**Disclaimer: I own none of the works by George Lucas or J.K. Rowling. I write this for entertainment only and receive no compensation. And characters NOT appearing in either works are my own.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…

Star Wars

The Dark Times

The galaxy stands on the brink of turmoil. Nearly twenty years since the Clone Wars and then-Chancellor Palpatine's abolition of the Galactic Republic, the seeds of sedition begin to bear fruit. The underground movement known as the Alliance to Restore the Republic, more commonly the Rebel Alliance, has begun to gain open support from many systems in the Outer Rim and is poised to begin a true military campaign against Palpatine's Galactic Empire. But the Emperor has more than one weapon to use against the Alliance...

A familiar Force wielded in a foreign way.

0.5 BBY, Imperial Center (formerly Coruscant)

Nightfall on Imperial Center was probably the best time to view the capital of the Empire in all its splendor and beauty, a façade which hid a million different dangers in one sector of the planet alone. It was a city of a planet, sprawling until it met itself again, tens of thousands of years ago. Over time it had evolved into a megalopolis which had yet to be matched by the rest of galactic civilization, a megalopolis that was continually added to. When available space to expand outward became a memory, it was decided that further expansion would go up. This resulted in an economic and social divide, a gap that grew ever larger as more and more nonhuman residents were pushed into poverty by the Empire's pro-human regime. The rich and influential beings resided at the upper levels, while the poor, the outcast and the criminal were tossed together in the lower levels. It is in the territories of these fallen, disgraced and depraved beings that our story begins.

The little Chandra-Fan, batlike in his face but still humanoid, felt his fur begin to tingle. Down the corridor, a small light appeared about one meter off the floor. He sniffed, but couldn't discern a scent to the light.

Suddenly, the light began to grow, bathing the entire corridor in a blue-white light. As it expanded it seemed to spin and shapes began to form, swirling together in a vortex. There was a loud clap as the light exploded down the corridor, the force of the air knocking the Chandra-fan down.

As the light dimmed, he could see four beings deposited on the ground. He approached them, slowly, cautiously until he was standing close enough to reach out and gently lift the sleeve of the garment all three wore.

Pink skin, he thought, must be humans.

One of them stirred, long bushy brown hair obscuring the face as it stood. The groan that escaped its lips gave evidence that it was female. The Chandra-fan stepped back into the shadows.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"You are in the low-levels of the city-planet," the Chandra-fan spoke quickly, "where the non-humans go. Why you humans here?"

The female screamed, whirled to the sound of his voice then screamed again. Then, with a trembling voice, asked "Why, in the name of Merlin, is there a bat speaking to me?"

"You stop screaming, maybe Juko tell you!" the Chandra-fan retorted as he released his hold of his ears. "Juko not bat, only bat down here is hawk-bat and hawk-bat would be not nice to screaming humans. Juko the Chandra-fan help you maybe, find your way out of low-levels, for credits."

The female nudged one of the bodies with her foot. "Ron! Ron wake up!"

"Five more minutes, Hermione," the redhead mumbled. "I'll be up in five minutes."

"Ronald Billius Weasley! We have a problem and you will wake up!" as she said these last four words, Hermione leaned down to slap Ron as he instinctively curled into a ball.

"Ow! Gerroff me you crazy woman!" cried Ron, holding his hand up to ward Hermione off while he rose from the ground. He turned to look at what Hermione was pointing at and recoiled in surprise. "Bloody hell! Tell me I didn't drink a Dillusionment Draught at the wedding."

"Its name is Juko. It seems we're in some kind of underground building."

"No underground on city-planet. Only overground." Juko squeaked. He stepped forward, his furry hand outstretched and palm up. "You pay Juko now, he take you to human sleep-places."

On the ground, the two other figures began to stir. The first to sit up was another redhead, though this one was female. She looked around and when she saw Juko, her hand began to fumble inside of her cloak.

"Ginny! It's okay, he won't hurt us, I think," said Hermione as she stepped toward her friend.

Ginny looked down at the other figure. "Harry?" she whispered. She began to shake it. "Harry, wake up."

While the three humans tried to wake the fourth, Juko's ears began to twitch as their heightened sensitivity picked up a sound he had dreaded for years: the synchronized pounding of armored boots on the ground.

"We must leave," he squeaked as he stepped towards the group. "Hurry, they will be here soon and they will be very not-nice to Juko and take us all away."

The three teens looked at each other, then Hermione spoke.

"Juko, do you have a place we could hide?"

"Yes, many hidey-places, but we must leave now"

"Okay." Hermione turned to the other two, "we'll need to levitate him, then we'll try an enervate

when-" she stopped suddenly and looked around at the ground. "My bag! Did one of you land on it?" Her purse, which held all of their supplies and resources during their horcrux hunt and which she had packed with a few things for George and Angelina's wedding, was nowhere to be seen.

Turning to Ginny, she asked, "Do you have yours?"

Ginny shook her head. "No, I didn't have a place to put it," She indicated her dress, a tight-fitting gown of deep emerald green material, "So I left it at home."

"Quiet!" Ron hissed at them, as he drew closer to the shadows in the corridor where his dark dress robes broke his outline a bit and made it harder to see him, "Someone is coming!"

"We must hide!" Juko squeaked urgently.

"Not without Harry!" Ginny whispered back fiercely.

The booted feet were drawing nearer, along with a man's voice. "He is down here. Be ready, he hasn't moved in some time, so he may be laying an ambush for us. Set weapons to stun, but if he gives us too much resistance, you are all ordered to go lethal."

"There's no time, Ginny." Hermione grabbed her friend's arm as she began to follow Juko. "We can't help Harry if we get captured alongside him."

Ron took hold of Ginny as well and the three of them hurried after Juko, who had rounded a corner ahead of them.

Juko ducked into another side passage and suddenly dropped to the floor and crawled through a cleverly disguised crawlspace with piles of rubble around it the faced one direction of the corridor and a heavy piece of canvas daubed in grey paint the same color as the wall. Leaning against the rubble was a rusting mesh grate, which helped to hide the entrance from the other direction of the corridor.

The four of them huddled, in a dark dank room while more booted feet passed by mere feet away.

Alnares Flyth sent part of his detail ahead to the room where he felt the disturbance.

"All clear, sir!" Reported the squad leader.

Alnares strode through the doorway and saw three stormtroopers covering the figure on the floor with their blasters. The rest of the squad took up covering positions at the doorways and at the corridor. Alnares gestured at the figure and one of the stormtroopers rolled him over with his boot.

The figure wore dark robes and had what looked like antique corrective lenses on his face, above which was a lightning shaped scar. Under him was a small pink bag, which Alnares floated to himself. He looked it over and when he tilted it he could have sworn he felt items shifting inside.

"Bring him. The Emperor will be pleased."

And that's the end for this chapter! Please take a few moments to review, as I would like some feedback. Anonymous/inflammatory/otherwise needlessly negative reviews will be deleted, though I will gladly accept constructive criticism. Thank you for your time!