Harry fastened the bandage onto the side of his hand firmly while swaying with the motion of the flying TARDIS. He had finally managed to patch himself up using contents from a rather old and dusty first-aid box the Doctor had managed to scrounge up from under the brightly lit center console riddled with levers, buttons, dials, knobs, lights, screens, gears, and various other doohickeys. He had given up on making sense of it after a few minutes of careful examination. He was now sitting on the stairs, wishing he had his wand on him so he wouldn't be in this mess right now. He poked a finger through a rip in his shirt in dismay. Ginny wasn't going to be pleased.

Meanwhile, the Doctor had yet to stop muttering to himself, evidently still miffed that Harry Potter had refused his invitation to travel through all of time and space. "What's so great about home, in any case?" he huffed under his breath as he steered. "I mean, I've got a time traveling machine here, don't I? Home is so boring."

Harry pretended not to hear that.

The Doctor glanced at the Auror out of the corner of his eye. He was sorely disappointed with what he saw. He had been expecting a crime-fighting hero, like in the books. Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived… Destroyer of Evil. Master of Death. Arch nemesis of the Dark Lord. The Savior. The Doctor wrinkled his nose. Harry Potter was just a regular person with no sense of adventure. He harrumphed. See if he'd ever trust words on a page from now on. "Not even one teeny tiny visit?" he tried.

Harry rolled his eyes. What is with this imposing man? Why was he so steadfast on showing off his powers? All Harry wanted to do was get home, recover from his Dementor attack with at least eighteen hours of sleep, and then somehow find his wand that was lost in the forest. "Not even one teeny tiny visit," he mumbled tiredly. He was lightheaded, sore all over, and just plain cranky. He appreciated the rescue and all, but couldn't they just stop flying so much. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the cold railing, trying to calm his rolling stomach. Flying on a broom was one thing. At least he could control that. But this damned box… It was going to be the death of him if it didn't start flying a little smoother.

Abrupt and cross alarms started to blare behind him.

Startled, he glanced back to find the Doctor looking all too guilty.

"Not again," he groaned in defeat while latching onto the railing in time to stop from flying across the gangway because a violent lurch.

Sparks flew from the machinery, small explosions making the Doctor jump back and pull out his sonic screwdriver. "Oh dear." He tried to assess the damage, cringing when he realized that he was in deep trouble. "You better hang on, Mr. Potter," he called out over the loud screeching of his protesting TARDIS.

"I am holding on," Harry grumbled.

The Doctor was too busy trying to calm the police box down to hear the quiet complaint. "Look, there's not reason to throw a tantrum," he said sternly when his attempts to stabilize flight kept failing. The TARDIS replied with a wheezing siren. The Doctor winced. "I know, I know." He wafted grey smoke away from a flashing screen so he could take a look at the readings. None of it made sense. They were slipping into some sort of inter-dimensional portal, pulled towards a distress signal. Fighting the force only angered the TARDIS.

The Doctor paused.

"Well…"

He turned to his newest and by far the most reluctant companion he had ever encountered.

"No way!" Harry exclaimed in horror. "Don't look at me like that!"

"I'm afraid we simply have to go on this adventure."

"We don't have to do anything! Are you insane?!"

"Something like that." The Doctor grinned and reached for a bronze switch. "Allons-y." He flicked the switch, shutting the magnetic shields off.

The portal swallowed the TARDIS with one hungry gulp.

Harry nearly bit his tongue when everything jerked to a hard stop.

The Doctor frowned and looked at some dials. "Hmm." He pressed a few buttons. Nothing happened. The TARDIS let out a quiet sigh, as though falling asleep to recharge. He patted her twice in understanding. "I guess this means we are here."

"Where 'here'?" Harry wanted to know.

The answer came through the door.

A young woman flew into the TARDIS, her dull red dress flowing behind her and her limp black hair disheveled across her pale, shocked face. Her naked feet struck the ground hard, adding to her urgency.

The door slammed shut behind her.

She stumbled to a halt halfway up the gangway when she heard that, as though suddenly realizing that she wasn't where she was supposed to be. She was panting and clutching at the sides of her dress, distress dawning on her face.

Harry stood up slowly. "Are you alright?" he hesitated.

The girl gasped. "No." She spun around and flew back the way she came. "Not here." She pulled the handle. It wouldn't budge. "Oh no, no, no." She rattled knob as hard she could.

"Push. It's a push," the Doctor tried to tell her.

She wasn't listening. "Out! Out!" She had balled up her fists and was pounding on the door, getting more and more hysterical. "Simon! SIMON!" she wailed. "SIMON!"

"You pulled to get in here," the Doctor explained to no one in particular, "so you push to get out."

