Chapter 2: Among the Stars

Once they were aboard, Ron led Hermione to a cabin to retire to. Or a stateroom, rather; proper terms, and everything. Luna and Neville went with Chewbacca to learn a few basic mechanical skills, and Harry, under instructions from Solo, went to the cockpit. "Just let me know if this blinks," the man said, pointing to a bulb on one of the consoles. Harry sat, glancing at the light before looking curiously at the pilot's seat. Solo flipped a number of switches and levers, and Harry lost count before long anyway, but it was still a fascinating thing to watch. It was only a few minutes later that they were ready to go; Chewbacca returned to the cockpit along with Neville, and with the four of them settled in, Harry was reminded strangely of the comfortable crowdedness at the Burrow.

"Okay, we all set?" Solo asked his co-pilot. There was a short growl from Chewbacca. "...If the girl's that curious, I guess, as long as she doesn't mess with the sublight engines. All right, let's take 'er out slow." Chewbacca muttered something that seemed to greatly amuse him. "Yeah, well, take the small victories where we can, pal."

"What did he say?" Neville asked.

"He said he might have trouble remembering how to fly without dodging half a dozen blaster bolts." He adjusted a lever, and then nodded. "Taking off."

Harry never forgot that first lift-off. The experience of going from the ground, to the sky, then breaking through the atmosphere into the starlit space beyond…this was flying at its purest, its most wondrous. He wished so much that Ron, Hermione and Luna could have seen it at the same time, and yet relished the thought of seeing the looks on their faces when they experienced it for themselves. It wasn't instantaneous, launching into space, but that made it all the better. They would lift off into space on many more occasions throughout their time, but that first flight stayed with him to his dying day.

"Is it always so incredible?" asked Harry in amazement as the planet below came into view through the bottom section of the viewport.

"Every time," responded Solo fondly. He flipped what looked like an intercom switch. "Now strap in. We're about to make the calculations for the jump to hyperspace, and I don't want my new crew banged up." They complied, and he flipped a few more switches, turning off the intercom. There was a sound like a computer working, and a solid ping. "Okay, stand by." He pulled back slowly on a lever, and Harry saw the stars move. They became streaks that moved faster and faster, until there was a surge and they were gone.

"Sweet Merlin!" Neville breathed as the ship began traveling through what looked like a swirling blue tunnel. "What happened?"

"Don't tell me this is your first spaceflight!" said Solo, shocked. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you didn't know about hyperspace, either."

Harry and Neville shared a look. "Well…you see…" Harry began, but there was an amused gruff from Chewbacca, followed by a few more growls.

"Real funny, Chewie. Just keep an eye on things, would you? I'm gonna go back and check the cargo." He looked at the two Hogwarts students. "You might as well get some rest; we're three days out from our first stop. Meals are usually around 0600, 1200, and 1800. You're free to look around, gun turrets excepted, just don't touch anything or go in the cargo holds without either me or Chewie there." He left the cockpit, and Harry and Neville, without anything else to do, returned to the staterooms.

While an undecorated place, there was plenty of room for them to congregate; the three bunk beds were fit snugly into one half of the room, with a door that he assumed was the washroom and the exit at the other end. "How is she?" Harry asked Ron once they'd arrived.

Ron gave him a reassuring smile. "Doing okay. She's sleeping now." He looked between them. "What was that earlier? The ship sort of sped up and then…"

"I think he said we're at lightspeed," Neville informed him.

Ron raised an eyebrow. "As opposed to heavy speed? Well, whatever. What are we going to do? Should we just tell them to take us to Earth?"

Harry frowned. "Yes, but…I dunno. I feel like we should help them out a bit first. I mean, we don't have any money with us, so we should at least earn our trip."

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "We might need to wait until Hermione wakes up to figure out where Earth is. I mean, we've all had Astronomy, but…"

"But we're rubbish at it," finished Harry. "You look like you could use some rest yourself, you know. After that trek across the desert, I think we could all use it."

