"You poor, poor, pure-bloods," Lee said sadly, shaking his head. He shrugged off George's arm and turned to face the three. "You, my mates," he announced grandiosely, "are on a spaceship!" He spread his arms wide. "Welcome!" he cried, and turned to look out the window, again. He sighed happily and dropped his arms to his sides.
"What?" Fred and George said. They looked at each other, puzzled. "We're on a what?"
"A spaceship. A ship. In space. Not a ship on the sea. Space, a SPACESHIP!" Lee said enthusiastically. He was almost giddy with the realization of it. "See, I told you muggles went into space, right? . . .." He took off trying to explain the whole concept of outer-space and science-fiction to two pure-bloods whose only idea of open space was the area below their brooms when they fell off them. Or their jokes about what was between Ron's ears.
Harry sighed and looked back out the window. Listening to Lee as he started off into Star Trek and Star Wars, the young teen was beginning to realize that this was the Room of Requirement. The excitement was fading out and reality was slowly fading in.
They weren't in space. They were still in the Room of Requirement. It was a truly amazing simulation that certainly looked like the real thing, but it wasn't.
The Room of Requirement had made just what Lee had asked it do. It had created a simulation of a spaceship in space. Like the Holodeck on Star Trek's Enterprise, it looked like the real thing, except it wasn't. The moment they left the room, it would go away.
And it was hardly realistic, too. God forbid the Durselys would ever have taken him to a film theatre, much less to see something as ridiculous as science-fiction. But he had seen pictures and drawings, and heard a bit from the telly while he was locked in his cupboard. He hadn't even read any of it, it wasn't exactly a hot topic in primary, and the local library had banned him ever since Dudley had destroyed a dozen books and blamed it him. But, just from the little he had seen on the telly during documentaries he knew that actual spaceships were cramped beyond belief. They most certainly didn't have gravity like this room did. If they were in space right now, he expected that they would be floating around the room, flailing awkwardly, trying to reach a wall to get back out. And definitely not walking around as if they were wandering in the Great Hall here at Hogwarts.
This was just a copy of something Lee had seen somewhere. But that didn't make it any less amazing. But that was all it was — a copy. He wondered if he could change the view, like he had added tables and chairs when he needed them, previously, in the Room. He concentrated on a picture he had seen, once, of earth with the moon at one side.
Nothing happened.
"Okay," he heard one of the twins say. He looked over at Fred who was standing with his arms folded in a mirror copy of George. "You're saying we aren't in the castle anymore, but in a . . . ship. In space."
Lee nodded eagerly.
Fred stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I'm not buying it," he said slowly. "I'm pretty sure there's no air in outer space."
Lee rolled his eyes. "Come on guys, clearly a spaceship has its own air inside it. It's made to keep it that way. Use your brains, I know you got them," Lee said sarcastically.
"And we're not floating about because . . .?"
"Artificial gravity. It's like the opposite of a levitation charm, but muggle."
George's eyebrows shot up. "Muggles can do that?"
"Well, no. No, they can't," Lee reluctantly admitted. He waved his arms around, indicating everything around them. "It's not as if this place was actually made by muggles, you know. It's not really real or anything."
"It's . . . not . . . a spaceship?" Fred said warily.
"It's a fakeship," George said accusingly.
"Stop being prats!" Lee said irritably. "It's not a fakeship, no more than the D.A. training room is a fake training room. It still does the proper job, doesn't it?" He stared at them challengingly. "It is a spaceship, just . . . not a real one. It's a . . . sci-fi spaceship, that's all." Lee made a face at them. "Come on, mates, stop spoiling this for me. Harry?"
"Hm?" Harry said. "Oh, yeah. Ace," he said obligingly, dragging his gaze from the magnificent view and over at the twins. "The Duck test, ya know? 'If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, quacks like a duck — then it's probably a duck.'"
The other three looked at him as if he'd gone as barmy as the wizard in the tapestry outside the Room.
"Er, something my uncle once told me one of his clients used to say," he muttered. He frowned. "In view of polyjuice and an obsessive fanatic, probably not all that accurate for people." His frown deepened. "Or animagi, either." He paused. "Or illusions, if you could keep people from touching you. Then there's self-transfiguration . . .," his voice trailed off as he stared at the floor thinking.
He looked back up and cleared his throat. "So," he said brightly, "Is this from Doctor Who?" At Lee's glare he shrunk back a little. "Or something?"
After a final glare, Lee said, "Nope." He sighed. "I thought I'd mess the details for Star Trek, and then it would bug me. I just wanted a . . . random, generic spaceship, I guess."
Harry slowly nodded.
Lee shrugged, then got an excited look. He clapped enthusiastically and started for the Hall door. "The engines! Let's find the engines!"
Harry hesitated. He wanted some time alone. But then, he realized, his scar didn't hurt! In fact, there wasn't even a twinge from it. He reached up to touch it, but nothing happened when he did. No pain, no throbbing, not even an itch. If it weren't for a slight residual ache when he pressed on it, he wouldn't even know it was there.