8:25 AM


Alvis stuck his head – and only his head – out of the classroom door. He held his breath and looked left down the hall. It was empty. He looked right. It, too, was empty save for a single suit of armor, which was snoring. Its helmet rattled quietly with every wheeze.

Alvis released his breath with a sigh of relief. He was alone, which had, natural enough, been his intention. It was much too early on a Saturday morning for most students to be awake, and those few early risers were no doubt eating breakfast now, or out on the grounds to enjoy the lovely spring weather. He had the sixth-floor corridor and – most importantly – the empty classroom all to himself.

He ducked back into the room, closed the door firmly behind him, and adjusted his Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes ™ Shield Cloak. It, along with the matching – if rather silly-looking – Shield Hat had been a recent investment, and he was about to see if the money had been well-spent. He made his way to a desk in the center of the room, where the Shield Hat and a number of smaller, odder objects were waiting for him. There was a Basic Blaze Box of Wild-Fire Whiz-Bangs; the brass scales from his Potions kit; protective gloves; a tin funnel; and a cardboard tube about as long as a chocolate frog and as big around as a sickle.

For all the strange and wonderful things that appeared at Hogwarts, Alvis’s classmates would not have recognized this one. It was the engine to a Muggle model rocket; or rather, it would have been one, if it hadn’t been empty. The metal charge that went with it was set off to one side. Alvis was itching to install it, but doing so too early would ruin his experiment. Instead, he sat gingerly in the chair, pulled on his protective hat and gloves, and carefully picked up the small Whizz-bang he’d split with a Diffindo charm.

“Steady old boy,” he told himself, pouring its contents into one side of his scale. It was a silvery powder, too light to be gunpowder, that occasionally twinkled with little blue lights. “Steady now, steady, ten grams ought to do it….yes.”

He slipped the funnel into the would-be rocket engine and tipped the measured amount of powder into the cardboard. It settled quietly, without so much as a breath – Alvis was so nervous he could hear his own heartbeat. But his hands remained steady and, much to his relief, he didn’t spill, not even as he lifted the funnel away and set it to the side.

“You know,” he said to the empty classroom as he picked up the muggle charge. “I think I’ve actually got it this time.”

Holding in a laugh of delight, he clicked the charge into place.

BANG!!

A blast like canon fire echoed through the empty classroom and the hallway beyond, blowing the door wide open. Alvis found himself winded, on his back, on the ground, and lost in a cloud of swirling blue smoke, which was already starting to disperse. Silver sparks flickered from his work table, which was now almost ten feet away, and from the smell of things, something was starting to smolder.

“Bother,” he thought through the ringing of his ears. “That wasn’t it either.”

Pax had been on his way back to the Hufflepuff common room from the owlery. Well, that had been the plan, anyway. But he was starting to get the feeling that one of the staircases he had taken had led him somewhere different today. He sighed a little; there was no getting the hang of them, sometimes.

He had just spied a more promising stairway to walk down and had started towards it, when--

BANG!!

Pax jumped in shock, then froze, panic taking over his brain and rendering it useless for a moment. Only thoughts of whatdoIdo whatdoIdo whatdoIdo circled around and around in his head.

Finally, he got ahold of himself. Calm down. Remember what Professor Storm said about emergencies. Just pretend you're in class, okay? The first thing to do, Pax figured, was to find the source of the noise. Turning towards the rough direction he thought it had come from, he scurried up the corridor until he found an open door. Was that... was that smoke coming out of it?

Properly worried now, and even more worried that someone might be inside, Pax ran to the door and peered in; the smoke wasn't really thick at all, and he could see there was indeed another student in the disused classroom, a Ravenclaw third-year he knew by face but not by name, lying on the ground. And something on one of the desks that smelled a bit like burning. Pax glanced frantically between the boy and the desk, not sure which to see to first. His decision was quickly made for him though, by his limited spell knowledge.

'I don't know how to cast Aguamenti!' he yelped, flailing a little and hurrying towards the Ravenclaw. 'Are you okay? Sh-should I-- should I get a teacher?' He was unpleasantly reminded of the last time there had been a fire and he had fetched a teacher; the student responsible had been expelled. It was enough to make him a little hesitant about getting help, even though he knew in most cases he really should. 'Madam Nagde? Should I get Madam Nagde?' He looked over the third-year for any obvious injuries, every so often casting fearful looks at the thing the smoke seemed have come from. At least the smoke wasn't dense enough to cause any breathing problems, at least for the moment.

