A/N: So, this story won the poll as you can all see since I'm updating it first!
Now, this doesn't mean I'm discontinuing my other stories, I'll just do them in the order that shows

(Except possibly some of the From the Heart side stories or Operation Get Tim a Man, since those are short stories that weren't intended to past chapter 5)

I'll be honest: I was surprised this is the one that got the most votes. Out of all my stories, this is the one I've gotten the most hate for. (Surprisingly. I mean, you'd expect it to be that one fic where I have characters call out Tony Stark's shittier canon actions, but nah, it was this one) (then again, Tony apologists amuse me so even if I do get a hate review on that one, which I haven't, I'd be more amused than anything else)

Now, first off, I'm going to be very blunt: If I start getting a shit load of people putting guest hate reviews and sending me messages telling me how much this story sucks, like I had last time I was updating this regularly, I'm just going to delete the whole thing

This is fanfiction. I do not have to write this. I am writing this because I enjoy it. I am sharing it because others might enjoy it too, the same way I enjoy other fan works. If you do not like my work, that is perfectly fine. There's plenty of other stories you can go look over.

If you want to provide constructive criticism, that's not only fine, it's appreciated. If you're going to start berating me and ranting about how stupid and mornic I am, get. Lost. I don't want to deal with it again.

Edit: I never actually got around to deleting them, but re reading these guest reviews… They all sound like the same person. This… Okay, this actually pisses me off. If you're going to go through the trouble of writing continuous paragraph long reviews on a story you dislike, you can kindly fuck off and write your own damn story

Thank you, and enjoy! :)

Published: 6/30/2019

Warnings: None

Chapter 10

Clarification

For some unfathomable reason, Sirius and Remus hated him. Ben, for the death of him, couldn't figure out why. They even mocked his title, which is something you just don't do. Who makes fun of a Jedi Master's title?

Actually, come to think of it, had Ben been a Jedi Master? Considering Ben wasn't even sure if he'd been a Jedi or a Sith, the most likely answer was 'no'.

From the sound of it… Ben could see, rather clearly, that they had a communication issue. A communication issue that, frankly, surprised him. Wizards had Potion Masters and Charms Masters. Then again, did anyone actually go around calling them that?

Maybe in a formal apprenticeship, Ben supposed. Based on the reactions he was getting, though, formal apprenticeships might not be that common.

…

That factor aside, however… What in the kriff would he even use a slave for?

Ben was. Well. Dead. Very, very dead.

"All right. I think we should introduce ourselves. Or, I should introduce myself, given that I know the pair of you and neither of you know me," Ben spoke.

"Yes, 'Master', please regale us with your name," Sirius mocked.

"Why are you being so mean?" Harry whined.

Ben shot him a look.

"They're concerned, Harry," Ben pointed out. Harry shot him a look of confusion. "They think you're my slave. They literally said it out loud." Ben informed his apprentice with a frown. Had Harry not been paying attention?

He needed to up Harry's awareness exercises. To be fair, Harry was a child and children tend to get distracted, but still. That had been a pretty important detail for Harry to have missed.

"What?" Harry said, incredulous. "You're a ghost. What would a ghost even use a slave for?"

"That is besides the point!" Sirius snapped.

Harry turned to his Godfather, arching an eyebrow at the older man.

"No. No, it really isn't. Why would a ghost own a slave?"

Sirius growled.

"I admit, I jumped the wand a bit on that one," Remus interrupted. "In my defense, I assumed the ghost like appearance was a glamour."

"Moony, stop agreeing with their logic!" Sirius whined.

… Perhaps this hadn't been such a good idea. What grown man whines?

"It's perfectly reasonable logic," Remus pointed out. "Clearly, we misinterpreted things and overreacted. That being said, however…" Remus turned to stare pointedly at Ben. "Why does Harry call you 'Master'? You must understand, from our point of view, the only time the word 'Master' is used to address another individual, it comes from the mouth of a slave."

"Potion's Master?" Ben pointed out.

Remus arched an eyebrow. "Outside of very formal settings, no one actually calls a Potion's Master 'Master'." Remus said. Then, with a pause, the werewolf tilted his head. "Well, maybe Severus makes the students call him that. He's certainly vain enough to try it, but I doubt it would go over very well."

