Disclaimer: Harry Potter and The Mars Trilogy, by KS Robinson are not mine. Yet.

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The First Hundred (Part 2 of 2)

Desmond ate the nutrient bar Harry handed him quickly without any complaining at the taste. They'd introduced themselves, but that had been the limit of their conversation so far.

"Why are you here?" asked Harry, when it looked like Desmond had eaten his fill.

"Why are you here?" echoed Desmond without looking at him, still intent on his nutrient bar.

"My best friend is one of the First Hundred. There's nothing on Earth that I'd particularly miss, so she helped me sneak on board."

"Hm," responded his new companion. "I suppose we have a bit in common, then. You want to tell me which one you talking about?"

"Not yet. Where are you from? I don't recognize your accent."

"Here and there. Firstly and lastly, Trinidad and Tobago. Port of Spain. You from London?"

Harry nodded.

"Thought so," said Desmond. "I am not so good with accents, but I spent time in England."

The two sat quietly for several minutes. Harry took a long look at the man floating in front of him. Dark brown dreadlocks which looked as if they would hang down a bit past his shoulders if they hadn't been floating about his head in the micro-gravity. His skin was a light shade of brown with no obvious ethnicity. From what he knew of the Caribbean, that wasn't unusual. Once again, Harry noticed the left side of his face was misaligned. He was quite thin, but healthy looking with a well-hidden wiry strength belied by his tightly controlled movements.

Desmond's dark brown eyes met Harry's and they looked away from each other for a moment before either spoke.

"The two of us are very foolish," said Desmond.

"No shit."

"If someone were to find us here, they could cancel the mission."

"Then we should avoid being found."

"You don't appear to be worried."

"No."

"Why is that? If they were to take us back to Earth, I have no doubt that we would spend the rest of our most likely limited days in prison."

"I'm very skilled at avoiding detection," said Harry.

"I think we both are, or we would not be having this conversation."

Harry and Desmond locked eyes for a moment and Harry knew that the man in front of him had had a much more difficult time getting onto the Ares. He was clearly a muggle, but the statute of secrecy was not one of the many things to worry about on a spaceship about to depart for Mars. If the two of them were to remain hidden for the next ten months, they would have to trust each other.

"I have a cloak that causes whatever is under it to be invisible."

"You were here when I got out of the crate."

"Yes."

"May I see it?" requested Desmond.

Harry agreed and pulled his invisibility cloak from his pocket. The shimmering fabric hid his hand as he unfolded it.

"Holy hell," breathed Desmond. "I've never seen..." he shook his head in wonder. "How does it work?"

"Magic." Harry waited for the reaction.

"Magic?"

With a nod, Harry pulled the cloak over his head and disappeared from view. Desmond's eyes grew wide, followed quickly by a grin.

"That's fucking fantastic! Ho! I have never seen something so glorious. How does it work? Magic you say? Hahaha! You're a madman!"

Harry couldn't help but laugh along with him, though the sound came from behind Desmond and startled the man, causing him to jerk in surprise and push himself across the office unintentionally. Harry removed the cloak, still laughing. Desmond scowled before his face lit up once more.

"It truly is magic, isn't it? I've always heard stories… On some of the smaller islands, they tell stories about witches. Not children's tales you must understand, but happenings plausible enough that made even me, a born sceptic, wonder."

"There's a large magical community in the Caribbean," agreed Harry. Desmond nodded distractedly in response.

Harry waited for the torrent of questions he had been conditioned into expecting from years of friendship with Hermione.

"So," began Desmond, "you would have me believe that there is a magical world full of witches and warlocks and voodoo?"

"Well, we call ourselves wizards, mostly. The men. As for voodoo, that's more of a philosophy than magic. I don't know much about it, to be honest."

"Right," but Desmond was already preparing his next question. "How do you do it?"

"I was born with it."

"And your parents? They were also magic?"

"Yes," answered Harry. "But not all wizards and witches are born to magical parents."

"How many magical people are there?"

"No one knows. The estimates have usually averaged between half of a percent and one percent of the population. They're about one-million of us in Britain, though we tend to have a bit higher percentage than most places."

