"What!"

"Did you see anything?"

"Oh my god!"

"Gorram balls! Did you kill anyone?"

Harry kept his eyes on River, who didn't so much as blink. He knew she already knew. He had let her take a short stroll in his mind. She was waiting for him to reach the interesting part.

"It was an experimental lab," Harry said quietly, turning his gaze on Simon, who looked thunderstruck. Kaylee slipped her hand into his and squeezed comfortingly.

"Did you find anything?" Inara asked softly.

"I…." Harry's voice broke and his breath hitched. A vivid image of two young children with bloody halo's flashed in front of his eyes. Nausea reared up but Harry held it back in his throat.

"It wasn't your fault Harry," Inara said softly. She gently placed her finger under his chin and raised his head to look into his anguished eyes.

"Harry," Mal began softly but impatiently and was silenced with a glare from Inara.

"There were kids inside," Harry said hoarsely, looking into River's eyes. "Like River." He looked away from River's brown eyes and glanced around the table.

Kaylee had her hands around her mouth and eyes wide. Inara looked sympathetic and Jayne, Zoe and Mal; stoic. Simon was trembling with rage.

"I killed them."

His eyes roamed from face to face, looking for an accusation, horror or disgust.

He saw horror alright, but it wasn't directed at him.

"Blue Sun," Simon growled.

Jayne refilled his jug and gulped it down, his eyes radiating haunted fury.

Inara had her lips pursed and Zoe's eyes turned to the cockpit.

"Were they… damaged?" Mal asked quietly.

"They were weapons," Harry sighed. He suddenly felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He knew it hadn't been his fault those innocent kids were dead but he had been worried by how the crew would react to his revelation. Now he felt light headed. "They reacted to the white coats commands and nothing else. Although…" Harry's eyes went wide. He suddenly remembered an important piece of information. "Malcolm!" he gasped.

"What's with the name calling Harry?"

"Not you!"

Harry turned to rush to his cabin but he stopped short when he saw River had beaten him to it and was holding the hand of a small boy and leading him to the Galley.

"Hi!" Malcolm said brightly. "My name's Malcolm Burke."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Mal didn't think his day could get any worse. He wanted to yell, rant and throw Harry into space and watch his eyes pop. Ever since Simon and River had come on board his ship, his life had become too interlinked with the Alliance for his liking.

He had been happy with the risk of living and smuggling on the Rim. It was dangerous, it was exciting and more importantly, it felt like freedom.

Now his responsibilities as captain were getting heavier with each tick of the clock. But he knew it was his duty as captain to keep the boat afloat. So he swallowed his anger, his desire to rant and his urge to toss the wizard's ass overboard and took a deep, calming breath.

"Isn't he cute, cap'n?" Kaylee said brightly. "Can we keep him?"

Little Malcolm was liking all the attention he was getting but he was not liking the biscuits the weird girl was trying to feed him.

"River. What are you doin?" Zoe asked exasperatedly. Little Mal kept turning his head away but River kept trying to force the biscuits into his mouth.

"He needs to eat," River explained.

Harry found it hilarious. River was being all motherly.

"River," Mal grumbled. "Would you stop for a moment and let him answer my questions?"

"You cannot interrogate him," she said seriously. "He's a minor. There are laws against this."

"River, I don't want to interrogate him," Mal explained with strained patience. "I just need to know who to contact to get him home!"

"Don't raise your voice," she hissed. "You'll upset him."

"River," Harry interrupted. He gestured to Mal to stand down. He could handle this. "Why don't you heat up some milk for little Mal? You'd like milk more than those biscuits wouldn't you little Mal?"

The small boy nodded and grimaced when the biscuit passed under his nose.

"Those are very bad biscuits," he whispered.

"I know," Harry laughed.

Kaylee looked at Inara and they both sighed. "Little Mal is just too adorable."

"Can we please stop calling him little Mal," Big Mal interceded. "It's making me uncomfortable."

Inara was ready to retort but Harry raised his arms to calm potential arguments. "Back to topic… please?"

