Chapter Seven: New Allies, Jedi Rivals and Shadowy Developments
Harry was making his way to where the witches and wizards were being housed when a yell made him look up.
"HARRY!" yelled two excited voices and then Harry felt two bodies crash into his as his mind registered that two of the helpers from Earth were Ron and Hermione. Once his brain had processed that he hugged them as enthusiastically as they were hugging him.
"Guys, it's great to see you. Who else is here?" he enquired once he'd got his breath back. Ron grinned at him. "Snape, McGonagall, Malfoy, Fred, George, Tonks, Kingsley, a few others. Most of the old DA is here, including Neville and Luna; they married a few years ago. Oh and we brought our son with us."
Turning round, Ron pulled a red headed boy who looked to be about fourteen or fifteen towards him. "Harry may I present Sirius Ronald Weasley."
Harry raised his eyebrows and Hermione blushed. "We couldn't resist" she admitted. Shaking his head, Harry met Sirius' eyes and smiled. "Hello" he said.
Sirius smiled back and said "Hello. Are you really a Jedi?"
Harry laughed. "Yes I am. Oh, before I forget, Ron, Hermione, I'd like you to meet my daughter, she's around here somewhere. Oh there she is. Tamsin!"
Ron and Hermione watched as Tamsin ran up to Harry, both immediately noticing the resemblance between father and daughter. Sirius was staring at her and looked star struck. Noticing this Tamsin chuckled and held out her hand.
"Tamsin Potter, pleased to meet you" she said. Sirius took her hand and shook it. "Sirius Weasley, pleased to meet you too."
Tamsin pulled him away. "Come on, I'll show you round this place while we leave our parents to their reunion." Sirius went happily enough; he couldn't wait to start exploring anyway.
"I think I'm seeing the start of a beautiful relationship" Hermione murmured as Sirius and Tamsin began arguing good naturedly over something. Harry and Ron shook their heads in despair.
"Only if you're willing to move here Hermione, Tamsin is a Jedi, she always has been. I'm not letting her move back to Earth, and neither will her master."
"Her master?" Ron questioned. Harry nodded.
"Yes. If a Jedi is a parent, they cannot have their child as their apprentice. So, with me fathering Tamsin, and Anakin fathering Luke and Leia, we split them up. I am Leia's master, Obi-Wan is Luke's master and Anakin is Tamsin's master. Now, can we go and meet the others?"
Ron and Hermione looked at each other before dragging Harry off to meet with his old friends. They emerged for dinner and the Golden Trio seemed once more to be the solid entity that it had been in days gone by. Ron and Hermione were introduced to Harry's extended Jedi family and for the most part got on well. Sirius had a harder time since Tamsin, Luke and Leia were just as much a trio as Harry, Ron and Hermione had been, with Gareth making them a quartet. They made every effort to be welcoming however so he was soon counted as one of their friends.
Several months later saw Harry spending a great deal of time with Han and Chewbacca, as well as other smugglers. Han spent most of that time admiring the Marauder, and offering tips to Harry on how to improve it. Harry countered by offering Han tips on how to improve his ship, the Millenium Falcon. Both of them frequently came to meals arguing over mechanics which left all their friends rolling their eyes and ignoring them. Harry wasn't just spending all his time with Han however, he was building strong and solid alliances with all the smugglers, and several of them had set off on missions already, to harrass the Empire's supply lines and steal any equipment that the Rebellion could use. In return, Harry had found himself with a circle of friends that gave him a good insight into the criminal element of the Empire.
One afternoon, Harry was walking into the dining hall with Snape, having spent several hours talking with him, discussing the nature of the Dark, and discussing what, if any weaknesses Palpatine might have. Snape was impressed by Harry's cheating of death and remarked that the grim reaper must be highly annoyed with him by now. Harry had countered with the comment that Voldemort would be higher on the reaper's shit list as he'd been dodging death a whole lot longer than Harry had.
Stopping dead, Harry growled and shook his head as he spotted the one person he didn't want to see, Jedi Master Darren Mikal. Snape followed his line of sight and raised his eyebrows.
"Someone you don't particularly like Harry?" he asked. Harry nodded shortly. "Even among the Jedi you get personality clashes Severus and he and I get on about as well as you and I did when I was a Hogwarts student. Worse, in fact."
