Episode V: The Death Eaters strike back
Harry Skywalker - the hero Sirius Black- a.k.a. Solo, a.k.a. Padfoot, a.k.a. Snuffles - the man with many names on many wanted lists Princess McGonagall - Her Professorship Remus the Wookie - oh that irresistible animal nature... Lord Darth Voldemort - he himself Yodadore - the wise and old, hmmm, being? Hagrid-wan - the "wan" who told Harry about his parents and discovered his magic lineage Wormtail - the friend Severus Fett - the evil head-hunter (you know that "Fett" means "grease" in German, right?) Ron2 - Harry's the little faithful droid HerMi0nny - fluent in six million forms of communication. Fudge the Hutt - no comment
on an island called Britain far, far away
the rebellious troops of Hogwarts Base were trying to avoid being engulfed by the Dark Forces.
Their only hope was Harry Skywalker,
who was currently on a mission of installing some surveillance charms around the Forbidden Forest...
Harry finished installing the last of the wards, extinguished the light of his wand and looked around at the forest. It was beginning to darken and he knew he should be back at the base before the night fell and the unknown creatures that inhabited the woods came out of their holes to nourish.
Suddenly a movement behind his back attracted his attention. Before he could grab his wand or turn around, a terrible being not listed in any book of magical creatures jumped from the woods and knocked him to the ground.
Sirius Black ran up the stairs leading to the Great Hall, provisionally transformed into a hangar, unaware to the side looks he was receiving. Not everybody at Hogwarts knew of his special status with the Alliance, but his reputation was impressive enough to open most of the doors of the castle. Suddenly a call attracted his attention.
Remus the Wookie appeared from under an enormous motorbike, a wrench in his left hand and a wand in his right. He seemed to be working with both at the same time, and to be extremely upset at the moment.
"All right, don't lose your temper. I'll come right back and give you a hand." Sirius lifted his hands in surrender. Remus wasn't looking too happy.
"This thing spent fourteen years in Hagrid's garage, it'll never fly again," he shouted. Sirius was already walking away, so he just shrugged his shoulders and muttered quietly: "Well, maybe it'll still ride?"
He entered the control centre and walked directly to General Flitwick.
"No sign of life out there, General. The wards are in place. You'll know if anything comes around."
He hesitated before continuing. The decision he was about to take was a difficult one, and he spent the whole night arguing with Remus. As a result of their heated talk, Remus had spent the morning under the Millennium Marauder.
"General, I got to leave. I can't stay anymore. Well, there's a price on my head. If I don't pay off Fudge the Hutt, I'm a dead man."
"A Dementor's kiss's not an easy thing to live with. You're a good fighter, Black. I hate to lose you."
Flitwick shook Sirius' hand with unexpected force. He turned away and caught the quick and anxious glimpse Princess McGonagall was sending in his direction.
Following an impulse he couldn't quite place he crossed the space between himself and the most important woman in the Alliance and sent her one of his brightest smiles.
"Well, Your Professorship, I guess this is it." He received no answer except for a "drop-this-immediately-Mr-Black-if-you-don't-want-to-spend-the-rest-of-your-life-in-detention" look. His smile faded a little. "Well, don't get all mushy on me. So long, Princess."
He briskly turned away and headed into one of the numerous corridors of the Hogwarts Base.
"Sirius, wait!" He turned around, trying to hide the smug look creeping over his face. "I thought you decided to stay. "
"Well, that bunch of Aurors we ran into in Hogsmeade changed my mind."
"Sirius, we need you!"
"We need?"
"Yes."
"Oh, what about you need?"
"I need? I don't know what you're talking about." Professor McGonagall stared at him with eyes wide open. They opened even more when the meaning fully penetrated her brain. "Sirius Black! You're imaging things!"
"Am I? Then why are you following me? Afraid I was going to leave without giving Your Wiseness a goodbye kiss?"
Sirius' heart froze as those words escaped his lips. "What the hell am I talking about?! She's Harry's professor, she was my professor, for Merlin's sake! He closed his eyes, fully expecting Minerva's fury to transform him into a ferret or something even more terrifying.
