25 Chapter 24
When Harry and the other two were in his lab, with Cooper waiting by the door, Filius finished his report on the findings.
It turned out that the reflected sunlight from the moon, while still minimised, carried just the right amount of magic, to affect its properties in things like plants that actually only bloomed in the light of the full moon. That light carried the magic, but the light itself wasn't the issue, it was the effect of what happened on the surface of the planet, when the magic of the moon mixed with the magic on the planet.
If they could isolate how the magic was affected, so that its effects stopped reacting to those plants, they could change the charm, to only stop the negative side effects, while still allowing normal magical recharge. The way Filius explained it wasn't quite that simple, of course, but that's what it boiled down to and they were soon discussing magical theory and how Harry's current shield worked. By the time the meeting had ended, it was almost the end of the day for Harry, so he decided to rather go home.
Before he left however, he needed to test another thing he'd thought about, while lounging around in bed the previous evening. Soon enough the Prometheus was hidden, not by disillusionment like it had been, but by a Fidelius. He'd brought the ward stones from their stock of pre-charged stones, which Harry tended to make on occasion, so that Remus and Sirius could place them on newly acquired properties. The most magic was in the casting, after all. The stones could be moved before activation, as long as the one placing them was keyed into the wards and knew how the charm worked.
By the time they left, Harry was secure in the knowledge that neither he nor Bill had to keep on refreshing the spells on the ship. It had been something either of them had to do on a daily basis.
It came as a surprise to him, when he received a call from the Prime Minister that evening shortly after dinner. He excused himself from his friends and family and took the call on his way to his room.
"Mister Minister." Harry greeted. "Good evening, sir."
"Good evening, Mister Black." the minister said. "How are you feeling today? Better I hope?"
"The grapevine has been buzzing I take it?" Harry asked, with a bit of a smile.
"You do come up in reports quite often, yes." John said. "I hear you were experimenting and experienced some sort of backlash?"
Harry sighed. Now he knew the reason for the call. "I was unprepared for something that occurred, yes. Unfortunately, I can only blame myself for the consequences."
There was silence for a moment, before the Prime Minister replied. "While I'm happy that you were not permanently injured, I do hope that you will take proper precautions from now on?" he asked.
"Of course, sir." Harry said. He was really hoping that this would be the end of people telling him to be more careful. He'd learned his lesson, after all. "Mister Lupin was very concerned and activated a protocol that the wolves came up with, which places me under the care of a bodyguard whenever I leave the resort."
"Good." John said. Harry could hear relief in his voice. "We wouldn't want you to have any more accidents. It is a good idea to have you under protection anyway. If you were one of my staff, I'd have had a team on your protection detail a long time ago."
"I appreciate the thought, sir." Harry said.
"It's not only my thought, Mister Black." John said. "Her Majesty has been kept in the loop about the happenings in your world as they are reported by the wolves. She was slightly upset that you received a knighthood from the French, before she could bestow the honour on you, for all your company has done for not just her kingdom, but the world at large. Doctor Hawk and Pike have also been very talkative about the CITA."
Harry was shocked to hear this, but pulled himself together as he exited the elevator onto his floor. "The title is just an honorary one, for Beauxbatons, the French premier school of magic. There is no actual knighthood, sir." He paused for a moment, before he asked, "Is the Queen really all that interested in the happenings of Marauders Inc.?"
"Most certainly." John said. "All of her people are assured more security through them. They've already been given an official position in the Queen's armed forces. Hasn't anyone told you?"
"They must have forgotten to tell me, sir." Harry said, thinking Remus must have kept that from him, to surprise him, when the time came. "If you want to knight Mister Lupin, I'd be all for it, though. The wolves are his initiative and they were both formed and led by him. Daniels too. He's the leader of the wolves' security forces."
"You're not interested in a knighthood?" John asked. He'd somehow expected that.
"I'd be honoured, sir, but as I understand it, I already have many Lordships." Harry denied. "Remus Lupin, on the other hand, doesn��t have any hereditary titles and I personally think he deserves the honour, for all he has done."
"Humble as always, I see." John said, with some humour. "If the Queen does offer you one, however, do me a favour and accept it graciously. She's very proud to know one of her own is doing so much to help the world. She's already aware of the efforts of Remus Lupin, and I'll pass your recommendation along."
"Of course, sir." Harry said. "Thank you, sir."
"Now that that bit of business is taken care of, why don't we discuss your projects for the holiday?" John asked. He loved hearing about the happenings at the Hangar, and in their new headquarters. He was shocked to hear about the Prometheus, and had talked to Doctor Hawk about it at length. He already planned to visit, sometime in the next week. "What's the status of the werewolves?" he asked. He knew that had been a focus of Harry's for a while now.
"I've recently started working with Professor Filius Flitwick on that project." Harry said. "He's the Charms Master and Professor at Hogwarts. He's very experienced and recently came to some interesting findings. I have no doubt that we'll finally have a solution in place by the end of the holiday."
"That is good to know." John said. "And what about the Prometheus? Are you still planning on making a sojourn to our celestial neighbour?"
"The mission to Mars is still on the books, yes." Harry said. "I just need to test a theory I have for our communications array. We wouldn't want to be cut off from home while we are away."
"And your sensor is working as you had hoped?" John asked.
"Exactly as hoped, sir." Harry said. "It's still a bit taxing, and I'm the only one that can use it at this point, but I'll be working on a solution for that in the near future as well."
"You have quite the list of projects, then." John said. "Will you be able to make another delivery in the next week or two?"
"I don't see why not, sir." Harry said. "Until I have communication confirmed and have run a few tests, we'll still be around. Were you able to find out how the Russians got word of our operation?"
"We've taken steps to ensure nothing further gets out." John confirmed. It seemed that someone on the original development team for the previous satellite was on the take. They had followed the money trail and MI5 had taken the foreign threat into custody, secretly. "Rest assured that that particular door has been thoroughly closed."
"That's good to hear, sir." Harry said in relief.
"Don't worry Mister Black. We take your security and the security of the Prometheus team quite seriously." John said.
"Prometheus team?" Harry asked.
"We needed a name for the team and I thought your ship had the right name for it." John said. "Do you mind?" he asked.
Harry thought about it. He'd named the ship, for the cultural reference. Prometheus was the titan, who stole fire from the gods, to give to humanity to survive the winter. He intended the ship to be the place where his own attempts to save humanity would be based from. Having the team and the ship categorised together, made a certain amount of sense. "It works for me. Do the team know?" he asked.
"I've told them that I'd discuss it with you." John said. "They were of the opinion that the team didn't really need a name, but Thomson liked the idea. He suggested that we get a uniform. The doctors do not like that idea at all, though. I'm still considering doing it, for when new recruits join the project."
"New recruits?" Harry asked.
"We've got a few more people that are interested in joining." John said. "They are still being trained, and I understand that you need a few more hands on deck."
"We'll have to see about that, sir." Harry said apologetically. "The Prometheus isn't a government vessel. I intend to keep exposure to a minimum. Anyone on it needs either my permission or a contract to protect my secrets as well. I don't want to risk exposure at this point. We're still not ready for the magical world to find out what we're doing."