It took a moment for Alvis to realize that someone was speaking to him. He was distracted when the first-year Hufflepuff rushed in, focused on getting air back into his winded lungs. The protective robes and gloves had worked like a charm. He wasn't burnt or singed in the least. He was just a little winded, and need some time to pull his head together.

"Should I get a teacher? Madame Nagde?"

That brought Alvis around. He sat up, so quick that he almost bashed heads with the first year, and scrambled to his knees, waving his hands. "No, no teachers, that won't be necessary. Nothing's on fire. Er." He glanced at the desk. He was half-right - nothing was ablaze, but what was left of his cardboard engine was smoldering like an ember. He swept it on to the stone floor and ground it out with his heel. "See? No fire. And don't worry about Nagde, I wear plenty of protection so I don't get...ow..."

Alvis winced, rubbing the walnut-sized knot forming at the base of his skull. The Shielding Hat had performed remarkably, protecting his face from the blast, but it had been thrown off in his fall and he'd knocked his head pretty bad against the hard stone floor. Already, he could feel another blasted headache coming on - the second this week - and resolved to take care of it.

"I don't get hurt. I'm fine." He finished, awkwardly. He offered the Hufflepuff an little grin, rubbing the growing knot. "Right. So. Nobody's hurt and, er, there's no fire, and the smoke's going to clear soon - no worries, it's just from the fireworks, nothing is burning - so there's no reason to tell any teachers about this." The last thing he wanted was another detention or, worse, house points docked so close to the semester's end.

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm. He'd been babbling in his anxiety, spewing whatever came to mind. He hated doing that. People would judge you based on the way you spoke, and there was nothing more inconvenient than correcting what one had already said. So he released the breath slowly, counted to ten, and thought deeply about what he was going to say next before giving the first-year a more innocent, pleading expression than he'd worn before.

"You aren't going to tell anyone, right? I wasn't doing anything that's strictly against the rules, except using the fireworks indoors, but I wasn't really using them so much as working on them. It is different." It was only then that he remembered that he didn't know this boy's name. The dark-skinned Hufflepuff looked rather familiar - he must have seen him dozens of times around the Great Hall - but he didn't know his name. "...I'm sorry, I've been dreadfully rude. We haven't even introduced ourselves yet. I'm Alvis. Er, Norling. Alvis Norling. You are...?"

'Oh! Uh, Pax. Um. Wintergreen.' Except without all the 'ums', he thought. He smiled a little sheepishly, and offered an awkward wave. 'Nice to meet you, Alvis. Oh, and, and, um, don't worry. I won't tell. I mean...' He glanced back at the source of the loud noise. In this situation Pax was usually torn between wanting to do the responsible thing, and not wanting anyone to get into trouble, not even the likes of that scary seventh-year from Slytherin. And Alvis seemed like a nice enough chap. And whatever he had been working on certainly didn't seem to be about to cause any trouble...

'I mean, if, if it was dangerous, I'd have to tell someone, but, but it's not dangerous, so it's fine.' He glanced at the singed cardboard again, as if worried it would suddenly catch alight. 'It's definitely not dangerous, right?'

Shuffling hesitantly towards the desk where Alvis had stamped out the embers, he wondered if it would be rude to inquire further. Had he decided to err on the side of caution, he probably would have left Alvis to it, or else offered to help clean up. But curiosity trumped his concerns of social niceties on this occasion. 'What happened, anyway?' he ventured. 'Just 'cause, I mean, well, that was a really loud noise it made. Pretty impressive, actually.' Pax smiled a little. It was a bit easier to find the situation a little exciting now that it wasn't scaring the living daylights out of him anymore. And he did have to wonder what the Ravenclaw boy would want with fireworks (in a classroom, of all places).

"It is not dangerous," Alvis reiterated, waving away what was left of the blue smoke. "Not if you use the proper protection. Like, um..." He scanned the room, located his shield hat in the corner, and went to fetch it. "Like these. They're quite good."

