I want to thank Dan for beta-ing this chapter.

Chapter 61.

Space Travel, Part XVIII: Interdicts, Part II

1:00 am, August 11th, 1993

Harry took a glance at Severus and Mad-Eye, as both men were conducting some final checks on the space capsule, and then turned his gaze to the rising Moon, for you could hardly overlook the differences between how the muggle Apollo program was executed, and how their magical Artemis program was being carried out.

In the Apollo program, everything needed to be carefully calculated by many scientists and engineers; while in the Artemis program, well, you just needed to go with your instinct, or rather, that of a phoenix. Soon after the book raid of the British Library, Dad had spent a whole afternoon, trying to figure out proper launch windows, and optimal trajectory for Stella to escape Earth's gravity to approach the back of the Moon in case she had to fly a couple dozen times, with Draco at his side in complete bewilderment. However, when Severus learned how his godson spent the day, the half-blood wizard pointed out that the best approach might be ordering Stella to go directly toward the largest and brightest thing in the night sky, and then to land somewhere on the Moon so that she could not see the Earth. Harry had to explain to the disappointed Professor Verres-Evans that Severus was probably right, for magic worked in Aristotelian physics as far as Harry could tell. Therefore, currently, their launch window was determined by the Moon rise and fall time each night, so that a magical creature could know the direction to go by simply looking.

The Apollo program also costed approximately 25 billion US dollars in 1973, employed 400,000 Americans, and was supported by over 20,000 industrial firms and universities. In comparison, the Artemis program only took a total of seven wizards, three muggles, one phoenix, and less than 5,000 gallons to reach this point (if you didn't take the used space capsule and spacesuit stolen by Baikov, or supplies obtained by bribery and memory charms into account).

As for astronaut selection where tens of thousands highly qualified muggles competed for a very limited number of seats in the Apollo program, well, there wasn't much of a competition - Severus won the argument simply by knowing more languages than his two competitors, although getting a phoenix afterwards was what actually made Mad-Eye to stop trying.

Being the primary source of all the material supplies and spell caster, Severus didn't receive much astronaut training. However, being an OK broomstick flyer meant that he was able to endure the acceleration and deceleration on Draco's Firebolt, which could go from zero to one hundred and fifty miles per hour and back to zero within three seconds. Harry himself owned a Firebolt as well, and he thought he could handle it better than Severus. Harry did a quick mental calculation, and concluded that wizards could tolerate 4.5 g or more acceleration and deceleration without much problem. Although Severus was wobbly and pale after three continuous rolls on the Firebolt, considering the fact that the trip would actually be engined by phoenix fire, Harry supposed that human centrifuge wasn't really necessary. The microgravity training was conducted by Hermione applying Wingardium Leviosa on Severus. As Harry had expected, since even first-years in mock battles could adjust to levitation pretty well, the bat animagus who was already adept in flying got used to microgravity really fast.

There was a certain beauty in the fact that even though muggles had to overcome so many difficulties, they were still the first one in the space, and on the Moon. However, since there was a fantastic way to cheat, Harry wasn't going to miss the opportunity.

However, the many benefits offered by magic didn't mean Artemis program went smoothly without any setbacks.

After the first successful launch, the second launch was scheduled for the next night. The boarding members included a magical Blue Krait named Ouroboros from Malfoy Ophidiarium, and a non-magical Cynomolgus Monkey from a university biology lab in Ukraine. This time, Stella only needed to fly three times to reach the back of the Moon. After landing, Ouroboros reported that he could read the note written by Severus, and Harry's Patronus repeated the hisses: "Weather iss heat and water. Fire Ssseed iss for heating and drying, and Frosst Ssalamander iss for cooling and water."

Then, both Harry and Draco could understand the doodlings describing how to control the climate in various areas in the Forbidden Forest by sacrificing a combination of Fire Seeds and Frost Salamanders every three years, so that the Forbidden Forest could host magical creatures from all over the world.

Everyone was in exaltation. Out of the excitement and possibly the newly increased level of steroid hormones, Harry rushed to Hermione, hugged the most elegant witch in recorded history, and kissed her. This act would normally cause a lot of attention, but Draco was already hugging his godfather, and even Mad-Eye looked like if even he could almost jump up and down in rejoice.

It took Mad-Eye several minutes to notice that Stella had not returned after being ordered to, and Severus quickly sent his Patronus to order Stella back.