Professor McGonagall felt her cheeks turning bright red and panicked. She couldn't deny Sirius was stunningly good-looking, daring and intelligent. He was all that, but he was her ex-student and Harry's godfather, and she never allowed herself to let her hair down. Her strict moral rules didn't allow her even to blush at Sirius' suggestion.
"Kiss you? I'd just as soon kiss a Wookiee!"
"Remus's as human as you and me. Only because he's a werewookie..." Sirius' eyes shone with soft reproach. He stopped realising someone could hear. "But I can arrange that. You could use a good kiss!" He added impulsively and retreated as quickly as he could, leaving Princess McGonagall staying in the middle of the corridor alone and very confused.
Back in the Great Hangar he grabbed the first prefect on duty and asked about Harry's whereabouts. The prefect fidgeted a little at the sight of a very upset Sirius Black and answered he didn't know a thing. Further investigations confirmed that no-one knew a thing, and it was getting dark outside.
"I'm going out!" He decided, feeling sick with worry like he did every time he couldn't check on Harry every hour.
"But, sir, the chances of surviving out there are seven hundred and seventy-five . . . to one!"
Sirius turned around and was greeted by the sight of HerMi0nny, Her Professorship McGonagall's personal assistant droid. Her hand was lifted as always and her every movement screamed of her eagerness to provide every little bit of required information. Sirius signed, but as his education didn't allow him to swear in girl's presence he chose to simply ignore her.
Harry became slowly aware of his surroundings and was beginning to consider the depth of the trouble he found himself in this time. He was hanging head down from a tree, and his wand was laying on the ground far from his reach. He concentrated as well as he could under those circumstances and tried a wandless summoning charm. The point of his wand moved slightly, then jumped into his hand. With a wand everything was different. Getting down the tree wasn't a problem, and when the evil and unknown creature came to eat him one stuperfying spell was enough to finish it off.
However, he was still lost in the Forbidden Forest, it was still dark and he still had only one chance out seven hundred and seventy-five to make it back to Hogwarts alive. Tired and stumbling he wandered under the trees until his forces left him and he fell onto the ground. Suddenly he saw something in the dark... The only person who could help him...
"Hagrid-wan..."
"You must be strong, Harry. Remember everything I taught you in Care of magical Creatures... You can make it... You will go to the Dagobah Academy. There you will learn from Yodadore, the Jedi Master who instructed me..." The image was disappearing.
"Hagrid, wait!" Harry tried to stand up but failed. Already loosing conscience he was barely aware that Hagrid-wan vision transformed into a shadow of a great black dog.
"Harry, are you all right?"
He slowly became aware that he was in the infirmary, and that the medical droid P0ppI whizzed around him. Sirius and McGonagall were staying near his bed, accompanied by Ron2 and HerMi0nny.
Sirius was quite cheerful.
"How are you feeling, kid? You don't look so bad to me. In fact, you look strong enough to pull the tail off a Horntail."
Princess McGonagall, on other hand, looked extremely pale and slightly confused.
"Oh Harry, we were so worried!" She said and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Harry was surprised by that uncharacteristic display of affection, but then he noticed Sirius' dark look and couldn't hide a very smug grin from his face. So his godfather was jealous... how interesting.
Suddenly the sirens wailed and a voice of the Head Boy was to be heard over the speaker:
"The base is under attack!"
Harry didn't think twice. He jumped from the bed and hurried to the Great Hangar, his faithful droid Ron2 always behind him. The prefects were trying to put some order into the lines of students awaiting their turn to go out and defend their base. Harry made his way to where the members of his Quidditch squadron were gathering, mounted his X-broom and flew out to face the enemy.
It was an impressive sight. At least five enormous attack ships of the type "Flying Carpet" hung in the sky over the Hogwarts base. With a pang of pain Harry realised that the base was going to fall.
Inside the base everyone was slowly coming to the same conclusion. The X-brooms simply weren't able to resist the attack of the Star Carpeters. General Flitwick and Princess McGonagall were giving the last orders for the evacuation. Sirius waived Harry good-bye and came running into the command centre. The castle was already beginning to shake under the dark curses.