"I see" Snape commented. When Harry turned slightly to look at him he shrugged. "I'm looking forward to the entertainment" he offered. This earnt him an amused snort from Harry and they walked towards a table that had Obi-Wan, Ginny, Mace and Tamsin sitting at it. Anakin, Damien, Gareth and Leia were at another table nearby, with several of Harry's old DA friends.
"Better watch out Harry, Darren's in a foul mood today, no one really knows why" Obi-Wan commented. Harry shrugged. "As long as he leaves me alone I don't really care what he does" he replied before digging into his food. His companions looked at each other and shrugged before turning to their own meals. About halfway through, Snape asked, "Why do Harry and Darren not get on?"
There was silence for a few minutes while an answer was worked out. Finally Harry sat back and looked at the ceiling before looking directly at Snape and saying, "It's a combination of things. It started really when we were both Padawans. He didn't think I belonged in the Jedi Order, and he resented my inclusion in Obi-Wan's group of friends, when he'd been trying to get into their group for a while. When we were both Knights it turned into a sort of competition, on his side at least, over who had the most successful missions. I've tried to be nothing but polite and friendly to him whenever I've met him but it's not working."
"And what about now?" Snape commented. Harry sighed. "He keeps trying to offer tips on how to raise and train a Padawan. Naturally I resent this, seeing that he's never trained a Padawan and I'm on my third. I wouldn't mind advice from other Masters that have trained or are training Padawans but to be told how to train my own apprentice by one that has no experience and doesn't know what he's talking about!"
"Are his ideas so bad Master?" Tamsin asked. Normally she would have called Harry Dad but in this company she opted for the formal mode of address. Harry smiled at her briefly before growling, "If I used his ideas, Leia would be utterly miserable and I'd be up before the Council for a review of my training techniques. That dolt over there thinks I'm too lenient, I think that if he had a Padawan, his techniques would be called far too harsh. The best thing to do is just stay out of his way."
"That's easier said than done Master, Luke, Leia and I all have him for an instructor in our Ethics class this term" was Tamsin's reply. Harry scowled and then looked at Snape. "If he tries anything, report it to your master immediately. I don't want him going after you or Leia simply because he dislikes me."
Tamsin frowned. "You think he might?"
Snape leaned forward, capturing her eyes with his. Lowering his voice to that silky soft yet menacing tone that made first year witches and wizards wet themselves with fear, he said, "He very well might Padawan Potter. After all, I spent five and a half years tormenting your father because of my hatred for your grandfather. Or hasn't your father told you about that?"
Shaking off the fear that was slowly crawling up her spine, Tamsin met his eyes squarely and hissed out, "That intimidation trick might work on witches and wizards on Earth but I am a Jedi. Therefore, it doesn't work on me. So stop it!"
Snape leaned back and dropped the menacing persona immediately. "You're just like your father you know. He too refused to let himself be intimidated by me, even though he was. He just wouldn't admit it. He hated me back, and that gave him the strength to withstand our battles of will, which I won of course."
Harry snorted. "Only because our positions were so unequal. A student could never win against a teacher, and you used that to your advantage you snarky git. Kindly don't try it with her again though. She has my stubbornness and Ginny's temper. Quite a volatile combination."
Snape chuckled briefly before falling silent once more and they finished their lunch in amicable silence. On the way out of the dining hall, headed for the training rooms, their path was blocked by Darren, who had a nasty look on his face. He also had Leia gripped firmly by one arm and the nearly fifteen year old was alternately glaring at her captor and wincing at the tightness of the man's grip on her arm.
Harry's first words were so soft as to be almost inaudible, yet the tone he delivered them in was so close to the one that Snape had used earlier that the former Dark wizard was muttering about patent stealers.
"Let. Her. Go."
Darren smirked. "Now why would I want to do that Potter? I think we need to have a chat, somewhere private, and I want your friend over there to be a witness."
"Witness to what precisely?" he enquired, restraining his temper with difficulty. He could see the bruises forming on Leia's arm already, and he was seething. Darren smirked. "Nothing much Potter, just a witness to what I'm going to do to your apprentice by way of discipline for her disrespect of me just now."
Harry growled as Leia burst out, "It wasn't disrespect, I was being perfectly polite!"
Harry looked at Darren in disgust. "You forget yourself Master Mikal. If there is any need for discipline, then I will be the one to dispense it, not you. Let's go somewhere private and I will listen to both sides of the story. But first, would you kindly let her go. You're hurting her."