"Why?"

"Several reasons, but it's not really all that important to this conversation."

"Alright," agreed Desmond. Harry could see the man processing all the new information extremely quickly. More quickly than he'd seen any muggle do before, and his initial impression of his fellow stowaway continued to rise.

"Is your friend a witch?"

Harry nodded and Desmond's face split into that cracked grin, once again.

"Fantastic!" Desmond exclaimed. Harry watched as the man muttered to himself for a moment. His past experiences informing muggles of the magical world were not numerous, but this was possibly the strangest, and most positively excited reaction he had encountered.

"Anymore questions?" asked Harry with a grin.

"Hundreds! Thousands!" said Desmond. "I don't even know where to begin!" He shook his head, dreadlocks snapping around in every direction in the micro-gravity. "There's plenty of time for questions. I assume this is not the way you people usually do things, telling people like me about your secret world, eh?"

"No, there's a law called 'The Statute of Secrecy' that prohibits witches and wizards from telling any non-magical person about our world."

Desmond scoffed. "Bah! Nothing is so oppressive as a secret. Do any of you magic folk follow such a senseless law?"

"They do, though it hasn't been very strictly enforced in recent years."

"Hm," was the only answer Desmond gave.

The two stowaways, by unspoken agreement, deferred all other questions and discussions until the next day. Harry set up the wall cot and Desmond slipped into the closet, where he unrolled a shiny, silver, cocoon-like sleeping bag which he fastened to the wall. Neither of them slept well as they awaited the arrival of the First Hundred.

The two men floated together in the observation bubble the next day. The First Hundred would be arriving that evening. Conversation came in fits and starts as Desmond viewed the Earth and the stars for the first time. The sight was still awe-inspiring to Harry.

"So you believe one of the storage tanks will be our salvation?" asked Desmond.

"They're the only places no one will frequent until we get closer to Mars," reasoned Harry.

"I suppose. Hiroko say she'll be able to convince the farm team to accept me. She say they can keep it to themselves. And now we have your Hermione to help."

"From what you tell me about Hiroko, I don't see them working well together," said Harry, who was reminded of Luna by Desmond's description of his proverbial guardian angel.

"Ah, you think too much about what can and cannot work. You should wait for them to speak. Yes, Hiroko is perhaps a little insane, but so am I! So are you, and so is your Hermione. We will hide in closets and storage rooms for the next year while we travel through space toward a planet with no people, no life, no dragons…"

Desmond beamed at him and continued.

"You and your witch don't know that your magic will work on Mars, so you cannot tell me that our benefactors will be unable to work together because one of them is crazy. They are probably the two craziest people we know. Besides ourselves, of course!"

Harry grinned as he took in the somewhat maniacal smile on Desmond's face.

"Where are you supposed to meet Hiroko?" asked Harry.

Desmond whistled tonelessly before answering. "She say I'll have to make do before we move out of orbit. And what of Hermione? She seems to have prepared you quite well to live on your own."

"She said she'd find me in the observation bubble tonight. It's easier for me to hide."

"That, my friend, is undeniable," cackled Desmond, barking his laughter in a way so reminiscent of Sirius that it startled Harry into a contemplative silence.

This did not go unnoticed. Desmond gave him an evaluating look before returning his attention back to the Earth outside the window.

After a brief silence, Desmond spoke without looking away from the window, "Does it seem strange to you that this may be the last time we ever lay our eyes on her?"

"Honestly?"

"I don't care for lies."

"I won't miss it," admitted Harry.

Desmond turned his head and fixed Harry with a piercing look. After a few seconds, Harry had to look away and took in the view of Earth himself. Neither spoke for some time.

Nearly an hour later, Desmond turned to Harry, who was a few meters away and staring into the infinite expanse of stars.

"There's a shuttle preparing to dock."

"Hm?" grunted Harry, who shifted so that he could see out the window from the same angle as Desmond. "Should we go back to the farm?"

"I don't know," said Desmond. "Does your AI have a schedule of arrivals?"