He set the hat on the desk, tugged off his gloves, and began to fold the protective cloak. Mr. Wintergreen - Pax - shuffled around the desk and peered at the remains of Alvis's experiment. He was smiling now too, and Alvis felt a surge of relief. He'd never wanted to scare anybody with this, after all. That - and the presence of prefects - was the whole reason he'd moved his work out of the Ravenclaw dorms in the first place.

"What happened, anyway?"

Alvis's eyes lit up. "Do you know what a rocket is?" Any muggleborn or half-blood would have, but some of the purebloods were still so out-of-touch with Muggle society that it needed clarification. "That's what I've been working on. A model one, that is. With some...modifications."

The room was almost cleared of smoke now, clear enough that they could see the remains of his attempt - the box of fireworks, casing singed but otherwise untouched, in one corner; the empty shell he'd opened sitting in the other. Alvis picked up the empty case and rubbed it against his shirt. It was so hard to place the incendiary components in contact with the Muggle circuitry without causing a destabilization. Perhaps he needed to improve on the design to function with the fuel.

He glanced back at Pax. "Guess you're a bit young to know much about engineering." It took him several seconds to realize how rude that must have sounded. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. That is, it's got nothing to do with you being a first-year. I was just...oh, bother. I'm terrible at conversation."

Pax smiled a little, not unkindly. It was somewhat comforting to be reminded that the older students sometimes fumbled in social situations just like he did. 'No, no, no, don't worry,' he assured the third-year hastily. It was a little amusing to see him backpedal, but he didn't actually want Alvis to feel bad. 'I mean, you're right and all, I don't really know about engineering, it wasn't the sort of thing we got taught in primary school after all, and I'd be really surprised if they started teaching it at Hogwarts.'

Peering curiously at the empty case Alvis was holding, he clarified, 'Oh, I do know about rockets though, I'm like, half-muggle. Halfblood, I mean. My mum's a muggle.' For all the trouble Pax had with magic, sometimes he wondered if he was just halfway between being a muggle and a wizard. 'I've built some models before, but never anything working.' There was a note of envy in his voice. All his projects usually ended up being just for show, though hopefully with the exception of the dollhouse he was working on for his little sister.

'And I never thought of trying a rocket. That's really cool.' And he meant it. Even if it hadn't worked this time, the idea was still an appealing one. Rocket, after all, was another word for spaceship, and space travel was one of the definitions of cool. (Along with dinosaurs.) 'How's it work? Oh! I mean--' Pax looked back up at Alvis, now finding it his turn to be embarrassed. 'I mean, um, if you don't mind my asking. If you need to get back to it, I mean, I can leave you in peace.' He gave the older boy a sheepish sort of grin.

Alvis rubbed the back of his neck, blushing right up to his hair. 'Cool' was a word was rarely used to describe him or any of his hobbies.

 "Ah, thanks. You know, my mum's a Muggle too. Runs a bookshop back home. That's where I got started on all of this." He motioned to the remnants of his experiment. "Don't worry, there's nothing to go back to at this point. That accident did for the engine and I'll have to get another one." Besides, if there was one thing he could talk about, it was rocket design. Well, anything to do with astronomy or space-travel really, but since Pax was curious about the rockets, that was the best place to start.

He set the empty shell on the table, crouching down to pull his schoolbag out from underneath. "You know," he said as he flipped open the top, "It is a shame that they don't teach engineering here. Even the Muggle Studies classes don't get that far, from what I've heard. But there's so much potential in Muggle designs, they're really quite good at creating force and putting it to work for them."

He tugged folded set of plans out of the bag's inside pocket and unfolded them across the table. They were only the instructions that came with the model rocket kit, but the margins were filled with his notes on the mechanical infrastructure and Muggle fuels. The right-hand corner included a doodle of the rocket's engine, cut away to see all the parts inside.

"When you think about it, it's not all that different from magic, really. They're both about the application of an energy, it just depends on where it comes from and how it's used." He leaned over the plans and beckoned Pax over, trailing his fingers along the design. "So I started thinking, what if we were to apply magic through Muggle designs? And that's what I'm doing here. See, this is where the fuel would go, where it says 'propellant', and it comes out at a controlled speed through this nozzle, and that's what makes the rocket lift into the air."

