#avpm reference

I was prompted "space cowboys" a few days ago and I decided to run with it. Enjoy!

The Marauder touched down on the ground, kicking up red dust. Landing the ship used to be Harry's least favorite part of flying; at first, his instinct had been to fight against the pull of gravity, but Captain Lupin had taught him the art of using the force to his advantage, a guide to a smooth landing.

With a turn of the keys, the engine ceased its vibrating roar. Harry put on his high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat and cast a protection charm to shield himself from the potentially toxic elements on the foreign planet. He'd learned that lesson the hard way when he'd landed on Kuragin for the first time; the noxious fumes of the uninhabited planet made him nearly lose consciousness.

Harry stepped off the ship and relished the way his boot left a footprint. He smirked as he surveyed the area: empty and ripe with potential. To the untrained eye, the planet would look like a wasteland. But the greatest kingdoms could be built from nothing but rubble. The Minister would be pleased; with some charmwork, this would make for a great expansion site.

Being a Ministry-hired Explorer meant a life of solitude, but Harry wouldn't have it any other way. There was nothing quite like the rush of finding a completely uninhabited planet, imagining all the ways his country could improve the lives of its citizens.

Still, Harry knew better than to assume that a place was uninhabited simply because it appeared empty at first glance. His home planet, Hogwarts, had been diligent about educating its citizens about the horrors of colonialism on Earth. Seizing land through subjugation and slavery and violence, humans of the past had been barbaric, inhumane.

Now, exploration and expansion was still an accepted practice, but taking populated land from another group was strictly outlawed.

But Kuragin would be a prize; Harry was lucky to have reached it before a rival Explorer from another planet got his greedy, posh little hands on it.

Suddenly, a large rope wrapped around his arms and midsection, tightening and pulling him backward. Harry fell to the ground with an oof and struggled to rise back to his feet. His hat had fallen off his head during the fall, now sitting just a couple feet from his trapped body.

He didn't need to hear the cackle to confirm where the rope had come from, but it certainly squashed any doubt he might've had.

"Sorry, Potter, but I'm afraid Truiepets has this planet all, well...tied up."

Harry struggled under the binds, undulating his arm enough to cast a wandless, nonverbal slicing spell to both free himself from the rope and retrieve his hat. He didn't miss the brief widening of his attacker's eyes as Harry jumped to his feet with ease.

Other than the standard wand and lasso, Draco Malfoy's Explorer uniform was unlike Harry's own. While Hogwarts required its Explorers to wear black steel-toed boots, trousers, a button-down shirt, and a badge, it seemed that Explorers from Truiepets dressed in a uniform reminiscent of old English military garb. While it lacked all the same accouterments and the iconic red color, the striking midnight blue military-style waistcoat, black trousers, and high boots gave the rival Explorers a much more posh, distinguished look than Harry's own country demanded.

And, when paired with Malfoy's mischievous gray eyes and taunting sneer, it made Harry's blood boil.

Harry glanced around for Malfoy's ship, wondering how he'd missed it in the initial sweep of the planet. "How'd you get here? Where's your ship?"

Malfoy smirked. "Portkey, of course. Surely you've heard of such a device?"

"How--how did you set up a Portkey connection to an unowned planet?"

"You see, Potter, when your little toy ship landed here, it set off the wards on my planet to alert us that we had an intruder."

"You set up wards on Kuragin? But Truiepets hasn't made a proper claim yet! You can't land on an empty planet and call it yours! That's a violation of intergalactic law!"

Malfoy cocked his head. "But that's what Hogwarts was going to do, right? Send you here to look around and then have you scurry right back to report your findings before claiming it for your own?"

"Y-yes, but that's in congruence with generations of treaties!"

Malfoy raised his eyebrows. "Congruence? My, what an advanced word for you, Potter. Someone's been reading big boy books!"

Harry scowled. "Cut the shit, Malfoy. What's your planet up to?"

"We're looking out for our own interests, Potter. We merely decided to speed up the process."

Harry huffed. "You won't get away with this. Hogwarts won't let you. I won't let you."

Malfoy moved toward Harry, leaning so close their breaths mingled.

"Bring it on, Potter."

Suddenly, Malfoy stepped back and retrieved a quill from his pocket. He winked as he was pulled away by the Portkey, disappearing as quickly as he'd come.

When life sucks, dance.

And life always sucks,

So always dance