Harry pulled out his palm-sized computer in lieu of a reply and slowly retrieved the information. Desmond's impatience quickly changed to surprise as he watched Harry's face crease with the effort of using the small device.

"There are seven scheduled shuttles from sixteen hundred until twenty-two hundred hours, it says here. Mostly personal effects and livestock. Some birds and other animals for the atriums, too. The first of the Hundred arrive at midnight, Greenwich time."

"You have never used an AI before?" asked Desmond, ignoring Harry's recitation of the shuttles' inventories.

"I've used computers, but nothing like this. Didn't have much need for them before. They tend to bust when magic is used around them."

"I see. Do you plan to never use magic again? Computers will be fairly essential to survival on Mars."

Harry shook his head. "Hermione said there's a way to shield electronics and computers from magic use, but it's a spell that has to be used when whatever you're casting it on is completely deactivated."

"Ah, so that is why you mustn't use magic here?"

"Right," said Harry.

Once again, silence descended as they watched the shuttle match the rotation of the Ares and prepare to dock. Small bursts of white gas marked the use of the craft's directional thrusters. A sense of vertigo overwhelmed Harry as the shuttle slid over the canopy of stars outside the window and he had to turn away.

"Let's go get something to eat," suggested Desmond, who had turned when he saw Harry push off toward the door.

The two of them floated in front of the door and Harry pulled out his cloak and fastened it over the two of them. Their feet showed when it both of them tried to hide under it, but thanks to the lack of gravity, they could curl into a ball if needed and stay concealed. It would become more difficult once the Ares started its rotation to produce Mars equivalent artificial gravity after departure in two days, but both of them were fairly short and crouching would be easy in the lower gravity. It was also a large ship, and as Desmond had said many times already, there were an almost infinite number of places to hide.

Harry floated forward slowly, mostly being guided by Desmond. He was still a bit shaken by the question about Earth. Would he miss it? There was nothing for him there, and the only person he truly cared about was due to arrive on the Ares within the next ten hours. His thoughts strayed to his good-bye to Hermione in the NASA courtyard. The smell of the sea and feel of the wind was already fading from his memory and as hard as he tried, he couldn't bring himself to care. There would be life on Mars before too long. The farm team would have bamboo shoots and crops growing within a few months. The planned shelters, cramped and esoteric, wouldn't be anything exceedingly different from most of his homes throughout his life. Maybe he'd come to miss it. He'd lived and lost enough to know that it was a possibility.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted as Desmond placed a hand on his chest to stop their forward momentum.

"We're here," Desmond said in a low voice, caution due to the arrival of the shuttle imbuing itself in his voice.

They were back at the farm office. Harry sighed, wishing Hermione were already here. He wasn't yet comfortable enough to discuss his darker thoughts with his fellow stowaway.

They floated in through the door and shut it carefully. Knowing the farm crew would be arriving within the next twelve hours, the two stowaways meticulously went over every bit of the office, erasing signs of their habitation and returning it back to its original, sterile and untouched appearance.

Harry and Desmond hid under the invisibility cloak and watched the fourth shuttle unload its ten passengers into the Ares. The first thirty had been people they both recognized, but no one they had met. The First Hundred had all been famous before being named as the first colonists to go to Mars, but since the final selection was announced, it was almost impossible to avoid their faces, names and life stories. Harry empathized with them. He and Hermione hadn't had much time together since she had stealthily included herself in the selection process, but during the past six months since she had been chosen, she had expressed how uncomfortable the attention made her. She had also apologized, unnecessarily in Harry's opinion, to him for not understanding why he detested his own fame so vehemently.

He had been drifting through his memories when he saw her. Hermione's hair was cut short, practical in the micro-gravity, and only the thickness revealed the bushy hair he had been accustomed to for the past thirty-five years. Her face looked younger than the last time he'd seen her. The worry and apprehension that had been clearly expressed that afternoon in Florida when they had last spoken was gone, and the few wrinkles she'd developed by the age of forty-seven seemed to have melted away thanks to the lack of gravity. As with the first three groups, several of the members of the First Hundred seemed a bit green or pasty white as they experienced nausea from being in space for the first time. Hermione's face was a bit puffier, but that seemed to be the only effect from the micro-gravity.