"Surely you could use a few more people, to help with your projects?" John asked. "I've got a few candidates that I'm sure you'll like on your team. I have a scientist, with intimate knowledge of the elements and all of their permutations and a few crewmen to help build things for engineering and to help maintain the ship."
"The ship is maintained magically." Harry denied. He'd not really mind a scientist, but he'd still rather not divide his attention this much. With how much time he was spending, working on projects with the current crew, he was kept quite busy already. If he had another scientist, at this point, before the current crew had their own projects going, without needing him, he didn't see that changing. "I'd love to have the scientist on-board, but not at this time. I'm still working on settling the current crew in with projects that don't need my attention. Maybe once Fleur has found her place, I'll find I have more time, but until then, I doubt I have the time to work with another person."
John was disappointed, but knew not to push. "Fleur Delacour?" he asked. "I was told that you have a new companion, who joined you on the ship. Is she planning to work on the ship, going forward?"
"She's still exploring her options." Harry said. "Until she knows what she wants to do, she'll be accompanying me to the ship. My other girlfriends are also boning up on their mundane educations and I suspect that by the time they finish at Hogwarts, the ship will have more than enough crew."
"They are as intelligent as Miss Granger?" John asked.
"Nobody is as smart as Hermione. Not even me." Harry denied. "But the girls are all at the top of their classes, after Hermione and myself. I don't know that they'll catch up as quickly as she did, but I have hope that I'll have a group of magicals that will want to go where the Prometheus goes."
"And their families?" John asked.
"They are being kept safe as well." Harry said. "I don't know that they'd enjoy being kept there for an extended period, but I'm hoping that we'll have the convicts all recaptured soon."
"If the reports are anything to go by, quite a few of them went to ground. I don't know that you'll have them all arrested anytime soon." John denied. "You'll have to take other precautions if they decide to leave the protection of the resort."
"You'd know more about that than I do." Harry allowed. "But thank you for your input. I'll start thinking of redundancies."
"Good." John said. "Well I think that's everything covered for today. Is there anything you need from my side?" he asked.
"If you could get me a mobile phone, that would be appreciated." Harry said.
"You have a need?" John asked.
"Actually, I was hoping to make you one that didn't stand out so much." Harry said. "I can open the one you give me, or use it as an example to base something new on. It's just a precaution, you understand."
"Good idea." John said. "I'll have my people get you a few, so that you can equip any non-magicals in your circle with them, to keep us all safe."
"Thank you, sir." Harry said.
"Goodbye, Mister Black." John said. "And good luck with your projects."
"Thank you, sir." Harry said. "Goodbye."
Harry had made it to his room, as he talked and was standing at the balcony, just enjoying the view and thinking about the things that the PM had discussed with him, when there was a knock at the door. "Come in." Harry called back, not leaving his position. Harry heard a few sets of feet walking in and turned to see his girlfriends. "Hey. Sorry for the abrupt departure. I had to take a call."
"What did the Prime Minister want to discuss with you?" Hermione asked.
"How did you know?" Harry asked, turning back to the view.
"You only ever leave the room to talk to him." Daphne said.
"Right. Of course." Harry said in realisation. "He's happy that I didn't get hurt permanently and asked about my projects."
"Anything interesting?" Pansy asked.
"Mostly just interest and concern." Harry said. "Everyone keeps on reminding me about my mistake. He also wanted to ask about another delivery."
"Delivery?" Fleur asked.
"Harry has the easiest way to deliver satellites into orbit." Hermione said. "They started Harry's scientific department with people for that purpose."
"Not that they stayed that, after they met Harry." Daphne said. "Now they work for Harry on all the projects you saw on Prometheus."
That conversation ended with all of them in Harry's Jacuzzi, discussing his projects and the possible applications for the theories currently in the air. Hermione was contributing quite a bit of theory and possibilities for Harry's plans, and he took mental notes as they went.
The next morning, Harry spent time with the girls again, before he went to Prometheus. He needed to focus on his own work, but Fleur still accompanied him and they started poring over the book of Family magics, to start working on the ritual they would need to add an infectious curse to the wolves, which would spread with the lycanthropy. That would take a few days to set up, and Harry had not heard from Filius since he departed the previous day. Presumably, he was working on his magical isolation charm. He had mentioned a charm that would work to activate the moon blooming flowers and using that as the basis for his own research.
That was the trend for the next two weeks. He was finally happy with the ritual magic and started working on Filius's charm with him. He'd made some progress, but he still needed to wait for an actual full moon, to try and confirm his findings. That would only be in a couple of days, though, and Harry was informed that the Prime Minister had finally found time to join them on the Prometheus for the tour.
The tour went as expected, with the PM expressing awe at the achievement, which was the Prometheus. He was specifically very excited about the observation deck. Realising he was probably the first Prime Minister to make it this far into space. The reports on the things he was seeing was nothing like experiencing it himself.
Before leaving, he tried to convince Harry again, to take on some more crew. Harry had had time to think about it and finally relented to allow the scientist, a chemist, to join them. When they went to Mars, such an individual would likely be a useful addition. The PM was very happy to arrange for the man to join them. He was a reasonably young man, too. Smart, driven and well educated, even though his experience left a slight bit to be desired. That would actually count in his favour, though, since it would allow him to be flexible in his learning about the possibilities introduced by magic.
The man would be joining them in the next few days, shortly after the next full moon, which Harry suspected the PM had done on purpose, to allow them to finish their work on the wolves.
The day of the next full moon finally arrived and Filius was almost certain that he had figured out how to do what he had been challenged to do. Harry had looked through his findings and couldn't deny that it looked like a better solution than he would have come up with. The charm, if it worked as designed, would allow the wolf to recharge normally, throughout the full moon, without ever being exposed to the risk of transforming.
Remus had volunteered again, but Daniels had blocked it, saying that he really shouldn't be exposed to risk, no matter how small. He didn't volunteer himself either. He asked one of the other wolves, a woman who had wanted to be cured of the affliction, when they still thought that was a possibility. She had instantly agreed. Remus and Daniels were there, along with Cooper, but they were placed under the original shield, so that they could safely observe and step in should it be necessary.
They took the Saucer to the moon again, with the woman in a cage, much as Harry had done with Remus, the first time. The shield on the cage was the new one Filius had come up with, along with Harry's normal one. When they were all ready, Harry dispelled his own shield and the woman seemed completely unaffected. She was still just herself.
"How are you doing, Abigail?" Daniels asked.
"I'm fine." the woman, Abigail, said nervously. "The wolf is confused, I think. It doesn't know how to react. It's like the wolf is there and not, all at the same time."
"That's different from what I experienced." Remus said. "When Harry removed the shield, the wolf was instantly trying to come out until he blocked it again. Then it was suppressed and I could feel it there, but it also couldn't come out, like it wanted to."
"It's strange." Abigail said again. "I've never felt this before. It's like the wolf is tamed. It's not mad anymore."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"I don't know how to explain it." Abigail said. "Before, the wolf was dominant. It wanted nothing more than to come out and kill and run and hunt. Now, it feels like a scolded dog. It's like it's afraid to try anything."
"That is interesting." Filius said. "Perhaps the moon was also the cause for the madness, which made the wolf such a monster?" he theorised.
"Until we know for sure that this is a good fix, I'd rather not take any risks." Harry said.
