They wandered for quite some time before they found what was most likely the engine room. Or . . . what Harry and Lee thought it might be. It was the biggest room they'd seen so far. It was two or three stories tall — and they were on the first floor for it. There was an enormous crystal pillar thing, easily as big around as Hagrid, in the middle of the room. The pillar stretched from the ceiling above them to floor below them. Cat-walks and platforms were arranged around it, with the requisite pedestal tables, of course. There were angled counters on the exterior walls. It all looked very complicated.
"Looks knackered," George commented.
"Hm," Lee agreed with a nod. He frowned and leaned onto a railing. He peered at the bottom of the enormous room. The pillar and room below were dark, and his wand did little to illuminate either. "Busted or turned off." He straightened and looked up at the ceiling far above. "Wonder if we can fix it . . .," he mused.
"It's not real, you know," Fred said.
"I swear to god, Fred, I will hex you." He turned and glared at the twin.
"It's strange, though, isn't it?" Harry said, idly. "Why would it be busted, when this is just a simulation of a spaceship. What's the point in simulating a broken spaceship? The Room could just have well made it look as if it were running, even if it wasn't."
"Evidence of Lee's poor imagination skills?" Fred said. Then dodged as Lee sent a hex at him
George shrugged. "Must be a limit to what the Room can do. Be the first time we hit a limit. Maybe it just can't do something like whatever this is on top of creating the rest of this giant spaceship," George said, folding his arms and shoulder bumping his twin. "Space . . . get it? Cause it's certainly been empty of anything interesting."
"Certainly no cheese," grumbled Lee, and crossed his arms as he turned in a circle and examined the room.
"Maybe making it appear broken was easier?" Fred said, glancing slyly out of the corners of his eyes at Lee and giving his brother a smirk.
"Might be," Lee said glumly. He perked up. "Still, this place is so . . . wicked. I wonder if we . . . I dunno . . . could maybe fix it?"
"It's not re-al," Fred said in singsong tone.
Lee frowned and sighed. "Not literally, you prat. Fix the simulation. Look," he said and waved his hands at the walls. "There are runes everywhere, maybe we could help the Room along . . . or something." Lee said. "Even if it's not real, it would be neat if we could . . .," he shrugged, "make it work? Maybe even actually pilot it?"
"What? Pilot it?" Fred said sceptically. "Like, make it move? Like a boat?"
"It's in the name . . . spaceship," Lee said, scathingly. "They're meant to move, by definition. Otherwise, it would be a space-station."
The twins looked at each other, then shrugged.
Harry looked at his watch. "It's kind of getting late, almost time for dinner." He looked back up at them. "We should probably start to head back. You can work on that stuff, later, Lee, I really don't care. You three have as much right to the Room of Requirement as I do, but we'll draw attention if we start missing meals. If the Pink Toad starts watching you, she'll find the Room."
"Yeah, sure," Lee said, giving him a thoughtful look. He glanced at a nearby wall and the ancient runes on it. "I'm gonna have to bring my runes dictionary, next time," he said, and sighed. They turned and headed for the Engine Room door. He gave one last regretful look at room as they exited.
Harry stopped in the corridor and looked at the others with a puzzled expression. "Does anyone remember where the door to this thing is?"
They stared at each other in silence.
"Oh, bloody hell . . .."
Harry's scar started hurting almost as soon as they returned to the castle proper, and his serenity dissipated as they rushed to the Great Hall.
They barely made it to there for a hasty meal before dinner was over.
It was still a good D.A. meeting that night, however.
The Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch match confrontation, being banned from Quidditch for life, and Umbridge's persecution of Hagrid drove any thoughts about a spaceship out of Harry's mind. He had completely forgotten about it by the fifth D.A. meeting. And his scar and angry temperament weren't helping him.
He probably wouldn't ever have remembered the spaceship at all if it hadn't been for Dean Thomas, and the rest of the D.A. group.
It was at lunch on following Friday. Dean Thomas left his normal spot and wedged himself between Harry and Ron.
Ron barely noticed as he stuffed more food into mouth.
"Is it true?" Dean said in a hushed tone. "The twins made a spaceship?"
Harry looked at him blankly. "What?"
Dean looked around nervously, then whispered, ". . . in the Room? You know?"
Harry frowned in thought. His expression cleared. "Oh. Yeah." He shrugged and looked curiously at the boy. "Something like that. So?"
Dean grinned and excitedly squirmed on the bench. "Wicked," he breathed. "Can I see it?"
"Uh . . . I guess?" Harry frowned again. "Where did you hear about it?" he whispered challengingly, glancing up to see the Pink Toad watching him.
Dean looked up the table at the twins. "I heard them pestering Angelina about it. Something to do with ancient runes on the walls?" he said uncertainly.
Hermione, on his other side, glanced up from her textbook. "Ancient runes? On walls? Where?" she said suddenly, acutely curious.
"The twins," Dean motioned his head, "apparently made a spaceship with the Room! It has ancient runes on the walls . . . but that's not important here, they made a spaceship!" he whispered to her.
He had her full attention now, and she darted glances at Harry between staring at Dean. "Spaceship?" she whispered back.
"Uh huh," Dean answered smugly.