A large ball of flame quickly emerged in the lake, and later on the lakeshore. Severus and Mad-Eye immediately rushed to the space capsule. There appeared to be large dent on the outside, and a crevice could be observed from the inside. Moreover, the monkey had apparently died out of suffocation, and Ouroboros had passed out. Being a magical creature that could endure much harsher environment than a non-magical mammal, after several healing spells, Ouroboros woke up.

Combing what Ouroboros described, and what video recording crystals inside and outside the space capsule showed, Harry figured out that the space capsule was hit by a some large and sharp space debris, and caused air leakage on the decade-old space vesile. Stella was startled at first, but as she saw the monkey was gasping for air and scratching the cage in panic, she tried to shed her tear onto the poor primate and coo comforting sound to it. Several minutes later, Severus' Patronus appeared and ordered Stella to come back.

Harry wanted to hit his head with the pebble transfigured from the body of the monkey: when you let your hormones rule, and let your judgement slip for only a few minutes, a poor innocent animal died. Should I feel lucky that it isn't the whole world?

It went without saying that Harry's inner Slytherin didn't miss out the opportunity to point out: if Stella just jump back immediately as ordered, instead of trying to help, the monkey would still be alive. Obviously, a powerful magical creature with all the good intentions can sometimes cause more damage by trying to do the good thing. You have to be right, instead of just with good intentions. And by the way, do you see why phoenixes need masters?

During the next few days, Harry and Dad went paranoid on what could happen, and how Severus and/or Stella should deal with the situation. Avoiding the low Earth orbit, where most satellites were, was pretty obvious. Harry originally came up with a lengthy instruction manual for Stella in every situation that their combined wits could thought of, yet the Draco in his head sneered and pointed out that there was no way that a magical animal with the intellect of a six-year old child could remember all that, and it was doomed to fail. Harry then gave a simple suggestion that Stella should haul everything come back if Severus wasn't able to give orders.

And after some serious hours, Harry realized that he had been blinded by the great muggle achievement of landing on the Moon. As a matter of fact, with a phoenix engine, a better location for staying a few days would not be on the surface of the Moon, but rather several kilometers under, so that the space capsule would probably be safe from most asteroids, and also safe from the eyes of muggle Moon satellites.

On the other side, Harry went creative on all the magical reinforcements that Minerva, Mad-Eye, Severus, and even the ex-Lord Malfoy knew. In the end, they were able to modify a small ritual used by senior Aurors to create a makeshift defensive underground sleep hole, and turn the rock outside the space capsule into a magically reinforced shell. Unfortunately, they weren't able to overcome the original shortcoming of the ritual that the defensive shell couldn't move even by a phoenix.

After a few successful trials to seven miles under the Moon surface, now, it was time.

A large flame engulfed the space capsule, and vanished.

Harry and Hermione stood beside Draco, who was holding a magical pocket watch charmed by Severus. It had been explained to Harry and Hermione that with a drop of blood and a lock of hair willingly given, there were magical devices that could show certain conditions of the donor. For example, the names on a family tapestry would turn grey after the said person's death; and many families owned watches that could show family member's whereabouts. Being a wizard with some basic safety sense, of course Severus wouldn't create a magical device that would show his location, but he had trusted the Malfoys enough to give Draco a pocket watch that could indicate the level of danger that he was experiencing. None of them was sure whether this pocket watch would work over such a long distance, but since they've decided to travel fast, instead of waiting for a Patronus to find Severus, this was the best indicator they got for the most dangerous few minutes.

The dial on the pocket watch jumped from Normal to Danger the moment the space capsule vanished, stayed there for two minutes or so, and then jumped to Mortal Peril.

Draco took in a sharp breath, and everyone casted Patronus charm.

Fortunately, the dial slowly dwindled back to somewhere between Danger and Mortal Peril before Harry's Patronus reported back in Severus' smooth voice: "I have landed successfully underground in the crust, and the protective shell is up. Good thoughts on charming the floor, ceilings, and walls of the space capsule into flying carpets, though. Otherwise, I would have a hard-landing when the third flame ended up in a deep underground crevice. -Ah, yes, the notes are readable now."

Harry let out a big breath. The few moments worrying for Severus' life had taken away some of the excitement that he had expected, but yeah, he still thought he deserved a large slice of delicious chocolate cake prepared by Malfoy elves, and, OK, maybe, just maybe, a kiss from Hermione.