"So, Malcolm. You were saying your daddy wears a uniform? What kind of uniform?"

"It's blue and it's shiny! Everyday people come and hit their faces when they see him. It's very funny," he giggled.

"Big shot," Zoe mumbled. "Probably part of the Military. This does not bode well for us."

"How long have you been away from home?" Mal asked.

Malcolm frowned and thought hard. He swung his little legs at random and frowned harder. "Daddy's friend took me away before my birthday. He got me cake and said mommy would come to visit. But she didn't."

River came back with the milk and tried to make him drink but little Mal wrapped his fingers around the glass and took it from her. River scowled and watched him until he drank every last drop.

"You think there's a missing report out there?" Zoe asked Inara.

"I don't know. We'll have to check the core database and I doubt it's a good idea to do it here. Not when a class 1 battleship is looking for us. We can't risk making any communications until we're on ground."

"Why don't we just drop him off at an Alliance check post and let them deal with him!" Jayne growled. "I don't see how this is our problem! Mal this is getting ridiculous. First we harbor a fugitive from the Alliance. Then we take in a gorram magic boy from Earth and now the son of some gorram Alliance big shot who has a healing touch?!

"This is not what I signed up for, Mal!"

"Calm down," Mal snapped. "I don't want him on the ship any more than you do. But if we just drop him off at any check post, he could end up with Blue Sun again. Do you really want to abandon an innocent child to that fate? And what if they trace him back to us?! What then?"

Jayne turned his angry gaze onto Harry. The big man was very intimidating when he was angry and Harry did not want that gaze focused on him when Jayne had a gun on his belt. The man was highly volatile.

"He can heal people, Jayne! Don't you see how useful that can be if you're wounded?"

"He couldn't heal River."

"River's missing a piece of her brain, you big oaf," Zoe retorted. "You can't heal something like that!"

"Never say never," Harry said. "He's young now. But if he can gain control over his powers, just think of the things he could do!"

"Enough," Mal said, putting his foot down. "We first need to find out whether his daddy wants him back. Then we decide what to do with him. Everybody alright with that?"

Everyone voiced their agreements. Some with reluctance and others with doubt. One just pursed her lips. She wanted to keep her new toy.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

It took a couple of hours for Serenity to feel normal again. Simon was with Kaylee in the engine room. Inara was in her shuttle, mapping worlds with potential clients. Jayne was dismantling and greasing his stock of weapons. River was missing. Zoe was with little Mal, talking and bonding with him. Harry and Mal were in the cockpit conversing at times and getting lost in thought the other times.

Most of their conversations were centered on where to go next. They were radio silent so they couldn't find jobs and they had to choose a planet wisely, where they could find shelter and work.

"We should go close to the core," Harry said. "Maybe Beaumonde. The twins could be a great source of info."

Mal was tossing one of Wash's beloved dinosaurs in the air absentmindedly but he snorted out loud at Harry's suggestion. "Yea right," he laughed. "Those bastards would sell us out the first chance they get."

"Not me," Harry said. "Plus I got funds and a home where we can lie low."

Mal shook his head firmly. "No. The Alliance knows who you are. They'll be looking for you and you can be gorram sure they're tracking any and all of your aliases. No. We have to find a place that they'd never suspect."

"The outer rim?"

Mal shook his head again. "If Fredricks is right, then we'll be dragged into a war I don't want to be part of."

Harry sighed. "We don't have a lot of choices, Mal."

"I'm thinking Valentine."

Harry frowned. "Valentine's in the core."

"It's not strictly monitored like the rest of the Core and it's accessible from the Border. We don't have a single contact on the planet and that makes it a planet to be overlooked."

"Makes sense," Harry said slowly. "But the space around the planet is monitored. They'll know we're there."

"Unless we have a wizard on board who can make us invisible," Mal said lightly.

"Not possible," Harry said immediately. "Using that much magic will definitely fry every electronic on the ship. We'd be invisible dead fish in space."

Mal frowned and looked at Harry curiously. "Not possible? Isn't magic supposed to make impossible things possible?"

"Hey." Zoe had come into the bridge. "Have you decided on a plan yet?"