"Why are you still here? The command center had been hit!", he yelled at McGonagall, realising that she was still trying to direct the attack. She didn't turn around and continued to give orders.
"Take her away, Black. She's too valuable for the Resistance to loose her to Lord Voldemort." Flitwick said lowly.
Sirius nodded, grabbed the Princess by the hand and pulled her outside. In the Great Hangar they were joined by an always reasonable and composed Remus and a slightly hysterical HerMi0nny, who was trying to find her professor and make sure she had solved the Aritmancy problem correctly.
"You plan to fly that thing? You're braver than I thought." Princess McGonagall screamed as she saw Sirius' motorbike. He only gave her a dirty look.
"Nice! Come on!"
Being a powerful magic object and having transported a passenger Hagrid's size to Privet Drive there was no doubt the Millennium Marauder had enough space to hold Sirius, Remus, Professor McGonagall and HerMi0nny with her books, but there was another problem.
"You fixed it, right?" Sirius asked Remus in a whisper and got yet another killing look in a way of response. Sirius knew he had to take the risk, but couldn't bring himself to utter the spell.
"Would it helped if I got out and pushed?" Trust McGonagall to make sarcastic comments in the worst possible moment.
"It might," Sirius snapped, said a silent and very short prayer and turned the handle and the engine started to roar.
"See?"
"Someday you're going to be wrong, and I just hope I'm there to see it."
"Not like it's going to do you any good, you can't take any points from Gryffindor because of me anymore ..." a part of Sirius' mind piped in, but was erased by a much more terrifying thought. Lord Voldemort in person was advancing toward them across the hall. Gritting his teeth Sirius pressed on the gas, muttered the spell and the Millennium Marauder speeded to the exit and out toward the freedom, enveloping the Dark Lord in a cloud of black fume.
Meanwhile, Harry and his Quidditch Squadron were fighting with courage but with no real hope. Ludo Bagman's commentaries were to be heard over the battle, as the only member of the Ministry of Magic stupid enough to take the job broadcasted the battle to the entire world.
"Oooh, narrow miss here, very narrow... Clever move - pity it didn't work... One down, three to go! Oh, I'm not sure it was wise! Very good indeed, and now the marks from the judges!"
The voice suddenly stopped, probably because the Weasley twins, Harry's loyal wingmen, shot a bludgetlaser or two in his direction.
Still, the picture was grim. Up in the sky squadrons of X-brooms flew between the big and heavy Star Carpeters, engaging in a terrible battle.
"This bucket of bolts is never going to get us past that blockade!" Princess McGonagall screamed against the whistling of the wind. Sirius' motorbike dodged a couple of giants, narrowly avoiding the curses from two flying carpets as it passed between.
"This baby's got a few surprises left in her, sweetheart. Watch this!"
Sirius bent over and pushed something under the belly of the Millennium Marauder. Nothing happened except that the bike lost power and waived dangerously, and several curses stuck its hull.
"Watch what?" Professor McGonagall asked acidly at the same time as Remus began to explain that the flying charms still needed some work.
"I think we're in trouble."
"If I may say so, sir, I noticed earlier, the flydrive motivator has been damaged. It's impossible to go to fly-speed!"
Nobody needed to turn around to know to whom belonged the voice. HerMi0nny shrugged her shoulder irritably.
"Really, it's not my fault that I'm always the first one to see the trap!"
Sirius swore and abruptly changed the direction.
"What are you doing? You're not actually going into the Forbidden Forest?"
Several branches bumped against the motorbike.
"They'd be crazy to follow us, wouldn't they?"
"Black, you don't have to do this to impress me!" shrieked Professor McGonagall.
"You said you wanted to be around when I made a mistake; well, this could be it, sweetheart," Sirius readily shot back.
"I take it back. We're going to get pulverized if we stay out here much longer."
"The possibility of successfully navigating through the Forbidden Forest on a motorised vehicle is approximately three thousand seven hundred and twenty to one," informed HerMi0nny and dramatically rolled her eyes.
"Never tell me the odds!" snapped Sirius angrily.
