Author's Note: I didn't realize I'd been sitting on this chapter for so long. Sorry! Here you go.

Disclaimer

: I do not own Harry Potter or Star Wars because I am not JK Rowling or George Lucas.

Chapter 12: Boundaries

The walk to the turbolifts was a quiet one for the simple reason that neither boy knew what to say. Anakin could picture the conversation now:

"So…you really can do magic, huh?"

"…Yeah."

"…Cool."

Usually Anakin would've been perfectly content to leave the silence alone, but out of nowhere, he was filled with a childish desire to poke and prod it.

"That was some trick back there," Anakin found himself saying to the opposite wall.

"Yeah," replied almost absentmindedly. "I guess so." If the nonchalant tone had sounded forced at all, it would've made Anakin mad, but Harry was being genuinely modest.

"You guess so?" Anakin teased. "You just disarmed me in front of half the padawans in the temple!"

Harry groaned. "That's all I need. More attention." One of the things Harry had enjoyed about the…erm change of scenery was not having people watch him like he was about to explode the way they had when they found out the Dark Lord was in his head. Now it seemed he was going to be thrust back into the spotlight. Again.

"I guess you hadn't noticed, but people have been watching you this whole time." They'd reached the elevator by this time. Harry looked up and saw most of the hallway looking back at him. Knights, padawans, and 'droids all looked sharply away. Harry sighed as the doors whoosed shut. "I guess I was just used to it." Anakin arched an eyebrow, so Harry explained. "I can't think of a way to say this that doesn't sound completely conceited but, I'm pretty popular where I come from. "I can't think of a way to say this without sounding conceited but, I'm pretty popular too."

Harry laughed and Anakin joined in. The two were more similar than they knew.

They were in front of their connected quarters. Anakin palmed it open. "We should probably upload your biometrics soon," he noted thoughtfully. Harry simply nodded, though he couldn't make heads or tails of Anakin's statement. He hoped it wasn't painful…

Once inside, Harry made for the door that connected their quarters and Anakin followed. He picked up his wand from where he'd left it on the bedside table. He held it for a moment, feeling he should say something first. He almost laughed at the vision of himself handing the wand to Anakin then snatching it back saying, "I guess not."

"Uhm, it'll feel a little…" Harry trailed off, trying to describe using words the excitement and 'wholeness' he felt when he first held his wand. "…warm and there'll probably be sparks or something you know...if you- "

"Right,"Anakin said. He tried to quash the excitement he felt building up inside, like a child who was about to be given a new toy. So what if he could do magic? He had the Force, right? What difference did it make if he could shoot sparks with a stick? But if Anakin was honest with himself, he'd realize that realizing how similar he and Harry were had set of a competitive streak that he hadn't felt this strongly since pod-racing on Tatooine.

He held out his right hand and Harry handed him the wand. It felt heavier than it looked and perhaps a bit warmer than it would be if it had been sitting in the room all day. One thing that had taken some getting used to was how cool Coruscant was, especially compared to the blazing heat of his desert home-planet.

Anakin looked down at the wand in his hand. It might have been his imagination creating something that wasn't there, but he thought the wand was growing warmer. He drew in a sharp breath as something not unlike an electric shock passed from the wand to his hand and down his arm.

Harry was also staring intently at the wand. After a few seconds, he said, " Well, it might be the wand. I mean, I went through like 30 before I found the right one and sometimes even if you do have it, it doesn't show up for a while and – "

Anakin clenched his jaw against the sudden rush of disappointment and nodded curtly. "Yeah. Sure."

He tossed the wand roughly back at Harry, who easily caught it out of the air instinctively. Anakin turned on his heel and made to exit when his comm. beeped. He stopped to answer. It was Obi-wan.

"Yeah?"

"Uh-huh."

"Okay, we'll be right there."

"What's up?" Harry asked.

Anakin turned his head enough to address Harry over his shoulder. "We've been summoned to the healer's ward," he relayed in a clipped tone. With that, he strode out of the room without looking back. Harry rushed to follow.

Obi-wan and Sirius were already being briefed by a med-droid when Anakin arrived followed by Harry.

"…two perfectly healthy male human beings. The only injuries they sustained were slight contusions, presumably from their fall. Their blood work did reveal some interesting information, however. Both midichlorian counts were abnormally high but the boy's was off the charts."

"What are midichlorians?" Harry asked at the same time as Anakin inquired, "What was it?" curious despite himself. The droid proceeded to say a number that Anakin couldn't process immediately. His thought process was something like: That's my midichlorian count. Wait. That's my midichlorian count. That's my midichlorian count! As he repeated the facts to himself over and over again, his expression morphed from one of slack-jawed shock to clench-jawed fury. The droid had continued to answer Harry's question, but all Anakin heard was a stifled buzz in the background. The number kept echoing around in his head, blocking out everything else.

Obi-wan nudged and he came back to himself a little, taking in his master's concerned expression and barely refraining from grinding his teeth. That couldn't be right. Couldn't be.

"That can't be right!" he interjected, cutting across the droid's explanation of biological symbionts. "I assure you, the results were interpreted correctly."

"Could you check again?"

"I did. Twice."

Anakin ran a hand through his hair and glared at nothing in particular. He took deep breaths through his nose and tried and failed to release his frustration and anger into the Force.

Obi-wan beckoned him into a corner and he was stared resolutely up at the ceiling, knowing he was about to be scolded like a child and hating it even though he probably deserved it. Obi-wan stopped when they were out of earshot saying, "Anakin," in that tone that the padawan despised. "Master." He responded to the ceiling.

"I'm just as…" Here Anakin graced him with a highly doubtful look. He didn't think Obi-wan could be "as anything" as he was right now. 'Surprised as you are." Obi-wan finished. "But your behavior was appalling and childish."

"I'm sorry, Master," Anakin replied with the monotone that comes from saying something over and over again. Obi-wan accepted this and turned to rejoin Harry and Sirius, but Anakin stopped him.

"Obi-wan?"

"Yes, Anakin?"

"What does this mean? Is he a prophecy child too?"

Obi-wan's expression softened. "Perhaps and perhaps not. No one can know these things for sure."

Just then, Obi-wan's comm. beeped. He looked down at it. "It's a summons from Master Yoda," Obi-wan said, sounding nearly as confused as Anakin felt. "A new mission?"

"Possibly."

Anakin followed Harry, Sirius and Obi-wan out of the healer's ward and to the council meeting room wondering how much more he could take in one day before he lost his mind.