Mal glanced behind Zoe, hoping the kid was not there with her.

"He's asleep," Zoe added. "River's watching him. She's surprisingly enamored by him."

"Kindred souls," Harry said softly.

Mal and Zoe said nothing. They understood what Harry meant.

"How does Valentine sound?" Mal asked Zoe, avoiding the topic.

"You askin me out cap'n?"

"Ha-ha," Mal said sarcastically. "I was thinking Harry could use his mojo to get us past the scanners without being seen."

Zoe nodded. "It's a good idea. The planet hasn't got much of a population and it's more of a retreat. Security will be less and Harry could do his teleport thing to get into the space station and disable the scanners while we descend."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "That makes more sense, Mal," he said with a small grin.

"What did you plan, Mal?" Zoe asked.

"Make the ship invisible," Mal muttered.

Zoe barked a laugh and shook her head in amusement. "Boys," she chuckled. "Being invisible won't make us invisible to scanners Mal."

"Well what do you think Harry? Can you teleport into the space station and disable the scanners before we're in range?"

"I don't even know what a scanner looks like," Harry said. "I don't mean to be a skeptic but your plan has a lot of holes in it."

Mal shrugged. "We'll plug the holes on the way and Zoe can teach you about scanners. "We're far out and our route will have to be through the less traveled space. We got plenty of time to make a solid plan."

"But-"

"Alright," Mal said loudly and clapped his hands. His eyes glinted with the promise of coin. Apart from being small and Alliance controlled. Valentine was one of the richest planets in the verse.

"Mal-"

"Oh come on, Harry!" Mal interrupted. He had made up his mind and there was no changing it. "You gotta push past your limits. Now come on. Let's inform the rest of the crew. I imagine Inara will be most pleased. Valentine is her kind of planet."

"Don't let her hear you say that," Harry muttered under his breath. He was worried about things more dangerous than apparating through space. How far could the Alliance sense his use of magic?

The question plagued his mind throughout the three week journey to Valentine and every waking moment he kept imagining a battleship descending upon them.

After all that had happened in the last 48 hours Harry was sure of only one thing. He was being hunted.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Location Unknown

Tom Riddle was distracted from his thoughts when he heard the hidden door creak open. A gust of freezing wind blew through the facility.

Someone uninvited was here.

Footsteps rushed inside and Tom stood his ground when half a dozen men stormed in with double barrel rifles, reminiscent of an age long gone. Shabby brown trench coats fluttered as they surrounded him and their faces were masked with a red cloth. They were dressed alike down to their green army pants, dirty white shirts and black boots.

Tom raised his hands lazily above his head. His wand had disappeared into his sleeve faster than a human eye could follow. "I come in peace," he said, fighting hard to keep the smirk off his face.

The 6 armed men suddenly became aware of the pool of blood they had stepped into and involuntarily took a step back when they noticed the carnage around them.

"Are you him?" a rough voice asked.

A new set of footsteps entered the facility and the men parted to reveal a seventh, unmasked man.

He too was dressed the same, except, his coat had a gold star on both shoulders. He was short, barely five and a half feet. His hair was black and short, and eyes narrow and small. His skin was brown and speckled with white spots.

The man was diseased and Tom had no desire to have him come any closer.

"Am I who?"

"A unique."

Tom made eye contact with the man and flitted through his mind and found the answer he was looking for.

He chuckled.

"Well?" The man demanded.

"Oh this is going to be fun!" Voldemort laughed uproariously.

His lips spread apart and his teeth gleamed white as he continued to laugh.

The strange men around him couldn't help but shudder. There was something terribly sinister about that laugh. It felt like they had inadvertently opened a box they should never have set their sights on.

The leader however was unaffected.

"Answer me now man," he growled.

"Yes," he said, his insane laughter settling to chuckles. "I am him. I am the one who will lead you to freedom!"

"Then follow me," he barked and turned on his heel to march out.

Rage suddenly boiled Tom's blood. These men thought he was a secret experiment. They didn't know the truth. All they knew was a powerful unique was hidden in this facility. A unique who was against the Alliance. A unique the Independents could use in their new war against the Alliance.

