After her restorative visits with her friends and their families, Ariana returned to the quiet solitude of her London flat. The space was a sanctuary of minimalist order, a stark contrast to the magical clutter of the wizarding world. Here, her mind was free to expand, to move beyond the immediate, terrestrial concerns of Horcruxes and dark lords.
Her work on the Maledictus curse and Lycanthropy had been about fixing existing magical problems. Her new project was about creating something that had never existed. It was a project born from the fusion of her two lives: the boundless possibilities of magic from this world, and the scientific understanding of the universe from the one before.
She unrolled a vast sheet of architectural parchment on her large worktable. She did not draw a castle or a manor. With magically precise, self-inking quills, she began to draw the blueprints for a spaceship.
Her research had revealed a curious and glaring blind spot in wizarding knowledge. They had mastered apparition, Portkeys, and broomstick flight—all forms of magical transportation tied to the planet's magical and gravitational fields. They could travel from one continent to another in the blink of an eye, but their world, in a very real sense, ended at the upper atmosphere. No wizard had ever set foot on the moon. No witch had ever seen the curve of the Earth from the silent, airless void. They had magic that could bend space and time, but they had never bothered to simply… look up and go there.
To Ariana, this was an unacceptable, illogical limitation.
Her design was a synthesis of two paradigms. The vessel's shape was aerodynamic and practical, drawn from her memories of Muggle space shuttles and rockets—a sleek, needle-nosed craft with powerful thrusters at the base. But the mechanics were pure magic.
Propulsion: Not chemical rockets, but a modified, massively scaled-up version of the Levitation Charm, combined with directional propulsion jinxes, creating a controlled, sustained thrust that could overcome planetary gravity.
Life Support: Not oxygen tanks, but a permanent, self-replenishing Bubble-Head Charm, contained within the sealed cockpit, creating a breathable atmosphere.
Navigation: Not computers, but a complex, three-dimensional Arithmantic model of the solar system, linked to a modified Seeker charm that would lock onto the destination—the Moon—and make real-time course corrections.
Shielding: A multi-layered warding scheme to protect against the vacuum of space, solar radiation, and micrometeoroid impacts, far more efficient than any metal hull.
It was the ultimate expression of her unique mind: Muggle science providing the question and the destination, and magic providing a more elegant, efficient, and powerful answer.
When Hermione and Daphne came to visit her for a weekend in late August, she led them not to a library of old books, but to the large, blueprint-covered table that dominated her living space.
"What in Merlin's name is that?" Daphne asked, her eyes wide as she tried to make sense of the complex schematics.
Hermione, whose Muggle upbringing gave her a different context, gasped in realization. "It's… it's a rocket ship. But… the enchantments, the arithmantic calculations… this isn't for atmospheric flight.
Ari, where is this designed to go?"
"Its destination," Ariana said calmly, tapping a smaller, detailed chart of the lunar surface, "is the Sea of Tranquility."
The two girls stared at her, then at the blueprints, then back at her, their minds struggling to process the sheer, audacious scale of what she was proposing.
"You want to go to the moon?" Hermione finally squeaked, her voice a mixture of utter disbelief and unbridled excitement. "But… wizards don't do that! It's… space travel is a Muggle thing!"
"Muggles have reached the moon using controlled explosions and primitive computers," Ariana countered, her voice full of a quiet, unshakable confidence. "It is illogical to assume that we, with the ability to bend the fundamental laws of physics to our will, are incapable of the same feat. They used brute force. We will use elegance."
She began to walk them through the blueprints, her passion for the project a palpable, infectious energy. "The primary challenge is not propulsion; a scaled propulsion charm can provide the necessary thrust. The challenge is threefold: pressure, oxygen, and power."
She pointed to a section detailing the ship's hull. "The pressure differential between a magical atmosphere and a true vacuum is immense. We will need a series of layered, self-repairing containment shields, not just a physical hull. Hermione, I need you to research the most powerful atmospheric and pressure-warding spells known. We will need to adapt them."
She then pointed to another schematic. "The Bubble-Head Charm creates breathable air, but it's a short-term solution. We need a permanent, self-replenishing version. I believe we can achieve this by creating a rune-based atmospheric generator, one that constantly transmutes trace elements within the ship into a breathable oxygen-nitrogen mix. Daphne, your knowledge of alchemical transmutation will be invaluable here."
Finally, she gestured to the core of the design. "And power. The entire vessel will be powered by a central, magically-charged crystal—a much larger, more complex version of the Sunstone regulators we designed for the werewolf treatment. It will draw ambient magic from the solar itself to power the ship's systems. It will never run out of fuel."
Hermione and Daphne stared at the plans, their minds reeling. It was the most ambitious, most insane, most brilliant project they had ever conceived of. It was a true marriage of magic and science, a leap not just into space, but into an entirely new magical discipline.
"This will take years," Daphne whispered, her eyes shining with the challenge.
"Decades, perhaps," Hermione added, already mentally cataloging the books she would need to consult.
"All great projects require time," Ariana said with a serene smile. "But the work begins now." She looked at her two best friends, her partners in curing curses and now, her co-pilots in a mission to conquer the heavens. "Are you with me?"
Hermione's face was alight with a fierce, intellectual fire she hadn't felt since she first read Hogwarts: A History. Daphne's usual cool composure was replaced by the excited, ambitious gleam of a Slytherin who has just been offered the chance to achieve something truly legendary.
"To the moon," Hermione breathed, a wide, brilliant smile spreading across her face.
"And beyond," Daphne added, her own smile mirroring Hermione's.
In the quiet London flat, far from the ancient castles and dark forests of the wizarding world, a new dream was born. The three most powerful witches of their generation were no longer just focused on fixing the problems of the past. They were now designing the future, a future that was, quite literally, limitless.