Darren smiled, but it wasn't a nice smile. "Fine. Let's go." He led the way to a meditation room and Harry walked in, looking completely calm. Snape followed, having been quietly asked by Harry to accompany them. Harry did want at least one outside witness to this, as the animosity between himself and Darren was well known.
"Now, what happened?" Harry questioned, leaning against the wall and looking at both Darren and Leia. Darren glared at Leia and began his tirade.
"Your apprentice deliberately bumped into me and managed to spill the remains of her lunch all over me. Then she had the gall to say "Oops" before apologizing."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "But she did apologise?"
"Yes!" Leia all but yelled in frustration. Harry looked at her and she fell silent. She knew that she'd get her turn to speak and speaking out of turn now would only annoy her master.
"So, why do you accuse my Padawan of disrespect if she apologised?" Harry asked, growing rather tired of the other Master standing across from him. Darren growled and replied heatedly, "Because of the tone she used. Plus it is disrespect for a Padawan to deliberately spill food on a Master!"
"You sound like an Initiate trying desperately to justify their own point of view when they know they're wrong" Harry informed Darren, his disgust growing. "What is your side of the story Padawan?"
Leia stood a bit straighter and said, "I was going up to hand my tray in and accidentally bumped into Master Mikal here. When that happened my tray slipped and the leftover food dropped into his lap. It was an accident and I apologised. I wasn't being disrespectful Master, I wouldn't be!"
Harry held up a hand. "OK Leia, calm down." He watched as she calmed down slowly, knowing that she was feeling persecuted by this whole process, and annoyed, as he was, at the fact that Darren had chosen to make a mountain out of a molehill.
"So you admit that she apologised do you Darren?" he said, preparing to wrap the whole matter up. Darren glared at him but nodded grudgingly. Harry nodded sharply and continued, "Right. As she has in fact apologised, and I'm inclined to believe that the incident was an accident, then nothing more needs to be done. Accept her apology graciously and leave her alone. One little bump in the dining hall does not need to be turned into a drama like this, it happens all the time."
Darren growled and turned on Leia. "Your master might be willing to leave it there but I'm not." He reached for her, and Leia took a step back. Darren tried to move towards her only to find that he was being held back by a furious Jedi Master.
"Lay one finger on her and I'll have you up before the Council on assault charges you egotistical imbecile" Harry hissed. "Now get out of here and leave me and my apprentice alone!"
Harry released Darren who had no choice but to leave the room as Harry was glaring at him and tapping his lightsaber as though he'd like nothing better than to duel Darren and wipe the floor with him.
As Harry, Leia and Snape walked towards the training hall, Snape asked, "Why did you say that about him not being allowed to discipline Leia?"
Harry shrugged. "By Jedi law a Padawan may only be disciplined by their master. If another Knight or Master has to do so, then permission from the Padawan's master must be sought and most won't give it unless they are present to witness it. An exception to this rule is classroom situations, but misbehavior there is handled with normal things such as detention and things like that."
"So what happens when a Padawan is caught misbehaving by a Knight or Master who isn't their master?" Neville asked. Harry looked round to see that various members of the DA as well as Mace and Obi-Wan had come up behind them.
"The Padawan is either escorted home or their master is called to come and collect them."
"Yes, like the time I and Qui-Gon had to come and collect you and Obi-Wan from the Coruscant Security holding cells after you'd been arrested for drunk driving" Mace commented blandly. Harry blushed as his friends stared at him before laughing.
"I thought we'd agreed not to bring that up again" he groused, glaring good naturedly at Mace who merely ruffled Harry's hair, ignoring the complaint from his former apprentice that doing that in public was undignified. Just then they reached the indoor training hall and the main group spread out along the sides while Harry and Leia walked to the middle.
"What do you say Leia, let's give them a show" he said as he removed his robe and began to stretch. Leia nodded and dropped into the familiar routine, stretching and loosening her muscles alongside her master. "Yes lets. Although, afterwards, could we do a sort of competition, us against them."
"You mean get them to fire spells at us and have us block them?" Harry questioned. Leia nodded once more and replied, "Yes Master, it would give us practice in blocking and them practice in shielding and dodging."
Thinking about it for a moment Harry nodded. "OK but only if you're not too tired. If you are then we'll postpone the other thing until you've recovered." Seeing the bruises on her arm from where Darren had grabbed her he reached out, his fingers tingling with healing energy from the Force. Leia grabbed his wrist, stopping him.
"Thank you Master, but I'll heal them after the match. I've fought while injured before and these don't even count as proper injuries. I'm alright, really."