Clearly these men didn't have an inkling to his true stature and power! How dare they presume that he would follow them!

The raging thoughts lasted less than a second and Tom turned calm. He was beyond such petty emotions, no matter how often they came and went. He was an emperor, an immortal. His existence was an act of God.

He casually followed the men out of the steel facility into a desert. It was night and he could barely see a thing. There was a biting wind blowing against them and sand was whipped into the air and into their faces.

Tom reveled in the feeling of being in the open after years and grimaced when the sand bit into his face. Without much thought, he created a barrier of magic around his body. He wondered whether these men knew where they were going. They marched silently, trudging through the sand with practiced ease and Tom followed their sounds.

He looked into the sky and observed the stars and planets that brightened the midnight blanket.

The positions of the planets and stars were a dead giveaway.

He was in the Xuan Wu system and judging by the landscape and planets visible in the sky, he was most likely on New Kashmir.

Tom smiled. Beaumonde was not very far away.

"I can't wait to see you Harry," he sang softly.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Eta: 48 Hours to Valentine.

The black was Mal's calm. He found serenity in being surrounded by a vacuum of nothingness. It had been too long since he had enjoyed a journey without Reaver attacks, dodging Alliance radars, escaping from Pirates and unexpected malfunctions.

Even the arrival of an eight year old freaky kid who had been experimented on by even freakier Alliance scientists hadn't broken his calm. Inara and Kaylee were there to take care of the boy after River slowly lost interest in him.

He had been amused to watch Harry's reaction after the crazy girl focused her attention on him. From experiencing the thrill of pretending to be a mother, her focus had shifted back to creating her own mind shields, or occlu something as Harry called it.

There were times when River went gorram crazy after a session with Harry. She broke things, screamed and displayed general psychotic behavior. Zoe and Simon were always able to calm her down and little Malcolm's touch was literally divine.

Mal wondered what Shepherd Book would make of the boy if he were still alive. He would definitely call him a gift from God. Mal snorted, amused by his own thoughts.

Mal's calm was aided greatly by Jayne hiding in his bunk. The big man refused to be around so much crazy and retreated into his own crazy world of guns and explosions. There were days in the month-long journey when Mal actually missed the big guy's hilarious interactions with River and little Mal but he didn't miss them too much.

Watching him piss River off and getting his ass handed to him was not funny after knives and guns were drawn. Harry had had to use his magic tricks to break up the fight.

Mal played with Wash's dinosaurs sometimes and he even survived an entire 5 hours playing dino vs dino with little Mal and Inara. He almost felt married to Inara during that time.

There were 48 hours remaining until Harry had to do his crazy shit to keep their ship undetected and until then Harry had come up with another mad way to teach River how to keep her mind shields strong.

They were fighting in the cargo bay and Mal was constantly impressed by the fluidity of their moments and the power behind their hits. What impressed him more was watching Harry keep up with River and land unforgiving blows on her lithe body without an ounce of guilt for hitting a girl.

River's eyes were no longer spacy and dreamy. She was focused, unlike Mal had ever seen before and she lashed out with a vengeance every time Harry gave her an opening.

They circled each other like predators; jabbed, punched and kicked like lightning.

Mal chuckled when he saw the look of intense worry on Simon and Kaylee. The two kids had been beating each other up for the past fifteen minutes and bruises were becoming visible.

Jayne was watching the show with a bottle of whiskey cradled in his arms and was sharing it with Zoe, who was cheering River on. Jayne chose Harry as the lesser of two evils. Inara was with little Mal in her shuttle. She didn't want him to be exposed to such violence.

Mal wondered who would give in to exhaustion first.

He knew the basics of what they were doing. Harry was training River to read his moments with her mind powers. She was to read his surface thoughts without going too deep and he was doing the same to her.

The task was to read his movements and try and keep him out of her head at the same time. Judging by the number of hits River had landed on Harry, Mal figured she was doing quite well.

