Martians (Part 2 of 2)
Hermione was helping Rose pack her trunk for her first year at Hogwarts. Ron was in the kitchen, fixing a larger than necessary breakfast. He always did, she thought to herself with a smile as she smelled the bacon wafting up the stairs. Her husband had turned his love of food into a Molly Weasley-ish ability to cook deliciously huge meals. Hugo popped into the room to let his mother and sister know that breakfast was waiting. He was still pouting that he would have to wait another two years before starting at Hogwarts.
"Mum, what's that?" asked Rose. Hermione glanced up and saw she had moved to the window and was staring at something.
She joined her daughter at the window and her jaw dropped. A huge wall of red light was speeding through London, engulfing the skyline. Buildings seemed to dissolve into a fine red dust as the wall of light passed through them. She absently noticed there were no people in the street. No cars, no busses. Nothing. The city was empty and somehow Hermione knew it was normal. Rose had started to cry as Hugo and Ron entered her bedroom and joined the two of them at the window, staring at the red wall as it seemed to pivot and head straight for their house. She saw the park down the street from them vanish except for a single brownish, red boulder that seemed to be flying directly towards the window where her family was standing. She turned to Ron who was gazing at her with a wistful look.
"Harry did it again," he whispered to her so the children couldn't hear.
"Did what?" she asked, the familiar feeling of wanting to know making her tremble.
"The impossible," he answered.
Hermione tore her gaze away from her husband's face and glanced back out the window. The red wall of light had completely erased London and all she could see was a red desert strewn with rocks of all shapes and sizes, many of them similar in appearance to the large boulder which was almost upon them.
She turned to her husband as he spoke with a regretful sadness she had never heard from him before. "Hermione, you need to wake up now."
"What?" The boulder was blocking their view out the window and the room had turned dark, with only an almost imperceptible red glow allowing her to see Ron's face.
"Wake up!"
Hermione shot up in bed, the lighter gravity of Mars resulting in a slight feeling of weightlessness as she rose above her mattress momentarily before bouncing slightly as she settled down.
The familiar feeling of being woken by a nightmare still made her heart beat quickly and she took a few deep breaths, doing her best not to wake the others in the trailer. She was rarely able to remember her dreams, but she was fairy certain her family had been in this one. Not an unusual occurrence. She rubbed her face vigorously, trying to wake fully.
Her thoughts shifted to Harry and Desmond, as they had often did. She hoped the two of them were doing well in the unexplored outback east of Underhill in their stolen rover, and that Harry was able to successfully cast the spell to shield electronics from magic. Standing slowly, still not used to the gravity, Hermione went into the small kitchenette to make a cup of tea. She looked out the small port-hole window as she did every morning, still amazed that she was on another planet. This morning a different feeling flowed through her as she took in the vision of various shades of rusty reds and oranges that made up the landscape of the first human settlement on Mars. A quick flash of memory. Ron saying Harry's name.
"Wake up," she whispered to herself, remembering the last moment of her dream. A wave of energy slammed into her, throwing Hermione across the trailer into the opposite wall. She moaned in pain before darkness overtook her.
"Harry! Wake up! Come on, man. Don't do this. Get up," Desmond was pleading with an unconscious Harry after dragging him back into the rover.
"Useless magic," he mumbled to himself as he removed Harry's helmet and propped him up against the wall next to the airlock. He was breathing, at least, Desmond realized in relief. He slapped the wizard in the face. When that did nothing, he picked up the helmet, holding it over Harry, and aimed the water nozzle and squeezed, dribbling water onto Harry's face, and then down the back of his neck.
Harry's eyes flew open and he gasped, startling Desmond, who fell back and leaned against the wall across from Harry. He watched the wizard take several quick deep breaths as his wild eyes looked around, obviously seeing nothing. Finally, Harry focused on Desmond.
"What happened?"
"Fuck if I know," responded Desmond with some heat. "You cast you magic spell and a big red bubble appeared, got real big and then popped."
"It popped?"
Desmond shook his head. "That's what it looked like. I don't know how all this works. Was that supposed to happen?"
"I don't think so. Did it work?"
"I suppose. My walker turned back on, I haven't tried the rover, yet. You want to try doing some more of your magic to make sure, eh?"
"Probably a good idea." Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at Desmond, who tensed up in fright.
"Don't worry, I'm just going to clean you off. If the spell worked, everything should be fine."
"And if it didn't?" asked Desmond.
"If it didn't, we're going to have to find you another walker."
"This won't hurt, will it?"
"You wont feel a thing. I'm only going to cast a scourgify on your suit, not your body."
"Okay," said Desmond with clenched teeth, not caring about the name of the spell. "Do it."
The shorter man was still tense, but Harry was used to muggles being slightly nervous when they were still unfamiliar with magic and cast the spell silently. The thin layer of red dust that had caked itself on Desmond's walker vanished and the suit and helmut looked as good as new.
"There you go, nice and clean," said Harry with a small grin. "Still working?"
Desmond checked his wristpad, which chirped and beeped in response. He grinned his crooked grin at Harry. "Well done. What's next?"
Harry slowly stood up and stumbled into the living unit of the rover, removing his walker. Desmond did the same and the two of them entered the driver's compartment.
"Let's turn this beast on and see what's out there," said Harry. Desmond nodded in agreement and restarted the rover. It rumbled awake and various screens flickered to life. They smiled at each other before Desmond began checking that everything was in working order.
"It seems fine. Want to try another spell?" There was an eagerness in his voice that Harry couldn't remember hearing before. He decided the demonstration of a harmless transfiguration would increase Desmond's growing appreciation for magic. Harry pulled out a nutrient bar from his pocket and placed it on the dashboard of the rover.