Trunks of trees flew on the right, on the left and sometimes even under them. Two of their pursuers fell victims of the Whomping Willow, another one flew straight into a tree and the few Bomber Brooms that dared to follow them into the depth of the woods were far behind. After yet another series of wild turns that made even Remus sick the silence around them became complete.
"There! That looks pretty good." Sirius pointed to a fanny-looking cave in the middle of an opening. With a final graceful motion he led the Marauder inside and killed the engine. "Let's fix that flight spells, shall we, Moony?"
"The power coupling on the negative axis has been polarized. I'm afraid you'll have to replace it!" Informed HerMi0nny eagerly. "You should fix it."
"Of course I'll fix it," returned Sirius.
He and Remus conjured up a toolbox and proceeded to hit, shake and curse the motorbike from every direction. One of the hammering curses Sirius sent missed its target and hit the wall of the cave, and a sudden roar filled the air.
Suddenly, the bike lurched, throwing Princess McGonagall across the opening on top of Sirius. When the motion stopped she realised with surprise that everyone was looking at her in amazement. Indignantly, she fought to get out of Sirius' arms. "Wow, Professor," whispered Remus, seeming quite unable to believe his eyes. "You hair's down and it's not even the Yule Ball... Incredible."
Luckily for Minerva, the wild mynocks choose exactly that moment to attack the party, and everybody had to shift their attention from princess' hair to their own. Again Sirius reflexes, Remus' precision, HerMi0nny's background data and Minerva's unyielding decision not to scream were all that saved their lives. They soared out of the Forbidden Forest to the freedom of the Quidditch field... only to find themselves face to face with Vader's flagship.
On board of the flagship Nagini Fighter, Lord Voldemort was receiving the reports on the subjugated base. The fact that Hogwarts had finally fallen into his hands filled him with pleasure, but still... Princess McGonagall had managed to escape him yet again and would waste no time organising a new base. Even worse, after so many years he was sensing those unmistakable vibrations in the Magic. Yodadore, his old Master, was alive, and waiting for another student... Harry Skywalker.
He climbed to the main deck and walked back and forth in front of the line of head-hunters. Only the best of their kind came at his call.
"There will be a substantial reward for the one who finds the Millennium Marauder. You are free to use any methods necessary, but I want them alive."
He stopped in front of Severus Fett, the most blood-thirsty and cold-blooded of them all and specifically added: "No kedavring."
The head hunter held Dark Lord's gaze but ended up nodding disappointedly. Voldemort turned around and disappeared from view, and Severus Fett headed for his ship, the "Potion I". He was thinking about Black and their previous encounter, when his werewookie sidekick almost made a walking carpet out of him. It was finally time for revenge. If he knew Black any, there was only one way he could hope to escape the blockade... An ill smile crossed Fett's pale face.
"We're not going to regroup with the others," Harry answered to Ron2 surprised question and checked the controls of his X-broom model Firebolt, the best there was. "We're going to the Dagobah Academy." Ron2 choked on the Chocolate Frog he was munching and let out a series of incomprehensible sounds that Harry had no problem identifying. "I don't know," he answered, "but Hagrid-wan said he's a great wizard, so I hope I'll sense him when we get close enough."
Suddenly the Firebolt jerked under them and made a not-so-graceful descent toward the ground and into a deep puddle.
"If you're saying coming here was a bad idea, I'm beginning to agree with you. Ron2, what are we doing here? It's like . . . something out of a dream or, I don't know. Maybe Rita Skeeter's right and I'm just going crazy."
Harry stood up, wiped the dirt from his glasses and realised that only a very powerful magic could control the X-broom that way.
"Still . . . there's something familiar about this place. I don't know . . . I feel like . . .
"Feel like what?" came a voice from behind the tree. A pair of eyes with a pair of moon-shaped glasses on them stared at him.
"Yodadore?" called Harry.
"Good flyer are you not," announced the creature, picking up a box of Chocolate Frogs Ron had dropped and biting one.
"Put that down! Now . . . Hey! That's my dinner," screamed Ron2 angrily and sent some sparks in the direction of the offender.
