To Boldly Go

It had been his parting gift, after years of tireless service. Alastor Moody had inspected every joint and seal himself, of course, although if the Boy-Who-Brought-Life-Everlasting had wanted old Mad-Eye dead, Alastor reckoned death would have found him long ago. But he was a creature of habit, and that was why he had made his last request.

The boy had brought in muggles alongside wizards and witches who had studied muggle sciences. The First-Saved, Granger, had offered to help, and although Mad-Eye had been leery of trusting her again after what she had done, the Boy had insisted that she be allowed to atone for her 'brief madness' as he'd called it.

Alastor had suffered the girl to help with the calculations, but eventually she had left, the cold stare of the Eye of Vance too painful for her, bringing too many reminders of shame and defeat.

Behind him, the world had receded, no doubt a wonder that would move some men to tears – Alastor Moody's all-seeing Eye made brief note of it, and continued its search.

Memory had faded and returned, only to fade again. Time had become infinite, and then meaningless, and then left him entirely. All his former life, Alastor had ventured into the darkness where none other had dared to venture, and now he had ventured alone into a darkness beyond anything he had imagined.

Build a 100-meter-high fencepost, and a normal man will simply walk around it.

Alastor Moody would walk around it, kill you, then tear down the fencepost.

The Eye found its target; the Boy's muggle mathematics had been spot on. No wizard had ever attempted to Apparate in such a way; the Boy had told him that it would be the key to their future, that the science done that day would take humanity to the stars.

Alastor Moody took form amidst the blackness, the seals of his strange suit holding against the void, the sword of Godric Gryffindor already descending toward his enemy-

"Gotcha, ya bastard!" he crowed inside his helmet, and somewhere in the middle of ten million miles of emptiness, a tiny golden plaque vanished in a tiny flash of light.