"No." Remus denied. "You've spent too much time on this. Put me in a cage and let me see what she's talking about."
"Sir!" Daniels tried to object.
"No, Daniels." Remus said. "The pack is my responsibility. I should have been the one in the cage in the first place. I know what should be happening and I will be able to understand this better. I am the most educated with dark creatures anyway." He transfigured a cage for himself and stepped in. "Professor Flitwick, if you would please?" he asked.
Filius relented and cast the spell over the cage after adding an imperturbable charm. "Shield is up." he said. "Harry, please remove yours?" he asked.
"Done." Harry said. He'd not moved a finger, but he kept his magic at the ready, should something strange happen.
"What are you feeling, Moony?" Sirius asked.
"I see what you mean, Abigail." Remus said. "This is different." he closed his eyes for a bit and concentrated on what he felt. A minute later, his eyes shot open. "Merlin!" he exclaimed, a smile spreading on his lips. "Okay, I'm going to try something. If I try to get out of the cage, subdue me."
"Remus, what are you doing?" Harry asked.
"Trust me, cub. I need to try this first. If I'm right, this will be huge." Remus said. He closed his eyes again, and focussed. Everyone watched in suspense, and then shock as the man started to transform. It wasn't' the normal transformation, though. It didn't seem like he was in pain. Rather, it looked more like an Animagus transformation, as Remus doubled over and landed on his hands, which quickly turned into paws. Big paws. His body soon followed and in under ten seconds, a large wolf stood in the centre of the cage, looking himself over.
The large wolf lifted his head up and howled. The sound was animal, wild, but also, somehow, beautiful. Then the wolf looked back at the people in front of him, sat down on his haunches and looked at them quite calmly.
"Remus?" Harry asked. "Are you in control?"
The wolf, to their surprise, nodded, before his mouth opened up and his tongue stuck out the side, in the equivalent of a wolfish grin. Then it stood back up, and, quicker than before, transformed back into Remus. "That was fantastic!" he exclaimed. "The wolf is calm, because it's under control. This was what was always supposed to happen. The wolf was never supposed to be a curse. Once the madness was gone, all it wanted was a chance to be itself!"
"Are you sure that's what is happening?" Harry asked. "The wolf isn't trying to trick you or something?"
"I am the wolf Harry." Remus said. "The wolf is part of me, like an Animagus form. That's why werewolves could never become Animagi before. The wolf takes its place, but the curse is incomplete. Was incomplete. This is the answer you've been looking for!"
"We'll still need to make sure that the ritual works." Harry said. "We're not taking chances."
"Of course not." Remus said. "Only, now I'll be the one in the Ritual. I'm not letting anyone take this from me."
"Sir, I must insist-" Daniels tried.
"Silence!" Remus said, with an animalistic tint to his voice. "I'm alpha! I'll not be told what to do by any of my pack!"
"Sorry, sir." Daniels retracted. Something had changed with the Alpha. He was more wolf now. He could tell his own wolf had shied away at the command. The Alpha knew it was in charge. The flame of hope suddenly burned brighter in Daniels' heart. He could tell this was right, that his own wolf was not complete. He was currently an abomination, standing before a true wolf.
"What was that?" Harry asked. He'd heard the change in Remus's tone.
"The wolf in me is awake, for the first time." Remus said. "It knows it's in charge, and didn't like a subordinate acting like he was in charge." He turned to Daniels. "Sorry, Daniels. I didn't mean to snap at you. This is new to me."
Harry could tell Remus was excited. Something had fundamentally changed. He'd also never seen so much joy and peace in Remus's face. "So, we're good?" he asked.
"Why can't I transform?" Abigail asked.
"I studied the Animagus transformation with my friends, while they were learning to transform." Remus said. "It will still take some effort and training for someone who didn't practice the skill."
"So, I won't be able to become a wolf?" Sirius asked. He already had an Animagus transformation.
"Either that, or you'll lose your current one." Remus theorised.
"But that's not fair." Sirius objected. "Wolves have enhanced senses in their human forms! I didn't get anything like that!"
"But dogs can be in public and not be instantly attacked." Harry pointed out. Sirius just grumbled.
"Are you sure this is what you want?" Filius asked. He hadn't foreseen this, but then, he didn't expect anything like this. They should have felt nothing. They should just be themselves. There must be a factor that they had not considered.
"This is natural, Professor Flitwick." Remus said. "I've never felt so at peace with myself. It's like the wolf is at peace too. It was just as cursed as I was, or am. Could you add the spell to me, without the cage?" Filius nodded and did as requested. Remus then opened the door of his cell and walked out quite calmly. "I can't wait for this to be how I always feel." he said, in slight awe.
"Well done, professor!" Harry said as he slapped the man on his shoulder. "You did it!"
Filius smiled happily. "I couldn't have done it without you, Harry." he said.
"Let's not get too carried away." Remus said, sobering up. "We need to do that ritual. When can we do that?" he asked.
"We need a couple of hours to set it up." Harry said. "We can go to one of the branches where it's morning right now and set up everything."
"Let's do that, then." Remus insisted, as he walked to a seat and buckled in, as Filius cast the temporary shield on the woman and allowed her out of the cage.
It took a bit of time, which was why they started in the morning, before they were ready for the ritual. When they were ready, Remus entered the centre of the ritual chamber and everyone else vacated, except for Filius and Bill. Filius for his input, and Bill, because he had earned the knowledge. Fleur had wanted to stay, but understood that this was a family matter.
The ritual was reasonably involved, and took a bit of work and quite a bit of power, but Harry had studied everything and had double and triple-checked everything, along with ensuring he could reverse the effects, should that be necessary. Just in-case, Remus was asked if he was certain he wanted the ritual done, and he responded formally, like one did with a family curse. When Harry was certain everything was ready, he activated the last part.
The runes involved, was what made the ritual affect the person permanently. The potions were what affected his biology, making the ritual's effect be able to be transferred. Finally, there was an element of blood, as many of these kinds of rituals were. The sacrifice of one's blood was what allowed everything to work together.
Remus needed to cut the palm of his hand with a bone dagger, in the centre of the ritual circle. The moment his palm was cut and his blood spilled onto the floor of the ritual circle, a bright light exploded upwards and Remus couldn't be seen, and the people present needed to divert their eyes. There was no scream of pain or shaking ground. Instead, they heard the distinctive cry of a wolf, and then many more as a chorus of hundreds of wolves joined the call.
When the light finally vanished, Remus was found kneeling in the centre of the circle.
"You okay, Remus?" Harry asked. He hadn't expected the wolf call, nor the blinding light.
"I am not fine, Harry." Remus said, looking up and smirking at Harry. "I'm fucking fantastic!" he exclaimed.
"So, you think it worked?" Harry asked, smiling back.
"I know it worked." Remus agreed, as he got up and walked out of the ritual circle. "But better than you had apparently been prepared for." he quickly approached Harry and hugged him very hard. "Thank you, cub. You have no idea what you have done for me, and the pack, as well."
"I don't suppose you can tell us what that lightshow was all about?" Filius asked.
"It seems the Ritual was either similar, or contained enough similarities to what caused the first werewolf to be made, that it connected to the original curse." Remus said. "I don't know how I know, but when the ritual finished, it reached through me, as the alpha, and went to all those below me in the pack. When I howled, they all joined me in celebration."