Harry, in the meantime, was attempting to help the girl. "I'll open it," he kept saying to her while pushing her fists down. "I'm going to open it." It took a little effort to move her away for long enough to twist the doorknob.

The moment the door was open a crack, she burst through.

What he saw when the door fell open fully didn't so much as frighten him as it did confuse him. He found himself on a narrow, slightly rusted catwalk that was framed on one side by a wall crisscrossed with a brown metal lattice and stairs a meter ahead. The other side of the landing revealed an open cargo hold with boxes and scrap metal strewn about on the floor. He wondered if he was in a warehouse of some sort. "Huh…"

"What's this?" The Doctor poked his head through. "Ooh." He pushed Harry out of the way and stepped out, hands at his hips. "A Firefly."

"What?"

"It's a Firefly."

"… What?"

"A spaceship."

Harry paled. "S-spaceship?" He looked around again. "We're on a spaceship?!"

The Doctor pursed his lips. "You were just on a spaceship a minute ago, you know?" He pointed at his beloved TARDIS.

"But this is a proper one, isn't it?" Harry exhaled. "I'm on a real spaceship, aren't I?"

Before the Doctor could huff and puff some more, they were interrupted.

"Look. Look at this." The girl from before appeared at the bottom of the stairs behind the TARDIS, stepping out of the hatch and pointing up at the blue police box. She pulled along a bewildered young man behind her. His white shirt was dotted with dirt and blood, especially at the edges of his hastily rolled up sleeves. His dusty shoes stumbled on the stairs as he was dragged upwards. He marveled the oddity standing right in the midst of the landing.

"Ah." The Doctor smiled at the man, easily overlooking his haggard appearance and bloodshot eyes. "Are you the captain? Your ship seems to be malfunctioning. Very angry."

"She is very angry," the girl echoed. "This way." She grabbed the Doctor's hand. Now with two men in tow, she started up the next set of stairs.

"This way, Mr. Potter," the Doctor said cheerfully as he let her lead the way. "This is all very exciting."

"I'm not the captain," Simon stammered, his eyes still on the TARDIS even as he was being pulled along by his sister. "I'm the doctor… Er, how did you get in here?"

Harry, who was following behind the trio, mumbled, "A very good question."

"I'm the Doctor as well," the Doctor announced. "Perhaps I can be of assistance?"

Simon tripped over a step. "Slow down, River."

She shook her head. "No time. We have to go fast." She lengthened her stride.

"Zoe might need me."

"No time." She breezed through an open doorway that led into a warm dining area. It housed a long dining table surrounded by mismatched chairs and shelves with woven baskets, chipped plates, discolored mugs, and jars of preserves stored inside.

On one of the mismatched chairs sat a burly goateed man polishing a revolver with a soft rag. He flicked his beady eyes up at the commotion. "Huh?" He didn't expect to see two strange men in the galley. "What the hell's goin' on?"

"Doctors," River said brusquely, as though that explained everything. She didn't break her stride as she swept past Jayne without a second glance.

"Whoa." He struggled up to his feet in a tizzy and grabbed the first person he could get his hands on, which happened to be Harry. "You." He spun the Auror around. "Wait a gorram minute." He cocked Vera. "What's goin' on?" He pointed the gun menacingly.

Harry was getting fed up with this crap. He grabbed the gun with one hand, Jayne's wrist with the other, and twisted hard. The gun slipped into his palm. "I don't know," he said deliberately. He set the gun on the table. "I'm just as confused as you are," he assured Jayne before sidestepping him to hurry after River and the doctors.

Jayne blinked. "Uh…" Then he looked down at his empty hands. What just happened? He glanced around fervently. No one else had seen it. He snatched his gun up from the table. He'd be damned if that buhn dahn got away with that. He stormed off after them.

Kaylee gawked in amazement when River appeared through the hatch of the engine room. "What is it?" She smiled in slight exasperation when Simon stumbled in. "Ah, you won't be much help," she said apologetically.

"There's someone else…" Simon gestured behind him with a hapless shrug as the Doctor climbed through the doorway, his wide eyes dancing excitedly at the sight of all the exposed machinery around him.

"Oh." Kaylee pulled back. "Where've you come from now?"

"I got your distress call." He was already examining the reaction control tower, his sonic screwdriver buzzing away at the mechanics and analyzing its nuances. "You stressed her too much."

"We had to run." Kaylee approached the strange man carefully. "The secondary thrusters are shot. We'd be dandy if the primary weren't bein' such a ri shao gou shi bing."

The Doctor snorted in amusement. "Are you in a hurry?"

"Reavers ain't backin' off. Captain says we need some hard burn in five ticks. I'm tryin' my best, but she's just so tired."

Harry was lost in all this. He was glad to see that the young space doctor looked lost as well. "So… what's happened?" he asked.

