Hi folks. This is my new story. It's a crossover story. How about that, huh? My favorite books of all time (way more favorite than Harry Potter) are the Mars Trilogy books by Kim Stanley Robinson. Red Mars, Green Mars and (dun dun DUN) Blue Mars. I personally think they are some of the best science fiction books ever written, and some of the better fiction books of the last twenty years. Believe it or not, Robinson is my favorite author. Shocking, eh?

If you don't know the story of the Mars Trilogy, I'll give a brief (very brief) synopsis here. 100 scientists, engineers and so on fly to Mars in 2026 to begin colonization of the planet. Throughout the 200 (or so) years of future history, the various characters have a bunch of interesting stuff happen in their lives, including a revolution or two against the corrupt and power hungry transnational corporations on Earth. Many of the characters have extreme personal or political philosophies, so if this kind of story doesn't interest you...don't read this. Or the Mars Trilogy. If you do think this might be interesting, or have read the books...then you might like this story.

The basic beginning idea here is that Harry and Hermione are going to Mars, with Hermione as one of the original first hundred. The why and how will be explained throughout the story. If you have any questions, you can look up Mars Trilogy on wikipedia or google. If you can't find the answer you're looking for, just send me a message or review. I'm usually pretty good about responding.

This is the prologue (as you can see from the title) and is shorter than the other chapters will be. The first part of this, before we get to Harry and Hermione, is based on the intro to Red Mars. I tried to keep it pretty original, but some of the lines are so damn good that I didn't change them too much. Most of it is completely original, if very influenced by the book.

I know this is a super long A/N, and I apologize, but this story will probably confuse the hell out of a lot of people who don't know what they're getting into. Oh, and this is going to be mostly Harry-centric POV with a little bit of other characters, mostly Hermione and Desmond, thrown in for fun.

Enjoy!

Prologue

Mars was an empty planet before we came. Forces beyond imagination or magic brought planetesimals together into a roiling mass of liquid rock. In the vacuum of space, Mars surged and shook and cooled, then exploded outwards again, spitting fiery bits of itself at the sun, at Earth. At the stars.

All of this happened in silence. Unobserved. For billions of years the mineral unconsciousness of an entire planet existed on its own. Volcanoes rose from the somewhat solid surface and climbed to the edge of its infant atmosphere. Craters big enough to swallow a thousand Britains formed as meteors struck from the nearby asteroid belt. Canyon systems that made the Thames look like a creek you could step over yawned open as the battered planet continued to be pummeled.

The only witness to any of this was us. On the planet next closest to the sun, we experienced the sight of a bright red star floating through the sky, sometimes reversing direction, and told stories.

In the Muggle world, everyone knows the story of Mars. Great cities destroyed by floods. Civilizations wiped out as the planet froze up or dried out. Writers and artists and scientists created and guessed and theorized for thousands of years, and that tiny red star in the sky meant something to everyone. War. Beauty. Hell. Fear. Hope.

Death.

Every civilization has had a name for Mars. Many of the older names left a particular impression from each of those cultures. Nirgal, Mangala, Kasei, Al-Qahira, Ares.

Mars. Fire Star. The God of War.

Mythology as old as humanity surrounded the planet, and then the first long range telescopes gave us our first close look. Years went by, and with every advancement astronomers achieved, the historical, mythological Mars disappeared bit by bit.

The great tales of grand canals and dying civilizations were finally shattered by the Mariner and Viking missions. The photos they sent back showed an arid, desert planet seemingly devoid of life. Scientists had literally learned millions of times more about Mars than they had known before.

It became apparent that we are the only consciousness Mars has ever had.

Meanwhile, in the Magical world, people weren't nearly as curious.

We studied Mars in Astronomy, learned to plot its orbit and when it would be brightest. But it was the centaurs and seers who truly paid it the attention it deserved, even if their conclusions were somewhat muddled, in our opinions.

Hundreds of probes followed and then a manned mission. They all confirmed the same thing. There was no evidence of life on Mars.

And so stories have filled in the gaps of this mysterious planet, just as they did during the Roman Empire, or the Tang Dynasty, or on the savanna as humans first climbed down out of the trees.

Stories of hundreds of micro-fossils being exposed by floods, and then washed away, never to be rediscovered. Ruined cities revealed by dust storms, but buried again as the winds calmed. Big Man and his many adventures. And the little red people, always seen out of the corner of the eye, but unwilling to talk to anyone since John.

These tall tales, what some would call wishful thinking, were created to give Mars life. A sense of existence beyond the mineral. And because we are still those animals that descended from the trees on the savanna, still those people who dismissed the centaurs' star gazing but felt a chill as we followed their eyes, Mars has never ceased to be what it has been since the very beginning - a great sign, a great symbol, a great power.

And so we came here. It will always be a power, but now it has become a place.

Harry waited in the airlock of the Ares. Alone.

Not quite alone, in reality. He hadn't spoken to anyone since he saw Hermione right before his shuttle launched. A notice-me-not charm was still in effect as he waited at the back of a group of technicians under his invisibility cloak. Hermione had applied the charm right before they had said their goodbyes.

"Harry, remember that you cannot use any magic, whatsoever."

"I know, I know. The cloak and potions are fine, but no wand. I remember. We've been over this. I won't be able to get to it, anyway."