"This could be bad." Bill said frowning.
Harry spun around and looked at him. "What do you mean?" he asked urgently.
"If you affected the original curse, you may not be able to undo what you've done." Bill theorised. He was the curse-breaker, so Harry nodded in understanding, knowing what Bill said may just be true.
"Don't worry." Remus said. "I don't think this will be a problem. We are what we were always meant to be."
Just then, Daniels ran into the clearing, where the ritual was performed. He ran up to Remus and kneeled before him. "Alpha." he said respectfully. "You did it."
"Get up Daniels." Remus said, bemusedly. "I'm still the same man, even if I'm not the same wolf. I'll never want people to show me such deference."
"What's going on?" Harry asked, looking between Daniels and Remus.
"My wolf is very grateful to the Alpha." Daniels said. "He wants me to treat the Alpha with respect. He wants me to treat you with the same respect. It's different now. It's more connected. More natural."
Remus nodded in understanding. "My wolf feels the same. He's no longer caged. The madness has left it. It's like it can finally rest for the first time since it came into being."
They left the ritual site, after Harry secured it in another Fidelius. It would need to be studied, in case something still went wrong. It didn't take long for Harry to receive a call from the PM. It seemed the wolves on duty with him had also howled out and he was worried about the cause. Hearing that the wolves would be leaving for the night, like they would have anyway, but possibly for the last time, left the man with a big smile on his face. He congratulated Harry on his work, having no doubt that Harry had succeeded, before hanging up, to go tell his people to allow the release of the wolves, who had willingly surrendered their wands, to show no aggression, while the PM made the call to check.
That night, before sunset, the wolves had all gathered, for the first time since they were formed, having been called in to their various safe locations and transported from there to one of the largest resorts they had, which just happened to be in Texas. There were many hundreds of faces, which Harry had never seen. He looked out at the excited faces of the pack, as they watched the moon rise.
He had with him his family and friends, and those Professors that were in the know. All of them had portkeys out of there, just in case, which they carried with them.
When the moon was risen, completely, there was a howl of celebration from the crowd, as one of the people in attendance turned into a wolf. Apparently Remus wasn't the only one to study the Animagus transformation. Many of those gathered looked at the large, but normal-looking wolf. No longer was there a half-transformation, with a human shape and mad eyes. Now it was a wolf, as they were always meant to be, calmly sitting on its haunches and howling into the sky. Harry thought he saw tears flowing from the eyes of the wolf. Then he noticed that there were many more tears, as relief flooded the gathered wolves.
Many of the wolves had lived with the affliction most of their lives. Having suddenly been freed from the madness that had always lurked within, gave them a peace they had never thought they'd have. It wasn't long before most there were howling at the sky, singing their wolfish delight into the night.
When the chorus of howling was complete, some few turned to where the Alpha stood with his cub. First one, and then many, and then all, bent a knee for the Alpha, who had finally set them free. They had all had faith in him, and when the ritual completed, a question had come to all of them, asking if they trusted the one who had brought them together and created their new lives for them. Not one wolf had hesitated to agree instantly, and then they had felt the change. They had not known what was happening, but they knew that something had fundamentally changed.
They were soon standing again at Remus's urging, but their wolves were still very respectful and grateful to both the Alpha and the cub, knowing he had been instrumental in their freedom.
"Thank you all, for the respect you have shown me." Remus said, once he had them all standing again. "But I will not be asking you for anything that you haven't been doing for the Marauders already."
"Marauders first! Marauders forever!" came the chorus from all the wolves. It was so loud and sudden, Harry almost fell back at the exclamation.
Remus smirked at them. "That being said, tonight we celebrate. There is food and drink for all and we expect all of you to take the day off. Those of you who have had a full day, may go to rest, but the celebration will last the next twenty-four hours, so be merry and celebrate the fact that Harry Black has fulfilled his promise to the pack. He has freed you from the madness and will be one of the pack, as soon as he reaches his majority."
There was a large cheer from the gathered wolves as they started celebrating on the spot, many hugging and kissing their partners. There were even some children with their families. Children born from wolves, who had unfortunately been cursed as well. It was rare, but it happened.
Harry scowled at Remus, though. "Why wait for my majority?" he asked.
"This is a lifestyle choice." Remus said. "Since there can be no accidents anymore, I'm thinking you can choose, when most people get a choice."
"I agree." Madam Pomfrey said. "There are always choices that become available only after majority is reached. This should be one of them."
"But-" Harry started.
"No buts, young man." Sirius said. "This has been decided. Let's take the time and study why this happened the way it did. Filius said that the wolves should have felt nothing. This is not the expected result, so we need to understand it."
"I'll do that in my spare time." Bill offered. "Harry, you've spent enough time on it. We'll look into what exactly happened. I personally think that this was because of the original curse. Perhaps this was what werewolves originally were, but they were cursed afterwards, or something went wrong when one clan of wolves tried to give their gift to another clan or people from outside it."
"That is most insightful." Filius agreed. "I can see you took your studies seriously."
"I still am a curse-breaker, after all." Bill agreed.
Harry felt a hand on his shoulder as he was patted there. "Well done, my boy." Dumbledore said. "I always expected big things from you, and this is bigger than even I had expected."
"Says the man who has seen Prometheus." Daphne scoffed. "You really don't know how big an achievement that was, do you?"
"I assure you, Miss Greengrass, that I do in-fact understand the enormity of that achievement." Dumbledore denied. "What Harry has achieved today, however, will have far-reaching effects on the planet he currently calls home."
"For the time being." Harry said with a smirk. "After all, this is just another thing that the ICW will likely try and use against me, when they start building a case against me."
"Why are you so certain that they will turn against you in the first place?" Dumbledore asked.
"Simple logic." Hermione interjected. "Harry knows that the existence of magic will come out at some point. The steps he's taking in preparation, will look like he was responsible and the ICW will be looking for someone to blame, as they've always done. Exactly like the ministry. When that happens, Harry's actions will be blamed."
"It really doesn't matter if it's good or bad, he'll be vilified and attacked for his efforts." Pansy said. "We've been watching his actions for years now. He's not wrong for expecting resistance. You, yourself, have not been open to the changes he brings, sir. If the Supreme Mugwump is resistant to change, and he's this close to the person bringing it, what will happen with the other members of the International Confederation of Wizards?"
"I see your point." Dumbledore said, thinking of all he had witnessed over the last few years. Harry was definitely bringing positive change, but he could also see that with every good thing, there was the chance that someone could see the opposite. Not because it's true, but because it would be more believable that he'd done it against the statute of secrecy, rather than regardless of it. It had been protecting wizarding kind for more than three hundred years, after all. It was tried and trusted. Anything new would be blamed for the breach of security.
"Then there's also the fact that there are those who prefer to maintain the status quo, despite the benefits of advancement." Harry said. "People that claim tradition, who have been secretly using the mundane world for their own gain. They won't want to admit their breach and will try to look for someone to blame for their need to change their lives. People steal and cheat, take liberties with people and make them forget. People so drunk on their own power that they don't see the harm that they are causing."