9:34 am, August 13th, 1993

After the initial excitement, it turned out there wasn't much to do for everyone still on Earth. Harry had pointed out, and Severus had agreed that he had a blind-spot on perceiving danger unless it was imminent. Therefore, it wouldn't do for Severus to report back every magic he could now read to even Harry, before the man had time to ponder its danger and consult Hermione, unless there was something that was too important to wait. Now, all Mad-Eye, Hermione, and Harry had to do was to take turns in casting Patronus every two hours, to make sure that Severus was OK.

After several failed trials, Draco's Patronus could also reach his godfather, though it was rather dim while reporting back. Draco had claimed that it was easier to find a person than a phoenix. Harry considered this to be true for someone who could only cast Patronus Version 1.5, for it would be easier for Draco to be happy with the thought that his godfather was alive, than that his godfather's phoenix was alive. As for Harry and Hermione, both Stella and Severus were sapient beings, there wasn't any fundamental difference in the thought fueling the Patronus.

Now, Harry, Hermione, and Draco were studying advanced transfiguration beyond NEWTS level in Dumbledore's old experiment room with Headmistress McGonagall. Getting help with some of the paperworks from Mrs. Narcissa Malfoy certainly freed up some of her schedule, and it seemed that the rejuvenated witch looked a bit healthier and less stressed.

Harry had to admit, the Malfoys did have their ways in working up social ladders. Within less a week, Minerva began to consider Narcissa a vital force to keep the school from falling apart. In the meanwhile, Lucius somehow became a foreman among prisoners while doing manual labours. As for Draco, though the boy only got an Acceptable in his Transfiguration OWL barely ten weeks ago, he was trying hard not to fall too back from Harry and Hermione. And according to Dad, Draco was learning maths, physics, and chemistry pretty quickly. Whatever Draco's motive might be, Harry rather appreciate his dedication.

Just then, a bright ball appeared in front of Harry, and hissed in Severus' smooth and decidedly neutral voice: "You and girl alone?"

Draco exhibited his excellent sense, as he quickly excused himself, and asked Headmistress McGonagall to provide Harry and Hermione all the privacy spells possible before departing herself.

After all was done, Harry told Severus that he could begin.

Severus' Patronus sound as if it wanted to sing: "Turn to Page 394. It is on how to call back someone's soul from the other side of the Veil and revive them."

Harry's mind almost went blank for a second over this claim. Luckily, Hermione was much better than Harry at this, as the girl retrieved the stack of numbered notes and flipped to Page 394 with amazing speed and elegance, and put it in front of both of them.

-Emm, still doodlings. We still need the key elements except the Veil.

The Patronus was still in exaltation: "The Resurrection Stone, people have used wrong all these years, - it has to touch someone's true body, and to be used together with the Veil to call back the soul!"

-Still not working. However, this interpretation indeed explained the story that Cadmus Peverell could only summon a sad shadow of his lost lover, and in the story, it claimed "he felt as if a veil still separated them".

Then, Harry's excellent memory reminded him of the scene where Dumbledore had presented both the Resurrection Stone and the Veil as evidences for souls, and how Harry had dismissed the idea.

-"He felt as if a veil still separated them", yep, the secret is so plainly there, and I just couldn't see it.

Before Harry could further doubt his intuition on powerful magic, Severus' Patronus continued: "And a key is needed to let the Veil temporarily flow toward another direction, for that I am not sure if my reading of hieroglyph is correct. I guess it might be feather from a Vermilion bird, willingly given. Can you two see the hieroglyph characters now?"

Harry had no idea what is a Vermilion bird, but from the looks on Hermione's face, apparently she knew.

Hermione said: "No. Is there other important parts, Professor Snape?"

Severus' Patronus traveled away, and Hermione began to explain to Harry what a Vermilion bird was, and the similarities and differences between this magical creature and a phoenix.

Before Harry's apprehension could catch on, the light ball returned: "The key is feather from phoenix, then."

All of a sudden, Page 394 became readable, - err, hieroglyph that neither Harry nor Hermione could actually understand.

Then Harry got it: Merlin was really brilliant! During history, same things have been called different names, and different things have been called the same names. Even leaving notes in languages such as Latin and hieroglyph that changed little over time, there is no way that people who finally bypass the Interdict of Merlin could accurately understand all the notes on powerful magic. However, if the phoenix owner and another person cooperate in the way we just did, they could accurately understand any key magical secret.

-Including, how to REVIVE EVERYONE!