Hermione, of course, couldn't see them. Harry and Desmond watched the newcomers slowly pull themselves along the passageway, using hand holds and a mesh-like net that covered what would be the floor and ceiling when the Ares began its rotation to create a Martian equivalent gravity. Some of them clearly had experience in space, or in Hermione's case experience with simulated micro-gravity. However, most were using far too much force to pull themselves along, which had resulted in several sprains and at least one person, who Harry recognized as Saxifrage Russel, crashing face first into the wall. The man had grunted in pain, but waved off assistance from the technicians guiding them toward the infirmary, where the First Hundred would each undergo a short exam to verify there had been no ill effects from the shuttle flight or micro-gravity. He pulled himself along much more cautiously afterwards.

The last person out of Hermione's shuttle was obviously Hiroko Ai, the only Asian member of the First Hundred. She had a small smile on her youthful face as she peered out from the airlock. Harry felt Desmond stiffen a bit before relaxing as his fellow stowaway took in the sight of his friend. Or lover. Harry wasn't quite clear on which, or if she was both. She was the youngest of the First Hundred, which he knew from the endless stream of information about the mission on Earth, but it would have been obvious even if he hadn't. Her hair was cut short like Hermione's, but shone inkily in the artificial sunlight of the Ares passageways. Harry could see that her smooth, silk-like skin didn't need the absence of gravity to hide wrinkles. She could have easily been mistaken for a university student instead of one of the world leaders in hydro-agriculture and enclosed biological life-support systems design.

After the ten colonists, plus the technicians assisting them, had filed disorderly through the passageway, Harry and Desmond made their way to a storage room near the 'front' of the Ares, only a few minutes from the observation bubble where Harry would meet Hermione when she finished her medical exam and could get away to be on her own. He and Desmond decided to give her an hour and then wait in the bubble, hiding under the cloak, for Hermione to arrive.

She was floating by the window, staring at Earth, when they arrived. She turned at the sound of the door opening and stared right at them as Harry shut the door and locked it.

"Harry?" she said. She looked exhausted and puffy-faced.

Harry and Desmond revealed themselves to Hermione whose face flickered between surprise, pleasure, shock and fear before finally settling on stunned.

"Hello, Hermione."

"Who are you?" Hermione didn't even acknowledge Harry's greeting as she focused a sharp look on Desmond.

"Desmond Hawkins. It's a pleasure."

"What are you doing here?"

"I snuck aboard, just like Harry, here."

Hermione closed her eyes tightly for a moment, processing this new information. Harry instantly recognized the look. He knew that her mind was preparing a list of questions she felt would get her the information she needed to wrap her mind around such a sudden, unexpected alteration to their plan.

Before she could begin, Desmond spoke. "I know you have many questions for me and about how I got here, yes?"

Hermione nodded and opened her mouth. Desmond continued, not allowing her to begin her interrogation. "That's fair, but we don't have time for that right now. I have questions for you, too. For both of you. We need to decide on a plan, though, eh?"

Harry took over and said, "Hermione, he knows about magic. I told him. We're going to work together, and Hiroko Ai is going to help Desmond and probably me, too. He thinks she would be quite pleased to learn about the existence of magic."

Hermione sputtered. "You can't just go around telling all of these people about magic, Harry!"

He raised his hands placatingly. "We're going to have to tell some people, Hermione. There's only going to be a hundred and two of us for who knows how many years."

She sighed. "I know, I know. It's just so soon, and this is just a bit surprising." She turned to Desmond. "Hiroko snuck you aboard?"

Desmond nodded.

"She reminds me of Luna," said Hermione.

Harry looked at Desmond triumphantly but was ignored.

"Is that bad?" asked Desmond.

"Not particularly. She may be even more intelligent. That helps me overlook some of her…quirks."

"Are you one to judge her sanity?" asked Desmond seriously, with a small frown.

Hermione laughed. "Hardly. I've been questioning my own sanity since I met Harry. You think she'll help us?"

"No doubt," he said, a grin forming on his face. "But she will ask for help from us, as well. She hasn't told me what she's planning for Mars, but I can guess most of it won't be part of the official mission."