He nodded again. "You don't think…you know…I mean to say, we did leave Rookwood back there."

Harry sighed. That was complicated, and he was too tired to explain exactly how he felt about it. "We can talk about it later. For now…I just…" He trailed off into nothing as he yawned.

Ron yawned himself. "Oh, stop that. All right, fine. Night, all." He climbed into the bunk above Hermione, and within moments he was fast asleep.

"How is everyone?" asked Luna as she came into the room. "Oh," she said as she saw Ron and Hermione asleep. "How is everyone?" she whispered.

"Tired, but all right," Harry said quietly. "I'll get settled in soon; today was a long one." Luna nodded, and she took the top bunk across from Ron and Hermione. Neville, shrugging, took the bed under her. Funny, he thought. If it weren't in a ship, it'd remind me of my old cupboard. With a tired sigh, he settled in to the bottom bed of the middle bunk, taking his glasses off and setting them in the space between the pillow cushion and wall. As he lay down, setting his wand with his glasses, he had the fleeting thought that the beds were surprisingly comfortable before sleep overtook him.

When Harry awoke, he didn't remember the preceding day at first. He reached for his glasses and wand, stretching as he got up. Then he went to sit up and nearly knocked himself unconscious again when his head hit the bunk above him. Cursing his mistake, he rubbed his forehead before putting his glasses on, crawling out of the bed and looking around.

The events of the day before flooded into him, and for a moment it was too much. He froze, looking around slowly, leveling his wand and trying desperately to control his shallow breathing. After a few moments, there was a grunting snore from Ron, and the sound of him rolling over. While he wasn't quite altogether as he'd hoped, he found a sense of determination. He stuffed his wand into his robes, and went looking for the toilet. It was right in their cabin, as it happened; though of course the lettering was still in that unfamiliar script.

After washing up, he left the cabin, wandering through the ship. The cargo holds were easy enough to avoid, given that they were usually blocked off by doors that had windows. It was only just beginning to dawn on him that he was really on a spaceship traveling the stars. He stopped at the door that would lead into the cockpit, frowning. There was no one in there. Autopilot, he thought. Sighing, he turned away, walking to the living area.

There was surprisingly little there; a long, cushioned seat flanking what looked like a circular chessboard, with an extra seat next to what looked like computers of some kind. The rest was given over to what looked like some kind of open cargo room. Harry noticed that tucked behind the seat was another double bunk. That must be where the other two sleep. There was a loud beeping, and Solo entered, carrying packages of some kind. "Now, I know they don't taste like much," admitted the man, setting them atop the circular board, "but ration packs are all we've got. You've got your pick of flavor; bland, too-much-vegetable, or almost-passable-fruit."

"I'll go with bland," said Harry, and the man slid one of the packages over to him.

"I'll try vegetable, I suppose. Keep things interesting." Han tore off the foil of one of the packages with his teeth, spitting it back out as he removed the contents of the package.

Harry saw that his own ration had a dull green stripe across one corner; without knowing how to read the script on it, that would have to do for now. He tore it open, watching Solo as surreptitiously as he could for anything that might be important. To his relief, however, these seemed to be identical to the instant food he'd seen some other children in school consuming. After preparing it with the included heater, he used one of the disposable utensils to sample the food, with somewhat less enthusiasm than he would have were it a meal at Hogwarts.

Solo had not been exaggerating; the food hardly had a taste at all. Even with the provided spices, he only managed to get the substance to resemble the flavor of bread, and that was a stretch. "How's the ship?" asked Harry, more to give his stomach time to adjust to the odd meal than anything.

"Up and running," responded the man. He took a forkful of his own meal; he pulled a face at the taste, but made no comment about it. "Once we're back to sublight speed, Chewie and I can give you a crash course on a few of her systems."

"You said it's called the Millennium Falcon, right? Are the systems complicated?"

"She," corrected Solo, "but not too much. The Falcon's had a lot of work done to her. She'll run with a good half the systems out, but I try not to push her that far unless there's no choice." He took another bite, frowned, and then stood. "Ugh. Sorry, I'll get some water." He left the food where it was, jogging off towards the stateroom.

