As the initial, joyous celebration on the Quidditch pitch began to calm, Ariana held up a hand, a gesture that immediately commanded a respectful silence. There was one final part of the debriefing.
"The primary objectives of the test flight were successful," she announced, her voice carrying in the cool night air. "Propulsion, shielding, and life support are all functioning within optimal parameters." She paused, a small, intriguing smile touching her lips. "However, there was a secondary, passive experiment running concurrently."
She walked back up the ramp and into the cockpit of the Chimera. When she emerged a moment later, she was holding a small, silver orb, about the size of a Snitch. It was smooth, seamless, and covered in the same microscopic, intricate runes as the ship's hull.
She carried it over to the control console where Hermione and Daphne were still standing, their faces glowing with pride and relief. She placed the orb onto a specially prepared indentation on the desk, which was surrounded by a complex array of receptive runes.
"During my research into the Marauder's Map and the Two-Way Mirrors," Ariana explained, "I theorized that it would be possible to create a one-way, wide-angle observational charm. A magical eye, in essence, that could transmit visual data across a sympathetic link."
She tapped the silver orb. "This is the prototype. The 'Medusa' probe, I'm calling it. It was mounted on the exterior of the Chimera's hull, recording its journey."
With another soft tap on the runic array on the console, she activated the playback.
The large, magical screen that had been used for communication flickered, then came to life with an image of breathtaking clarity and scale. It showed the green and brown tapestry of the Scottish Highlands shrinking away beneath them, the clouds rushing past like great, white beasts.
The view tilted, and they saw the sky darken, the familiar blue bleeding into a deep, star-dusted indigo. Then, the screen showed the impossible, perfect curve of the Earth, a brilliant, living marble of blue oceans and swirling white clouds, hanging in the absolute blackness of space.
A collective, sharp intake of breath went through the small group. They were not just hearing about space; they were seeing it.
"The probe recorded the entire ascent," Ariana's voice explained, acting as narrator to the stunning visuals. "Here, you can see the ionization effect on the outer shield during re-entry, represented by the faint red aura. The dispersal was even and well within our calculated tolerance."
The image on the screen shifted. It zoomed in, the magical lens focusing with impossible precision. They saw the sun, not as a familiar orb in the sky, but as a terrifying, glorious sphere of roiling, thermonuclear fire, great solar flares erupting from its surface.
"The probe's shielding allowed for direct solar observation," Ariana said calmly. "The data gathered on magical energy absorption from direct solar radiation will allow us to increase the power core's efficiency by at least fifteen percent."
Then, she commanded one final image. The view shifted again, away from the Earth, away from the sun, and out into the deep, endless void. The screen filled with the light of a billion distant, ancient stars. The Milky Way was a shimmering, impossible river of light, more beautiful and more vast than any of them had ever imagined.
They stood in stunned, reverent silence, humbled by the sheer, overwhelming scale of the universe. They were wizards and witches, masters of a secret, powerful world. But in the face of this silent, cosmic grandeur, they were infinitesimally small.
"This," Dumbledore whispered, his voice full of a profound, philosophical awe, "is a perspective no wizard has ever had. We have spent centuries looking inward, at our own power, our own secrets.
You, Ariana… you have turned our eyes to the heavens."
Ariana let the final image of the star-filled void hang on the screen for a long moment before deactivating the probe. The screen went dark, leaving them once again on the quiet, familiar Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts. But something had changed. The world felt both smaller and infinitely larger than it had before.
"The test was a success," Ariana said, her voice bringing them back to Earth. "The ship is sound.
The systems are viable. And our data is confirmed."
She looked at her two partners, her best friends, Hermione and Daphne, their faces illuminated by the starlight and the glow of their shared triumph.
"Our next flight," she said, her voice ringing with the quiet, absolute certainty of a dream about to be realized, "will not be a test."
She looked up at the pale, silver disc of the moon, hanging in the night sky. It no longer seemed like a distant, magical light. It looked like a destination. A destination that was now, for the first time in magical history, within their reach.