"Some people might honestly not know that they are causing harm." Neville said, playing Devil's advocate. "If someone doesn't remember, who's to say they did something wrong, after all?" he quickly lifted his hands in defence, as his friends looked at him incredulously. "Not that I agree with the actions of those people! I'm just saying that people might have been raised to believe that they are allowed to do what they can get away with. It's disgusting, but it's also likely."
"There's no excuse for abusing your power." Dumbledore denied. "While I do see what you are saying, Mister Longbottom, I have to disagree with the statement in general. Any person with even the smallest level of empathy, should know instinctively that they are causing harm."
"And the wolves will not stand for such abuses going forward." Remus re-joined the conversation. "We have been given the full backing of the crown to proceed with operations within Her Majesty's lands, even in the muggle world. As such, our operation, currently known as the Wolf Brigade, as a civilian branch of Her Majesty's army, will be moving on any intelligence about any such abuses, be they mundane or magical."
"You should have told me." Harry said. "It caught me by surprise, when the Prime Minister mentioned it to me."
"It was meant to be a surprise." Remus said, slightly sad that Harry already knew. "Either way, we've been discussing how to move forward and we were hoping to get some items produced for us, so that we can better fulfil the role."
"What did you have in mind?" Harry asked.
They discussed what they needed and were hoping Harry could give them, and he agreed readily, thinking that some of it was a really good idea. He'd be able to produce what they needed in just a few days too.
The celebration finished the next day, but Harry and his friends had already gone home, when the celebration got to be a bit much for them. With alcohol and Veela around, at some point inhibitions started flying out the window and it was deemed that the younger people should rather go home.
BTB-BTB
With the wolves finally sorted, Harry could finally focus on his next project. He wanted to work on a communications device. He spent most of his time, when he was not hanging out with his girlfriends, on the Prometheus. Doctor Pike, or Sam, as she preferred these days, and Harry worked on a slew of tests and then finally came up with a form or satellite dish. It wasn't very large, but it was very accurate and had the potential to connect with and maintain communication through a satellite dish, which had both a blue diamond laser for the connection and reflective surface to bounce signals back to a central connection.
The idea was to use the magical light to create and maintain a tether, of sorts, to and from the Prometheus and Earth. This would ensure no delays in communication and allow for, hopefully, instant travel between the locations, once a base of operations has been established. Harry also worked on Hermione's idea for a refracted light system, where the light from the laser gets spread over a larger area. At first it didn't seem to work, with the magic fading as it was spread over a larger area and the glass interfering with the spell, until he modified the detection spell he used as well as magical means of refraction. Suddenly, he could get the same detail of scan, without needing to wait for a laser to move over an area.
The success of the refracted detection system, or RDS, led Harry to try and buffer the input through a recording and projection system, which worked like magic. Literally. The intent behind the design seemed to transfer into the creation and before Harry knew it, he had a full display of anything that the light of his RDS system touched, projected in 3D, right in front of the co-pilot's seat. It was easy to track and apply a way to see how far away things were from there as well.
Using the same principle from the RDS, they upgraded the communication array, to search for and connect to a linked device, before narrowing the beam to increase the strength of the signal. They tested the system, by connecting the Moon House directly to the paired unit on Earth, through which they suddenly had full communication and even received television signal, with no detectable loss.
When that was done, Harry set Tom up with a way to see live television. A simple magical remote system, which Bill had designed for Hermione's parents, with the same wards as on his seat, allowing him to press the buttons on the control and both change the channels and volume of the television projection. The control was built into the throne, since Harry didn't trust Tom with anything he could hold and potentially bash or throw at him. Harry was glad for the change, since now he didn't need to go back to Tom to change things again. Harry could still control things to speak to the lunar prisoner, from the basement of Moon House.
With all the required hardware produced and the plans for Mars in place, all they needed to do was set a date.
BTB-BTB
"So, when will suit you guys to go on the mission to Mars?" Harry asked his friends one morning after breakfast, after he'd had enough time to implement most of his plans, with a few surprises thrown in. It was only two weeks before school was set to start again. The Prometheus crew had already installed a new satellite for the PM and he'd even gotten a few other jobs for them, having used Harry's plan to sell the space on a rocket that had gone up, more than one time.
The fact that they had 'covered some of the cost' for shares in the companies, meant that any profits gained would now also provide a steady income for Marauders Inc. outside of their own business dealings.
"You're taking us with you?" Hermione asked. Harry hadn't told them that that was the plan.
"You'll be staying on the Prometheus, when we go down to establish a base of operation on the planet itself, but I assumed you'd like to be part of it." Harry said, smiling at her.
"What about our families?" Daphne asked.
"They are more than welcome to come along." Harry said.
"Will we be able to communicate back home?" Pansy asked.
"We finished the communications array a while back." Harry said. "We'll need to confirm stability, but we've had no loss to the moon, since it was put up. We even tested a transport room to the moon and it worked fine, with the connection established. It seems magic can flow easily through the tether, as long as it was designed to use it."
"So, you're planning on setting up transport between Earth and Mars as well?" Padma asked.
"Of course." Harry said. "Well, between the Prometheus and Mars, to begin with."
"That makes sense." Hermione said.
"Why make it so indirect?" Parvati asked.
"To protect our interests." Harry said. "This is our technology. We're not ready to establish a colony on Mars, but we want to be in control of who goes there using our methods. The safest way to do that is by ensuring only our people have access. Only our people can get to Prometheus, so only our people can get to Mars."
"And the new scientist?" Hermione asked. Harry had mentioned the new addition to the Prometheus crew.
"He's still playing catch-up." Harry said. The man, a chemist, by the name of Robert Edwards, or Bobby, as he preferred to be called, was reasonably young at the age of 25. He was quickly taking all the information he was given and expanding on possibilities and making notes on everything he'd like Harry and the team to try. He had not been told of the Mars mission. Harry wanted to see how quickly he adjusted to the idea, when they went there.
"He's been open-minded?" Hermione asked, suspecting she knew what possibilities magic might make possible for the man. What a chemist might be able to do with what Harry had done with the CITA, could be enormous.
"He's excited about the possibilities." Harry agreed.
"And you want us to 'elp you decide when to go?" Fleur asked.
"I'm ready right now, but I want you all there." Harry said. "If I can arrange it, I want a location set up on the planet, before school starts. I want to set up protections and a couple of CITA arrays to start producing resources we might need. Water and breathable air, a place to deposit those resources and so on."
"You'll be wanting to secure a place that won't be affected by the global sandstorms then." Hermione speculated. "A canyon with a sandy bottom, close to the equator would likely be best. You can add a shield with your wind-shielding ward worked in."
"And also a large distortion field to increase the sun's radiation, yes." Harry nodded along. He'd already planned for something just like that. They'd need to look for a good spot when they were on the surface.
"Distortion field?" Pansy asked.
"The sun is further away on Mars, so I plan to put up a bit of magic that works like a magnifying glass." Harry said. "Not enough to burn us, of course, but enough to make the place a bit warmer and to trap the air, for a bit of a greenhouse-effect."
"Ooh, that's clever." Hermione nodded. "I'm assuming you already have something for that?"
"I worked it out to apply your idea to the refraction of the sensor. It actually works a lot like the disillusionment spell, where it bends light around an object." Harry said, with a nod. "Using actual glass interfered too much."
