Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and any other characters, terminology and ideas are the property of their respective copyright holders.

Babylon 5, Crusade and any other ideas, characters and terminology is also the copyright of their respective copyright holders.

Inter Planetary eXpeditations, Harry's Journey

By Tangerine Alert

Chapter 2

After the long, long, long conference Harry met Mione at her Hotel, he took her to a nice little restaurant run by a Narn who did a combination of several culture's cuisine…it like most suitably expensive places had a view of the night sky.

"Better than Hogwarts even." Harry said gesturing the sky.

"Yes…I sometimes try to do astronomy."

"As we were taught it?"

"Yes…"

"Only works if you're looking from Earth, doesn't really help when you're out on Felsecar…"

"And you're out on…"

"Lots of planets…"

They had exchanged their details…well details that where messages could be deposited for retrieval, Mione had a more solid home base than Harry.

"Do you have a place you call home?" Mione had asked through their main.

Harry considered this…he had lived some time at Beta Colony and then the rest on Mars…on Beta Colony he had a small cottage on the outskirts of the settlement that he shared with 3 other people, they were all students of the university not wanting to live in apartments, and didn't care about the lack of mod cons, combined with the hover bike journey to class, though the university was outside the main settlement as well.

Mars he had kept a place, a small apartment, but he had sold that and bought a storage facility he used to store his stuff on Ganymede, supposedly it was where the Shadow vessel had been kept…some people still feared it, some saying it was haunted…but the moon had been reformed for use…IPX held a lot of it.

His other places of residency varied from tents, to tombs to wherever he was at the time…

"No. I have been looking into several ships…but nothing as yet…Just a place I store some of my findings…I'll have to come to Felsecar the next time I've got time off or am passing through…see your home and the books."

"You have to see it to believe…it really is the Library planet…IPX likes to protect it…you should see the warships they have around it…"

"Yes they do like to protect things…" Harry poured Mione more wine before continuing. "And you Mione? Do you have a planet, space station, ship, moon, that you call home?"
"Aside from Felsecar?"

"Do you think of it as home yet?"

"I have a nice apartment, part of the old abbey, a balcony, a view…"

"Of more libraries."

"There are trees…and that's a whole other story…"

"So home is Felsecar?"

"I studied at Proxima 3…it was kinda odd at first even though they're independent…"

"Yeah like Mars, you still feel the pinch…"

"The Earthers are a little bias…" Harry chuckled.

"What?"

"I still can't believe we're both sitting here, we were born on Earth, but I've lived on a few planets studying, thought of myself as a Beta, then as a Martian citizen…and it's so real…and then looking back…" Harry touched his inner part of his coat where his wand lay.

"It seems like another life…" Mione whispered.

"Yeah…"

"Would you go back? Live on Earth?" Mione asked casually.

"Gods no…no offence if you like Earth but…"

Mione was nodding. "I know how you feel…I'd rather live on one of the colonies than Earth…to go outside the domes…its like…"

"Rugging up to take a walk on Mars."

"Not something I've ever done but yes…" Mione laughed as she thanked the waiter.

"You should, ok there isn't a lot out there…but, well it's mainly dirt, but Martian dirt."

"As opposed to dirt on all the planets you and I have been sent to…"

"Yeah but this is Mars, god of war…'Mars moves into succession Harry Potter…'" Harry did a passable impersonation of a centaur.

"I'm glad I never have to see Trelawney again…" Mione laughed.

They left without desert, Harry promising her the best coffee on Mars.

Mione didn't seem to impressed by the exterior.

"Wait till you see inside, she'd a friend of mine…"

"That can mean anything Harry."

As they walked in Mione seemed a little more impressed.

"It's very…odd, it's like…" Mione looked around trying to take it in. "I don't know, it's like a whole lot of things…"

"Yeah that's why I like it." Harry lead her out to a small alcove as he gathered some coffee from a smiling Sarah.

"Friend?"

"A… very old friend."

"She's the same age as you."

"We've known each other a while…too good to shag each other."

"Shag?"

"Anachronism…to sleep with, also a swear word in the 1960s where it meant both, a swear word and to sleep with." Harry said in teacher mode.

"I knew that, I just wanted to make sure you knew that." Sarah said with a smile.

"Sure Sarah. I brought her back for your brilliant coffee…best on Mars."

Harry walked away smiling at her.

"It's a little odd all this mish-mash of styling…it's homey, I can see why you like it."

"Don't you have any favourite haunts around Proxima?"

"There was a nice little bar that boarded with the library on Proxima."

"A library with books or just data crystals?" Harry leant into the chair.

"Please, who has books now? But no, there were some books, some that had been specially printed for different EA libraries, they're in the annotated history section, as an example of re-writing history or something like that…"

"What?"