"It's okay, Ron2," Harry hurried to say, afraid he would upset the great master. His fears turned out to be quite founded.
"I cannot teach him. The boy has no patience."
Suddenly, Hagrid's voice came out of nowhere.
"Was I any different when you taught me?"
"Hah. He is not ready."
Harry couldn't stand it any longer.
"Yodadore! I am ready. I . . . Hagrid! I, I can be a Jedi. Hagrid, tell him I'm ready."
"Ready, are you? What know you of ready? Never your mind on where you were. Hmm? What you were doing? Hmph. Adventure. Heh! Quidditch.
Heh! Like your father you fly," concluded Yodadore, "carefree and dangerous."
"You knew my father?"
"Headmaster of Hogwarts was I once."
"And... why... did you come here?" Harry looked around the bog. He could see no house except for a tiny hut on the tree, that didn't look like a home of the greatest of all wizards.
"Nothing special I need not. Only a pair of good socks and my magic, that all I need is." Yodadore turned around and disappeared in the woods.
"Will he finish what he begins?" he asked the invisible Hagrid after a while.
"I won't fail you. I'm not afraid," Harry said hastily.
"Yeah. You will be. You will be," was the answer.
"What are we doing now?" Princess McGonagall asked in her typical icily tone. She had to admit, though, that Sirius and Remus certainly knew what they were doing. After getting out of their hideaway in the Forbidden Forest the Millennium Marauder slipped unnoticed between the menacing shadows of two Star Carpeters and was now laying quietly, covered by a concealing charm under the belly of the Nagini, Lord Voldemort's flagship. The Death Troopers and Storm Eaters didn't expect such a small muggle device to have a concealment system; that mistake was about to cost them their most wanted escapees.
"Well, if they follow standard Imperial procedure, they'll dump their garbage before they go to flightspeed, and then we just float away."
Remus muttered something that only Sirius understood. Black nodded and produced a piece of parchment seemingly out of nowhere. It turned out to be a map and both on them studied it intently. "We've got to find a safe port somewhere around here. Got any ideas?"
"No. Well, wait. This is interesting. Wormtail!"
Remus winced at the sound of that name. McGonagall looked nonplussed.
"Wormtail system?"
"Wormtail's not a system, he's a man. Peter Pettigrew. He's a well-mannered, never-break-a-rule, worship-the-teacher sort of a person. You'd like him."
"Thanks. Can you trust him?"
Remus shook his head warningly at that, but Sirius nodded.
"No, but he's too afraid of the Dark Side to be a threat, I can tell you that. Relax, Your Smartness. We go back a long way, Peter, Remus and me," explained Sirius. Princess McGonagall didn't have a good feeling about it, and the expression of Remus' face only confirmed her worries.
After climbing some pretty high hills, so that the clouds were under them instead of above them they parked in a backyard of a solitary house. Minerva had to admit it; the look from the top of the hill was stunning. "Cloud City" was written across the entrance. A short, fatty man with a rat face hurried toward them as they dismounted the motorbike. He was pointing his wand directly at Sirius.
"Why, you slimy, double-crossing, no-good swindler! You've got a lot of guts coming here after what you pulled!"
Sirius only had time to point to himself innocently, mouthing, "Me?" He backed away, coming to stay at the same level as Remus. Well, a bit further.
"The NEWTs, remember? The seven uses of dragon dung? You left me hanging, you low-life, traitorous..." he took Sirius by the collar of his robes, shook energetically and then tightly hugged the other man.
"How you doing, you old marauder? So good to see you! I never thought I'd catch up with you again. Thirteen years... Where have you been?"
He motioned for them to come inside the house.
"And how are you doing, Moony, you still hanging around this looser?"
Remus grimaced, but Sirius was smiling, and he had no choice bur to follow his friend inside. Princess McGonagall was busy avoiding their host's intents to kiss her hand. She didn't like that man. HerMi0nny was the last one to follow, muttering her undying "oh, really" under her breath. Nobody paid her any attention.
"How's the business? Is it still paying off?" Sirius was asking.
"Oh, not as well as I'd like. We're a small outpost and not very self-sufficient. And I've had supply problems of every kind. I've had labor difficulties . . . What's wrong?"