"I'm glad I could help." Hermione beamed at him.
"More than you know." Harry confirmed. "Thanks to that one idea, we've made considerable progress on a few fields."
"This wouldn't have anything to do with your idea for a spell to search for specific information, would it?" Luna asked.
"Didn't I ever show you guys that?" Harry asked.
"You told us you had an idea, but never what it was." Luna said.
"Oh, sorry about that." Harry said. "It slipped my mind." he rubbed behind his head embarrassedly. "Okay, back in another life, the smartest witch I knew came up with a spell that could point things out, to help in a tournament I took part in."
"You've been een more zan one tournament?" Fleur asked.
"No." Harry said.
"He means his last time through." Susan said. "He's saying Hermione did something then that she didn't do this time around."
"Exactly." Harry agreed. He conjured a wand and focused on the spell. "Point me." he said. The wand spun in his hand until it pointed north. "That's north." he said.
"I made a spell in English?" Hermione asked. "Why did I do that?"
"I don't know." Harry said. "I didn't make the spell, I only modified it. My version points out things I know, so if I thought of Sirius, for example…" he focussed the spell and the wand-shaped stick, with a narrow point, turned and settled off to the side. They looked and saw Sirius chatting with the Patil parents. The spell seemed to need to be within a certain distance from the target, which was why he had needed to aim the laser closer to the house, when he was on the moon, to fix the garage.
"You made a divination charm?" Padma asked, looking at Hermione. Hermione famously disliked divination.
"No." Hermione said. "I'd have made it work like a magnet. North has a magnetic pole. It's all basic science. Harry must have turned what I did into a divination spell."
"I hate to argue with you Hermione, but this spell is rooted in divination." Harry smirked at her. "You wanted me to use it to keep track of which direction I had to go in the labyrinth. It still helped me when I lost track of direction, but I needed the spell to be more versatile, so I used your spell as the basis, to allow for more kinds of directions."
"Are you saying you can use that spell to find objects?" Hermione asked, ignoring that fact that she had dabbled in divination in a previous life. She'd never admit it.
"I've used it to find the house in Texas, from the moon, to reconnect the garage, when it was broken by magical backlash." Harry said.
"Can you use it to find other things, besides living creatures and magical buildings?" Luna asked.
"I've used it to find a book or two once." Harry said. "I've never gone as far as looking for specific information, since you need to know what you are looking for, for the spell to work."
"But if we learned the spell, we could try and modify it again, to get us more specific results." Daphne said in realisation. "That would be so useful. Do you think you can teach us?" she asked.
"I could, or you could start from scratch, knowing the results you want and create something new?" Harry offered.
"Why would we want to do that?" Susan asked.
"If we're biased in our attempt, we may lean toward one option, rather than considering all of them." Luna said. "It's a principle in spell-creation. It's supposed to be better to start from different angles. Ten different people starting at ten different starting locations have ten times the chance to succeed, rather than everyone starting at one point and coming to all the same dead-ends."
"Statistically speaking, your chances increase exponentially, so your chances go up way more than ten times, in that equation." Hermione corrected. It was basic maths. "Also, collaboration after we have our initial ideas down, would increase our chances further."
Luna shrugged. She still thought her explanation was better. It was something her mother often said.
"Either way." Harry said. "I could teach you what I know, but you're less likely to succeed. That's all I'm trying to say."
"That, or you can wait for everything to be digitised." another voice said. It was Doctor Pike.
"Sam? What are you doing here?" Harry asked.
"We decided to take you up on your offer for a visit." Sam said, pointing over her shoulder at Bill, who was taking David to the bar, where he likely intended to introduce the man to his girlfriend. Those two had bonded quite well and Harry was happy for both of them, since they didn't have many friends that they saw with any regularity. Doctor Hawk was chatting to Luna's father. Harry chuckled at that. The strange man would likely drive the logical woman insane if they talked too long. Luna's mother had apparently gone back to work. She was still a spell researcher, but her employers were very secretive and she wasn't allowed to tell anyone who she worked for.
"What were you saying about digitising everything?" Hermione pressed.
"I've started scanning some of the books into our server." Sam said. "Your runes texts have so many strange and interconnected laws that I tend to forget them and I wanted to search for things more easily. Optical Character Recognition software turns scanned text into actual digital letters, rather than just pictures of pages. It's easier to put everything into context once you can do a word search."
"That's brilliant!" Harry exclaimed. "I didn't know you could do that!"
"Of course you didn't." Sam said smugly. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Harry, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
"Hamlet." Hermione said. "Good quote."
"It fit." Sam shrugged. "You magicals know so little about the advances of the mundane world. If you learned a bit more, you'd likely be like our benefactor, here." She indicated at Harry. "With just a bit of knowledge, he's been capable of feats only dreamt of by scientists."
"He's done things never dreamt of by magicals." Bill said as he walked over, leading Thomson and a confused looking Doctor Hawk.
"Okay there, Sidney?" Harry asked her.
"She was speaking to daddy." Luna said with a smile. "She likely doesn't understand half of what was said."
"If that much." Doctor Hawk scoffed. "No offence Miss Lovegood, but your father is strange."
"We're all strange in our own ways." Luna said. "I blame the Nargles." she whispered conspiratorially.
"Don't ask." Harry said, before she could enquire about what Nargles were. "So you decided to come get me?" he asked instead.
"Not in the slightest." Thomson said. "We were hoping to meet whoever you decided to take on the mission."
"Us." Pansy said. "And our families."
"So many civilians?" Doctor Hawk asked.
"You forget, Sidney. I'm a civilian." Harry said.
"But you're also the head of the Prometheus Project and the mission director." Doctor Hawk shrugged. "Your participation is basically, until we've got more processes figured out."
"You're expecting me to teach someone else how to run the missions?" Harry asked.
"I expect you will get tired of exploration at some point, while you work on newer and better things." Doctor Hawk corrected. "The first time we go to a new star or Galaxy, you'll be all excited, until you find out there aren't aliens waiting for you. Then you'll start looking into other things, since you love discovery so much."
"Then you'll have other people to do the work, like teaching Lieutenant Thomson how to fly, for example." Sam agreed. "You barely did anything on the last installation." she pointed out.
"Well, I had to see if David knew his stuff, didn't I?" Harry asked.
"It helps now that you've made an actual airlock on the Saucer." Thomson said. "Before that we had to have you there."
"I thought it might help." Harry shrugged. "If you can do the menial things, I can focus on… Oh, I see your point." he said to Doctor Hawk, who was smirking at him victoriously. "Either way, until we've had time to figure out how to travel by starlight, I won't be able to give those missions to other people."
"Travel by starlight?" Hermione asked, her eyes opening wide, as she looked at Harry in awe. "That's a plan you have?"
"Well, considering we know that the sun's light can transfer magic directly, and it's had billions of years to shine out into the cosmos, why not use the system that it inadvertently put in place for us?" Harry asked.
"We're still theorising application." Doctor Hawk said. "We're really hoping you girls catch up quickly. Harry can use the help. He's had years to work on things, but he tells me he considers many of you smarter than himself."
"If he's right, I can't wait for you to join us, so we can put him away to start using the new, smarter models." Sam smiled.