"It's was left over from President Clark's era, did you read up on galactic history?"

"Of course, that was the second battle fleet, some might call it a civil war lead by John Sheridan, it's what lead him to be the President."

"Yeah, well supposedly Clark at the height of his paranoia didn't trust data crystals for historic information."

"So he printed books? How quaint."

"And had them spread around the colonies, Proxima was high on his list, along with Mars and Babylon 5."

"Ah…thinking of Babylon 5, and they said I was cursed, they went through 4 stations…"

"Well if you talk to people they say that…"

"The fourth one was sent back through time to fight an 'ancient battle', yep hit that one in my study. It's a weird one, but have you noticed how pervasive the Shadows and the Vorlons were?"

"Can't say I looked into it, the colonies didn't focus on that war, you have to go out to the planets in the interstellar alliance to find that don't you?"

"Yes. I did, didn't you have this great yearning to go out and explore this fun universe we're in?"

Mione let out a hard laugh. "Harry. I was in a permanent state of shock for the first few weeks, even then there was still after shock…even now zero grav I take on an empty stomach. I guess you don't get that?" Harry shook his head.

"Thunderbolts, Starfury…they use the centre of gravity and all of that."

"Better than your broom?"

"Cruk yes. Amazing what you can do when gravity doesn't matter."

"Language Harry, there's a lady present." Harry chuckled sipping the last of his coffee.

"Would you prefer a say 'Merlin Yes'…"

"Maybe…this is great coffee…"

"Yeah…but tea is easier to grow out on the frontier, you can prop a tea bush in a hydroponics area and you can claim that it works as oxygen gen' coffee it's more tricky."

"We do deals, all us on Felsecar, even my little orange tree lets me turn a small profit, a small bag of tea, some coffee, anything that stores…but fruit is a real gem…" Mione's eyes grinned along with her body.

Harry looked at her. "You use a little bit of magic don't you?"

Mione at least had the decency to look shocked. "Not to make it bigger or anything…but I didn't learn it all for nothing…just a helping hand to kick start it in it's new environment…too much magic…"

"Will turn you insane leading you to kill all 'mudbloods' around." Mione hit him.

"Ow, I used air talking marks."

"Still…and what I was going to say is too much magic will kill the plant, dear old Sprout used to say, that's why it was all done by hand…" They shared a sad smile at the memory, Pomona Sprout had been killed in a Greenhouse collapse getting the first years out.

As they finished their drinks Harry offered to walk he back to her hotel.

"Just give me five seconds I need to run back to my room…" Harry ran back, strapping his PPG on and walked back down the stairs.

"What'd you need to get?" Mione said as she waited by the door.

"Knowing Harry, probably a weapon." Sarah said from behind Mione startling her.

"Mione Granger, Sarah Palmer, a friend who helped me with my Professorship."

"Granger…you were at this conference…wrote an interesting paper on the collected works of President Clarke, fiction as fact, fact as fiction, enlightening stuff…a new open opinion…"

"Yes…well I was very young a child when it all happened…"

"Exactly the story Harry here tells." Sarah glanced at Harry he shrugged.

"Yes well you know I tried to tell you the truth Sarah and she laughed."

"Yes Harry, the truth getting drunk on cheap wine that you bought on campus and you spin some fiction about a medieval colony a portal and a dictator…"

"Well the truth would be much more unbelievable."

"A weapon Harry?" Mione said glancing at him.

"PPG Mione, can't be too careful."

"Fine, show me the nicer way back to my hotel then…Sarah it was nice to meet you."

"Granger…"

As they walked through the emptying streets they looked around talking about nothing.

"She's an interesting character…"

"All my other lecturers were boring, she helped me on the side."

"And what did you do?"

"Helped in the bar, in the kitchens…all that sort of stuff."

"Well this is me." Mione said gesturing her hotel.

Walking her into the foyer Harry gave her a hug and a kiss.

"It's been…brilliant Mione…seeing after all these…years."

"Well a few at most, and now we can keep in touch…"

"Sort of anyway…well I ship out with Max to Za'ha'Dum tomorrow, then back to Bab 5, and out into the big black again…"

"Sector 1020 wasn't it?"

Harry inclined an eyebrow.

"Still got a good memory, despite crystal technology and instant access things…"

"So technobabble of you, yeah…that's where I'm out to I think…"

"Well Felsecar is somewhere near there, navigation isn't my strong point…drop in if you can…I will be able to offer you…"

"Books and an orange?"

Mione laughed. "Gods yes Harry." She hugged him. "It is great to see you. I'm glad you survived." She whispered as she let go of him.

"As am I Mione."

"Well goodnight Professor Harry James."

"And to you, Doctor Mione Granger…we must keep in touch."