"'Students'?" Sirius repeated, incredulous.

Remus nodded.

"Severus is a Professor at Hogwarts now. Hadn't you heard?"

"... Are you telling me… That Albus Dumbledore not only made sure I never got a trial… But also allowed a known Death Eater to teach at Hogwarts?" Sirius hissed out.

Remus did not answer. To be fair, there was no right answer to such a loaded statement.

Ben was really, really glad he and Harry had managed to avoid Dumbledore so far. The more he learned of the man, the less he trusted him. What game was the Headmaster even playing at, anyways?

Ben clapped his hands, drawing attention back to him.

"Alright, I suppose we should start at the beginning. My name is Ben, I think, not entirely sure. Actually, I've already had someone imply that isn't my real name at all, so I suppose it's more of a misnomer than anything else?"

"You have?" Harry asked, surprised.

Ben nodded.

"Yep. Another Force Ghost. She called herse- I'm a moron."

Leia. The Force Ghost had called herself Leia. And here Ben stood, mentally berating Harry for not noticing things when he'd had several encounters with what was possibly the Force Ghost of Leia Organa Solo.

If it was Leia. She didn't exactly look like the famed General/Politician, but that might just be Earth's strange Force disturbing abilities at work. It had done weirder things.

Ben wanted to hit himself. Here he was, berating Harry for not noticing the obvious, when Harry had clearly gotten it from him.

Harry frowned at him.

Ben waived him off before turning back to the adults.

"As I was saying, my name is Ben and I…"

Sirius stared. Remus joined him in doing so. Nothing caused solidarity like confusion. Well, confusion and adversity, and while this might turn into the latter later on, it was definitely currently the former.

"Let me get this straight," Sirius began. "You are a member of an ancient order of monks who have the ability to tap into the life force of the universe itself." Sirius said. Ben nodded. "You're not sure when you died, or even how, or even who you were- but, you were reincarnated into Harry." Another nod. "However, Voldemort's… Killing Curse," Sirius managed to choke out, "caused Harry's spirit to destabilize to the point where you, the part that still latched onto his past life, were able to form a separate active consciousness." Nod.

"So, what you're basically saying is that you're Harry. But, at the same time, you aren't Harry?" Remus cut in.

"Yes," Ben affirmed. "He and I share the same soul, but I'm his past incarnation."

"And my teacher!" Harry chimed in.

"And his teacher," Ben nodded. Then, blinked before… Did he just pull a spirit clock out of his robes? He had. Ben had pulled a spirit clock out of his robes.

Now, Sirius really had seen everything.

Ben studied the clock before looking up, frowning at Harry. "Young boy, it's past your bedtime."

Harry looked stunned.

"What? But, but-"

"Harry. How much sleep does a Jedi need?"

Sirius watched as Harry visibly twitched before sighing, head hanging down in resignation.

"A… A full Jedi night," Harry answered, voice dripping with annoyance.

Sirius frowned, not exactly getting it. Was this some sort of strange inside joke Harry had with… Well, himself, if Sirius was being technical.

Ben beamed.

"You aren't funny, you know," Harry informed his guardian.

"I'm utterly hilarious," Ben somehow managed to reply with a straight face.

Harry didn't even bother dignifying that with a response. Instead, he turned to Remus.

"Is there anywhere I can sleep? Ben's evil so he usually wakes me up early for Meditation."

Remus exchanged a look with Sirius before turning back to Harry, smiling and nodding. "Of course. I have a guest room. Come along, Harry."

Smiling, Harry let himself be led out. No sooner had the door closed that Sirius had drawn his wand, leveling it at the so called Force Ghost. Ben wasn't even surprised. If anything, the spirit crossed his arms in resignation.

"Look, I know you're concerned about your godson and you don't believe me-"

"Of course I don't believe you," Sirius interrupted cooly. "Space wizards? Reincarnation? Spirit splitting? I'm not sure what part is more unbelievable, the fact that you somehow came up with this load of bollox, or the part where you thought Moony and I would actually buy it. Now, what are you?"

