This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

[Name] secretfanficlover

[House] Ravenclaw

[Prompt(s)]

Hogwarts Gym:

Chest Press Machine - Harry Potter

Monthly Writing Club:

Disney Challenge: Mulan - write about someone making a sacrifice for their family.

Trope of the Month: AU!Aliens

Seasonal Challenges:

Day of the year:23rd April: Take a Chance Day - Write about taking a chance on something.

Yearly Challenges:

365 Days: [Word] Mother

Insane House Challenge: 381. Space!AU

Pairings: Wolfstar & Drarry (eventually)

Wordcount: 1442

Inspired by: neondomino1 (Liza)

Beta: Liza

[Title/Link] Moon Landing

Daily Prophet Headlines:

The prime minister of extraterrestrial affairs, Mr James Potter, and his son Harry, age sixteen, decided to plan an expedition to the moon. Mr Potter's interest in aliens began after the loss of his wife, Lily. She had died during a break-in at the Potter residence in Deathly Hallows. Mr Potter had thrown himself into his work, allowing himself no time to grieve for his lost love. Young Harry had been at home that night, barely fourteen months old, and says he remembers a gunshot and the sound of his mother screaming. Luckily for the young Harry the burglars had paid him no mind, and it seems that he has become a lifeline for the minster in the years following this incident.

Reporter: Rita Skeeter

Harry was told that Remus Lupin, his father's expert consultant and close confidant, would be his second in command during the mission. He was an astronaut and had lots of knowledge about Aliens. Remus was an expert in Martian linguistics, and taught them all he knew about their language and culture. Harry was curious if he would really be able to talk to a Martian. He couldn't wait to finally try out his skills in the language Remus had been teaching him.

Harry wasn't sure what his father hoped to achieve, but he knew he needed to be there to support him. He thought his father had lost his marbles a very long time ago. Harry looked almost identical to his father, he had wild black hair, and a slender yet athletic build, the only difference was his eyes -he had his mother's eyes. They were sparkling emerald green.

His father's colleagues often spoke fondly with stories of Lily Potter; but James refused to utter one word about his mother. It was as if she hadn't just passed away, it was like she had vanished. His father seemed to be incapable of moving on, instead of reminiscing with his son about his mother and how they met.

The day of the mission was fast approaching and for the first time in ages Harry saw his father happily focused on the task at hand. This just further convinced Harry that this was what his father needed.

The day of the launch Harry was wearing a red and gold scarf around his neck. He wrapped it around his ex-girlfriend, Hermione Granger. Then he hugged both her and Victor Krum, her new boyfriend, before boarding the spaceship with one last fond look at the couple.

Their breakup had been amicable. Harry told Hermione that he didn't want to lose her as a friend, but he eventually realized that he was gay. They were lucky she found someone like Victor who wasn't jealous and understood their unique relationship.

Hermione had briefly dated a classmate called Ron Weasley, but once she admitted to the previous relationship between them he wasn't happy and made her choose - him or Harry. This just meant they broke up, because her friendship with Harry meant the world to her.

The bushy haired girl, with the strong Russian man on her arm, watched the count down until her best friend took off into the night sky, waiting until the ship was out of sight before leaving with Victor.

The ride in the spaceship to the moon was pretty uneventful. Harry was bored and so he was paging through a book on Martian customs.

"This is taking forever," he muttered causing Remus to laugh heartily.

"Harry the moon is 238,855 miles away," Remus said informatively. "At our current velocity it will take us about 72 hours to reach it."

Harry felt like he might regret this decision after all. He was in hockey and football clubs back home and tended to keep himself very active. This constant floating about doing nothing would soon drive him mad. He had to stay positive. He was doing this for his father, so that he could finally move on and be happy. Perhaps he would even meet a nice Martian lady and fall in love? He couldn't help but laugh. He knew his father would never fall in love again. His father was too much of a sceptic now; Remus was more likely to find love than his father.

The time Harry came out to his father had not gone quite as he expected, his father had been completely oblivious. "Are you sure?" was one of James's questions. Harry had laughed, his father wouldn't have realised that he was gay if he brought a boyfriend home, unless he caught the two of them snogging on the couch. Then Harry tried to explain that he was sure Remus was gay, and that didn't change how his father treated Remus. This meant that their relationship needn't change. His father couldn't believe Remus was gay as well so he wanted to finally show his father he was right, and that he needn't worry so much about who his son loves.

Although he knew it was probably not the right time.

"Hey Remus, what's that?" He asked, drawing the man's attention from what he was focused on. He pointed to the blob of color on paper in front of Remus.

"I'm designing a flag," Remus said proudly, and Harry wanted to laugh, but stifled his snigger.

"So, Remus," he asked.

"Yes, Harry?" he responded politely.

"I had been wondering something, and my father and I have had some debate about this. I believe he is clueless with regard to other sexualities and that he wouldn't even notice if someone he knew was gay, so it needn't affect our relationship at all."

Remus raised his eyebrows at the comment, but didn't respond.

"Basically, what I'm wondering is; are you also gay?" James was within earshot and he listened in on the reply.

"Yeah," Remus said easily and went back to working on his flag design.

Harry didn't say I knew it. But his father could see it clearly on his face. This discussion had come about when Harry came out and told his father that it changed nothing, how could it? His father didn't even notice his colleague was gay all along. James rolled his eyes at his son, proving to Harry that his father was so oblivious to what was going on around him that his sexuality could hardly matter all that much.

He supposed his father thought him tactless, Harry wondered to himself. He probably was, but that was him - straight forward, no nonsense. This was how he had come to be friends with Hermione. He believed in standing up for what's right and having courage. He had stood up to her school bully and made a friend for life.

He was home-schooled himself, so he didn't have many friends his own age. He was also used to being in conversations with much older, more mature people and his attitude reflected that. It showed a boy that needed to grow up before his time, needing to be the protector of those he loved. He was fiercely protective of both his father and Hermione. He even held a fondness for Remus, who was the closest thing to a godparent he had.

Thinking of Hermione made him smile. He felt sad at having to leave her behind, especially as she was extremely interested in life on different planets. He had spent a lot of time pouring over books with her, looking at the pictures and listening to Hermione recite facts about the differences between Martian cultures and their own. There was books with vast empty expanses of greyish rocks and craters, and others that showed pictures of small settlements near lakes, big cities, even mansions where the richest and most esteemed families live. Harry was content on bringing back pictures to show Hermione, no matter what awaited them on this exploration.

When they landed, Harry peeked outside to see what was visible, but he saw nothing. There were open spaces of grey craters, and no life as far as the eye could see. The horizon was vast and empty and he felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment which reflected on his face.

Remus and James looked at each other and laughed heartily at the look on Harry's face.

"Life is too unpredictable to plan," James said with a wink at his son.

"We landed in the wrong location," Remus explained to Harry. "We will need to travel using the space shuttles before we will reach the nearest village."

Harry laughed as well then before getting his things ready, and the party evacuated the spaceship, getting ready to travel to the Martian village.