Wormtail stopped in mid-sentence, noticing Sirius' frown.
"You. Listen to you - you sound like one of those pure-bloods, content with everything. Hogwarts has fallen! There're people dying out there, and you talk about business and supplies!"
"What can be won by staying up to the powers of Lord Voldemort, Sirius?" asked Wormtail darkly.
"What? Only innocent lives," returned Sirius.
"Oh, that." Wormtail didn't sound very convinced.
"You can't play for the both bands forever. Aren't you afraid the Death Eaters're going to find out about your little tactics and shut you down with one well-aimed Avada Kadavra?"
"It's always been a danger, but... I've just made a deal that will keep the Empire out of here forever."
The door to the dining room opened, Sirius spun around and was greeted by the sight of a cloaked figure staying up and moving toward them. In less then a second his wand jumped out of the leather holster and into his hand, and duelling charms shot out of it at incredible speed.
Darth Voldemort lifted his hand and all hexes bounced off his palm. The next thing Sirius knew, a summoning charm of overwhelming power yanked the wand out of his grip, and it flew obediently to lay on Voldemort's open hand. A squadron of Death Stormers on Sirius' left and a batallion of Eat Troopers on his right came to view.
"We would feel honoured if you joined us."
Remus gave out a war howl. Disarmed and surrounded, Sirius turned around to face Wormtail, protectively stepping in front of the princess.
"I had no choice. They arrived right before you did. I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry, too," spat Sirius and calmly walked forward to face Voldemort. His calm faltered a little when he saw another figure rising behind the Dark Lord. Severus Fett pointed the wand at his heart and smiled his most horrendous smile.
"Black! How much I've hoped it would be me who finally captured you!" Sirius' hands closed in fists, but Fett's wand was pointing right between his eyes. "Give me a reason to do it and I swear to you I will," Severus whispered gleefully.
The door closed with a loud band behind the prisoner's backs.
Many, many miles away Harry Skywalker was undergoing a very intense course of magic. He was just studying the intricate details of Levitation when his scar burst into agonising pain. Stones, his broom and Ron2 rained from the sky where he had sent them, one of the stones hitting Harry painfully in the head. He lost conscience, and when he came back Yodadore was looking worryingly at him.
"Hmm. Control, control. You must learn control."
"I saw . . . I saw a city in the clouds," managed Harry.
"Mmm. Friends you have there," explained Yodadore.
"They were in pain!"
"It is the future you see. Congratulations, Harry, a real prediction of future you have done," was the answer.
"What? You mean that after all those years of suffering at Divination... I do have an Inner Eye? I should hit my head more often... Will they die?"" His scar was still burning with pain.
"Difficult to see. Divination a difficult and not precise art of magic is."
"I've got to go to them!"
"Decide you must how to serve them best. If you leave now, help them you could. But you would destroy all for which they have fought and suffered."
"I am going!" Harry answered stubbornly. Ron2 beeps reassured him. He mounted his X-broom, but suddenly Hagrid-wan's image appeared in front of him. He looked very upset.
"Yer listen to what he says! Great man, Yodadore!" he said gruffly. Harry just shook his head.
"They are my friends. If something happens to them..." He didn't finish and speeded away, Ron2 behind.
Yodadore looked at Hagrid, worry written all over his face. "We should have told him the whole story," he said. "Now matters are worse. That boy is our last hope."
Severus Fett looked with pleasure at his life long enemy. After delivering Black to Fudge the Hutt he would be presented with at least one Order of Merlin. Maybe even First Class, if the Mighty Ugliness was feeling generous. That was why he became worried when a squadron of Eat Deathers pushed Black into the interrogation room and secured the binding spells around his body.
Black knew very well what was awaiting him; his eyes had that dead look Azkaban had given him, but he didn't even blink when the menacing figure of Lord Voldemort entered the room. His black eyes met Voldemort's red ones and held the gaze as the Dark Lord took out his wand and pointed it at the prisoner. Severus turned around and left the room. The door closed behind him, but neither the walls nor the containing charms were able to mute the tortured screams. Black would sooner die then give his enemy the pleasure of hearing him scream, but nobody escaped the Cruciatus... Severus shuddered and hurried away.