Harry thought about their situation as he ate. It seemed that they were beginning to encounter several things that they had little to no skill in, and he was worried that they might not be able to keep up. Harry and the others had magic, of course, but he was hesitant to reveal that particular detail to Solo. For one, he might not believe them. For another, whether the man was Muggle or not, Harry was not particularly keen on revealing too much of their abilities after the altercation in the cantina. They might come as something of a shock, but if their magic could save them in a jam, he didn't want someone knowing a way to stop it.

Solo returned not long after, and following him were Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna, all in varying states of wakefulness. Harry accepted a glass of water gratefully, and the rest of his companions sat down to eat. The older man did not, however; he moved over to work with the computers some distance away.

Ron was disgusted with the taste of the ration packs, but cut off his complaining after a particularly well-aimed kick from Hermione. Neville only nibbled sporadically at his meal, while Luna ate slowly and deliberately, as if to savor whatever taste could be found in the bland meal. Hermione, to Harry's amusement, barely seemed to taste her meal, digging into it with enthusiasm and finishing it faster than any of them, Harry included.

"So then," Solo said, dropping into the chair near the computers. "What's your story?"

Harry swallowed the last of his meal, trying to think as quickly as he could. "Why so curious?" he asked to buy them some time.

"Not much else to do while we're in hyperspace. Gotta pass the time somehow."

Hermione looked questioningly at Harry, but when he didn't answer she said "We're…sort of lost. We got separated from our family."

Ron suddenly began coughing very violently, his eyes wide. Neville thumped him on the back, and he was able to swallow the lump of food in his throat. However, this didn't seem to cheer him up any. On the contrary, he slid off the bench and, without even a "thank you" to Neville, walked off in the direction of the staterooms.

Han watched him go with a curious expression. "It was recent, wasn't it?"

"Just yesterday," answered Luna, looking only slightly less dreamy than usual. She blinked as Hermione got up and hurried after Ron. "…We were stranded in the desert. We've been trying to find home ever since. Only…we don't know where home is."

"You don't strike me as the Tatooine kind of kids." Neville and Harry frowned at that last word, but he ignored it. "Sheltered, definitely, but not the farm type. If I had to guess…probably Cerea, what with the outfits and the sticks you're hiding in your sleeves."

Harry gripped his sleeve without thinking, surprised that Solo had been so attentive.

"In my line of work, you gotta be good at seeing the outline of concealed objects; usually blasters. Anyway, judging from your accents, you were probably raised by people originally from the Core; first, maybe second-generation colonists. So tell me, am I heading down the right hyperlane?"

Harry looked to Neville, who was looking just about as lost as he was. "…I'm not sure what others call it," said Harry finally, "but we know our planet as Earth."

Solo raised an eyebrow. "Never heard of it."

Harry's heart sank. If someone who seemed so well-traveled had never once heard of Earth, what hope did they have of returning?

"So it's not Cerea, huh? Shame, I've brought cargo there before. 'Earth'…that another name for Bakura? It's about as distant as you can get before you hit Wild Space, and it's not far from Cerea."

Harry wasn't quite sure how to respond. To give himself time to think, he placed his hands in his pockets. Before he could even begin to form a response, however, one of his hands brushed against something smooth and hard. On instinct, he grabbed it, and could feel a small globe of some kind.

His eyes widened as realization dawned on him; it was the prophecy! It took all his concentration to remind himself where they were, and that drawing it out to examine it should wait until he had more privacy.

"…Harry?"

Harry started. Neville was looking at him, worried at his expression. Luna was staring in abject curiosity, without pausing her meal whatsoever; almost as if he were a somewhat entertaining movie. Solo acted nothing more than curious, and yet his expression seemed a bit too calculating to be idle curiosity. "Er…sorry, what were we talking about?" he asked, removing his hands from his pockets.

"Where we're from," said Neville nervously.