"I think everyone of us has some plans that aren't included in the official mission," countered Hermione, which elicited a bark of laughter from Desmond. She smiled and Harry grinned slightly.

"We're going to stay in Storage Tank One in Torus C until Desmond can make contact with Hiroko after the launch," Harry said, finally gaining Hermione's attention.

"That sounds fine," said Hermione. "You'll only be a couple of tanks away from the main farm tank, right?"

Both men nodded and Hermione smiled weakly. "You both look terrible, by the way. I've brought a few more potions. Some pepper up, calming draught and general nutritional supplements. I didn't bring any dreamless sleep. You'll need to be able to wake up in case of emergency."

"Right," said Harry as he accepted a bag which he assumed was full of the mentioned potions.

"I also managed to finally figure out how to shrink the potion supplies and as many seeds and spores as I could get a hold of, though there was no way to bring any live magical creatures. They die if you shrink them, even if they're under stasis. Couldn't find a way around that."

"Makes sense," said Harry.

"I'll do my best to bring you two some food as soon as I can, but you're going to have to go hungry some of the voyage. I just won't be able to smuggle enough food for two people without being noticed."

"We'll be fine, Hermione."

"Indeed," said Desmond. "I believe we shall be able to procure ourselves some food without too much difficulty once we're underway."

"Good. That's good," murmured Hermione. She bit her bottom lip and looked at Harry.

"I'm fine," said Harry, taking a guess.

She nodded. "Me too, just nervous." She bit her lip again for a moment before launching herself toward Harry, which resulted in the two of them spinning head over foot until they both hit the wall feet-first and Harry carefully pushed them back toward Desmond, who was grinning his cracked grin at the two friends' reunion.

"I was so worried!" exclaimed Hermione.

Harry did his best to shrug in the micro-gravity. "I was bored most of the time, to tell the truth. It's a big ship, but with no one to talk to there's only so many things to occupy the time." He thought for a second. "The atriums are strange in this gravity. It's almost like flying without a broom. I suppose I spent most of my free time just exploring. Finding places nobody would be likely to go."

She smiled tiredly for a moment and then breathed deeply. Neither of them noticed that Desmond's face had gone slack at the mention of flying brooms. His mouth opened as if he wanted to say something, but he shut it with a quiet click. Hermione was saying good-bye.

"I'll do my best to find you two after the first comprehensive status check following the launch, okay? If you need to find me, my room is number twelve in Torus B."

"Fine, I'll see you soon," said Harry.

"Sleep well," added Desmond.

"Goodnight, guys," said Hermione, who expertly pushed herself toward the door and quietly exited the observation bubble, leaving the two stowaways alone.

On December 21, 2026, the largest spacecraft ever constructed began to accelerate toward the fourth planet from the Sun. It would take just under ten months, and at 40,000 kilometers per hour, the Ares would be traveling faster than any manned spacecraft had before. Several minutes went by as the Ares accelerated and Harry and Desmond were having a bit of trouble with their makeshift gravity couches.

Makeshift was a bit of an overstatement, thought Harry, as the two of them tightly held on to the top of a harness system that Hiroko had left in the farm office's closet for them, though they still hadn't seen her. It looked closer to an acromantula's web than any sort of seating apparatus, but it was what they had, and the only other options likely involved their own increased weight crushing important parts of their anatomy. The harness sagged more and more until the back of Harry's head was brushing up against the wall of the closet. He shut his eyes, hoping the acceleration would end soon. He heard Desmond grunt and with an herculean effort, turned his head and saw his fellow stowaway's head was also being forced against the wall. A few of his dreadlocks were pinned between his skull and the wall, which was obviously uncomfortable.

"Don't move," gasped Harry.

"Can't," responded Desmond. "No worries."

For several more silent moments, the Ares continued to vibrate and rattle as a few unsecured items darted around the temporary floor of the office outside the closet. Then, abruptly, the pressure vanished and the vibrations ceased. They floated in their harness and Desmond tangled his arm while attempting to straighten his hair. The two worked slowly to extricate themselves from the tangled web or nylon and some sort of stretchy aluminum foil-like material that neither of them had been able to identify.