Harry scowled but reluctantly withdrew his hand, gripping his lightsaber instead. Injured or not, Leia Skywalker was turning out to be as cunning an opponent as her father, and as fast with a lightsaber as Harry. Taking a leaf out of Harry's book, Leia had also created a lightstaff, which gave Harry an idea.
"Hey Padawan, if we really want to give them a show, how about both of us using our lightstaffs?" Leia gasped in shock and then grinned, her competitive spirit firing up at the thought. "Yes, please" she said, and Harry grinned at her.
Somersaulting away to land on the edge of the ring, Harry activated his lightstaff, the twin silver blades hissing to life and instantly bringing silence to the hall. Harry rarely fought with his lightstaff, although he kept himself familiar with it and with the steel sword blades as well. A second double hiss from the other side of the room brought murmurs as Leia's bright green blades hissed to life as well. This was going to be a fight to remember.
The two saluted each other and then dropped into their ready positions, waiting to start. It was Leia who attacked first, and she attacked fast, her lightstaff spinning in a complicated move that would have separated Harry into three pieces had he not blocked it. He countered with a strike to her head, then arm, then torso, all at speed, and he couldn't help feeling a burst of pride when Leia blocked each one cleanly, as she'd been having trouble blocking consecutive attacks at that speed before.
Leia leapt upwards, aiming for one of the beams near the ceiling. Harry watched her go and then Apparated directly behind her. This was a mistake as Leia promptly thrust her weapon backwards, singeing his middle as he leapt backwards to avoid being "killed."
"Nice try" he said, panting slightly. Leia grinned at him, thoroughly enjoying the fight.
"Getting old Master?" she teased. Harry shook his head, a gleam in his eyes.
"Never" he said before attacking again, driving Leia backwards along the beam until she leapt to one of the catwalks. Following her once again, he noticed something. Although Leia had said she was OK to fight, she was ever so slightly favoring the arm that Darren had bruised. Seeing an easy way to end the fight Harry knocked his apprentice's lightstaff out of the way, avoiding the second blade as it whipped upwards, seeking to bisect him up the middle, and then brought his own blade down on Leia's arm when she overextended herself.
Unable to hold onto the weapon as Harry's blade had come down more or less directly on top of the bruises, Leia sank to her knees and Harry lightly touched the side of her neck.
"Kill touch" he said quietly before offering her a hand up. Leia nodded and accepted the hand, rising slowly. "Ouch" she said, rubbing her arm. The blades were set on low power so they did little more than sting but on top of the earlier bruise it was quite painful.
"Let me see" Harry requested. Leia obediently gave him her arm and Harry lightly ran a finger over the injuries. "I apologise Padawan, it was my intention to attack your arm but I didn't intend to touch the bruised area itself. Will you let me heal it or are you going to heal it yourself?"
Leia looked at him and replied softly, "You can if you want to Master." She could see that he felt bad about causing her more pain than he'd meant to and healing it would make him feel better again so she let him. A few seconds later and she felt the tingling of the Force as Harry healed the bruises.
"Done. Just stay away from Master Mikal and you should be fine. If he seeks you out though, come and tell me, I can always get a restraining order against him" he commented.
Leia chuckled. "That might make Ethics a bit difficult Master." Harry chuckled as well before sending her off to shower and change. He himself threw a towel round his shoulders and went back to their quarters to do the same. Leia took advantage of the female changing rooms connected to the training hall.
Later that evening, Exar Kun stirred in his prison in the Sith temple. Closing his eyes, the ancient Sith concentrated, reaching out to his future apprentice. Gareth had had almost a year since the first seeds of darkness had been sown in him and they had since been fed every time he'd had to repress his emotions rather than release them. The almost sixteen year old was still unaware of the small patch of darkness. He was also unaware that it had grown into a small reservoir inside him. Exar Kun smiled coldly; it was now time to see if more overt action could be taken to turn the Padawan from the light. It still wouldn't be easy but with time, it could be done.
Author Note
Yes! Finally the system is back up and working. For those who want to know how old Harry is, he's approximately 48, almost 49. Anakin is approximately 40, almost 41. So in wizarding terms, Harry is still fairly young which means he's able to thrash most people in a fight. Anakin is about the same. James and Lily would be about mid sixties I think, and Obi-Wan is two years younger than Harry so he's 46 to 47 years old.
May the Force be with you
Padawan Lynne