"Er…" He tried to think very fast. If the pilot had never heard of Earth, then they couldn't expect to be taken there immediately. If only he'd bought that moving model of the galaxy in Diagon Alley…then he could just point it out. But…wait a moment; that was it! "Maybe we can show you on a star chart?" offered Harry, hoping desperately that Hermione remembered enough of Astronomy to find Earth on an unfamiliar map.

Solo shrugged. "I guess. We'll wait until after our first stop; the brains get grouchy if we look for something outside a plotted course."

"The…the 'brains'?" asked Neville, eyes wide.

"Yeah, the droid brains. Tough enough to get 'em to focus on a job as it is; I'll wait until after delivery so they're not so hard to work with. They're a pain even without knowing what they're saying." He finished up the last of his ration, shook his head, and tossed the packaging and utensils into a chute. "Oh, speaking of. What kinda languages do you know? Not Wookiee, obviously, but any others?"

Wookiee? Meaning Chewbacca? Harry was starting to feel like he'd never be calm again. Whether the man knew it or not, he had a knack for asking the questions Harry was the least ready to answer. "Well…" stammered Harry, again trying to stall for time. To be perfectly honest, the only language he knew besides English was Parseltongue, and who knew when they would encounter a snake? "…Just the basic one." He hoped his answer was vague enough to be acceptable.

The man looked amazed. "Just Basic? Really?" He shook his head. "Of all the luck…" He muttered to himself as he walked away, and his words became different; it must have been a separate language, because Harry didn't recognize most of the words. "Grancha, Solo. Do yuna puna bleeda harto. Bona nai kachu."

"Could've gone better, that," said Harry in a low voice. "C'mon; let's check on Ron."

"You think that Chewbacca would be interested in teaching us his language?" Luna asked as she scooped up the remnants of their ration packs, tossing them into the same place that Solo had. "I think it sounds lovely. It reminds me of the warbling gultophs."

Harry shared a look with Neville. "…You don't say. Maybe you can tell us more after we've met up."

They returned to the stateroom, and found both Ron and Hermione looking horror-stricken. "What's up with you two?" Harry asked, frowning.

"I'll tell you what's up!" snapped Ron, startling Harry somewhat. "Ginny, that's what!"

He was confused for a split-second, and then the horrible realization dawned on him. "She didn't come with us."

"Which means she's still back there!" shouted Ron. "Surrounded by Death Eaters at the Ministry!"

"I…" Harry was grasping for something to say, but an icy feeling had gripped his stomach, and was now spreading to the rest of him. "She…might be okay."

"Oh, that's great; really comforting. She's only stuck with those-" he called the Death Eaters a word that was very rude indeed, "-in that place with no one to help her, but she might be okay! Brilliant!"

"But we took Rookwood with us," said Neville, looking as if he was fighting his own fear. "She might have been able to slip past them without him; I doubt the rest of them know the Department of Mysteries very well."

"That's true," Hermione spoke up, looking at Neville with some relief. "She's a good duelist, too; you saw what she could do in the D.A."

"She dueled one at a time in the D.A.!" Ron pointed out. "You really think those Death Eaters are going to stand back and let her fight them in turns?!"

"What do you want us to do?!" yelled Harry, feeling his temper rising. He balled his fists up, stamping in anger as he shouted back. "You think that we're not-" He broke off suddenly as he felt the prophecy rustle in his pocket.

"Not what?" challenged Ron, glaring at him.

Harry didn't answer, taking the small glass orb out of his pocket and staring at it. A thought was forming in his mind; it wasn't a happy thought, truthfully, but maybe…

Luna's mouth opened as she saw him hold the glass ball out. "That's the prophecy," she observed. "The one they were after." She looked at Harry, and he saw the understanding on her face. "Ron, Ginny is alive."

"And why might that be?" Ron was staring at her now, disbelief etched on his face. "I suppose she'll be protected by the 'heliopaths' or the Croaky-Snergle, or-"

"It's because they need that." She pointed to the spun glass ball in Harry's outstretched hand. "Without that, You-Know-Who would be furious. They would make sure to keep her alive until they could find the prophecy, and she might be able to escape in the confusion."