Mal's thoughts drifted when he looked at Harry. The boy was not very tall. He was fit and could be called reasonably muscled. He had terribly messy hair and dark green eyes that drew one in. The boy was a mystery. He claimed to be from Earth that was, which he would have called impossible months ago. He called himself a Wizard and did magic with impunity which was insane. He could do things that no one could even dream possible which was breath-taking. The Alliance were after him which made him want to protect the kid.

It was Mal's weakness. Anyone who was running from the Alliance found shelter under his wings. It was why Simon and River were still on his ship despite the trouble they brought him. It was why he was on his way to a core planet with another kid who needed to be saved.

Footsteps echoed behind him and mixed with the gentle hum of the ship and the grunts and sounds of fists hitting flesh from below.

"They're still at it?" Inara asked, her voice dripping with disapproval. Little Mal was with her and he peered around her legs below with wide eyes.

They were in time to witness a particularly brutal maneuver by River which saw her pivot around Harry and swipe his feet from under him. Harry went crashing to the floor, hitting his head hard and River didn't stop her assault. She drew her leg up and moved to drop her knee onto his neck.

Kaylee screamed and Zoe jumped to her feet to stop River from killing Harry but it turned out to be unnecessary.

Harry moved his free hand fast as a bullet and caught River's ankle to drop her as well. He then rolled on top of her and caught her hands and trapped her under him in a very provocative position.

Mal whistled when River struggled to get free but was overpowered by the stronger Harry and grinned widely when he saw Simon redden with anger.

Harry panted with exertion.

"Give up?" he asked the struggling girl.

River stopped and looked into his eyes. She was conscious of his body pressed against hers. She felt her blood pump a little faster and her body heating. It wasn't because of the adrenaline rushing through her body.

It made her feel excitement of a different kind.

Her lips tugged at the sides forming a small smile and in a flash, she had wrapped her legs around Harry's waist, freed her hands deftly and flipped them to trap him under her.

"Give up?" she returned to him, her voice husky from the fighting with a touch of challenge.

"All right that's enough!" Simon burst out. "I can't watch you two beat yourselves to pulp just in the name of some form of training or teaching that can't even be tested!"

Inara chuckled. "I doubt it was the fighting that made him step in at last," she said to Mal.

"I see River's hormones acting up at last," Mal said. "Maybe little Mal's touch helped her in some way after all."

"It's Harry," Inara said. "He's been with River almost every second of the way. It looks like he's made the breakthrough that was most needed. Look at River."

Mal looked and he saw. There was a control in the way River moved. There was a focus in her eyes that made her brown eyes glitter with intelligence and happiness.

He glanced at Harry and noticed green eyes sneaking glances at River's ass as she was dragged to the infirmary by Simon.

Harry felt eyes on him and quickly looked away.

Mal laughed. "I think Valentine is going to be more fun than I thought."

Inara sighed. "You just had to go and say it didn't you. Now I'm just dreading landing on Valentine. Your premonitions of fun are always devastating!"

Little Mal said nothing. He just watched and felt confused. Adults were weird.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Spend too much time in the company of a person and you either start to miss their company when they're gone or you can't stand to be in their presence.

For Harry it was the latter. He was with River physically and mentally for nearly a month. There was no day or night. There was only time, and fixing the problem that was River consumed his.

The adrenaline of the fight slowly wore off and the aches began. River was small but she definitely was strong.

Grimacing as he bent down to pick his wand, kept aside with his jacket. He pointed it towards him and let the healing magic loose.

"Oh god, that feels good," he groaned as the magic took his pain and bruises away. He would have done the same for River, if it weren't for the over protective brother. He'd heal her when they were alone.

"Plan on coming up, Harry?" yelled Zoe from above. "We need to mark out the plan for entering Valentine's space.

"In a minute," Harry shouted.

Spending so much time in the presence of a pretty girl was having an impact on his hormones. Big mysterious brown eyes and a slim figure clothed in a sleeveless dress with black boots kept wandering through his mind causing havoc with his common sense.

Harry shook his head and tried to think of something else that wasn't River. But it was hard when he was literally in her head all the time.