Remus felt like he was going to get mad or worse: loose his control. The cell was made of silver. Not all of it, but the key parts. The door knobs, the floor, the bunks. He gritted his teeth, determined to resist, and concentrated on soothing HerMi0nny. She was furious with herself, insisting that she should have figured Wormtail's intentions before. The door opened, and first Princess McGonagall, then Sirius were dragged into the cell and dropped on the floor.
The door opened once more, and Wormtail entered the room, surrounded by some Death Stormers. In a second, Sirius was on his feet, and the hatred on Princess McGonagall's face matched his. Remus put a restricting hand on their shoulders; he just happened to notice the silver hand their ex-friend boasted. Attacking him wouldn't be a good idea. Sirius did it anyway, more out of plain desire to smash Wormtail's face then following any kind of a plan. The Death Eaters' hexes brought him down to his knees, and Wormtail circled his subdued friend slowly, wiping blood from his ratty face.
"I didn't mean it to happen," he announced. "I didn't know it would turn out this way."
"Vader wants us all dead." Remus growled.
"You won't die. Not yet, anyway. He," he pointed at Sirius, "will be handed over to Severus Fett, and you... well, Lord Voldemort needs some strong ties to the Anti-werewookie League. As for you, Your Professorship... we'll see."
Princess McGonagall shuddered at those words. She hated it when Sirius called her names, but there was something definitely evil in the way Wormtail repeated his teases. Sirius' eyes shone with infinite hatred. He started to stay up.
"You think you can defy me?" Wormtail asked, opening and closing his silver fist. There was a sudden bang, a flash of light and he fell motionless, followed immediately by his Storm Trooper guards. Severus Fett blew the smoke from the point of his wand and stepped inside.
"You!"
"Me." The head-hunter returned wryly, then crossed the space between Sirius and himself. "Shut up and listen! Now, Voldemort has agreed to turn McGonagall and the werewolf over to me.
"Why should we trust you?"
"Because I am Yodadore's spy inside Voldemort's troops," smirked Snape. He imitated Dumbledore's voice: "Severus, you know what I must ask you to do...If you are ready... if you are prepared... Surely anyone should be able to figure it out by now?"
"What about him?" Minerva pointed at Sirius.
"There is nothing I can do. He will be taken to the most horrendous, unlawful, decadent place of all the Galaxy."
"Mos Eisley?"
"No. The Ministry of Magic." Professor McGonagall's beautiful eyes paled at those words. Remus let out a stifled cry. Sirius finally managed to stand up, and was trying to hide the shudder those words sent down his spine.
"But before, the Dark Lord wants to try the new charm he has developed... Specially for Harry Skywalker."
"No!" was everybody's cry, but at that moment a new squadron of Death Deathers marched into the cell, and at Severus Fett's indication inmovilised the prisoners with cuffing charms. Princess McGonagall, Sirius, Remus and HerMi0nny had no other choice but to move forward, following the greasy figure of the head-hunter and listening to HerMi0nny laments. As the result of Voldemort's cruel treatment her head was now looking backwards, and Remus, being the caring and sensible Dark Creature he was, was describing to her the sordid details in front of them.
The menacing figure of Lord Voldemort grew in front of them. Silently, he motioned at Sirius to move to the centre of the room.
"What's going on . . . buddy?" Sirius asked in a whisper. Severus Fett sent a murderous glance in his direction.
"You are being put under the Carbonitus Charm," he explained with an excited gleam in his eyes. "You should feel honoured; it's the first time it is used on a human being."
Remus couldn't contain his rage... The full moon was only days away... Letting free his animal instincts he leaped forward, strangling the first Eat Eater he found. Sirius jumped forward and put a restricting hand on his friend's already hairy shoulder.
"Stop, Moony, stop! Stop! Moony, this won't help me. Hey! Save your strength. There'll be another time. The princess - you have to take care of her. You hear me?"
He shook Remus, relieved to see the human look come back to his eyes again.