Hermione looked both surprised and impressed; Neville was gaping in amazement at her. It was the most sensible, matter-of-fact thing Harry had ever heard Luna say, and he could have kissed her for it. As it was, he said to Ron "Exactly. They wouldn't dare risk making their boss angry, and she'd be the only one left for them to ask."

Ron was looking unsure. "But…if she was the only one to ask, then…"

It was a grim thought, but Harry knew he needed to be strong for Ron. "She can take care of herself, Ron. And even if she had trouble getting away, I'm sure someone would come to help her." He said it without thinking it through, but as he did, he had a sudden memory of giving Snape his veiled hint. Snape had ignored Harry, even belittled him; but wasn't he a member of the Order of the Phoenix? Could he have alerted Dumbledore after all? Or, nagged a little voice in his head, maybe he understood and he ignored you. Maybe he's not really trustworthy after all. Maybe-

Harry shook his head to clear those thoughts, and forced himself to look back at Ron. "Ginny will be okay," he said, and he put every ounce of confidence he had into that statement.

Ron let out a long, shaky breath. "…Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure she will." He seemed to have deflated, his anger slowly ebbing away. "Harry…thanks."

Harry nodded. "Of course." He stared curiously at the prophecy before putting it away. He wasn't sure why, but now didn't really feel like a good time to examine it closely.

They made attempts at conversation sporadically for the next few minutes, but none of them really had their hearts in it. Eventually, Harry gave it up as a bad job and decided to explore more of the ship, hoping that the movement would keep him busy enough to avoid sinking into the melancholy that was developing in the stateroom.

It didn't eliminate his concerns, but walking around did help clear his head, even if the space was somewhat limited. He found Chewbacca tweaking what looked like a large crossbow near the table they'd just ate at. Fascinated, he sat down at the far chair to observe. Chewbacca, for his part, seemed completely unaware of Harry's presence, though it was difficult to tell. Harry wondered what good a crossbow was on a ship that could travel through space, but refrained from asking anything; he didn't want to break the Wookiee's concentration.

Some time had passed by the time Chewbacca had finished; he gave a satisfied grunt and then looked directly at Harry. He seemed unsurprised at the sight of the teen, merely nodding at Harry before standing up. He stopped, however, upon seeing something to Harry's left. Harry turned around and saw Luna, who was looking at the Wookiee with a great curiosity. "What is it, Luna?"

She smiled. "I was wondering if Mr. Chewbacca could teach me some of his language. It sounds very lovely."

Chewbacca gave a snort, and said something in a gruff tone. But as he watched Luna, she opened her mouth and growled the same sort of noises back. He stared at her in astonishment, and there was silence for several moments. And then, suddenly, there was a loud bark from Chewbacca that was unmistakably laughter. He was chuckling with great amusement, and then growled something that almost sounded respectful.

Harry heard a human chuckle, and saw Solo approaching them. "He says if you had a little more practice and he didn't know any better, you'd sound like his mother."

Harry couldn't help it; he started laughing, too.

CHAPTER END

Thank you so much to everyone who checked out the story! And also thanks to everyone who left a review! Though I do have one really quick thing to address, and it's not really specific to this story. While I won't ban guest reviews now or ever, I would like to say that if you do leave a guest review, I unfortunately can't respond to you directly. That bums me out, because I feel that open communication with readers is important for authors of all stripes.

Please keep in mind: I would love to answer any and all questions you have (provided they aren't spoilers), but I can't if they are put forth in a guest review. I've seen some authors do it via pre-story responses, but I usually have very long-winded responses; collected together, they'd double the length of a given chapter, and I don't want to make you wait that long to get to the story. Plus, it would bloat the word count of a story, which I think is a little bit dishonest.

Anyhow, long-winded infodump over! Hope that you are all well, and see you again next chapter!