chapter:8 It's a muggle thing"

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This time, in addition, they all had questions they wanted answered, and leaving wasn't of much concern despite the later hour. Fortunately for Harry, the questions were all for Lee, Fred, and George. The most popular one was to show group around on the spaceship.

"How come it's so dark? Does anything besides that elevator actually work?"

"Have you seen any planets or moons or anything?"

"If we got it working, could we actually move this thing?"

Harry shook his head at the whole thing. It was a simulation in the Room of Requirement. Did they not get that?

Meanwhile, Lee preened under the attention. Eventually, he and the twins gave their increasingly interested followers an extended tour of the ship. Or, at least, the places they had already scoped out.

"So," Ron said as the others left. He turned to Harry, "What's so interesting about this place? Besides the view, I mean."

"It's a muggle thing," Harry explained, and looked out the windows. "You really should ask Hermione. I don't know much about this stuff, myself," Harry shrugged. Was the bridge's . . . front window a windshield? Probably not. The view outside was fantastic though. He would visit just to look at the Milky Way that stretched across the windows, a magnificent stretch of billions of stars across the stark blackness of empty space.

"Well," Ron said. "It's quite a change from the usual room. And a bloody spectacular view, too." He pulled another cookie out of his pocket and started to eat. He'd been doing that all evening, while resting between bouts.

"It is at that," Harry agreed. It certainly put the Dursleys, and all the problems at Hogwarts, into perspective. Staring out the windows, here, his scar didn't hurt. He wasn't angry. Everything was . . . serene. Something he hadn't felt since the last time he was on the ship. And hadn't felt in years before then, either. Certainly not since his first year at Hogwarts. Or before.

In fact, he wasn't sure he could remember a time when he had been so relaxed. No dodging Dudley, no avoiding his aunt and uncle, no students staring at him in fear or loathing.

The twins taught everyone a quick set of spells that silenced everything (footsteps, clothes rustling, breathing too loud, and so forth) and hid their scents, and they made sure everyone knew the notice-me-not spell before setting them off. All spells, Harry told them, which were excellent to use when avoiding Death Eater or other villains. The ones not capable of doing them all were temporarily bespelled by the twins and Lee.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::He spent most of dinner mulling it over. Hermione, as usual, spent her time with her nose in a book — runes, he noticed — and eating mechanically whatever he placed on her plate.

Again, he really should have expected it when he arrived later at the Room's corridor to find a metal door. Once inside, the group told him they wanted the rest of their sessions there, too, if he didn't mind. He didn't. In fact, he preferred it. His scar didn't hurt when he was behind that metal door. Thank god, or Merlin, for small mercies.

By the end of the week, and another session, Harry discovered that there was an informal club inside the D.A, dedicated to exploring the ship. It was no surprise to Harry to find that Hermione was an avid member.

"It's the most fascinating thing," she said. They were in Hogwarts' front courtyard, enjoying one of the few sunny days left before winter firmly set in, doing their potions assignment. "Ancient runes are, of course, the primary language of written magic," she lectured. "Spell circles, magical artificing, and persistent spells are all explained with runes, of course. Hogwarts was built on that written language, after all — the castle, the spells, the Room of Requirement itself, of course." She wriggled happily on the stone bench.

"But here's the amazing part. The runes on the ship seem to be older! And the ones in the ship are being used to spell mundane words!" she said breathlessly.

"Muggle?" queried Ron looking up from his Potions essay.

Hermione frowned at him. "No, mundane. As in using them to spell 'closet' or 'corridor fifteen ansuz or hagalaz. Their use on the spaceship suggests runes were an actual written language well before early-German, but just as versatile as English or French are today!" She sat straight and frowned. "But why haven't we seen runes used like that in the castle? That's the real mystery. And why, if the Room used them on the spaceship in that manner, why weren't they used in the same manner in the Hogwarts? Why is our use of them so stilted and limited? And theirs, so mundane, yet more extensive?"

Ron looked at his potions essay like he was contemplating turning it into a paper dart.

Harry had been surprised to learn that pure-bloods knew how to do that. Turned out that the art of paper planes, which they called paper darts, went back to before Roman times.

"So?" Ron said dismissively.

"They are so different from how we use runes todays," Hermione said giddily. "The ship is using runes as an actual extensive written language!" She stopped a moment. "Of course, we've only managed to translate a small portion of the ship, generic things like naming floors and rooms and their purposes and whatnot. But they're written in a style that's not used anymore. These are really ancient ancient runes!"

"You're translating them, too?" Harry said absentmindedly. He knew Dean and Lee were. He studied his essay and considered adding a bit of stuffing by repeating in different words what he'd written earlier in the scroll. Snape was going fail it anyway, so it didn't matter what he wrote. He just wanted to get the appropriate length and call it done.

"It's good practice," Hermione answered with an exaggerated shrug.

Harry didn't mention the rings under her eyes that indicated she was spending more than just a little time in the spaceship. He wondered if she was sneaking out at night after curfew. Maybe he should loan her his cloak?

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