He had known Hermione was nervous. They were leaving Earth, and everything and everyone they had ever known, after-all. Both of them were a bit touchy.

"All right, I'm going to apply the charm now. There will be three open seats on the shuttle. You can't...you can't wear a suit. They're all specially fitted, so..."

Harry smiled at the worry in her eyes. "I'll just disapparate if anything goes wrong. It shouldn't matter at that point, right?"

She smiled back, a bit teary. "Right. Just be careful. I'll stop reminding you to do things you already know."

Hermione had cast the notice-me-not charm on him and Harry had placed his wand and most of his personal effects into an ever-expanding bag, which Hermione proceeded to shrink. He kneeled and placed that into a specially secured compartment of his normal, non-magical bag which contained several bottles of potions that were silenced so their clanking wouldn't attract attention, as well as enough supplies to last him for a month.

Harry stood up and stared at Hermione. The two of them had been through so much in the thirty-five years since they had met on the Hogwarts Express. Hermione's eyes glistened from unshed tears as she smiled mournfully.

"I'll see you on the Ares. Try to stay out of trouble for the next three weeks, OK?" said Hermione.

"It's the biggest, most advanced ship Muggles have ever constructed. I'll have plenty of places to hide."

"I know."

They were silent for several minutes as Harry glances around the small courtyard they were standing in that was surrounded by NASA offices. He felt a smooth breeze blow into his face as he stared at the green leaves of the trees and blue sky. He could smell the ocean only a few blocks away. In less than an hour, he would never experience them again.

"I'll see you in three weeks, Hermione."

Harry turned and began the short walk to the building that would lead him to the launch pad and the shuttle. As he entered an empty corridor, he pulled his cloak out of his pocket and draped it over himself and his bag.

He'd had no trouble getting aboard the shuttle, and quite enjoyed the push from the acceleration as the ship made its ascent into orbit. The lack of gravity barely had an effect on him after he'd trained with Hermione using a variety of spells that simulated the effect. Evading the notice of the technicians had been simple if nerve-wracking. He did his best to breath and move as quietly as possible, though the banging noises that seemed to be surrounding him in the air as the airlock pressurized were disconcerting.

And then he entered the Ares. The reactor had been turned on a month ago, and all the tests indicated it was fully operational. Since the first hundred wouldn't be arriving for three weeks, most of the toruses were powered down and the Ares wouldn't begin the spin to create artificial gravity until after they had left Earth orbit. However, life support was functioning, though Hermione had said he might have a bit of trouble finding a working water source.

Harry silently made his way toward where he knew the farm to be. When he was safely away from the technicians, he took off his cloak, stuffed it back into his pocket and withdrew his AI. Calling up the map of the Ares, he began to push himself along the corridors with purpose.

But he couldn't help but be awed by some of what he was seeing, even with his vision limited by the low light.

He entered Torus C from the central shaft and floated in silent wonderment. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the light, but when they did he let out a low whistle for which he immediately chastised himself.

Each of the eight toruses was a hexagon made of six fifty-meter long and ten-meter wide external fuel tanks from the NASA shuttle fleet. The tank in which he was located was not separated into private rooms or conference areas like much of the rest of the ship. It was designed to be a park. With the trees already planted and paths laid down, it appeared to Harry as if he was on Earth without any gravity.

He continued to float and stare for several minutes, his mind trying to process the surge of life in the otherwise sterile Ares. After he finished gaping, Harry mentally shook himself and realized that he would have to crawl along ceiling of what he now realized was Atrium C. Struts along the relative top of the tank, along with light fixtures, would allow him to cross the atrium without getting stuck without a handhold.

Finally, he entered the farm tank. It looked like a huge inside-out greenhouse without any plants. He pulled an official mission flashlight out of his bag and glanced at the hydroponics waiting for the farm crew. Five separate clear rooms lined each wall of the tank. Each room would house a different plant that Hiroko Ai, the head of the farm team, planned to experiment with in Martian gee. Harry knew there were another six of these tanks throughout toruses C, E and F; but this particular tank also held the main office and supply closet for the farm.

Harry entered the office and found a sleeping cot and a shower inside. He pulled a water collector from his bag, let the flashlight hover next to his head and attached the collector to the shower nozzle. Holding his breath, Harry pressed the button which would start the shower and waited a moment.

Nothing happened.

He sighed in disappointment and was about to switch the shower off when he heard a soft groan from behind the wall. Suddenly, water shot into the collector. Harry was so surprised that he nearly forgot to turn the water off before it overflowed his bottle, which would have sent droplets across the office, surely noticeable by the crew once they arrived.

Taking his newly full water bottle, Harry kicked off the wall and landed next to the cot, which he set up quickly. One thing he had learned while being trained by Hermione to work in low gee was how easy it was to become tired. You had to put in the same effort to stop something from moving as you did to start it, including yourself.

After he made a few quick notes about his exploration of the Ares, Harry took a long drink of water and put his things safely away in his bag. He strapped his bag to the wall and himself to the cot, then closed his eyes.

"Well, here we are."

Harry slept.

I don't know how long it will take me to update this, and I am still writing "Harry Potter and The Trust" so don't worry. If it takes me awhile to update, do yourself a big favor and go to the bookstore and buy the Mars Trilogy books. Or you can download them. You'll like them. Really.