He rubbed the back of his neck again, giving an awkward chuckle. "But apparently it's not as simple as exchanging the Muggle fuel for wizard firework propellant. Something to work on, I guess. Still, if I can get it to work, it should go much higher much faster than any muggle rocket, using less fuel, and hopefully it wouldn't explode like one of our fireworks."  He rubbed a crease out of the plans fondly, sending Pax a small but bright smile. "It's still a very rough idea, but the concept is sound. At least, I think it is. Don't suppose you've read Does Magic Bind Us, have you?"

Ah, he was babbling, and if he was allowed to get onto the topic of books - particularly the ones that Professor Trishna had been involved in - he'd leave poor Pax in the dust. Conscious of his sudden one-sided dominance of the conversation, Alvis rubbed the knot on the back of his head and grinned awkwardly. "I hope I'm not boring you. I, er, don't usually get to talk about it this much. Most people find it sort of...odd."

Pax gave Alvis a surprised look. Why wouldn't he get to talk about it much? Weren't other people interested in hearing about rockets? Pax could understand how everyone had different interests, but... still! Spaceships! 'Nuh-uh, I think it's physically impossible for rockets to be boring. And odd is just another word for interesting. I should know, I play Dungeons and Dragons.' For all the people who had looked somewhat interested when he mentioned his idea for a Hogwarts D&D club, there had been at least as many who'd given him funny looks and asked what in the world he was on about.

Tracing the different segments of the rocket cross-section, Pax thought a bit more about Alvis's idea of replacing muggle fuel with magical. Though it was evidently a bit hit-and-miss so far, the notion seemed a very innovative one, and Pax was impressed. 'So, the fuel comes into contact with the charge-type-thing, and that's what sets it off and makes sparks come out this end...' he murmured, vaguely imagining one of the Apollo rockets lifting off. 'Yeah, so, once you get a magical prop-- propellant-- that's, that's a bit less, um, unpredictable, then...' He stalled a little; magic, at least in his limited experience, was never predictable. Still, Alvis seemed really smart, no doubt he could find a way to make it work. 'Yeah,' he finished, grinning despite the lack of sense he was making.

'I haven't read that book though, is, is that where you got the idea? Oh-- oh, wait, I think I might've heard of it... Oh! Professor Trishna, he was one of the writers!' Pax's face split into a wide grin at his recollection. For the longest time, he actually hadn't twigged that the Astronomy teacher had written any books. When he stumbled across Professor Trishna's name on of the astronomy books in the library, he felt somehow like a bad student for not knowing this about his teacher beforehand, and quickly rectified the situation by looking up the other works Professor Trishna had authored (or contributed to). It had made the professor, already one of Pax's favourite people, shoot up even further in Pax's estimation.

Alvis smiled softly, glad for Pax's enthusiasm. There were a lot of reasons people didn't like to talk about his experiments - they didn't think it would work, they knew it was technically against school rules, they didn't care about Muggle space ships, they didn't care about going into space. After all, they would reason, if you can see the planets just fine with magic - like Professor Trishna's enchanted windows - why risk your life traveling there?

He couldn't help a chuckle at Pax's grin when the subject of Professor Trishna's books were brought up. That's why Alvis had originally picked up the book, after all. "That's the one. It's...interesting. It's sociological study on the difference between Muggle and Wizard thinking in terms of science versus spellcraft. The woman who actually wrote it is a bit of a bore, though."

It had also been fairly obtuse and complicated for a first-year to understand. This was also why he'd decided against going in-depth on his explanation of the rocket design. The real advantage of it wasn't about the spectacle, it was about cost, safety, and weight - the three most vital components of any space travel. Since magical materials produced more power with less material, it would be able to go farther faster with less fuel, and reinforcing the mechanics with protection spells would keep the travelers safer on their journey. But putting that into words was difficult, and he didn't want to confuse Pax or make him feel too dumb to understand just because Alvis was rubbish at explaining things.

He searched his mind for a change-of-subject and latched on to Pax's Dungeons and Dragons interest. "I read the Dungeons and Dragons rulebooks at one point." He tapped his nose, trying to recall the incident. "Ma got them in stock at the request of ol' Samus McGuff. It seemed complicated...but interesting." It was only a bit of a lie. It was hard to find a game that read like a medieval period piece all that interesting, but far be it for Alvis to put down someone else's hobby when he tried his damnest to blow himself up on weekends. "What's it like when you actually get to play it?"