"What do you feel like for breakfast?" he asked Desmond.
"What can you make?"
Harry shrugged. "Pretty much anything. Corned beef hash alright?"
"Alright," said Desmond, still sounding unsure.
Harry nodded and waved his wand. The tasteless food bar, which the two of them had become thoroughly sick of, was transfigured into a plate of delicious smelling breakfast meat. A wide eyed Desmond stared at it for several seconds before remembering the rover. They both checked out the rover's systems, which all seemed to be fine, and smiled at each other.
"I'll go get some forks," said Desmond as he stood up and walked back to the small kitchenette where they stored their food. It wasn't a true kitchen, but a set of drawers held enough food for both of them to last several months, as well as some cooking implements and utensils, a sauce pan for the large amounts of noodles they carried that were recommended due to the high content of carbohydrates, and a microwave.
The two of them ate in silence for several minutes before Desmond asked the expected question.
"So it looks and tastes like corned beef, but it's actually that nutrient bar?"
"Yeah, and it still retains the nutrients that the bar had. It just tastes much better." Harry grinned at the stunned look on Desmond's face.
"Why don't you eat this way all the time? It seems much healthier than eating actual food."
"Some people do," Harry admitted. "But I actually enjoy cooking. I'm pretty good at it, so I tend to make food the muggle way." He smirked a bit. "I might cheat sometimes, though."
Desmond smiled around a mouthful of food and swallowed. "I think I could get used to having you around, my friend."
Outside the rover, the sun had risen about a quarter of the way into the sky, bathing the two stowaways and their rover in the unearthly martian light. Harry finished his portion of transfigured nutrient bar and gazed out the windshield. The sky was a peach color with thin, wispy clouds that looked close but he knew from Desmond's tutelage were actually around twenty kilometers over their heads. An occasional bit of red dust got caught in the thin martian wind, streaming out like a tiny comet's tail.
Desmond jumped, startled as his wrist began to beep. Hiroko and Hermione would only contact them in case of emergency. He raised his arm so that he could read the newly arrived message.
"Harry, something happened to Hermione." His accent thickened as he got more concerned. "'Roko just send me this message. She say something happened this morning and she was thrown into the wall in her trailer."
Harry had frozen.
"Harry, you want to go back?" asked Desmond, trying to get the now catatonic wizard to respond.
"Yeah," Harry shook himself. "Let's go back. Did Hiroko say if she was okay?"
Desmond checked his wrist again and finished reading the message. "She's fine. Slight concussion, but Vlad Taneev is with her. He's the best," he tried to reassure his friend. "They would not've sent him if he wasn't."
Harry nodded and vanished the now empty breakfast plate. Desmond almost squeaked he was so startled but focused on preparing to return to Underhill. It would take them almost five hours to get there and then they would have to wait until darkness before they could risk getting close enough to be seen or entering the clinic trailer.
When he mentioned this to Harry the wizard had shaken his head. "I can make us invisible. It won't be a problem."
Desmond blinked once. "Of course you can. Do it and we can go now."
Harry stood up and cast a disillusionment charm on the rover, then sat back down.
"Is that it?" asked Desmond.
"We can still see us. Took me awhile to figure out how to alter the spell. It'd be difficult to drive if you couldn't see the controls. Let's go."
Desmond decided to ask about the concept of 'altering spells' another time as the two set off to find out what had happened to Hermione.
A rhythmic beeping was the first sound Hermione heard as she regained consciousness. She tried to open her eyes but the first hint of light sent a lightning bolt-like surge of pain throughout her head. She squeezed her eyes shut and moaned, which alerted the man sitting at a small desk in the corner of the trailer.
"Are you awake, Hermione?" asked Vlad Taneev. His soft Russian accent was soothing and eased the pain she was feeling.
"Unfortunately," she responded.
"That's good. You suffered a mild concussion. Do you remember what happened?"
Hermione tried to search her memory for the cause of her injury. The only image that came to mind was Ron's sad face and his voice, the voice she missed so much, saying, 'wake up.'
She shook her head. Vlad looked disappointed for a brief moment before smiling gently at her. "That's not unusual. Most people don't remember the moments just before and after a concussion. I'd like you to stay here until tomorrow morning. Do you have anything running in your lab that you need taken care of?"
"I don't think so," she said, her thoughts still muddled.
"Good. Try to relax and let me know if you need anything. Here's your AI," Vlad placed the hand sized computer on the small table next to her bed. "Contact me or Ursula if you need anything or feel any pain."
Hermione agreed and attempted to lie back and relax as Vlad shuffled over to another bed. He was the oldest of the first hundred and his neatly trimmed beard was almost totally gray. She realized that she wasn't the only patient in the clinic trailer and tried to sit up.
"Who's that?" she asked. Vlad turned to answer her.
"I am surprised you're still awake. Nadia and Frank fell asleep almost immediately after waking the first time. Both of them suffered injuries this morning at around the same time you did, though not as serious."
"What happened?"
"We don't know. Nadia was in the airlock. Fortunately her helmet protected her, but she struck her head quite hard on the airlock door. Frank's situation is similar to yours, though his concussion is not as serious. I'm afraid you were the worst and the last to wake up. All of you should be fine. If you'll excuse me?"
Hermione nodded. Confusion was battling something else in her mind. She couldn't figure out what her subconscious was trying to tell her and the pain caused her to fall back asleep before she could resolve it.
Author's Note: Magical Mars is back! Yay! Thanks for reading, and please review. If you have any questions (especially if you haven't read the Mars Trilogy and have no idea what's going on) send me a message or ask it in a review. I'll do my best to answer quickly and comprehensively.