Ben sighed.

"I'm a ghost."

"Ghosts do not have the ability to wander about outside of areas with high magic concentration, or their death sites. Ghosts do not stay attached to children. Ghosts don't teach children archaic forms of wandless magic while encouraging them to avoid living, breathing adults that can help them." Sirius said.

Ben responded by… Laughing? Sirius wasn't sure why he was surprised anymore by the audacity of this pretender.

"Trust the adults? You mean the same adults that shoved you in a cell without trial? The same adults that shunted Harry off to relatives that didn't even bother calling him by his name, that demeaned him and berated him and treated him like an actual slave? Those adults?" Ben snorted, ignoring the way Sirius' face was slowly losing all color. "I'm sorry, but after all of that? I hardly trust the Wizarding Government of your world, and, frankly, neither should you. Harry and I hoped we'd find the pair of you, but we don't trust the rest of the Wizarding World- and we never will."

The door opened once more as Remus strode in. Remus took one look at the situation, Sirius with his wand leveled against the spirit while the spirit himself looked downright annoyed at the turn of events, and acted accordingly.

"Sirius, put that down," Remus berated. Sirius gaped, not having expected that. Remus glowered at him. "Whoever this Ben is, he's succeeded at something neither of us has managed in the last eight years- he's taken care of Harry. That, of all things, means we should give him the benefit of the doubt."

"But- But- Moony!" Sirius whined.

Ben couldn't help it. He stuck his tongue out at the Animagi.

"Even if his story is clearly shite and full of holes," Remus continued.

"Hey!" Ben cried out.

"Ha!" Sirius said victoriously.

Remus turned to Ben with raised eyebrows. "It is. You claim to be an extra terrestrial entity from who knows where, you're own past is a 'mystery' to you," Remus spoke the word 'mystery' with a clear air of disbelief, "yet despite all of that, you clearly look human. The only thing that makes your story even possibly believable is that you've taught Harry to access magical arts that neither of us have ever seen before."

"I've seen glamours before," Sirius interrupted.

"Glamours cast by mere thought? A child who can read the mind of a lycantrophe without being attacked by the inner wolf?" Remus asked.

"Harry did what?!" both Ben and Sirius exclaimed in unison before looking at each other in surprise.

Remus blinked.

"Well… At least all of us are united in unison over what a pain raising Harry will be."

It took Ben several seconds to register the words. But, once he had, he beamed.

Sirius, on the other hand…

"What! Moony, you can't be serious! He- he- he's clearly a destructive, unknown influence!" Sirius waved a hand in Ben's general direction.

"He's also someone who's gone out of his way to take care of Harry," Remus pointed out before turning back to Ben. "However, Sirius is still right. You've given us a story that we have no way of verifying. You're an unknown variable. For all we know, you're some sort of wraith that's latched itself onto Harry, and all of this is just one big act."

Ben didn't bother answering. Remus was right. His story did sound pretty insane when laid out like that.

"However," Remus continued, "If that was the case… Well, I can't see why you would seek us out. And, according to Harry, that's exactly what the pair of you were planning. You also went out of your way to make sure Harry knew his Godfather was innocent, and that I wasn't a danger. So… I am going to give you, Ben, the benefit of the doubt."

Ben resisted the urge to retaliate.

At this point, Ben felt like a single father shows up at the house of relatives, relatives berate single father, accuse him of possibly conspiring… Well, something, that hadn't exactly been clarified.

Which was hilarious, because Ben wasn't even a father!

…

Was he?

"I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt," Remus repeated. "However… If at any time we find any sign that you're actually going to harm Harry for any reason…" Remus' eyes took on a yellow tinge. "There's nothing on this world that will protect you from our wrath."

… Ben was really, really glad he'd decided not to inform the pair that he was pretty sure his consciousness had latched onto what he was convinced was a Voldemort soul shard and overtaken it.

Still… This, he could work with.

Smiling, Ben extended a hand towards Remus. The werewolf arched an eyebrow, but humored him, even if the pair couldn't physically touch.

Now that that had finally been settled… It was time to go onto the next move.

Primarily, clearing Sirius' name.