He loaded the box of fireworks into his bag, making sure they were sealed up tight. It was almost nine o'clock by this point, and he didn't want Pax to miss out on breakfast because of talking with him.

Pax brightened up even more at the chance to talk about D&D. Had he been a little better at reading people, perhaps he would have considered the possibility that Alvis was just being polite. Naive as Pax was though, he took the innocent question as an opportunity to show off his own geekiness.

'Well, see, it's a lot different from just reading the rules when you actually get down to playing,' he gushed. 'Like, you know how if you're just starting to learn about something and you're still getting used to it, it doesn't feel like it's going to be fun, because it doesn't feel like you're going to get it? That's how I used to feel about Astronomy,' he admitted sheepishly, before continuing: 'But then once you get the basics, and if you have someone who knows what they're doing leading you through things, you can just forget about everything else and totally-- oh, what's the word-- um-- immerse yourself. When I used to play with my friends in primary school, we had these epic adventures. And the mechanics were pretty simple once we all got used to them. Just role a die and the DM decides what happens.' If Pax was starting to lose Alvis in the roleplay lingo, he was too engrossed in the subject matter to notice. 'Although, I guess we did modify the rules a little, just to make them more simple. They, um, they are a little complicated in places.'

Pax paused for breath, and also to consider. Chances were, if Alvis already had his hands full with devising this magical rocket hybrid, he probably wouldn't really be interested in actually playing Dungeons and Dragons... All the same, though, Pax decided it couldn't hurt to ask. 'I, um, don't know if it'd be your kind of thing, but you know, if you wanted to try it out, I'm trying to get a D&D club started. Hopefully we'll be able to start holding meetings next year. So, if you ever wanted to try it out, just for a session...' Pax shrugged, a little self-conscious. He'd known since he was small that not everyone was as into games as he was.

Falling out of his D&D-induced reverie, Pax realised suddenly that while they had been talking, Alvis had been packing. 'Oh! Sorry, I should've asked, would you like any help putting things away? Wait--' Pax raised a finger to his chin in a half-concerned, half-ponderous expression. 'Are you done with your rocket for now? I mean, don't let me stop you if you wanted to work on it some more.' Pax hated to be a hindrance of any kind, even when it came to experiments that resulted in loud explosions.

Alvis listened politely to Pax's rambling about the game, but his mind tripped up on some of the terminology and, instead of picking up where it left off, sat on the floor trying to piece together what the other boy was saying. He didn't really understand what mechanics would have to do with roleplaying games - he hadn't seen anything in the books about gears or even lever-and-pulley systems - and he wondered how the dice would help decide anything. Perhaps the er, DM - whatever that was - had a list of six things, and each one had a number, so there was a 17% chance...

He was just coming out of the calculation for that when Pax suggested giving the game a try at a club the next semester. Alvis blinked, and his mind went blank for all of a second and a half. When it settled back into its proper place, he found himself thinking that, you know, giving the game a try didn't sound like such a bad idea after all.

"Actually...that rather sounds like fun. I think I'd like to give it a try, once you get that club going." He smiled, snapping the last latch on his bag closed with a solid click. "As long as it doesn't interfere with Astronomy club, of course."

He waved off the offer of help. "There's no need to worry, I already told you hat the tests are a bit of a wash until I can get a new engine built. Besides, I would hate to keep you if you haven't eaten yet."

'Oh, you did say that, didn't you,' Pax recalled, a little embarrassed. 'Sorry, I guess I got a little distracted there. Um, don't let me talk about D&D too much, I'll just lose all track of time,' he added with a self-effacing chuckle. 'I did eat already though, so no worries about me forgetting breakfast. Although if you haven't had any yet...' Pax made a vague gesture that he hoped translated along the lines of feel free to cut me off and escape before I start talking Geek again. But he was pleasantly surprised enough by Alvis's tentative interest in the D&D club that he gave the older boy a half-grin.

'But, um, about the club, you wouldn't need to worry about it clashing with the Astronomy Club, see, I asked Professor Trishna and he agreed to let the D&D game run in his tower, so it'll have to be a time when Astronomy Club isn't already on.' Pax tilted his head to one side, considering. Much as he had come to enjoy the subject Professor Trishna taught, he had never had enough time on hand to think about joining the club as well.