Simon shrugged. "Engines aren't running like we want them to." He nodded at the mechanic in brown overalls. "Kaylee is trying to get the ship back on its feet. We have to get out of Reaver country."

"Reaver?"

"Ah, you don't want to know."

Harry didn't argue. This was more than enough information to digest. "We're in space, aren't we?"

Simon gave him an odd look. "Um… Yes. We are."

"It's my first time."

"… I see…"

"Pretty bizarre."

"… I suppose it is."

Kaylee guided River away from some open wiring while explaining the inner workings of Serenity as concisely as she could to the Doctor. "I think the fuel cell might be comin' loose. See this gauge here?" She tapped at a glass dial through which she could see a black needle bouncing back and forth in rapid succession. "Shouldn't be doin' that."

"Power?" The Doctor tapped his forehead. "I have power. Loads of power." He spun around to look at Harry. "We need to zap this beauty to health, Mr. Potter. Back to the TARDIS." He waltzed past them through the door…

… and then waltzed right back in, grabbed Harry by the shoulders, only to thrust him forward. "Angry beardy man with a gun."

Harry slumped at the sight of Jayne.

"You ain't getting' past me this time, funny man." He drew his gun up.

"Jayne! What did I just tell you?!"

He cringed and gritted his teeth before lowering his weapon begrudgingly and turning around to look at Captain Malcolm Reynolds. "I was just bein' diplomatic," he grumbled as he holstered Vera.

After shooting daggers at Jayne for a beat longer, Mal shifted his hard glare at Harry. "What are you doing on my ship?" he demanded to know.

"I think… helping?" Harry faltered.

Mal exhaled heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was dealing with enough nonsense for one day. "Doc, you should be with Zoe, shouldn't you?" he barked.

Simon responded with a quick nod and sidled out of the engine room.

"Take your sister with you."

"Right." He glanced back at River who stuck her tongue out. He raised a brow, silently telling her that he didn't want any arguments out of her. River thought about resisting, but only for a moment. Then she dragged her feet, following her brother out, but not before shooting a longing look at the Doctor and Kaylee.

"Go see Wash, Jayne," Mal added.

"But I-"

"Not buts. Go."

Jayne stomped his foot once and swore under his breath. He knew better than to argue with Mal. He stalked away instead, incensed that he was being made a fool of by idiots.

Kaylee decided to chime in. "The Doctor figures he's got power, Captain."

Mal was surprised. "What's the doctor gonna do?"

"Not our doctor." She pointed emphatically at the Time Lord peeking over Harry's shoulder. "This Doctor."

"Hello," the Doctor greeted. "I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

"No. Just the Doctor."

Right now, Mal needed a miracle. If it meant dealing with insufferable dolts, he couldn't say no. "Look," he flicked his eyes between the two newest passengers on his ship, "I don't know who you are or what you want, and I ain't askin' if you're here to help, alright? Right now you're weighing us down. So get movin'."

"No time to lose." The Doctor pushed Harry through the hatch. "Try to get that generator running, Kaylee. We'll be right back."

"Excuse me," Harry murmured as he squeezed past the captain of the ship. Once him and the Doctor were out of earshot, he asked, "So is this what you do?"

"What I do?" The Doctor was distracted with the readings on his sonic. "What do you mean?"

"Do you go around helping people like this?"

He paused and looked up at the wizard. "Ah… Helping." He thought about it. "Well, sometimes." They made their way through the dining area. "Or is it most times?" He couldn't be bothered by all that. "Tricky keeping track of these things."

"You said space and time back then," Harry recalled. "Time travel?"

"Of course."

"That's… cool."

The Doctor was glad that Harry Potter was finally coming to his senses. "Yes," he agreed in triumph. "It is rather cool." He bounded down the stairs towards his TARDIS. "And isn't this splendid?" He rubbed his hands together. "Your first time time-traveling and we end up in a Firefly."

"Oh, it's not my first time."

He stumbled over his feet. "What?"

The door to the TARDIS flung open at that moment, startling them.

"Doctor!" A man swept out, greycoat snapping behind him dramatically as he exited the blue police box. His holster was apparent at his hip and the four stripes on shoulders was indicative of…

"You!" the Doctor gaped. "How did you get in there?! You can't be in there! What are you doing in there?!"

"Your shields are down."

"Ack!"

He smirked as the Doctor scurried into his ship. "No offense taken." Then he turned to Harry. "He sure likes a warm welcome, doesn't he?" He flashed a charming smile. "Captain Jack Harkness."

"Harry Potter."

The Doctor stuck his head out. "Don't even think about it."

Jack rolled his eyes as he shook the Auror's hand. "I was just saying hello."

"He's married."

"So? Can't say hello to married men? It's hardly the Dark Ages."

Harry raised his brows. This night was one for the books.