Her memories haunted him. They tore him apart until all he felt for her was unconditional sympathy and marvel. He couldn't understand how River was still sane after the mental torture she went through.

Their most recent venture into her mind was still vivid in his mind.

It was the beginning of her time in the Academy. She was still young and innocent and smiling at her professors and nurses.

They had smiled and put sensors on her head.

"Alright River. We're going to ask you a series of questions. It's a quiz and you need to get all the answers correct okay?"

River had smiled and nodded shyly. She was excited. Eager to test her knowledge. Her eyes lacked the dreamy quality they had now. They were sharp and her intelligence literally shone through.

Everything was about to change.

River answered all the questions correctly. She was proud of herself. Then they moved on to higher Physics. River didn't know the answer to the question on Quarks. That was when the sensors on her head imparted a shock so severe that River screamed and her tiny hands shot to her head.

The nurses were quicker. They caught her hand strapped her arms to the chair.

"You know the answers, River. They're in your head. I was talking about it with Professor Keller in the other room just an hour ago."

"I couldn't hear!" River cried. The shock of the pain and suddenly being bound sending her into a panic.

"Bring the syringe," the professor said to one of the nurses.

Harry watched in calm horror and River was impassive. The sensors gave her pain every time she didn't answer correctly. Harry didn't know what the syringe contained but all it did was cause more screaming and terror. He couldn't believe these men and women could do something like this to a little girl.

This was as bad as Voldemort.

"You know the answers, River," the professor said gently. "You don't need to read or hear the answers to know the answers. I believe in you River. You can do it, River."

Harry felt sick. And they were still to delve deeper into her mind. Towards the darker memories buried deep in her subconscious.

"You shouldn't think about them," River's soft voice floated down to him.

Harry looked up with a start. He had forgotten he was still standing in the Cargo Bay.

River was peeking out of the door above, half hidden. She had been reading him.

"Haven't I told you not to go sneaking around my head without permission?" Harry said, scowling.

River pouted.

"You have too many secrets. I don't like secrets."

"You want me to heal you?" Harry deflected. He felt like a hypocrite sometimes. There he was observing River's mind and he still wasn't comfortable enough to let her into his private memories.

"Your punches didn't hurt one bit."

"Liar."

River giggled suddenly. "You punch like a little girl."

Harry touched her mind and took a peek inside.

River scowled and Harry grinned.

"Is that why you didn't show Simon that bruise on your boob? You want me to heal it?" Harry asked cheekily.

River eyed him, her mind suddenly shielded strongly and eyes betraying no emotion.

Harry felt uneasy. River was still very much unpredictable. He never knew what she was up to when she applied Occlumency that effectively. She was still learning but the progress was phenomenal.

"I want to see Hogwarts," she said finally.

Harry sagged in relief. The last time she had looked at him like that, she had tried to kill him. Not that anyone knew of course. It had been when they were in her mind.

"Only if you agree to view that black memory."

River pursed her lips and glared at him. She then turned heel and slinked away without a sound.

Harry raised his hand and placed it on his chest. His heart was beating fast and he didn't know why.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

When Harry first saw the planet, he had to blink twice. It was the size of a golf ball but it was blue. A light blue with the hue of the atmosphere all around it. He couldn't see anything that remotely looked like land on the planet.

"This planet was a result of terraforming gone a bit wrong," Zoe explained when she noticed Harry's expression. "The entire planet is covered with water. It's not a sea or an ocean. The water depth is barely 50 to 100 meters. But you won't find an ounce of land on the planet."

"So where do the people live?"

"On boats," said Mal with a grin.

"Big boats," Zoe emphasized.

"So where do we land?" asked Harry skeptically.

"The Alliance has these awesome floating landing pads, but since we're illegally entering, we're gonna be doin' somethin else."

"Like what?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Leave the landing to us, kid. It's your turn to show that magic of yours," Mal said. "We got less than three minutes till we show up on the scanners."

"Alright," Harry breathed. He reached for his magic and let the rush of excitement cloud his common sense. "Let's do some crazy!"