"Hey! What am I, last year's model?" Harry asked indignantly.
"Maybe next year." Hermione joked along. "Until then, I'm helping my friends catch up."
"So you'll be helping us set up shop on Mars?" Thomson asked.
"They'll be staying on the Prometheus, while we set up the wards in a proper location." Harry denied. "They'll be joining us on the surface once we know it's safe."
"I'll help with any plants you want to plant." Neville offered.
"Oh, that's right." Sam said. "You're the local green-thumb."
"He's been known to get the most difficult of plants to grow, where all of ours die." Hermione groused.
"It's not my fault I understand the plants better than you." Neville said. "You can't be the best at everything, you know."
"I can try." Hermione argued, but she didn't seem angry at least. While she knew why her plants died, she simply didn't have Neville's instinctual knowledge of how to handle the plants correctly.
"Where's Edwards?" Harry asked.
"Bobby is still not up to date." Sam said. "He wanted to join us, but considering what we're discussing, and your request that we keep him in the dark, where Mars is concerned, we decided to leave him with a challenge. He's currently contemplating how to use the CITA to extract Hydrogen and Oxygen from the air separately."
"But we can already do that." Harry said.
"He doesn't know that." Sam said.
"It's also a good way for us to encourage him to think of the applications of the CITA." Doctor Hawk said. "The more he understands and the more questions he has to ask, the more useful he will be to us in the long run."
"He actually helped me come up with an ingenious design for a mask, which would do exactly what the bubble-head charm does." Sam said. "It transfigures whatever air is around into the correct levels of gasses, before mixing them and bringing them to your face. What you breathe out doesn't matter, since the transfiguration lasts long enough for your body to use."
"Don't do it." Hermione said, instantly. "If you breathe something in that turns onto a solid later, or which is radioactive, or poisonous, and it circulates in your lungs, you're asking for trouble."
"It's one of the first laws of Transfiguration." Padma nodded. "Don't transfigure gasses."
"But Harry's array does just that." Sam pointed out.
"But my system is also completely isolated and on Earth, where we know what's in the air." Harry said. "It also only focusses on carbon dioxide. Taking whatever is in the air is a bad idea. I did do my research before I started playing, after all."
"Fair enough." Sam sighed. Then she smiled at Hermione. "I see what he sees in you." she said. "You're a quick one." She turned to Padma. "You too."
"It will be a pleasure to work with you someday." Doctor Hawk agreed.
"If they decide to come work on Prometheus." Harry corrected. "They may decide to work for Marauders Inc. or with the wolves."
"Or we may decide to become healers and work in a hospital." Pansy said. She'd not really considered it, but the idea had bounced around her head enough, since the day on the moon, that she felt she should mention it. "Though chances are, if we decide to go that route, we'll be working for the medical section in Marauders Inc."
"We do have quite a few people in that sector already." Cooper said, from off on the side. He wasn't really eavesdropping, but with the wolfish hearing, as Remus had once said, it was sometimes difficult not to hear something.
"Either way, they may decide to take other paths." Harry finished.
"Not me." Hermione said. "I want to go to the Prometheus, after my other studies. I'm not wasting any time though."
"She's already excited about sitting in on some college classes next year." Harry said.
"You're leaving Hogwarts?" Doctor Hawk asked.
"No." Hermione denied. "Harry will be setting up some magical recording devices in the mundane world, to record college classes, so that we can start studying more advanced things. Since we're both done with high-school."
"I'm struggling with my higher learning, with everything else I'm doing." Harry admitted.
"That's a brilliant idea." Doctor Hawk nodded. "I'll give you some names, so you can get the recording devices at the right schools, for the best teachers. We wouldn't want you to get sub-par educations."
"I'm sure Edwards would know some people as well." Sam said. "I'll teach you myself, if you're still interested in engineering. I taught myself the best parts of my profession."
"I hate to admit it, but Doctor Pike is at the head of her department." Doctor Hawk said. "People were trying to recruit her from across the globe."
"Couldn't very well pass up the opportunity to do work with magic, could I?" Sam asked. "No other mundane companies or governments are even allowed." She looked at Doctor Hawk, then. "Didn't I hear that NASA was trying to recruit you?"
"Yes, but they wanted me to work under someone I despise." Doctor Hawk said. "I'd try anything else, before working for an idiot who thinks the sun shines out of his ass, no matter how prestigious or top secret the mission."
"Good to know I'm just a way to avoid that." Harry grumbled.
"Oh, shove it." Doctor Hawk said. "We both know with you I'm working on better than anywhere else on the planet. It's just that I didn't know it at the time."
"So, do we know when we're departing?" Sam asked.
"I was just waiting for the girls to let me know what suits them." Harry said.
"I can't believe we're talking about the first mission to Mars and we're waiting on the mission director's girlfriends to approve the departure time." Doctor Hawk said, disbelievingly.
"And our parents." Padma said primly.
"And the family." Sirius said, as he walked up to them. "I may not have the wolves' hearing, but I know a monitoring charm or two, to make up for it."
"You've been eavesdropping?" Harry asked.
"Only when your scientists showed up." Sirius said. "I don't want to be left out of the planning, after all."
"I think I speak for all of us when I say, we can go whenever you're ready." Luna said. "We just need to inform the parents and maybe give them a tour of Prometheus."
"Okay, then." Sirius said excitedly, as he turned around and walked back to the Patil parents.
"Where's he going?" Padma asked.
"He's going to call the parents together, right now." Harry said. "He doesn't do sitting around. He's kind of impatient."
"I don't like things hanging over my head!" Sirius called back.
"You still have your monitoring charm up, don't you?" Harry asked at a normal volume. Sirius just turned and grinned at him. "Bloody fleabag." Harry said, smirking back.
It took very little time for Sirius to get the parents and Professors together. He didn't stop at the parents of Harry's girlfriends, though. He called in the Krum Family as well. Victor had been taking the holiday easy, but took to the Gym, where there was training equipment, so that he could stay in shape. He also commuted to Bulgaria, where he trained with the team, but he always returned to the resort and carried an emergency portkey. His family was under threat, due to his friendship with Harry.
Harry didn't mind bringing them along, but they did need to sign a contract, to protect Harry's interests. They followed Victor's example, though, and signed easily, when they saw Victor's excitement.
Harry made a portkey to the hangar and walked them into the large building, and to the Transporter.
They exited into the lab section, where they were led to the observation deck. Seeing where they were, shocked most of the magicals. Hermione's parents, having been on the saucer, along with Harry's other girlfriends' parents, smiled and started asking questions. It took Harry half an hour to explain the plan for the trip to Mars.
He was disappointed that not all of them wanted to go with, but he had to concede that it would sound dangerous to people who didn't understand everything they had done in preparation. He gave them the tour anyway, using the transporter to move from room to room, showing them some of the materials he had brought with him to start building the Martian establishment. Neville was excited at the seeds and saplings he had purchased and asked questions Harry didn't know to ask himself. Apparently he'd not thought to acquire the best dung for the different kinds of plants, nor was he storing everything properly. Who knew?
The lido deck, as the astronauts called the common room, was a bit of a surprise for most. Harry had added on a fitness centre, where gym equipment was located, having realised that he would not be able to keep in shape otherwise, though his secret exercise routine would definitely be blown, when he started using it. The only people that really knew, were Fleur and Victor.