They were finally able to disassemble it and roll it into a ball slightly smaller than a snitch. Harry was amazed and it showed on his face.

"What?" asked Desmond, who was rubbing at the back of his head.

"It gets so small," said Harry in wonderment.

"Eh? Of course it does. We may not have magic to shrink things, but we have our ways!" Desmond hooted a few times in amusement and Harry had the decency to blush. He was acting like some pureblood who'd never met a muggle. He shook his head and tried to ignore the constantly repeating realization that there were so many things he needed to catch up on and learn to survive on Mars.

The two of them spent the next several hours waiting for the lateral control rockets to begin firing. When they finally did, the only indication was a slight pull toward what was suddenly the floor of the closet. For several minutes the force of the pseudo-gravity increased until Harry and Desmond were standing unsteadily in a suddenly smaller-seeming closet. Harry had been on the Ares for just over three weeks, and his body was already exhausted from the acceleration earlier.

Desmond helped him to sit on the floor and stood looking down at him in concern.

"I'll be fine," said Harry. "I just need a few days to get used to it. I've been here long enough for my muscles to atrophy a bit."

Desmond nodded, but still looked worried. "When do you want to move to the storage tank?"

"I guess now would be a good time for some pepper-up," he mumbled. He asked Desmond to hand him the bag Hermione had given them and pulled out a small vile of light blue liquid with thousands of small bubbles swirling, rising and popping at an incredible rate.

"That's an energetic little drink," remarked Desmond who was peering at the vial as Harry prepared to open it.

"You have no idea," said Harry. With a deep breath he popped the top off the vial and turned it upside down. The pepper-up flowed down his throat, causing a tickling sensation. It was unusually palatable and Harry reminded himself to thank Hermione for brewing it herself as the potion began to take effect.

"Ah!" a startled yell died in Desmond's throat. "Holy fuck!" he continued, trying to keep his voice down. The sight of steam shooting out of Harry's ears like an overheated kettle was only his second experience with magic and it was not as pleasing as the invisibility cloak.

"Sorry," said Harry, "I should have probably warned you about that. Most potions don't do things like that.

"What do other potions do?" he asked warily.

"Well, they're used for almost everything, I suppose. This is pepper-up and it's usually used for minor illnesses and exhaustion." Harry stood up and finally was able to ascertain that he was an inch or so taller than Desmond, which made the islander around five foot five inches. He thought to convert it to centimeters in his mind, but he'd never really been bothered to learn the conversion rate. Yet another thing he'd need to be sure to learn in the next ten months.

"Can I ask you a favor?" said Harry when the two of them had secured a space large enough for the two of them in one of the storage rooms a few tanks away from the farm.

"Of course."

"I'll teach you as much as I can about magic if you'll teach me, too."

"Teach you what?" asked Desmond.

"Anything you can think of that will help me survive."

"I see," said Desmond. "Such as?"

"How many inches are in a centimeter?"

Desmond stared at him for several moments before his dark eyes began to twinkle in a way that immediately caused Harry to blush. It was the twinkle of someone feeling affectionately superior and Harry knew the laughter was coming before Desmond did as the dreadlocked man began to cackle madly and laugh so hard that his breaths came in loud, sucking gasps.

Several minutes later found both of them wiping tears of mirth from their cheeks.

"Yes, yes, I'll teach you, man! Oh dear! I haven't laughed that hard since my father passed. You and I, Harry, we are going to become very good friends. I know this. Come on, let's find Hermione and get some dinner."

The two pulled the invisibility cloak over themselves and walked carefully in the Mars-like gravity toward Hermione's room.

A/N: Here's part two of Chapter 1. Hope you enjoy it. If you haven't figured it out yet, this is going to be a pretty slow moving story. I can't even think of claiming it will be as epic as the actual trilogy by KSR, but I'm going to do my best.

And please review. Big thanks to the people who have already reviewed. They've all been excellent, well written and thought out, and I truly appreciate it. However, if you just want to write 'I like it," that'd be nice, too.