"There'll be another time." A couple of house elves freed him from his bindings and pushed him in front of Voldemort. He looked away from his friend and his gaze was attracted by princess McGonagall's big and sad eyes. Many, many things to say flew through his mind, and he discarded them all.
Their eyes met.
The Dark Lord raised his wand.
"You were my best student," Minerva whispered passionately. A grin spread across Sirius' face.
"I know," were his last words before the Carbonitus Charm hit his chest.
Not far away from there, Harry Skywalker was touching earth in front of the sign of "Cloud City". Nobody came out to greet him, but the pain of his scar made it clear that Voldemort was close by. It was obvious that it was a trap, so he took out his wand and went in.
Behind his back, a couple of Eat Stormers with Severus Fett at charge were leading the rest of the prisoners toward "Potion I", a beautiful ship of the type "Cauldron", which name was due half to the dark scholar past of the head-hunter and half to its excellent aerodynamics. At Fett's signal the guards were quickly neutralised, and the party run toward the Millennium Marauder. Professor McGonagall still had time to scream to Harry:
"Harry! Harry, don't-it's a trap! It's a trap!," but Harry didn't hear, and Ron2 worried beeps only made him more jumpy. They strolled down the empty corridors until it was clear that they were right in the centre of the ambush. Lord Voldemort jumped out, holding his wand as if it were a lightsaber.
"I knew you would come," he announced in his most creepy voice and coughed. "The Force is with you, young Harry Skywalker. But you are not a fully trained wizard yet."
Harry took a proper duelling position. In an instant, Voldemort's wand lit up and a curse flew in Harry's direction. The wands of the two combatants clashed in battle.
Using his Quidditch reflexes and deep knowledge of Harry leaped fifteen feet straight up and stared at Voldemort from there.
"Impressive . . . most impressive. Hagrid-wan taught you well, but now you'll have to face a real master. Carbonitus!" he shouted, but Harry avoided the spell with an acrobatic jump no quidditch training could really explain.
"Come, Harry. The Dark Arts are you real destiny. How dare you break a tradition that your father, your greatfather and his ancestors followed?"
"You're lying!" Screamed Harry.
"So Hagrid-wan never told you? So many things you shouldn't have known of, and he doesn't tell you the most important of all."
"He told me enough! You killed all my family except the Dursleys!"
"Harry, I am Dudley's biological father!"
Harry fainted. When he came back he realised that his right hand simply wasn't there. A dismembering charm of extreme strength, no doubt.
"Dudley's fa... I see the similarities," he managed to return smugly in spite of the pain and was pleased to see Voldemort's face twitch with repulsion.
Harry used that moment of advantage to flee from the room. He run and run and run, finding Ron2 in the process and realising only then that he had lost him. They stormed out of the house, right in time to catch up with the Millennium Marauder, speeding away. This time the luck was on their side: Remus managed to fix the flight charm, but not before almost strangling Severus Fett. Princess McGonagall put an end to that regrettable behaviour about half an hour later.
Several days later on the Rebel flagship Hogsmeade P0ppI, the medical droid, was watching Harry while he drank the last of the numerous and bad-smelling potions that would completely restore his hand. Princess McGonagall was nearby, talking to Severus and Remus over the Millennium Marauder's intercom and listening to P0ppI's instructions.
"I don't know what is worse: to leave Sirius in Fudge's claws or to risk having him and Severus on the same ship... many people could end up dying both ways."
There was a sound of static, and Snape' sour voice came over the intercom:
"Princess, we'll find Black. I promise."
He didn't sound very cheerful. Harry looked at Princess McGonagall who hugged him and said softly: "What will come, will come. We'll just have to get on with it."
More A/N: - Will Snape find Sirius? Will he try? Will Sirius kill him? Couldn't they find anyone more suitable for the job? - Is Voldemort really Dudley's father? - Who's the Emperor? Is there an Emperor? - And what's going on between Princess McGonagall and Sirius Black??? - More importantly: what's going on between McGonagall and Harry???????????????? All those and many other questions will be answered in "Wand Wars: Episode VI - The return of Yodadore". - Will there be an Episode VI???