He'd also added a small pool and a twelve man Jacuzzi, which was located in a private section, complete with a connection to the cinema, so that they could have something to watch while they enjoyed the water-jets. He could also activate a number of scenes, which could play in a loop, of nature scenes and some interesting sights, which Harry had had the wolves record for them, in places that they travelled.
The sleeping quarters were quickly discussed and an unused compartment was quickly toured, to show the people what they could expect if they joined them.
Harry had also added a medical station, knowing that Aunty Poppy would definitely be coming with them. It was stocked with both magical and mundane medical equipment and potions. Severus was very happy to have received a commission from Harry to stock the medical stores. It was a profitable time for the man.
Poppy even had her own quarters attached to the medical bay and, since it was located right by the bedrooms, he doubted she'd mind taking up temporary residence there.
The command deck, which was the bridge of the ship, was the last part of the tour. Harry demonstrated the controls and showed them what a scan of the moon looked like with his long-range sensor. It showed in great detail, every bump and crater, without him even needing to focus an ounce of power into the system. It was completely disconnected from him, now, which was the idea. He didn't have to focus on it to have it work. It would be his and his co-pilot's duty to stay on the bridge to ensure they avoid anything that they were approaching, if they ever flew the ship that way for extended periods. Fortunately the sensors could sense things very far away, so they only needed to check on it once every hour or so, at their current max speed, which had a theoretical upper maximum of Mach 2000, or 2.4 million kilometres per hour.
"How long will this trip take?" Hermione asked. She didn't know the speed and shuddered to ask, considering Harry had told her this ship was capable of more than ten times the original speed.
"Well, I'll want to test the maximum speed with normal movement at some point." Harry said. "Taking the trip at those speeds, should take us anything from three days to a week, if my calculations are correct, and considering the current position of the planet. For now, I intend to send a new device, a probe of sorts, ahead of us using a portkey. The probe will then establish a tether and we'll send another probe to it, to test that it works. If it does, we travel there by instant transport, using another portkey, connected to both the ship and the probe."
"You've considered everything that can go wrong?" Monsieur Delacour asked.
"We've been planning this trip for quite a while." Doctor Hawk said. "I've discussed every contingency with the Captain, and we're as prepared as we can get." she confirmed.
"Captain?" the man asked, looking at Harry.
"That would be me, yes." Harry said. "Though, since Doctor Hawk is the only Astrophysicist on-board, I made sure to consult her for everything as well. The hull of the ship could also likely survive a direct hit from something like a nuclear bomb, with all the protections I've placed on it. The special material that coats the outside of the ship is called Tungsten Carbide. Its hardness is just below the strength of a diamond, and that's before I added runes to make it even more durable." He didn't mention that, should a nuke actually hit them, the ship would survive, but the chances that they survived inside it, was questionable. They didn't know what effect such a weapon would have on magic after all.
"We've confirmed that there are no obstacles in our path as well, using the ships long-range sensors, which are the most advanced deep space sensors available and were developed by Captain Black, himself, with input from Hermione Granger." Doctor Hawk said. She turned to the Granger parents. "You should be really proud of your daughter. Her contribution was large, even if it was a simple idea. The sensors we have now are so far beyond next-generation, it would be laughable to think that scientists would develop something similar in the next hundred years. I wouldn't even know where to begin."
"Our daughter makes us proud every day." Mister Granger said proudly, as he hugged her to him. "We've known she was special, since the day she was born."
"We all like to think that about our children." the Greengrass Matriarch said. "And while we're certain our Daphne will achieve some great things, even she talks highly of Hermione's intelligence."
"I was working on the sensor for quite a while, and Hermione just mentioned something in passing, which made the current system possible." Harry added with a nod.
Hermione was blushing at all the attention she was receiving. "Harry still did most of the work." she mumbled.
"I was just using information that smarter people than me already figured out." Harry said. "You had the original idea which led to my success. Don't downplay your own input." Hermione beamed at him, but decided to stay quiet. "Anyway," he said, turning back to the Delacour Patriarch, "we've done everything we can to ensure our safety. Once we've established a permanent link and a base, and set up a couple of satellites for both observation and connectivity, we'll be heading back home."
"We're estimating two days of work, before we head back home." Doctor Pike said. "When everything is done, we'll be able to travel back and forth between the Prometheus and our Mars settlement, to work on further advancements. What we'll be able to learn from the Martian surface, will be something we wouldn't have been able to do for probably around forty to fifty years."
"What Harry plans to establish there will be a thousand years more advanced than what is currently estimated as possible for the planet." Doctor Hawk said. "If his plans work out, people will be able to inhabit the planet in the next few years, even if it will be only in specific locations."
"Why do you want to inhabit the planet?" Pansy's mother asked.
"To establish a place where magical and non-magical people can live in peace, all with the knowledge of magic." Harry said easily. "Just imagine, a place where magic and science can work together to create wonders I've not even dreamed of. With the expansion of human knowledge at both culture's fingertips, there will be no limits on the possibilities that open to us.
"Whole fields of research that will become available. Giant machines that can study the effects of sub-atomic energies. Research into what makes magicals magical in the first place." Harry enthused. "I can't wait for the day, when the universe becomes my children's playground. People visiting far off planets, on vacation, to see things no person has seen before." he trailed off with a far off look, imagining a bright future for any and all who decide to embrace the fundamentals of the universe, with him learning everything he could or wanted to. No limits on what you could or were allowed to do, within reason, of course.
"Your dream is large." Lady Parkinson said. She was awed at the boy. Suddenly she wanted to see what this dream could become. She didn't know that most of the other parents and Professors were having similar thoughts. "I've changed my mind. I'm coming with you." she said.
"Me too." Lady Greengrass said. They had both decided to keep their daughters at home, for their safety, but now they wanted to be there, to see the beginning of it all. If Harry succeeded, as he seemed to always do, he'd be establishing a true utopia, with no limits on what could be done. A place where the limiting laws of the current regime could not affect them, or even know what they were doing. A true place of freedom. A new planet, where they made the rules they lived by.
The other parents had all internally agreed, though some would still end up staying behind, hoping to see what became of Harry's dream, when he returned. The Professors had unanimously agreed to go with them. They couldn't miss the start of a unified magical and mundane world. With everything Harry had done to date as a measuring staff, the future was an exciting place, and Harry wouldn't even be leaving their world behind if his plans to create a connection to and from Mars worked out.
They soon returned to the resort, with heads full of plans to get ready for the mission, which had been decided would start in two days, which unfortunately left Dumbledore out, since he was needed for an ICW conference. Harry wouldn't delay launch for him, though, since he realised he would not be able to spend all the time he'd want to on Mars, once school started. He'd be busy with his college classes, after all.
Harry started working on producing the satellites, which he had only really thought of as he spoke of the plans. He'd not really thought of that, but it made sense to him, since otherwise, he might lose contact between the locations, as the planet spun, and they lost line-of-sight with the connecting locations. The moon was closer and as long as one of the two locations that had communications up were able to see the moon, connectivity was maintained. He didn't know if Mars could function the same way, since its atmosphere was so thin and it was so far away.
