Chapter 199 – Space Agency
When Ron and Draco were arguing about the moon, Alexander Smith was confused.
He finally understood that Draco's stories, which always ended with him narrowly escaping from a Muggle helicopter, were not intended to attract his attention.
And Ron's tale about nearly hitting a hang glider while riding Charlie's broken broomstick wasn't meant to compete with Draco either.
Both of them really lacked common sense.
Draco thought Wink's story was unreliable not because there was supposedly a moon on the moon or that he relied only on a Cleansweep Six, but because Wink liked to tell big, unreliable stories.
According to this, maybe in Draco and Ron's own eyes, their stories were flawless and had no loopholes?
Alexander finally understood why there were Muggle Studies classes.
"Just wait a minute, what you're saying is too outrageous."
"Outrageous? Alexander's talking about me? Not Weasley?"
"Alexander, I, Ron Weasley, can do no wrong in this regard."
Alexander's words temporarily silenced the two of them.
"Do you know how far away the moon is from the Earth? It's about 1000 million miles. And take the first version of the Nimbus, which is much faster than a Cleansweep Six, for example—its speed is one hundred miles per hour."
"Then this means that if a wizard took the Nimbus 1000, it would take him 60 hours—no, 68 days and years." Alexander looked at the two of them meaningfully.
"Merlin's beard!"
"How dare Wenke!" Ron couldn't help but mock.
"How did you get this number?" Draco keenly spotted the flaw.
"Don't you know? The United States landed on the moon more than 20 years ago." Alexander held his forehead, speechless.
"Are American wizards so powerful? Has Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry surpassed Hogwarts? It is indeed a school founded by the descendants of Slytherin!" Draco looked excited.
"No, it was Muggles," Alexander said emphatically.
"How could it be! Just Muggles—" Draco collapsed again. He had always been proud of wizards, only to find out that the Muggles he looked down on were that capable.
"Did they use magic?" Ron looked equally surprised.
In his mind, Muggles were like poor relatives—deserving kindness, yes, but undeniably inferior to wizards.
"No magic. They relied entirely on their technology."
"And it only took about four days." Although Alexander's understanding was only at an elementary school level, and he didn't know much about concepts like escape velocity, he still had some common sense.
Hearing this, both Draco and Ron's worldviews were shaken.
If you told them about nuclear bombs or guns, they wouldn't be too surprised—magic could do similar things.
But the sheer distance and speed involved here let them, as Quidditch fans, truly grasp the gap between Muggles and wizards.
"The fastest Nimbus 2000 is only 186 miles per hour," Ron said dryly.
"Alexander, the mysterious wizard you're talking about must be from the United States. He can land on the moon and looks like he's lived there for a long time. He must have only used Muggle methods," Draco said, regaining some composure, though his pride could never fully return.
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[This is why Muggle Studies classes never talk about these things. They focus on Muggles' basic necessities—food, housing, transportation, behavior.
Airplanes, rockets, moon landings—these confidence-crushing feats are never taught at Hogwarts. Voldemort was born too early. Fifty years ago, he was just a fifth-year student at Hogwarts.
By the time the United States landed on the moon, he was nearly forty. His worldview was already ossified, and he missed the chance to hide a Horcrux on the moon.
This is why the Department of Mysteries of the Ministry of Magic has a dedicated Space Office.
The Department is more like a research division, with secrets so deep not even the Minister of Magic can know all of them.
Its employees are called Silencers, forbidden from discussing their work or revealing any departmental information.
They consider the study of space as mysterious as love, time, thought, or death.
Just like the Hall of Love (always locked, according to Dumbledore), the Hall of Time (where Time-Turners were kept before the Department of Mysteries battle), the Hall of Thought (with its tanks of swirling brains), and the Hall of Death (with its archway and veil, through which only the dead can pass).
That's how seriously they take space.
Alexander couldn't help but think of all this after hearing the conversation.
Yet despite its prestige, the Department of Mysteries couldn't stand against Voldemort.
When he seized the Ministry, they fabricated false research to suit the new regime—claiming magic could only be inherited through wizard births, and that Muggle-born magic was stolen or forced.
That became the foundation for the Muggle-born Registration Commission and the persecution that followed.
Absurd. This is what happens when research isn't turned into actual power—and when it's too far above the common wizard's grasp.
Alexander had even read some of their files—vague guesses and pattern summaries, nothing concrete.]
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"Yes, Professor Dumbledore said the wizard is probably from the United States, and he also guessed that the wizard has never been to the ground," Alexander confirmed while musing.
"What does the Ministry of Magic do for food? My father loves studying Muggle things so much, but he's never been taken seriously!" Ron was furious.
In the past, thanks to his mother's influence, he'd thought his father's research was amusing but ultimately a waste of time.
Now, Ron saw his father as the future of wizardkind—perhaps the first wizard ever to reach the moon with magic. Those Yankees who relied on Muggle shortcuts were nothing compared to him.
At this moment, Ron even thought Dumbledore wasn't as great as his dad.
Arthur Weasley was the Prometheus of the wizarding world, stealing Muggle moon landing fire for wizardkind!
"Indeed, that's ridiculous, Ministry of Magic," Draco said with unexpected agreement.
As a sworn rival of the Weasley family, Draco had grown up hearing his father mock Arthur Weasley more than any other Weasley.
That familiarity now made him understand Arthur better than Ron did.
Now, in Draco's eyes, Ron's father was greater than Ron himself had imagined.
In fact, Draco now saw the Weasley family's poverty as proof of greatness—shining proof!
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