'If you're in the Astronomy Club, you must really like Professor Trishna's classes too, huh?' he pondered. Add the club membership to having read the professor's books, and odds were good that Alvis thought at least as highly of him as Pax did. 'He might know some stuff about rockets,' he added as an afterthought, remembering what he and the other first-years had learned about Mars the previous month. 'All the muggle science he keeps up with...'

"Did I eat breakfast...?" Alvis asked no one, tapping his nose distractedly. Now that he really thought about it, he didn't recall. Mornings were not his strong point, and it often took several hours after waking for all of his memories to solidify properly, which explained why Herbology and History of Magic were his least-successful classes. Still, his stomach wasn't growling, so he had to assume that he'd eaten something before wandering up here.

When Pax brought up Trishna's classes, Alvis gave a content sigh. "Oh, they're wonderful. I would spend most of my life drawing star-charts if they'd let me. But the windows are the best. It's almost like being there."

There was a hint of whimsy in his tone. Alvis was well-aware that most places in the solar system were too dangerous for human travel and that, even after he perfected his muggle-wizard technology blend, the individual who finally made it to the moon would probably not be him; so the displays in Professor Trishna's windows were the closest he would ever get.

"I, er, I did think about that. He'd be the expert. But I haven't shown him these yet. I suppose I'm simply afraid of what he'll say." Alvis gave a pathetic shrug and, searching for a way to change the conversation, dug out a piece of parchment and a quill, and lay the parchment against the wall so he could write. "Say, what sort of books would the average member of your Dungeons & Dragons club need? There's so many of them, I can't imagine you'd use them all in one game."

Pax chuckled. 'Heh, yeah, especially since we're going to try and keep it simple. Most of the people I asked hadn't played D&D before. So, I think we'll try and keep the rules as easy as we can make them, so people won't have to worry about reading the books. If you were interested, though...' Pax scratched the back of his neck, trying not to look too pleased that Alvis was taking an interest. 'The Player's Handbook is the one to go with. There are a bunch more, like the Dungeon Master's Guide, or the Monster Manual, but those are really for the ones running the game, players don't have to worry about those. We'd be going with either the third edition Player's Handbook, or the 3.5.' Pax grinned sheepishly. 'There've been a lot of rule revisions over the years. 3 and 3.5 are just the most recent. I have a copy of the 3.5 handbook, if you ever wanted to borrow it. And I know Professor Trishna has a whole bunch of 3rd edition rulebooks, he'd probably let you take a look if you asked.' Yet another way in which Professor Trishna was one of the most awesome teachers in Hogwarts, in Pax's opinion.

'Y'know, Professor Trishna-- well, you know how cool he is-- I'll bet he'd be really interested to hear about your rocket. He'd probably be impressed, actually,' he mused, completely failing to take the way that Alvis had deliberately changed the subject as an indication he might not be comfortable with the idea of telling Professor Trishna about his project. 'You said you got started on all this from your mum's bookshop, right?' Pax remembered. 'My grandad runs one too, but I don't think I ever would have got any ideas as clever as yours. Does your mum's shop sell a lot of science-type books?'

Alvis chuckled without really knowing why. Pax's excitement was infectious, even if he was trying to keep it out of his expression, and he was just so earnest about the whole thing that Alvis couldn't help feeling a bit excited right along with it. "I imagine most people wouldn't have - the setting sounds a tad bit like those American fellows who keep re-fighting their Civil War. But I may borrow that book from you, before the year is out."

He took note of the books' title and edition specifications, just in case. If nothing else, his mother would be happy to order a few at discount price for wizard students. When Pax mentioned Professor Trishna again, Alvis chewed on the end of his quill. It wasn't that he didn't think that the Professor would enjoy his project, it was just that...it wasn't ready to show him yet. He wanted to make some progress, to prove that he was serious first.

"Oh, Mum's shop carries a bit of everything," he said, pulling the quill from his lips. "Da's too, though his is all wizard books. We're the only booksellers in the village, and these days you have to go all the way to Liverpool for a better selection." He beamed with pride at that. The bookshop was the best thing about home, as far as he was concerned.  "Where's your grandfather's shop? They might have met at a trade show or something. Wouldn't that be funny?"